Doing business today takes more than just opening your door and hanging an “OPEN” sign. There are more choices for customers than ever before and those same customers expect more.
Today, restaurant managers and owners have to do more than just sell goods and products, you have monitor your social platforms, engage with customers on them, manage review responses, develop promotional content, all while you focus on reputation management and stay on top of ever-changing digital trends.
To provide customer service today, you almost need a degree in computer science or least a robot that knows web and mobile UX and speaks programmer.
In truth, it’s not that complex, but if it’s not your expertise it can be daunting. At the end of the day though, it all comes down to one thing, listening to the customer. And when you’re running around managing a restaurant while trying to post your monthly food promotions to your Facebook page, it can be easy to lose touch with your customers.
That’s why it’s important to take time to check in with you staff regularly about the service they’re providing to customers and to make sure they’re upholding your standards. If you aren’t able to personal observer the interaction, you may want to consider a mystery shopper to evaluate your restaurant customer service.
It takes only a moment to make a difference in the customers service experience…
10 Facts About Customer Service That Should Change The Way You Do Business
1. Increasing customer retention by 2% has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%. It’s always been true, but some managers still don’t understand it’s easier and more cost effective to keep existing customers than to generate new ones.
2. Keeping good customers is cheaper than finding new ones. And… According to a leading management consulting firm, it costs 6 – 7 times more to acquire that new customer than retain the existing one.
3. Bad service sets a bad precedent. According to a study by the White House Office of Consumer Affairs, 78 percent of consumers have ended a transaction due to bad service. As we mentioned, consumers have options and they’re using their using social media to get business owners to pay attention.
4. It pays to keep customers happy! And based on the same White House Office of Consumer Affairs study, your chances of selling a new customer on a purchase is 5-20 percent, while selling an existing customer on a purchase is 60-70 percent.
5. Be Kind. As we mentioned, customers are using social media platforms to share their guest experiences, unfortunately for business owners, negative interactions with a business are spread to twice as many people as positive ones.
6. Experience your business as your customers do!* Another reason you should consider using a mystery shopper to evaluate your service, is that you won’t know unless you ask: For every customer that complains, there are approximately 25 that don’t. In fact, 96% of unhappy customers don’t complain, and 91% of those customers will leave and never return to your establishment.
7. Poor service loses business. A recent customer service survey found that price is not the main reason businesses lose customers, it’s poor customer service.
8. Making up lost revenue takes time. What does a bad customer service experience cost you as a business owner? According to an expert on understanding customers it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience.
9. Loyal customers spend more with you online. New eCommerce customers spend on average $24.50, repeat customers spend almost double that – at $52.50.
10. Loyal customers are worth up to ten times as much as their first purchase, and keeping customers loyal pays off, reducing customer churn (customer loss) by just 5% can increase profits by 5 – 95%!
It pays multiple dividends to get in touch with customers. Listen to customers, acknowledge the feedback – no matter positive or negative – and engage with your guests. By doing so you start building a positive environment for feedback and suggestions and hopefully, a great guest experience – that your customers will share with others.
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