BACK UP PLAN

There will be times when staff are sick or are held up.
When that happens, are your customers going to be inconvenienced, or do you have a back up plan?
It is quite unacceptable to offer inferior service or expect customers to wait because your staffing levels have dropped. Each customer pays the same price for your service so it is essential for you to operate adequate contingency plans.

In the restaurant trade we have staff on standby on busy nights so that if there are staff no shows, we can still operate with a full floor staff, and our service levels are not compromised.

In other industries gaps in staffing levels can have knock on effects across extended front line areas so that many departments and many more customers are indirectly affected.

The solution :- have a back up plan.

" Quality is remembered long after the price is forgotten. "
Gucci

KNOWING A NAME

There really is nothing sweeter to another persons ears than their own name.
If it is a customer or a colleague, the same rule applies, know their name and use it. I keep a little address book with me with the names of all the people I generally meet in a given week. Noted with these names are also the names of their children or wives or other close associates .
Once I have quickly glanced at these notes before I ring them or see them, it gives me a memory jog to enquire about their children / partner / boss or others.
If you do it in a natural and conversational way people remember you for caring about the welfare of not just them but their life too.

SERVICE RECOVERY

On the rare occasion that things do go wrong, have you got in place a service recovery strategy?

Not only can this management method help retain an upset customer, but when done right - you may be in a position to convert that customer to a raving and loyal fan.

The trick is to train your staff and managers to recognise when a customer has been upset or is not content. Then the strategy you have in place needs to wow back that client by going over the top to please them again. This can be done in some innovative and smart ways, but ensure that top management are involved in the apology so that the customer realises that the company does really care about the mistake they have made.

Indeed you can use the mistake as an excellent learning tool, just remember to find the source of the error and ensure that lessons were learned with those individuals.

RON SAYS....