Terms like "The Customer Journey" make me want to vomit but it is an appropriate description.
The Customer Journey is usually the other side of what most people will know as the 10 Steps of Service.
The Customer Journey actually begins with their first impression of the business from a 3rd Person Perspective, whether that is through word of mouth or advertising. This 1st step can alter every other step going forward before you even have a chance to introduce yourself, the word of mouth is the outcome of the Customer Journey and is the single best form of advertising their is so that will be discussed later in this category, the marketing however I will keep to a separate section entirely. I choose to go with "The Customer Promise" as an agreement made between the staff and the customers. Which presumably will never be the same after Covid. I was happy with the all Table Service requirement as I have always believed strongly that table service was the way forward whenever possible as you should be doing everything in your power to make sure the customers spend as much of their time, that they have allocated to being in your venue, enjoying themselves with in the company of their choice. I have a whole other level of passion for customers that prop up the bar and engage with the staff but that can be saved for a later date.
Consistency as well as the ability to adapt are so important for any business so with this, the same as everything else, it is always worth discussing ways to improve but you can not go too far in either direction, I have seen many fantastic ideas and processes that have been thrown out due to lack of early success and lack of consistency with in the delivery, as well as just as many ideas that could have worked and improved processes that are thrown to the wayside due to fear of change and then later implemented once its too late.
Now, The Customer Promise is something that should be agreed every day. I will give a break down of how I would like things to be done, e.g. the 10 Steps of Service but the reason this is different is that I will have it displayed in the entrance to my venue with exactly the experience that the customer should expect for the day, including who the members of staff are that are on duty that day and every morning/ handover it will be signed by all Staff and Managers that will have an effect on their experience. Kind of like pre-shift contracts for every member of staff to agree that they will be holding up their side of the agreement before the customer even comes through the door and at the very bottom, it will have any short comings that you may have for the day.
Another thing that has literally blown my mind is when I've seen managers try to get customers in under false pretenses. Not the extravagant Promo full of lies that I will go through at another time but more so when there's more than 50% of the Menu missing, no draught, or no air con, no coffee and then you have to sit the customer and bombard them with how you've just wasted their time instead of having everything disclosed before they even step through the door, then they can choose to come back at another time knowing you haven't betrayed their trust.
This process also brings the standards to the forefront of your mind, if you can't openly admit or discuss these issues with customers then you should either fix them or not be opening. Not trying to fake it until you make or just acting like a problem that has been around for months "just happened this morning", "every morning".
As with all things, be honest. For example; If you're trying to get s**t done that day and you don't have a designated host then you should state, "If you step inside the door then we will greet you and seat you within 15 seconds". In an idealistic world you should have assigned host for the greetings but that is not always worth the time or money. Even if you have your Sales Manager on the Front Door to do greeting, she would not be a very good Sales Manager if she wasn't on the phone the majority of the time. So to have somebody be productive and freed up at all times would be to have two members of sales staff on together at all times and limit them to only one being on the phone at a time.
This is the kinda stuff that keeps me up at night
So you minimize these potential problem's by going through it with your team before every shift. You go through each point in the promise and discuss any issues you may have with delivering and then you either adjust the promise or solve the problem, but you never over promise and under deliver. Once again, treat every member of staff individually, different staff will have different reasons that they believe they won't be able to commit to the promise.
Obviously if staff want to use fake names or personas, that is fine with me as long as they are consistent and professional about it for the sake of Social Feedback and consistency for the community.
Commentaires