SERVICE QUALITY / CUSTOMER LOYALTY / CUSTOMER SERVICE | Is Cinco de Mayo a Death Nell For Your Business?
May 4, 2010
With Cinco de Mayo coming up, many Mexican restaurant owners are salivating like a kid at Christmas. They see it as a celebration that will increase their bottom line, in come cases it will make their month. A word of advice — DON’T BLOW IT!
For some restaurants it’s the busiest day of the year. It’s the one day that more people will visit their place of business for the first time. Their game plan better be laid out, in advance, or they will fail miserably. A good friend of mine owns two Mexican restaurants. Last Cinco de Mayo, I brought a group of people, most of who had never set foot in the restaurant before. Unfortunately, none of those people have come back because the service was so poor. They lost over $100 in drink sales for our party alone! One one group!
Of course, the owner was apologetic. The wait staff was apologetic. I was apologetic to my guests. The damage had been done. They were understaffed and had a new manager on duty. Critical error that’s hard to recover from.
Another Cinco de Mayo, I joined a group of friends at a local Mexican restaurant near our homes that we went to at a minimum of twice a week. The average check for these visits was $35 or more. There were 20 of us. That means, at that one table, excluding the $800 bill today, $17,500 worth of revenue right there. Almost a $20,000 bet. I had offered to act as cashier for the group, but I was in no way n charge of the group. Shortly before the waitress came back with the check, one of the couples daughters’ arrived and ordered two meals. We had been at the restaurant a total of maybe 90 minutes.
The owner came over to me (since it was my credit card on file) and started to read me the riot act about moving along and how we were taking too long and there were a lot of people waiting for these tables. Now, I saw him coming over and thought he had spotted us and wanted to thank us for coming in. I was in shock to say the least. I stood up, told all it was time to go, and walked out. It was seven years before any of us set foot in that restaurant again. His decision to throw us out cost him at least $120,000 in revenue! (We still have never gone back for Cinco de Mayo — and we won’t)
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SECRET SHOP/MYSTERY SHOP | Now’s the time to SHOP, SHOP, SHOP!
April 27, 2010
The word on the street is that the economy is starting to recover and consumers are starting to spend. If you cancelled or reduced your secret shopping program as things tightened up, shame on you! If you did, you can still benefit by jumpstarting your shopper program today! Give us a call or reply to this post today! We can get your program rolled out and running within a week! You must do this today, I guarantee you your competition is!
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The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
ServiceQuality.CA
ServiceQuality.co.UK
ServiceQuality.CN
High Definition Mystery Shopping
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | Is Your Service Like the New $100 Bill?
April 22, 2010
The Federal Reserved announced that they would be issuing a new $100 bill soon. It got me to thinking; shouldn’t we all “reissue” our service on a regular basis? The Federal Reserve goes about crafting a new bill, the same way you should approach your service experience. What has your competition copied? What can you tweak to make it new and fresh?
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ServiceQuality.US
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High Definition Mystery Shopping
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | HAS YOUR MEASUREMENT BUDGET GONE THE WAY OF THE NASA MOON ORBITER?
April 15, 2010
If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it 100 times from prospective clients, “We don’t see a value in mystery shopping.” You’ll note that I didn’t say that I heard that from any of our current clients, because we don’t.
If your mystery shopping program isn’t paying off in spades, then you’ve got the wrong observations being done. If your provider isn’t responsive and offering suggestions when, or before, you ask, then you need to consider The Service Quality Department, or one of our affiliated companies.
Be sure to stop by our other web sites for additional information and ideas about building customer loyalty:
The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
ServiceQuality.CA
ServiceQuality.co.UK
ServiceQuality.CN
High Definition Mystery Shopping
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | Do You Need Worker’s Compensation Coverage?
April 14, 2010
A client asked me an interesting question the other day, “Do I need to have worker’s compensation coverage if I have a mystery shopping program?” I had never thought about it, so I checked with my agent and one of our attorneys. In a word, “no.” In our case, all of our mystery shoppers are independently contracted through ServiceQuality.US. They are not employees of either our company or yours.
Be sure to stop by our other web sites for additional information and ideas about building customer loyalty:
The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
ServiceQuality.CA
ServiceQuality.co.UK
ServiceQuality.CN
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CUSTOMER SERVICE / CUSTOMER LOYALTY | Is Your Customer Service Vision Like a Verizon iPhone?
March 31, 2010
After speaking to a group of business leaders, a gentleman came up and thanked me for sharing some insights he could put to use right away. He then said, “I can see where I want to be from a service perspective, but am not sure we will get there in the next few months.” This reminded me of today’s “leaked” Apple information that they may have a Verizon compatible iPhone by September. Bottom line was he, unlike Apple, didn’t have anyone to put his “feet to the fire” every day. With this leak coming from the usually tight-lipped company, everyone will be looking for an announcement soon. This is where we come in for our clients. We hold them accountable, what’s more, we provide them with the tools they need to get the job done and make a difference. Everyday!
For more information you can use right away, check out some of the latest updates on customer loyalty trends across the US by clicking here.
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The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
ServiceQuality.CA
ServiceQuality.co.UK
ServiceQuality.CN
High Definition Mystery Shopping
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | Manager Not Available?
March 26, 2010
I went in to a national retailer the other day, both to do a little shopping and invite the store manager to speak to the Rotary club of which I’m a member. (The store had just moved, and I thought he or she would appreciate the opportunity to promote his business by educating our members.)
I made with an employee walking by me and asked to see the manager. He immediately told me that the manager was in the back. No offer to get the manager, no request as to what I needed. As a matter of fact, he didn’t even answer my request directly. However, it was clear to me that the manager was sequestered and most likely wouldn’t budge.
I then asked if he could ask if the manager could give me 5 minutes of their time. He said, “Sure” and walked about 20 feet and opened a door and spoke to a hidden person for a minute or so. (Longer than I had expected to be talking to the manager) He came back and said that “He’s in a meeting right now, what did you need?” I gave him my card, and asked that the manager contact me about the speaking opportunity. (This was 10 days ago, and I haven’t heard a peep.)
How many opportunities are you missing out on because your managers are “hiding” from customers? I don’t know what the meeting was about. I do know that I could see the employee talking to someone, and that someone didn’t think they I was worth their time. If the employee had engaged me earlier in the conversation, he may have been able to offer an alternative such as an assistant manager, dog groomer, etc.
By the way, I’m going over to their competition today to repeat the same process, I’ll let you know how it goes.
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The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
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High Definition Mystery Shopping
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | Is March Madness Setting In?
March 15, 2010
I talk about it a lot. Business owners and managers see it year after year. What is it? It’s the ups and downs of the customer experience. Employees who made it through the holiday shopping season seem to experience a bit of “March Madness” when it comes to keeping their service skills up to the highest levels.
This will translate to a dip in sales, and most possibly a decline in business for a period of time. Someone will notice, and take action, customer service will increase, until the next fall in the cycle.
If you want to combat this cycle, you need to do it proactively, every single day. If you don’t have a mystery shop program in place, get one today! If you think you’re too small for one — you’re not! If you still need more reasons — go to The Service Quality Department web site and take a look at all the things we can accomplish for you!
Be sure to stop by our other web sites for additional information and ideas about building customer loyalty:
The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
ServiceQuality.CA
ServiceQuality.co.UK
ServiceQuality.CN
High Definition Mystery Shopping
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | Count ‘em Up!
March 10, 2010
I’m amazed at how many new clients come to us and when we review their evaluation, there’s no mention of business flow or the number of customers who were actually using the location at the time.
If an employee receives a poor score, you need to know what the environment was like. If you could have fired a cannon through the store and not injured anyone, then there is an obvious problem. Conversely, if the location was so packed that you couldn’t hardly move about, you need to know that too!
Don’t set your employees to fail — get the whole picture!
Read more about ways to make your mystery shop / secret shop more effective at The Service Quality Department website or our High Definition Mystery Shopping website.
MYSTERY SHOP / SECRET SHOP | Keep the Shop Strictly Business
March 9, 2010
We welcomed a new client the other day. During our standard, complementary, review of their mystery shop form, One of our employees was amazed to see that a majority of the questions were inappropriate, if not down-right illegal! Granted, this secret shop was for a work-out facility, but these questions blew my mind! Here’s a small sample:
“Does the employee look attractive in their uniform?”
“Did the employee’s midriff look firm and toned?”
“Was the employee tanned?”
“Did the employee make you feel attractive?”
Yikes! Needless to say, we immediately suggested a more professional approach. The client agreed that there were significant issues with the old format. It turns out that a group of managers, lacking a program from the corporate office, created their own form. Bravo to the managers for identifying that there was a need. A big boink to the corporate office for not filling that need well before the managers went into “do it yourself mode”. If nothing else, it serves as a testimonial as to why you would want to use a professional organization like ServiceQuality.US!
How could they expect their employees to take their service initiative seriously, when the secret shop form read more like a dating form than a mystery shop evaluation? How could you possibly run your business like this? If this format was ever disclosed outside of your business, how could you possibly justify it?
Be sure to stop by our other web sites for additional information and ideas about building customer loyalty:
The Service Quality Department
ServiceQuality.US
ServiceQuality.CA
ServiceQuality.co.UK
ServiceQuality.CN
High Definition Mystery Shopping
