BarServ Blog and Podcast

Today's holy grail in marketing and customer service is word-of-mouth.  What your customers take away from their experience with your business is everything. Those customers now have a much bigger voice than they did just a few years back.  I believe the rule of "a customer will tell 10 friends" about their experience is expired.  When was this rule written? 1999?  Considering the power of the blogosphere, the sheer volume of traffic on networking sites such as MySpace and YouTube and the ability of people to self publish, you should be shaking in your shoes.  Customers can now tell thousands of people about their experiences with a few key strokes and you can no longer afford to hide behind the curtain of "par service".  You need to be excellent, and I know that many of you already are.

I'd like to share an experience that illustrates exactly what I'm talking about when it comes to the tired and expired "Tell 10" rule.  My company is on MySpace and I frequently get messages from people who just need to vent.  My buddy Danny, a friend since high-school, recently wrote about an experience at AMC movie theatres in Grapevine, TX.

Can you believe it?  Is a simple bag of candy really worth all that trouble?  Danny had every right to be irritated.  How does this make you feel?  If you're like me, you probably sympathize with Danny and, at least for now, don't have lovey huggy feelings towards AMC. 

Here's the bigger picture: Danny posted this comment on MySpace, the largest social networking site in the world.  And AMC, being a national chain, could suffer much damage from this one comment.  The game has changed and it's not okay to have a bad day, or treat a customer poorly, or stand up on principal based on a bag of candy.  Keep this in mind always because Danny may be the next customer to walk into your place of business.  He cared enough to write to me about it, so do you care enough to make sure he writes good things about you rather than complaints?  And remember, there's not just one Danny, there are 2 million + Dannys out there who have this power and also the power of choice.  Take your customers' complaints seriously.  They only want you to improve, as do I.

Many readers of the BarServ blog are in the service industry, more specifically restaurants and bars.  BarServ encourages its partners to send managers to every table for a customer "touch". 

I'm curious to know what you all think of retailers using this same type of method.  Wouldn't it be interesting to be approached by a manager at Best Buy during your time there... not to sell you something but just to ask how you like the Best Buy experience, to find if there is anything you would need.  It seems like this would assist with customer retention and brand reinforcement.

I have been approached by Target employees while browsing merchandise.  They asked if I'd like to sign up for a Target credit card to save an additional 20% on my purchases for the day.  I must admit, this was a big turn off and I did not like being 'stalked' while looking for mens' dress shirts.  But if a manager had approached me and asked, "So, how do you like my store?" it would have been different.  Ownership of the experience by the management is a big plus to me. 

Take a moment and think about the last five experiences you have had at a 24 hour breakfast-type restaurant such as Denny's and IHOP.  If they are anything like mine, they are less than stellar.  Quick, impersonal and not memorable.  I'm happy to report my experience at IHOP today was quite the opposite and there is much to be learned from it.  It had what I like to call "POP," the Power of Personality.

We visited IHOP on Carrier Parkway and I-20 in Grand Prairie (I seem to write a lot about businesses in this area) and were impressed from the moment we pulled up.  We were greeted by Breecy, a tall server with glasses, with one of the most unique greetings I've heard in sometime: "Welcome to the International House of Pancakes (Yes... he said the actual name, rather than the abbreviation!), where we do indeed have pancakes and they are indeed international!"  All this with a smile and personality! We were instantly set into a great mood and commented how that was probably one of the nicest and most personable greetings we had received at any restaurant.  Great job, Breecy!

Rachael was our server and was very well put together.  She appeared like a server you'd see on a commercial for IHOP.  Professional, well dressed in full uniform, friendly, big smile, attentive and, again, personality! What a novel concept.  She took very good care of us, made suggestions on the menu and upsold us with sides.  Great job, Rachael!

The manager, Adam, was busy too.  We observed him making table visits, working the front desk, seating patrons and cleaning the front glass of the restaurant. He thanked us by name and asked us to come back.  We made sure to tell Adam what a great job he did and that it was by far the best experience we had ever had at IHOP. 

So, what's really happening here?  The pancakes, tables, coffee, environment and menus were all the same as any other experience at IHOP.  As a matter of fact, we visited Denny's on Feb. 28th and ordered an almost identical meal.  People were the big difference here.  Adam, if he was the one who did the hiring, did a fantastic job of choosing his staff.  This team was on it! The basic steps of service were in place and they went the extra mile to make it stand out.  Denny's yesterday also hit the basic steps of service but personalities were absolutely flat.  It was boring at best.  IHOP today was quite the opposite: A cheery, memorable experience that I'm sure to tell someone about.  Actually, I guess I just told all of you about it, and word of mouth is a powerful thing.

Preach the "Power of Personality" or POP to your employees.  That "POP" is an important part of making a memorable experience for your customers.  We will go out of our way to visit that IHOP location again.