Email Marketing and your Service Team
Imagine this scenario. A couple walks into your restaurant for their first visit and the man tells the hostess that today is his wife’s birthday and he would like a romantic table for two.
They get seated, the waiter quickly greets them and the rest of the meal runs very smoothly (because your staff is properly trained with 4 Remarkable Service resources 
). The couple leaves happy, the waiter is happy (nice tip), and the restaurant owner is happy. Life is grand.
But wait a minute. Now the restaurant has a problem. They have to hope that this first time customer will come back. And they are not doing one thing to ensure that happens. And as we all know, hope is not a plan.
Email Marketing to the rescue!
To turn “hope” into a plan lets replay a part of the last section of the service cycle, Check and Farewell. When the server presents the check, he should also present an eclub signup card and say something like:
“We would love for you to become a member of our eClub. You’ll get a free gift emailed to you if you fill out this card and if you include your birthday information we’ll send an email a few days before the date with a gift. And of course we don’t sell or share your information”.
Now that’s a plan! Your sales force (wait staff) is helping you to build an email marketing database that you will then use to increase the frequency of your guests visits by sending them email communications.
I call this touch marketing because what you are really trying to do is to stay in touch with your customers. Todays customers have alot of choices when it comes to eating out and you want to make sure your restaurant is fresh in their mind so they consider your establishment when making a decision on where to eat. Touch marketing!
I love email marketing for 3 reasons. It is:
1.) Targeted - In this scenario we’re only collecting emails of people who have dined in your establishment. You already have a relationship with this list and your best customers are repeat customers.
2.) Timely - Anything you send will be timely. Whether it’s information about upcoming entertainment or happenings, holiday hours and specials or birthday club emails, they are getting information they can use.
3.) Cheap - Compared to direct mail campaigns or advertising in other forms of media, email marketing is very inexpensive.
Once your staff starts building a customer list you will need a tool to communicate with that list. That conversation is outside the lines of what we talk about in Service Talk but please visit our Remarkable Buzz website for more information on a great email marketing system.
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If you are interested in learning more about email marketing, go to the contact page and fill out the information form. We’ll have a conversation about how email marketing can help your restaurant.
With a little training and help from your service team, you can start an incredibly successful email marketing program today!
