4 Remarkable Service blogs

I love movies but two chick flicks in one weekend…my wife owes me big time!

One of the movies we watched was called “No Reservations” starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. I wasn’t really looking forward to watching the movie but it did have a couple of elements I liked. Catherine was in it, and from the sounds of the title it had to do with restaurants.

The movie takes place at 22 Bleecker, a fictitious, upscale restaurant in Manhattan. What I really liked about this film, besides Zeta-Jones being in it (did I mention I like her), was that they showed scenes of the wait staff in training.

It’s not very often while watching a chick flick that I sit up and pay close attention during a restaurant scene, but this was good. The scence depicted the owner leading the staff through a training session. They were conducting sales training!

One scene has the staff sitting around a large table. The chef is up front passing around samples of a new menu item he has created. They are attempting to educate the team and to get the wait staff excited about the new item.

The second scene has the servers standing at the table practicing how to describe a bottle of wine. They are trying to paint a picture with creative words that will inspire their guests to want to purchase a bottle. I loved that!

With all of the negative chatter I hear about how servers should not be selling (don’t believe most of it) I thought we should make a point around sales today. One of the top rules of selling in a restaurant is:

Customers don’t want to be sold, they want to buy.

Your customers don’t want to feel like they are being sold yet they do want to buy, on their own terms. That’s why in our Maximizing Sales training module we teach how to present menu items in an inviting way.

An easy way to show this is to look at an example.

When someone asks about today’s special you can say “The sandwich has roast beef, cheese, and olives on wheat bread and it’s heated”.

Or you can say “The cook piles lean, thin-sliced beef on fresh-baked wheat bread and tops that with Italian provolone cheese. Then he puts it under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly and tops it with a sprinkling of sliced Spanish olives.”

Which one makes you want to buy?

Desserts are another menu item where your customers absolutely don’t want to be sold. They are watching their weight this year, or trying to get into shape, don’t want to spend the money… the list can go on and on. But deep down they really do want to buy that Midnight Ice Cream Cake which has layers and layers of chocolate. They just need a nudge.

A server walking up to the table and asking “did you save any room for dessert” is not the nudge I’m talking about. In fact it allows your guests to go into autopilot and say no.

But an excited server that is passionate around the Midnight Ice Cream Cake, creates a beautiful image and offers to bring out multiple forks, is the nudge that can convince your guests that he or she does indeed want to try that cake. They were not sold, they wanted to buy.

Besides, it’s a common known fact that desserts shared with friends don’t have any calories

I used a phrase last week that I swore, as does every new parent, I would never use. We heard it countless times growing up. It was a phrase that was so unfair to us as children that when it rolled off my tongue I was shocked at what I heard. Did I say that?

To be fair she had it coming. She, being my 5 year old named Paris, questioned me about why she had to go to bed at 8:30. My response to the bedtime question was really the only logical response left at my disposal after a long day and no energy left.

“Because I said so.”

I know, I know, I’m still stunned I said it.

I’m going to bet you’ve felt like uttering that very same phrase when your team members question you as to why they have to do things. From side work to cleaning procedures to the use of serving trays, you’ve been asked many “why” questions.

The “why” question I want to talk about today is one I discussed with a group during a recent speaking engagement. I did an Extreme Service Makeover session and one of the questions that we discussed was “Why give Remarkable Service?”.

The people that attended this session were so energetic and passionate about their respective establishments that I would like to share their responses with you.

Here’s the top 6 responses to “Why give Remarkable Service”:

1. Makes us stand out
With poor service seemingly everywhere, delivering Remarkable Service makes you stand out from the crowd. It also makes a positive impression on your guests. Leading to number two

2. Keeps guests coming back
We have a client that has a motto of “Make every guest a repeat guest”. You do that by providing Remarkable Service, thus giving them a reason to come back and to tell others about your place which leads to number three

3. Creates word-of-mouth advertising
The cheapest and best form of advertising is word-of-mouth. Deliver on the promise of Remarkable Service and people will talk about you in a good way. And the more people that talk about you, leads us to number 4

4. Increases sales
Just read the first three on this list and you can see that by providing Remarkable Service you will make more money. Word-of-mouth advertising is the most effective means of advertising and repeat guests are the most profitable guests. Build your customer base and keep them coming back. Increase in sales is just a by-product of the first three.

5. Makes for a fun place to work
It’s nice to go to work for a company that you know is doing things the right way. Who wouldn’t want to work at an establishment that thrives on service. It’s a contagious habit that spreads quickly to new hires.

6. Because you want to keep your job.
It’s kind of funny but serious at the same time. Bringing this up probably won’t win you any manager of the year awards but if they don’t understand the first five hit them hard with number six

The next time you get questioned about why providing Remarkable Service is important, skip the “Because I said so” and give them this list. Now I’m going to start working on my parenting response that will replace, “If everybody jumped off a bridge would you follow them…”

It’s that time of the year! No I’m not talking about Santa, although that is an important topic of conversation in my household. I’m talking about planning sessions for the New Year.

This is the time when most companies sit down and put a plan of action together for the coming year. It’s called strategic planning.

I firmly believe these strategic planning meetings are very important, especially for restaurants. I see it way to often where owners and operators in this industry get stuck working IN their business instead of ON their business. These sessions help many to bridge the gap from IN to ON.

You might be thinking to yourself ”these planning session sound great! What should we work on?” Great question!

Typically the focus of these planning meetings is on the entire operation. Things that can be discussed include menu, food quality and consistency, marketing, facilities and of course my personal favorite, and then one I’m going to help you with today, service.

So lets put a plan together for an Extreme Service Makeover for next year and raise the service levels in your establishment to a remarkable level!

It’s a 4 step process

==>1. Create your service expectations

You must lay out what your service expectations are so you can communicate these expectations to your staff. Your training program should be designed to fulfill these expectations.

If you don’t know what your expectations should or could be then you need to work with someone to help you in this area. Our training programs have them built into the training and are customizable per store.

==> 2. Educate your people

Change doesn’t happen by chance; it occurs as you communicate your service message and LEAD by example. That’s wonderful that you completed step #1 but unless you follow through with step #2 you might as well have used that time to take your management team to see a movie.

Nobody should be allowed onto your team until they understand that you are creating a culture of service. This culture is what drives your business!

==> 3. Add staff that fit into your mission of providing Remarkable Service

It’s time to take a hard look at your hiring practices. Make sure new hires fit or can be molded into your new culture. Conversely it may be time to move some FOH staff members to the BOH or grab some job applications from your competitors and slip those under their windshield wipers. You wouldn’t really do that would you?

==> 4. Evaluate and Measure

There is a saying that goes “You can’t improve what you don’t measure”. Whether you use secret shopper scores or create your own service audit form, measuring your process is the only way to improve your culture.

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An Extreme Service Makover is not as sexy as say building a fully furnished new house in a week or having doctors completely change the way you look. But it will make your establishment more money. Check out our ROI calculator and see what an Extreme Service Makeover can do for you.

The Question
How many words does it take to wait on a guest at a full-service restaurant? Based on my experience recently, I know the answer.

I try not to write about bad service experiences very often because, well, it’s too easy :) Plus I think it comes across sounding like I’m whining. That said, this was one experience I had to write about.

The Story
It was a little after 1 in the afternoon when my business partner, Stuart, and I pulled into the parking lot of an independent restaurant in Dallas. (Restaurant name withheld to protect the innocent)

The hostess gave a warm greeting and sat us at a table near the front. She took our drink order and told us our waiter would be along shortly. The drinks arrived and a few seconds later our waiter, “Bill”, approached the table.

The greeting is a key moment in a service interaction. First impressions, creating hospitality etc… It’s at this point where the pros sizzle and the duds (or untrained) fizzle.

Bill’s all important greeting; “Ready to order?”.

I hate that!! That opening is wrong on so many levels. All I’m looking for is a nice warm greeting which I don’t think is too much for you to ask from your staff.

I knew this wasn’t going to go well so I ordered a burger. Hey, if the wait staff is this poorly trained I’m not taking any chances with the kitchen help. It’s hard to mess up a burger and fries order.

Stuart tried to give Bill a shot at redemption so he asked “What’s the one thing you do great here that would make me want to come back”? “Ribs” was his single word reply. Apparently no further explanation was needed.

Bill rushes off with the burger and ribs order and a bit later the food is brought out. I should mention, the timing of the meal was fantastic, what with no words to slow him down and all.

I was pretty sure we wouldn’t get the two minutes or two bites check back and I was not disappointed. Near the end of the meal Bill did notice an empty glass and he asked “what are you drinking?”.

Home Run!! Without much effort Bill had doubled his word count. Way to go Bill!!!

He finished off nicely with a “thanks” as we left the table. I found myself wondering if he set a personal best for fewest words during a service cycle.

The Answer
So now we know the answer to my original question. How many words does it take to wait on a table? 9!
 
The Solution
I can’t make this kind of service experience up. The whole time we’re both thinking, where is the manager? Bill obviously isn’t cut out for this line of work but someone hired him and put him on the floor. Does he always exhibit this type of behavior or was he having a bad day?

The real question you have to ask is how much business is Bill losing the restaurant?

Here are some steps you can take to make sure this doesn’t happen at your restaurant

1. Have a structured wait staff training program. Set the service expectations up front. Call us for help with this. 
2. Have a way for the guest to communicate their experience. Comment cards or a web site to enter comments work great.
3. Conduct Service Audits. We offer service audit worksheets for our clients to use.
4. MBWA - Management by wandering around. I doubt if anyone reading Service Talk would have allowed this behavior to exist.  

Hit the floor to see what kind of service experience your guests are having. Don’t let poor service stand in the way of your success.

I celebrated my wedding anniversary last week. As I look back, two things amaze me. Number one, I convinced a beautiful, smart woman to be my wife and number two, how important timing has been during our relationship.

Timing played an important role when I asked her out on our first date, leaned in for the first kiss, called for the second date, asked for her hand in marriage, and timing was critical when I broke the news that during our last garage sale I accidentally sold a few things that her mother had given us. Yes, timing was and is very important in our relationship.

In the restaurant world timing is everything. From the guest’s point of view, timing can be the difference between an average experience and a remarkable one.

Timing is important when delivering drinks to the table, delivering an entree after a salad, checking back to make sure their food is OK and on and on. But there are 3 critical timing periods during a guest experience that I want to make sure you focus on when training your service staff.

==> 1.  Initial greeting

Technically this isn’t a timing issue because there shouldn’t be a lapse in time. :) A top priority should be an immediate greeting for guests who enter your establishment. Guests want and need to feel welcome and important. A big first step towards meeting those needs is a prompt and gracious greeting.

A common mistake I see owners and managers make is letting the staff believe that the greeting is only the job of the host or hostess. A huge pet peeve of mine is when I walk into a restaurant and the host is seating someone but there are servers near the front that don’t offer a greeting. Train your service staff to always be looking for ways to create hospitality.

We work with one client that has their entire team greet the guests when they enter and depart the restaurant.

==> 2.  Service greeting

This is the point where the server greets the table. I’ve talked about this before so I’ll keep this point brief. Once the guests are seated, keep the wait time under two minutes. And if you want to be better then average, keep the service greeting time under 30 seconds and the drink delivery time under two minutes.

==> 3.  Check Please

If you keep a guest waiting for their check after they have finished their meal you will see the tip percentage fall. We’re not a patient society and when a guest is ready to leave they want the check and they want the check turned around now! Managing time during this stage of the service cycle is critical. There are a couple of steps we teach in our training:

    1. Calculate the check beforehand so that you can present it to the guest without delay.
    2. Inquire first if there is anything else you can bring for the guest. Don’t rush the guest. Say, “This is just for your convenience. I’ll take care of it when you’re ready.”
    3. Monitor the table to be aware of when the guest has finished with the check so that you can process and return in under 2 minutes.

Make sure your staff doesn’t dampen an otherwise outstanding service experience by neglecting a guest that mentally has already left your establishment.

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Timing is everything during the dining experience. Make sure you talk with your staff about how to use timing to create a positive experience for your guests. And if the timing is right, those guests will remain regulars for at least 11 years!

It was a sad day in the Hookham household. My oldest daughter, Paris, started Kindergarten. My wife cried because her daughter is getting older and growing up. I cried because I’m getting older

This is the time of the year when kids go back to school. Which means it’s also the busiest time of the year for our clients in terms of hiring and training. We have clients that are experiencing a 50% turnover rate this fall. And that, my friends, will bring tears to any management team!

Hiring is an important part of a manager’s job function. By hiring the right people, and I’m talking about people that are service oriented, your training will be that much more effective.

I once had a manager tell me that he only hires people that have been trained by a national chain restaurant. He figured that since the employee had already received some training he wouldn’t have to do much. He wasn’t a client so I just bit my lip and kept quiet, but if he was a client (or even a just a friend) what I would have said was….

“So let me see if I get this right. You only hire the people that your competitors down the street either fire or won’t give any hours to, is that right? And you don’t see a problem with this strategy?”

I’m not saying you shouldn’t hire someone with experience; just make sure you find the real reason that experience is coming in your door looking for a job. Maybe they moved into the area to attend a local college, or their best friend works for you. During the interview ask the question “Why do you want to work here?” and check references.

And while hiring someone with experience is great, the most important component you should look for in an applicant is that they have people skills. Seems obvious but let me explain.

There are two sides to the Remarkable Service coin. On one side is the technical performance. This includes things like timing issues, how to deliver the food, clearing the table etc. In general these are the systems and procedures of the job that our training products teach in order to provide Remarkable Service.

On the flip side we have what I call the hospitality factor; the ability to display warmth and friendliness to your guests. This side of the coin is harder to train your staff on then the systems and procedures side. Our training products teach ways to provide hospitality, but it’s always more effective if you hire people that are friendly, courteous and enthusiastic. Take these people and then train them in the systems and procedures of being a server.

Things to look for during an interview include eye contact, good verbal skills, enthusiasm and attentiveness. Asking open ended questions during an interview will help to uncover if your applicant has these things. A great question to ask is “Tell me about a great service experience you’ve had at a restaurant?”.

The last tool I want to talk about in helping you hire the right people are assessment tools. Currently we are testing an online assessment tool that can be used for both FOH staff and managers. These tools measure things like work ethic, integrity, teamwork and reliability. I know of several establishments that are having great success using these types of tools as a part of there hiring process.

Hiring for service can be a difficult task, but looking for the hospitality factor in your applicants will increase your chances for successful hires. Now if I could just find a tool to keep me from aging!

As a business that works directly with restaurants I have the opportunity to talk with owners and operators from all over North America. They call us for a variety of different reasons. Some want to talk about the details our new Quick Service training program. Some want to learn more about how email marketing can help their establishment. But most call to see if we can help them with their service training needs.

All of these “Service issue” fall into one of three categories.

1. The service team is full of order-takers.
2. Their service team is less then remarkable.
3. Restaurant isn’t open yet but looking for staff training resources. (Good for you! Be sure and contact us if you fall into this category.)

Does your establishment fall into any of these categories? For this article let’s talk about service issue #1, order-takers.

I was talking on the telephone recently with an owner who was complaining to me about his staff, and I quote ”I have a bunch of vending machines with legs walking around here”. Now that’s a great visual!

Unfortunately this is a very common problem that we see and hear about. But there is some good news. It’s easy to fix because your team wants to fix it.

That’s right. You have a problem that your staff wants to help you fix. Before you call me crazy let me explain.

Restaurants and their service staff share the same goal; both want to make as much money as possible.

Both sides know the best way to do this is to build customer loyalty. And you build that loyalty by providing guests with the best possible experience. In order to provide that experience your team has to drop the order-taker attitude and become server-sellers.

Being a successful server-seller is not a skill that one is born with. It’s not something you wake up one day and decide to be or do. No, the only way to get your staff to the promise land is through education and training. Any service training you provide your staff should include a section on becoming a server-seller.

A Server-Seller:

=== > 1. Knows that selling is a part of providing Remarkable Service

Selling doesn’t have to refer to the kind of hard sales pitch you might hear at a used car lot. Selling, in this context, can be a matter of making the right suggestion at the right time. It can be recognizing that your guest has a need and coming up with the best way to satisfy that need.

This isn’t pushing something unwanted on your guest, it is understanding exactly what he or she wants and guiding them to it.

===> 2. Knows that selling is a triple win

The guest is happy because they had a wonderful experience. The restaurant is successful because the guest will become a regular. When your restaurant is successful, the wait staff has an opportunity to serve more people and thus make more money. And with an increased check average they make more in tips. That’s a triple win.

As a final benefit, when the restaurant is successful, working there is more enjoyable for team members which cuts down on turnover which saves money.

 ===> 3. Makes the guest feel pampered

There’s a difference between someone who merely takes orders and someone who is successful at serving guests. The person who merely takes orders is missing the opportunity to make the customer feel cared for and pampered.

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A good server-seller helps your guests to make decisions that will increase his or her satisfaction. Bottom line: The guest leaves happy with the experience they had at your establishment. And make no mistake; your guests are looking for an experience. Food they can buy at the grocery store for far less money. What they get from you is an experience that the server-seller provides.

They’re young, smart and outspoken. They have grown up immersed in a digital-and Internet-driven world. And if you have employees that are in their late teens and early twenties, they work for you. This is Generation Y.

While it’s often noted that Gen Y is a very high performing generation, I’ve made some observations relating to service pitfalls that tend to dominate this group. In this article I’ll touch on three of these issues and provide coaching solutions to help in fixing them.
 

“Hi Guys.”

When a server walks up to a table of mixed gender and says “Hi Guys”, we in the service business call this a “poor” welcoming statement. (We actually use slightly different wording but I’m using the family friendly version :))

A welcoming statement should do many things, but what it shouldn’t do is alienate one of the genders sitting at the table.

I’ve met very few ladies that like being called a guy. In fact, I have a friend who couldn’t get a female free-lance designer to work on his project because he put “Hi Guys” as the opening of an email he sent. Ouch!

The scary part for me is I’ve found myself starting to use this phrase in informal gatherings with friends. And I have to admit, (as the song goes) it’s a hard habit to break.

If you catch your staff using this phrase with guests, pull him or her aside and offer some coaching. Have them prepare a planned welcoming statement to use with their guests. “Hi Everyone…” or “Hello thanks for coming in today…” are some simple examples that won’t offend.

A well planned out and rehearsed welcoming statement will make it much easier to break the habit of  saying “Hi Guys”.
 

You da Man…Here’s the Check

This isn’t just a generation Y problem but it surprises me when I see it happening with them. Aren’t these kids supposed to be the enlightened ones? Isn’t this the group that sees gender as neutral and men and women as equals?

So why is it that I keep getting the check?

I enjoy many business lunches with women. But being of the male gender set I would guess that I’m presented with the check 75% of the time. Which is a bit awkward because I’m usually not the one paying the bill.

Coach your staff that unless someone calls for the check, just lay it in a neutral position on the table.
 

Look them in the Eye

I was reading an article that said 97% of this generation has a computer and a cell phone. With these devices most of their communication is done digitally. Face to face communication is not something they are as familiar with. That’s a problem when trying to provide Remarkable Service, which is mostly about face to face communication.

Eye contact, and maintaining that eye contact, is very important during the communication between server and guests. It shows the guest that they have your undivided attention.

The first two parts of creating hospitality are 1.) Look at me and 2.) Smile at me. Observe and practice this with you staff to make sure they are getting this right. What may come easy and natural to you may need to be practiced for others.

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When you observe your staff modeling any of these negative behaviors, work with them to correct the problem. Generation Y is going to be the primary workforce in the restaurant industry for many years to come so look for opportunities to coach this high-performing generation to provide Remarkable Service.

My first job out of college was for an Insurance company in Des Moines, Iowa. I worked in the training department under the leadership of Mr. Crane, the Vice President of Sales. A good man, he taught me several valuable lessons that I’ve used throughout my career.

One of the first lessons he taught me is the one I want to talk about in this article. It’s very applicable to the food service industry and it’s a lesson that every owner and manager should be keenly aware of:

Inspect what you Expect

As owners and managers, each of you have certain expectations of what a guest is going to experience when they dine at your establishment. You have expectations about the food they will enjoy, the atmosphere, the physical environment, and you certainly have expectations about the service that will be provided.

For example, each of you has an expectation around what happens immediately after a guest is seated at a table. You expect the guest to be greeted by a server in a timely manner. The national average for this timely interaction is two minutes. But how many of you think of your establishments as average? 

We have clients that expect the guests to be greeted within 30 seconds and the drink order to be delivered within the first two minutes of being seated. Now that’s Remarkable Service!

But just because you expect something to happen does not mean that it is going to happen. I expect my little toddler to put her shoes on while getting dressed in the morning. But upon inspection, well, life is full of little disappointments
So after you define your expectations and you communicate that message to your staff via your training and pre-shifts (We can help you define your service expectation, call us), you have to inspect what you expect. This can be done in several different ways.

Walk the floor
A great way to inspect if your service standards are being met, is to walk the floor during peak revenue periods. Touch the tables, and by that I mean talk to your guests, to make sure their expectations are being met. (Quick point: Your expectations mean very little if they don’t align with your guests expectations.)

While you’re walking the floor, look for things that are not meeting your expectations and also look for things that are being done properly. When you are coaching an employee it’s best to offer praise along with your corrections.

Now I can already hear your collective thoughts. “The staff does great when I’m around, it’s when I’m not there that everything goes to pieces.” There is a solution for that.

Secret Shoppers
A lot can be said about secret shoppers but for this article lets keep it short and just say that if you want to be absolutely sure your expectations are being met, this is a great way to inspect what you expect.

How would you like to see the intensity level of your wait staff go up? Start posting secret shopper scores for everybody to see
A secret shopper program works because, when done correctly, you can compare your service scores on a month by month basis. You can’t improve what you don’t measure and this is a great way to measure your expectations.

Summary
Inspect what your Expect. It’s a simple concept that will bring a great deal of success to those that follow this life lesson.

Another year, another New Years resolution list. First on my list this year is I’ve decided not to smoke. I should mention I’ve never smoked a cigarette in my life so this one should be a slam dunk. Next on my list is my weight. It’s not that I need to lose any of it; I’d just like to move and firm up what I have. This one will take a little more work.

Last on this years resolution list, have more fun. My girls, aged 4 and 1 inspired me to add this. Outside of having to eat their vegetables they always seem to be having fun and enjoying life. I’ve also noticed they learn at a much faster pace and retain more when the learning is surrounded in a fun activity. I think there is a lesson here for restaurants training their staff. Keep the learning fun!

For your service staff it’s great to have a structured training process in place, in fact it’s imperative for success. (Please contact us if you need help with this). But that training is not going to “Stick” and retention will be low if the training isn’t interactive and at least a little fun.

And while the impact training that you do for new hires should be mandatory, it’s the follow-up, or reinforcement training, that will sustain Remarkable Service and maximized tickets.

For example, in our training we teach how to sell desserts and after-dinner-drinks. But if you want your staff to focus on this during their shifts you can’t just keep harping on them to sell, sell, sell because after awhile it will fall on deaf ears.

So make a game of it and have some fun. Create Bingo cards with your different desserts and drinks on the squares and have them cover each one they sell. Hand out prizes for each bingo, covering the four corners and black-out. This is just one example but their are many ways to keep the learning and teaching fun.

For our clients we’ve developed an online “millionaire” style game that allows them to reinforce their service, sales and operational procedures via an online game. It’s a FUN and easy way to connect with today’s workers. Plus it allows you to keep track of who is doing the learning.

To see an example of the millionaire game click here. Don’t forget to use your lifelines!

Training your staff and reinforcing that learning shouldn’t always be about eating your vegetables, it should also be about having fun. And trust me, a staff that is having fun will firm up your bottom line!