8 Things You Should Never Say to Customers

Great customer relationships: Hard to establish, easy to ruin — especially when you say the wrong things.

Here are eight things you should never say to customers (even if you would secretly love to):

1. “No.” A boss once told me, “Never tell a customer no. Always say, ‘Yes, we can. Here’s what that will cost.’” If you absolutely can’t provide a certain product or service, you can’t, but often you can’t simply because you don’t want to. (In the example above I didn’t want to. What the customer had asked for was certainly possible but would have been a real pain to pull off.) Price unusual requests accordingly: If you can make a decent profit, why not? Making a profit is why you’re in business.
2. “Are you sure?” Customers are often wrong. Too bad. Never directly doubt their statements or their feelings; all you’ll do is make an already bad situation a lot worse. Instead ask questions or seek to better understand. Saying something like, “Can you walk me through that one more time so I can make sure I can take care of what went wrong?” validates the customer’s position while helping you keep the conversation objective and solution-focused.
3. “What you should do is…” Don’t tell me what to do. Help me. That’s why I came to you.
4. “That’s against our policy.” Maybe it is against your policy… but if the customer wasn’t aware of the policy ahead of time, who cares? Any terms or conditions not spelled out in advance are irrelevant to the customer. Imagine you’re a customer who finds out after the fact that special order items can’t be returned — how would you feel? Refer to policies or conditions when the customer was fully aware of and agreed to those conditions; otherwise, find a way to fix the problem. Unstated policies are your problem, not the customer’s.
5. “No problem.” Maybe this is just a pet peeve, but I’m always irritated when, say, I ask a waiter for dressing on the side and he says, “No problem.” I know he means “yes,” but “no problem” still implies I really am causing a problem. When I’m the customer, I’m favoring your business with my patronage; your business isn’t doing me any favors, so never imply you are. Replace “no problem” with “yes.”
6. “Let me try to do that…” Customers care about results, not effort. Tell me what you will do. “Trying” creates greater uncertainty, and uncertainty is the kiss of death to a customer relationship. If a client requests an accelerated delivery, say, “I’ll call our distributor and get the best schedule possible.” All you can do is all you can do.  Don’t imply you’re working extra hard on my behalf by “trying.”
7. “Let me know if you have any other problems.” If a customer comes to you with a problem and you think you’ve resolved that problem, great. But don’t expect the customer to contact you if other issues pop up; follow up a couple days later to make sure all is still well. Solving a customer’s problem meets expectations; following up to see if they need further assistance shows you care.
8. “I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” Maybe you will… but in the meantime the customer is left wondering what “soon” means. Always specify a time. If, when that time comes, you still don’t have all the information you need, contact the customer and say so — and say when you’ll follow up again. Customer relationships are based on managing expectations; “as soon as I can” sounds good but fails to set an expectation the customer can count on.

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Controlling your Restaurant’s Costs: 7 Strategies You Can Use Today

Controlling costs isn't so much about reducing them as it is about maximizing the value for your guests. Restaurateurs tend to look at theft, over portioning and shrinkage in terms of what it does to us as owners and managers. If we are to take a customer-centric approach to the problem, we begin with the question "What is the end result of these actions on my guests?"

Theft is an easy example. An employee that steals from you causes your Cost of Goods sold to increase which must be compensated for by raising prices. Raising prices in turn decreases the value of the customer’s experience. The long term effect of this is that the customer count decreases which leads to lower sales.

A customer-centric look at over-portioning may at first look like a benefit to customers, but nothing is truly free, so if they aren't paying for it in the French fries on their plate, they'll pay for it with a beer price that could be priced 25 cents lower. While this may seem insignificant, the next point isn't so benign. Over-portioning is rarely consistent. This means that the customer that is delighted with the huge portion of French fries will be disappointed with a normal portion on their next visit. Major players in the fast food industry have shown how to handle this problem head on. McDonald's has changed their portions and packaging over the years to make it physically impossible to over-portion their fries. This means that your fry box always seems to be spilling over with fries. It shows how seriously they take consistency in their business and gives us a glimpse at how they have become the world's number one operator.

Shrinkage or spoilage is the third issue that not only hits our bottom line but also our customers. Inefficient purchasing creates crisis situations (we need to get rid of this lettuce) and inferior product for your guests. Not ordering enough on the other hand creates shortages and also results in unhappy guest experiences.

Seven Strategies

So we've seen that these things hurt our guests as well as ourselves. What can we do to fix them?

1. Menu Development 
Do you have a Products Standards Manual? If you do, do the portions listed reflect what's actually going on day-to-day. We've seen situations where the portion size listed in the manual was 40% less than what was actually going onto plates. Correcting this meant actually changing the size in the manual and adjusting pricing and purchasing decisions accordingly.

2. Portion Training 
When a new team member comes on board, are they shown how to estimate portions? Do they check those estimates against a scale or other measure?

3. Prep Guides
How do you decide how much raw product to prep into your restaurant made sauces and other items? Key decisions like this should be thought out with all of the appropriate information at hand.

4. Purchasing 
Reduce the number of vendors you deal with - How many suppliers do you work closely with? Have you spelled out expectations on produce, meats and other perishables? Do you go back and forth between suppliers, focusing on price rather than quality? Instead, try focusing on one main supplier and establish strict expectations with them for quality. Nearly all suppliers treat customers like that better than the "shoppers". By concentrating your volume, you'll gain leverage with the supplier as well.

5. Systemize Ordering 
How do you decide how much product to order? Here's a hint, if you're sitting at a desk to do your order, it's probably wrong. Great operators walk through the restaurant's coolers, freezers, and dry storage while deciding how much to order. In addition, they refer to the previous few weeks of usage to root out any trends or opportunities in their purchasing. As well, they see the condition of what's in stock and act accordingly.

6. Systemize Receiving Do you have a process for receiving? There are four basic steps to receiving the order

• Check for completeness and accuracy
• Check for quality of product, especially produce and meats
• Contact your representative for any credits
• Date all products received

7. Inventory Controls Appropriate inventory controls are critical to closing the loop on controlling your costs. While they can be simple, the solution should be robust enough to alert you to trouble spots in your kitchen and on your menu.

Always keep in mind that your Cost of Goods Sold Percentage only tells you about a part of your business. It won't tell you if your customers are unhappy with portion sizes or if your service levels are suffering. It's up to you as an excellent operator to balance all of the areas of your business.

Darko Consulting services

BUSINESS BREAKEVEN AND COMPETITOR ANALYSIS


Your Business Breakeven
Competitor Analysis
Creating your customer database
Setting your Profit Goal

MARKETING AND PROMOTION


What is Marketing
Two types of Marketing
Three Areas of Marketing you will need to concentrate on
Steps to designing and promoting your restaurant/cafe
Knowing your customers
Economics of the Promotion
Joint Venture Marketing

MENU MENAGMENT

Costing your menus
Menu Engineering
Menu Placment and Design
Pricing

FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

Three main areas to concetrate:
-Cash Flow
-Budgeting
-Stocktaking
Key Performance Indicators (KPI)

HUMAN RESOURCES

Three areas you need to concetrate:
-Recruitment Proces
-Managing your Employees
-Administration

SELLING YOUR BUSINESS

Pre-Sale improvments
How to price your restaurant/cafe
Marketing your business sale
Negotiation

Richard Saporito, keynote speaker and consultant

As an owner/operator or manager, if you want to provide excellent restaurant customer service, then it is essential that operational manuals and forms be implemented for all staff positions.

These manuals and forms must include all restaurant policies, procedures and equally important--- all task breakdowns for all dining room service positions. Aren't you tired of repeating yourself all of the time like a broken record?

It is the only way to ensure consistent and reinforced restaurant customer service training programs. And, it will reduce the number of headaches because there will not be any squabbling amongst employees as to who is supposed to do what service task.

Restaurant employees really want to know what is expected of them when they come to work. They want organization, boundaries and a true understanding of what is expected at their job.

It is a restaurant employer's responsibility to provide this organization in black and white on paper for all staff to read and understand. When I perform restaurant service consulting, it astonishes me all of the time when I find that these mandatory systems are not in place.

The result of this lack of detailed forms and manuals is disorganization and sloppiness which heavily affects restaurant customer service flow and employee morale negatively. If there is low employee morale, it will be harder to keep people satisfied thus easy revenue and repeat customers will be lost unnecessarily.

Here is what physically needs to be done. A folder must be available with titled sections containing all restaurant policies, procedures and task breakdowns for all dining room service positions. Operational manuals, server, bartender, host, busser, food runner training manuals, menu descriptions and sidework duties must be kept safely here.

Each restaurant employee must have the appropriate manuals in their hand that pertains to their position and situation. Once accomplished, all employees will know exactly what they are supposed to do the minute they walk through the front door and begin the first day.

And much more importantly, when there is staff turnover, new hires will receive these proper manuals and forms on -the-spot. This way, they can familiarize themselves with the particular dining room operations in its entirety. And, all restaurant training sessions will run much more smoothly.

Restaurant customer service always suffers when there are new hires that walk aimlessly through the dining room without understanding their task breakdowns.

New hires must trail or "shadow" an experienced staff member at least 3 shifts before coming onto the floor to work. The new hires must be observed by the restaurant management or owner to see if they are properly trained to provide excellent restaurant customer service. If not, then they must continue the trailing process until they are properly trained and ready to serve. Without question, new hires must be drilled and quizzed on their job requirements provided by the restaurant owner or management.

It does take a lot of time, energy, effort, and thought to put these operational forms and manuals together. But, if you want to maximize your restaurant labor force while maintaining a high employee morale, then balance, consistency and constant implementation is the key here. Only a simple tweaking of these manuals and forms will be needed as the restaurant progresses and evolves over the time.

Aren't you tired of repeating yourself all of the time like a broken record?

Richard Saporito, keynote speaker and consultant has been upgrading hundreds of restaurants and hotels across the world for over 15 years. He helps owners, managers, and dining room staffs achieve that outstanding service reputation which always sets a restaurant or hotel apart from its fierce competition. Discover how to improve dining room service and increase your restaurant's business by visiting: http://www.howtoimprovediningroomservice.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Saporito

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15 Biggest service sins

Based on its own surveys, the Telephone Doctor has compiled the 15 biggest sins of customer service employees today. They are listed below, along with Telephone Doctor's guidelines (in parentheses) on how to do it right.

If your company's customer service managers and front-line employees are guilty of any of these, it's time for some action. Otherwise, you may have an image problem that could sabotage your effort to produce and market great products.

1.      Your employees are having a bad day, and their foul mood carries over in conversations with customers. (Everyone has bad days, but customer service employees need to keep theirs to themselves.)

2.      Your employees hang up on angry customers. (Ironclad rule: Never hang up on a customer.)

3.      Your company doesn't return phone calls or voice-mail messages, despite listing your phone number on your Web site and/or in ads and directories. (Call customers back as soon as you can, or have calls returned on your behalf.)

4.      Your employees put callers on hold without asking them first, as a courtesy. (Ask customers politely if you can put them on hold; very few will complain or say "No way!")

5.      Your employees put callers on a speaker phone without asking them first if it is OK. (Again: Ask first, as a courtesy.)

6.      Your employees eat, drink or chew gum while talking with customers on the phone. (A telephone mouthpiece is like a microphone; noises can easily be picked up. Employees need to eat their meals away from the phone. And save that stick of gum for break time.)

7.      You have call-waiting on your business lines, and your employees frequently interrupt existing calls to take new calls. (One interruption in a call might be excusable; beyond that, you are crossing the "rude" threshold. Do your best to be prepared with enough staff for peak calling times.)

8.      Your employees refuse or forget to use the words "please," "thank you" or "you're welcome." (Please use these words generously, thank you.)

9.      Your employees hold side conversations with friends or each other while talking to customers on the phone, or they make personal calls on cell phones in your call center. (Don't do either of these.)

10.  Your employees seem incapable of offering more than one-word answers. (One-word answers come across as rude and uncaring.)

11.  Your employees do provide more than one-word answers, but a lot of the words are grounded in company or industry jargon that many customers don't understand. (If you sell tech products, for example, don't casually drop in abbreviations such as APIs, ISVs, SMTP or TCP/IP.)

12.  Your employees request that customers call them back when the employees aren't so busy. (Customers should never be told to call back. Request the customer's number instead.)

13.  Your employees rush through calls, forcing customers off the phone at the earliest opportunity. (Be a little more discreet. Politely suggest that you've got the information you need and you must move on to other calls.)

14.  Your employees obnoxiously bellow "What's this in reference to?" effectively humbling customers and belittling their requests. (Screening techniques can be used with a little more warmth and finesse. If a caller has mistakenly come your way, do your best to point him or her in the right direction.)

15.  Your employees freely admit to customers that they hate their jobs. (This simply makes the entire company look bad. And don't think such a moment of candor or lapse in judgment won't get back to the boss.)

Restaurant Service

Customer service skills are an important aspect of a restaurant's image. Excellent food can never quite compensate for poor service. There are several ways in which customer service skills can be applied in a restaurant setting. If restaurant employees anticipate customer needs, provide friendly and prompt service, and work hard to accommodate special orders, customers will appreciate their efforts.

Read more: Examples of Restaurant Customer Service Skills | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/way_5157321_examples-restaurant-customer-service-skills.html#ixzz1PKByYtbf