Be Pro Active When Dealing With Complaints
(Blogger's Note: This is the first of a three part series on winning over that disgruntled customer and turning the rant to a rave.)
The realization that it's January and everything having to do with the Holidays is history hit hard this morning. The ornaments, gifts, and other signs of the past month are now stashed and with the exception of a few Grinches who will certainly surface to lodge their complaints about holiday service, the memories of an enjoyable season will linger. Or will they?
The smallest complaint about service, food or attitude, blown out of proportion and circulated throughout our customer base and beyond, can dampen the good will we work to build throughout the holiday season.
It's bound to happen to a few of us or possibly more. And we all know the feeling. Within a few days some of us will be receiving the letters, emails, and tweets from the "disgruntle customer at table 23".
Once upon a time, that customer would call or write, vent and rant, receive the standard apology and possible gift-certificate-compensation diminishing the demon lingering within their psyche. Today's changing world has transformed the almost obsolete customer phone call or letter into a larger audience footprint for the upset customer's vicious stomp.
Years back I was faced with a rude, obnoxious, over demanding customer completely out of line in my restaurant. The manager complained to me, the hostess complained and the server complained, all begging that I ban the guy and his guests from my restaurant. Eventually I had enough of the grief and 86'd the customer. His party had not finished their meal when the boom was lowered so I picked up the tab, gave them the boot and offered them the door.
The following morning I was greeted with signs on every street light and telephone pole in San Francisco's Marina District broadcasting my actions. The customer had spent the remaining hours of the evening making signs to voice his displeasure. The problem I had with the situation was he was a very tall guy. I'm not. For me to take down the signs I would have needed a ladder which would have drawn more attention to the message. I left the signage in place. The publicity enticed people into the restaurant to inquire about the episode. Through increased hospitality and a few free drinks I increased business and customer loyalty.
Today, however, disgruntled whispers quickly turn into broadcasted shouts over the internet's choices of communication and are not see easy to track and contain. Whether it be a tweet, a posting on Yelp or other rave, rant and review sites it is difficult to squelch the squeals of unhappiness. Others who re obsesses create an entire blog for the purpose of voicing their discontent. Unhappy customers and even disgruntled employees can do major damage to a well run restaurant's reputation and business.
We all face occasional unbearable stress levels at times and often, we allow the pressure to get to us. We then pass the attitude on to our servers, chefs and managers showing through to the customer. This sets the tone for the disgruntled call, email or letter.
One of the first steps we all need to take is to inquire at today's pre shift meetings if anyone had a bad experience in the dining room over the holidays. They need to make management aware of the problem so you can be ready to deal with the problem once it surfaces. And, it is a better business practice to be pro-active, to contact the customer, apologize and make amends than it is to find out about the incident online, or worse, from another customer.
Tomorrow: How to deal with the unhappy blog poster, the tweet twit, and the rant reviewers.
