Here’s a hard to shake behavior I’ve been correcting for in customer loyalty initiatives and when consulting on customer service lately. It’s a rushed, cursory sentence, containing its own answer, and it’s been spreading through service, restaurant service in particular, of late:
“How’s everything–good?”
Instead of really asking how everything is and waiting for an actual answer, your waitstaff suggest they already know the answer is “good,” look for a nod or at least not a shaken head from the guest, and move on to their next table.
This makes sense, in a superficial way, and I certainly sympathize, having slung my fair share of hash myself: You have no idea how much it reduces inefficiency in a restaurant to never have anything other than a rushed “uh huh” as the answer.
But customers are inefficient. In fact, inefficiency, thy name is “customer.” And everything, including finding out what customers truly think of your product, needs to await the inefficient input of the customer. No matter how inconvenient that is.
From Micah Solomon – customer service consultant, keynote speaker, customer loyalty speaker, and #1 bestselling author of “Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization.” Visit with Micah at https://micahsolomon.com. Or, click here for your own free chapter of Micah Solomon’s #1 customer service bestseller, Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization
© 2011
