I was out at dinner with some fellow business friends on Friday night, it was very interesting hearing about their recent experiences when dining out. I must say that our dining experience was great and so was the food, so I must give a plug to The Cooperage on Main Street.
During the evening the friends we were with were bemoaning the fact that many of the places that they visit here in Palmerston North provide little or no customer service. This isn’t just the Cafe/Restaurant area as retail is also classic with this.
This really amuses me as people that I talk with that provide services to others would say that they provide great customer service. I smile!!
One of my friends went to mid range restaurant and said that the person that served their table was so vacant that they might as well have not been there. They requested salt and pepper and this took so long that they were finishing their meal when this finally arrived. This may not be a big thing but is important to the diner.
I cringe when people talk of the rugby world cup coming to New Zealand and the fact that games will be in many areas of the country and just what are business owners doing to upskill their staff to ensure that people have a great experience when visiting their business.
One of the cry’s that regularly come back from businesses that serve the public is the fact that many of the people employed are only part-time and are students or work part-timers as this suits their circumstances, so they are not prepared to invest in any training to give these people the skills that they would benefit from to perform their job a lot better with having the knowledge as what people expect.
This leads to the fact that employers end up with disgruntled staff as the employer growls at the staff member who then gets anti the owner/boss and so the spiral begins with the staff being disgruntled and they move on to the next place of employment.
If employers put more time into training their staff they would find that staff would be happier and go the extra mile for the organisation and the boss that values them and the efforts they make.
We are Customer Service professionals and would be really happy to discuss how we can help improve staff and management to get those extra sales and repeat business.
If you are reading this and are employed by someone that need some help maybe its a good time to sow a seed in their ear about some training.
Keep watching for some tips to help develop good customer service
