Back To Basics - Soliciting Better Feedback
TLDR
Everyone benefits from better guest insights,
📌 No amount of marketing will make up for a poor guest experience
📌 “Was everything ok?” won’t get you the feedback you need
📌 Guest comments can be used to prioritise briefing and training content
📌 Floor managers will become better leaders and ensure guests leave happier
Still with me?
We all obsess over the marketing, PR and social media for our brand, and so we should.
But in the face of rising costs, fewer job candidates and the cost of living crisis, what happens in our bars and dining rooms is more important than ever.
Guests are seeking an escape from the mounting pressures of everyday life when they eat and drink out, and more bang for their buck.
All this at a time when it’s becoming harder to maintain standards. Forced to recruit for personality and potential, rather than skill and experience, in a way hospitality has never had to before.
Just another opening
At a recent venue launch by an established brand with multiple sites, I was shocked by the appalling level of service. But worse than this, the many members of senior management who were there to oversee the event were oblivious to just how bad things were.
Launches are the culmination of months of hard work. An opportunity to deal with teething problems and polish all the aspects of the brand experience. Yet we witnessed a total lack of care, focus and passion for the very product they’ve worked so hard to create.
No member of the management team did anything to remedy just how bad things were, and not once were we asked for our feedback. Sadly, this is something I’m seeing all too often. And not just at launches.
Long after senior management have returned to their offices and moved onto the next opening, it’s the floor managers who assume the day-to-day responsibility for the brand experience.
They need tools to be able to improve as leaders, as much as they need insightful feedback so guests have the best possible time in their venues.
Focusing on junior management
I’ve always looked closely at the tension that prevails for floor managers. Often inexperienced leaders, they’re responsible for the wellbeing of their teams during service.
It’s all too easy for them to join in with any disquiet or negativity that may exist amongst front line staff in an attempt to get on with and appease them. Whereas they also have a responsibility to reinforce the objectives and culture of the company in the face of this. A difficult position to be in when you’re 23 with authority for the first time.
Feedback loops are essential as part of an open, nurturing brand culture. And whilst the particulars of this where your team is concerned is for another time, everyone benefits when objective guest feedback is sought out, and put into action to facilitate constant improvement.
How do you find out what people really think?
In my experience, people who are pissed off will never tell you. They’ll just leave and never come back. That is, of course, unless you ask them what they thought in the correct way.
If a server or manager has built rapport during a guests’ visit then it’s much easier to have an open and honest conversation about what they liked and what could be improved. So really, the effectiveness of what happens at the end of the meal relies heavily on what happens during it.
“How was everything?” and “Was everything ok?” are useless questions. Of course everything was fine, even if it wasn’t. Particularly if you’re British and don’t want to make a fuss.
Whereas asking “How would you rate your experience out of ten?” opens the door to a score which let’s face it, is never going to be ten. So now you can ask “what would have made it a ten?” and get a ton of amazing feedback.
It really is as simple as that.
This feedback can then be collated by your managers and built into future briefings, training sessions and management practices. Making all of this so much more worthwhile now you know what guests really think.
It’s a great way to prioritise improvements as you’ll pick up on recurring themes along the way. Helping your managers to keep on top of the reality of what’s going on table side, and improve their own performance at the same time.
Everybody wins
No amount of online marketing is going to make up for a poor experience in a venue. But if you can make incremental improvements to your brand experience, and ensure your guests feel valued and listened to, you’re going to be on your way to more repeat custom and better word of mouth.
After all, it’s easier and cheaper to re-market to someone who already loves you than it is to acquire them as guests for the first time.
I believe brands are really built in the bars and dining rooms of hospitality businesses. So much so in fact, I’ve built my business around it.
Good luck, and happy feedback hunting!
Do you want to learn more about how I help companies to launch and scale hospitality brands from the inside? Or do you have a project or collaboration you’d like to discuss?
