Alternatives to “No”

No one likes being told no to something they want, especially if they think their request is completely reasonable. Being told no can turn a positive interaction negative, especially if it’s not handled well. Oftentimes, how you’re given an answer is just as important as the answer itself. Shep Hyken…
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The Wow Starts Now

“The Customer Experience” is a catchall term you’ll hear thrown around a lot in the retail and service industries. It encompasses the entire interaction a customer has with your business, including everything from branding impressions, the store visit, and to what happens after—customer service, sales, and support. For a restaurant,…
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The Trust Economy

Reputation is everything. It encompasses every aspect of your business, from the quality of your products to the care you show your customers. It’s word-of-mouth, and it’s the number of stars on Google Reviews, Yelp, or whatever else. Perhaps most of all, it’s a measure of your business’s trustworthiness to…
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Why Employees Should Care About Net Profit

Anyone who has ever looked at a business’s financials will quickly understand the difference between gross and net profit. But for clarity sake, let’s define them. Gross profit equates to how much money is made on a sale after deducting its production costs, while net profit is what’s left over…
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Learning from the Competition and Beyond

Customer-service expert Shep Hyken has another great take on what it takes to deliver a superior customer experience, this time taking a look at the importance of studying the competition. But, as he explains, it’s not as simple as copying what they do: “if all you are is a copy…
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Watching the Tape

When most business owners think about mystery shopping, they picture an average consumer entering a store to evaluate the customer experience. This includes everything from the impressions they form when approaching the store’s exterior to how the employees treat them once they’re inside. Additionally, they’ll usually have feedback regarding store…
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Mystery Shopping During a Pandemic

Whether you’re a longtime mystery shopper, a dabbler, or a first-timer, you’ve probably wondered how this process works in light of the coronavirus pandemic. After all, restricted occupancy, social distancing, and facial coverings are sure to make any customer experience awkward and your task as an evaluator challenging—to say the…
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Beyond Order-Taking

Let’s return to RestaurantRockstars.com’s Roger Beaudoin again for inspiration, this time for how to maximize profits and create an overall superior customer experience through good sales practices and quality options. To begin, we can see in another video podcast with RunningRestaurants.com that Beaudoin describes the difference between salespeople and order-takers. He…
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More Keys to a Great Restaurant Work Culture

More Keys to a Great Restaurant Work Culture Last week, we covered RestaurantRockstars.com-founder Roger Beaudoin’s first four keys to developing a great restaurant work environment. This week, we’ll detail the remaining points of his philosophical roadmap for ensuring a great customer experience. If It’s Not Fun, Why Do It? Beaudoin…
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