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How to Make Your Employees Customer Service Leaders
Oct 10, 12 | 12:05 am
By Nicholas Sarillo
Marketing. Social media. Advertising. The traditional methods of brand building work just fine, but how do you take your efforts to the next level? How do you build your brand from the inside out so that your business "culture" enhances the culture of your community?
We give team members Moments of Magic cards to hand out in the community when they see positive, altruistic behavior reflective of our mission: to provide our community with an unforgettable place where they can connect with family and friends, to have fun and to feel at home. The handouts are essentially Nick's business cards with our mission printed on the front. On the back of the card is a coupon for a free appetizer. There is also a blank line for our team members to write in the name of the person receiving the card and the date, along with a line where they can sign their own names.
Although our Moments of Magic cards offer a great opportunity to empower our team members to build sales, more importantly, they help us demonstrate to our community that good behavior is important to us-both at our restaurants and elsewhere in town. In return, the community has shown their appreciation for these simple acts of kindness by becoming loyal guests.
Inside our restaurants, we use a straightforward, five-step method for creating Moments of Magic, which we break down into "art" and "science." Take a look:
1. Greet every guest within five steps of you
In training we demonstrate how close five steps can be by putting two people back to back and asking them to each take two and a half steps away from each other. While we may have boiled this down to a science, we still allow for some "artfulness" on the part of our staff by encouraging them to say use any verbal acknowledgement of their choosing. If their hands are full, a simple smile and a nod works, too.
2. Greet all guests coming into and out of the restaurants
This can be applied to any business. Acknowledging someone's presence and thanking them for their business is a simple best practice.
3. Answer phones within three rings
Our team members answer the phone in three rings, even if it means diving across the room to get it. Regardless if you are the company receptionist, answering the phone urgently is a simple extension of our value to greet guests as soon as they enter our doors.
Source for full article: OPEN Forum
