The Business of Capturing and Keeping Customers
In a busy restaurant in the heart of Beijing city, three of my 5-star hotel GM friends admitted that they have actually taken a leaf or two on service levels from this locally operated restaurant.
In our group of 6 adults and 2 children, we visited the restaurant on a night just after the 2008 Olympics. At the entrance, there were a few ladies having their manicure and pedicure while men were having their shoes shined. I was told that this was a free service offered by the restaurant for people who made no reservations and had to wait for their tables. If you need to polish your shoes or pamper your nails, it’s good to come without reservations. This is one place where few will complain about having to wait in queue.
Learning the Meaning of Service
After being shown our table, the hostess proceeded to take our orders and in the process, found that we were visitors to the country. She got to know a little bit about us because the restaurant has a policy on 1 host / hostess to a table, or two. Beer (or Mao Tai) and chinese tea was offered, and for the children, our hostess came up with an array of juices for the 2 to choose and said that it was on the house for children.
When my 4-year old refused the baby chair as he wanted to impress my friend’s 10-year old daughter, the hostess immediately radioed one of her colleagues to collect a cushion from one of the sofas from the waiting area. She took the cushion and placed it under our son’s royal butt.
When our food arrived, she whispered into her hands-free walkie talkie to get the hand-made noodle expert to come over. Even though we didn’t order the noodle, she said it was on the house and she wanted to show the visitors to her country how noodles were made. The noodle expert was very entertaining, flinging the long noodles just before touching our faces and pulling it back. Our little son was most entranced by his antics. Once the noodles were made, he offered to teach us how to stretch the flour into the noodles. Instead, my friend’s daughter thought our son how to make figurines with the dough (which none of us dared to eat).
(http://www.metacafe.com/watch/559995/
chinese_noodle_maker_performs_tricks
_
at_beijing_restaurant/ for video on the
restaurant noodle maker.)
Next, we tucked into the Beijing-style hot pot which was the signature food in this restaurant. Naturally, our spectacles got misted up and my friend warned the hostess that he was burned twice with the metal ladle on previous occasions in this restaurant. Actually, it was his fault having this habit of leaving the ladle inside the soup instead of putting it away from the hot pot. Our concerned hostess then brought a bowl of ice and cold towel for my friend in case he got burned again. She also brought disposable gloves and bibs for those who wanted to eat with their hands, hair bands for the ladies so that their hair doesn’t get into the soup and cleaning cloth for spectacles for the two of us who were wearing them. We were treated like lords with all the care and courtesy just so we could enjoy our meal totally.
After dessert, she noticed that we were still enjoying each other’s company and continuing to drink. She promptly brought out the tidbits – kuachi and placed it discreetly on our table – compliments of the house. Meanwhile, for the restless kids, our hostess offered to take them to a specially created TV and play area which was within sight of the parents. We gratefully accepted her offer.
Now, how many 5-star hotel restaurant offer this type of individual pampering to their clients?. Which 5-star hotel restaurant host / hostess treats the clients with a genuine smile and hospitality? And finally, especially for careful spenders like this typical Penangite, how many 5-star hotels offer all of the above and still charge like a normal restaurant? Probably none. (For RMB 500 which is less than RM 250 for the entire meal for the 8 of us, including booze and the finest food on the menu).
Secret of their Success
From what I was told by my three GM friends - who have probably asked around about the restaurant’s policies so they can benchmark - the staff here are treated very well.
For every year of service, the management pays different levels of incentives like a one-week-per-year private family holidays, children’s schooling, medical and even housing incentives. The staff in return of having their family responsibilities taken care of, can concentrate on giving their best to the clients. After all, they are the ones who serve the clients directly and were given a free hand in settling all the customers needs. If the staff were given this free hand to do this, then wouldn’t the company have near zero complaints and all customers will gladly spread the good word out to their friends about their experience? This was certainly achieved here and I am doing my bit by spreading the good word.
Well, this little Chinese restaurant in the middle of Beijing did it by putting their Customers 2nd and their Staff 1st. What is the cost of implementing such effective benefits? Think of it this way. There is very little attrition in this restaurant. If there is anyone leaving, there will be many more waiting to jump in. There are very few trainees – everyone has worked in the restaurant for years and each one knows his and her job inside out and does it with 100% effort. Customers enjoy consistent service levels. Each staff takes it upon himself and herself to contribute ideas creatively to the benefit of the client and company.
How many of us can boast of such highly motivated people producing consistently high service standards? All it takes is just an hour or so every week to come up with ideas to enrich our team’s lives. As my friend Jackson who is contracted to manage several gated community housing said, ”I can’t touch the lives of everyone who lives in the community but my team can and most of them on a daily basis. If I spend time to think of ways to enhance the team’s lives, rewarding them and recognizing them, they in turn feel happy and well looked after. This feel good effect spills over to their daily outlook and is felt by those staying in the community. When the staff are happy, the residents are happy, and I am happy (and well looked after by the residents who also give fantastic references)!”
Eric Chong
Principal Trainer
Eric Chong is the founder and principal trainer of ES Pursuits Sdn Bhd (Extra Sensory Pursuits) and he can be reached at eric@espursuits.com. For more information on the company, visit http://www.espursuits.com.
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