Communication makes a whole lot of difference...

By Rowdy McLean.  January 2009

No matter what business you are in, one of the arts of customer service is the ability to communicate with customers effectively.

I don't mean the basics, such as 'Good morning, how can I help you?'

I mean the ability to observe the customer and communicate with them depending on what is happening before, during and after a transaction.

Let me give you an example...

I went to a restaurant on New Years Eve.  As you can imagine the place was packed and very busy - in fact it was absolutely flat out.

However, the whole experience was great because the restaurant team could COMMUNICATE.

They advised of delays on our arrival and had short conversations at every touch point e.g. when water was brought to table, drinks order, specials, food order, water top ups, further drink orders, desserts, coffees.

At each of these points they either asked how things were, commented on some aspect of the evening or advised us of where they were up to with our orders.

An important part of this experience was the ability of the staff to observe what was happening at the tables, who was waiting for drinks, who needed to order, who had been waiting a while for their meals, who was finished and waiting for the bill, and every time they observed that service may not be traveling according to plan they had a conversation.  For example, someone who had been waiting too long for their meals- they would say 'I will just check how long your mains will be for you' and they would report back.

This attention to detail in observation and communication made the whole experience seem like it didn't take long at all when in fact it was quite lengthy and it contributed to a terrific night out.

On the flip side, as I was leaving I overheard a group in the restaurant next door complaining about having to wait too long (probably the same amount of time we did!) and how they were never coming back, the restaurant was in mayhem, unhappy looking people, dirty tables etc etc - a little observation and communication could have made all the difference.

Copyright 2009 Rowdy McLean

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