A Road Warrior’s comment…It all matters!

19Jan10

I have just returned from another business trip and it confirmed some of the things I have come to believe about branding. Again, it’s the experience that matters. The short list:

First impressions are critical. I visited two restaurants that were direct opposites. At the first one, I had to fight my way past the crowd to get into the front door. My first thought was that is was a good sign the restaurant was popular, but it turns out it was the designated smoking spot. Not pleasant. Once I did get in the door, the greeter appeared to be more interested in her conversation with the servers then acknowledging me. I just wanted to know where to sit. The second restaurant was wonderful. The entrance sparkled, the greeter friendly, servers were serving instead of clustered around a table talking, a very positive vibe!

Do sweat the details. I do an exercise in class where I put a black dot in the middle of a poster size sheet of paper and ask people what they see. They always respond with the dot, rather than the far greater area of white space. We see the blemish much more than the whole. Everything matters. Pay attention to it. Restaurant number one above had a featured wine on the special board. I ordered it. They were out of it. At 6 PM!

Customer facing employees are the primary brand ambassadors. Whether it is the front desk clerk at the hotel, the greeter at the restaurant, the server, they set the tone. If it is clear to me they don’t enjoy their place of business, neither will I. Attitude matters.

Don’t let an obsession with margins trump value. I understand these are tough economic times and appreciate how hard it is to make a buck these days. I have a friend who preaches that controlling food costs is the key to success in the restaurant business. He does a good job of keeping the costs as low as he can. I don’t eat there. His metrics tell him his margin, they don’t tell him how many people never come in. My client put me in the hotel I stayed in to get my opinion for a proposed client summit they are thinking of hosting there. I think the cheap linen, no in room coffee, one tiny bar of soap, might kill the deal.

Word of mouth has gone digital. I always ask my clients where I should eat and stay. This is the most important factor in my decision making. A very close second is the digital site called Yelp. I read the reviews and comments. In a new city, I tend to start with the highest rated establishment and work my way down the list. You need to know where you fall and what folks are saying about you.

If something goes wrong, I don’t really care who is to blame. I just want a solution. Even in the best of businesses, things happen. Acknowledge it, apologize, then offer a solution. And dear server, blaming the kitchen does not protect your tip.

Special note to hotels. Miss a wakeup call request, lose a business traveler. Period.

Enough ranting. It all matters. By the way, do try the Red Ginger in Traverse City, Michigan. The other restaurant? I won’t publicly bad mouth them….maybe they just had a bad day. You can check my reviews on yelp.com. Turns out there are many comments there. I should have checked them.

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