"There is a fine line between friendliness and intrusiveness. SOT needs to develop training modules on recognition of various customer types." Pankaj Batra, Director, Marketing, Indian Subcontinent, Pizza Hut

Sound of thunder (sot) is a multi-cuisine restaurant that prides itself on its ability to 'connect' with its core target segment (Young Urban Professionals, or yuppies) through its trendy, upbeat décor, foot-tapping music and its unique, engaging customer service. Its vision is to convert customers into advocates (those who will tell others about sot) and ambassadors (those who will work to promote sot) through its interactive service.

Problem

The interactive customer service programme has run into trouble on account of its yuppie customers' varying expectations of what constitutes good service.

The growing proportion and importance of this young consumer segment has been certainly instrumental in accelerating the demise of the 'obsequious waiter' as well as the 'formal and correct' server. But, perhaps, a large segment of these yuppies are still coming to terms with the new, informal and interactive style of service.

The fact that each server at sot has also developed his own interpretation of interactive service, within the management's broad direction, has complicated matters even further. Consequently, many of its customers are seeing it as 'hyperactive service' instead of 'interactive loyalty generating service'.

Solution

SOT should accept the fact that there is a large gap between its vision of customer service and the ground-level execution by its staff, and focus on three areas to bridge this gap.

• Understand customer needs. "The more we know about our customers, the better we can serve them now and the more likely we are to retain them in future." This can be done in a variety of ways, the simplest of which is by talking to them about their needs, expectations and experiences.
• Train employees on customer service. There is a fine line between friendliness and intrusiveness. SOT needs to develop detailed training modules on recognition of various customer types, and sensitisation its staff to customer behaviour in each type. The training programme must be modified to include restaurant situation simulations, role-plays and so on.
• Measure customer satisfaction. SOT needs to have a system in place that will help it measure customer satisfaction on different aspects of the service and ensure that this feedback is shared with the team on a periodic basis in a systematic manner. It should set an example by recognising and rewarding good service. "What gets measured, gets done and what gets rewarded, gets repeated."

"Any restaurant or service organisation that hopes to win custom would have to train its waiters to try reading each customer properly, before servicing their needs." Vilas Pawar, President & CEO, Bistro Hospitality India

There is little doubt that with an abundance of products in innumerable categories, Customer Satisfaction is fast becoming a key differentiator. In post-liberalisation India, it is clear that if a company does not succeed in keeping that smile on the customer's face, it will spell doom. That is what has happened at Sound of Thunder.

What should the restaurant's management do?

First of all, look at the service from the customer's perspective. And a typical customer of any restaurant or service of this sort, would usually evaluate the quality of service by the following ways:

Tangibles: The appearance of the facilities, personnel and communication material, which in this case would be the menu, signs and so on.

Empathy: The care and concern shown by the business' personnel towards the customer. What matters, critically, is the company's ability to understand the customer's point of view.

Assurance: The knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.

While the first point is directly related to the product, the other two involve the 'human' factor as well, which will always be inconsistent, and this is where training should play a vital part. Remember that this is no ordinary business. Services are offerings that cannot be seen, touched or felt before the purchase decision. In most cases, it is something experienced when the service is being received (or given).

In Sound of Thunder's case, it is the service that the two women received while they ordered their meal. Data suggests that 68 per cent of customers who quit, do so because of poor service. A satisfied customer does more propagation of products and services free of cost. Also, it typically costs five-to-six times more to get a new customer than to retain an existing customer.

Keeping all of the above in mind, any restaurant or service organisation that hopes to win custom would have to train its waiters to try 'reading' each customer properly, before getting into the act of servicing their needs.

In this particular case, I thought Rajesh had treated the guest in question rather well, given Sound of Thunder's strategic aim to create loyalty for reasons other than just the food, but he sadly did not understand the situation well enough. In his overenthusiasm to play the interactive host with the customer and size up their culinary and listening preferences, he overwhelmed them and put the two ladies off. The waiter should have realised that the ladies had come to the restaurant not to spend time with him, but together.

After greeting them, he should promptly have taken their order and left them alone by saying something to the effect like "should you need my assistance in anything, please call me; my name is XYZ" and he should have kept a watchful eye from a discreet distance-and judged their facial expressions to get an idea of their comfort level.

And maybe during the closure, towards the end of the meal, he should have asked if they had enjoyed their lunch-which could have been done as a courtesy while removing the plates.

"Guest interaction is a great asset, if you can deliver it consistently. Otherwise, it can backfire. One simple rule of thumb: people visit restaurants to dine, not to have a great conversation." Sashi Chimala, CEO, Qwiky's

So, what should sound of thunder do to satisfy customers? Simple. Make sure that waiter Rajesh joins the competition. LOL.

But seriously, this is a case of employee training gone amok. No restaurant teaches its staff to be insensitive to customers.

How to sort out the problem? SOT must first take a re-look at its training program. Now, it is perfectly okay for a restaurant to encourage guest interaction and build on the idea of 'interactive loyalty', but the staff must be sensitised to the needs of the guests. Empathy is what the staff must concentrate on, first and foremost.

What is the ultimate objective behind 'interaction'? Guests must have a great time at SOT and not feel their privacy encroached. In addition to 'what to do', the training programme must teach the staff 'what not to do'.

Training should focus on proper guidelines for guest interaction along with guest sensitivity skills (as opposed to delivering 'canned' socialising phrases from the training manual, which can lead to even worse situations than the one in the case). It is not easy, and is what separates the successes from the failures in many cases- given the choice that customers now have. Staff should also be trained to understand 'body language' and know exactly when to leave guests alone.

Second, the restaurant must also track guest perception. If a waiter like Rajesh falls through the cracks, this tracking will highlight the problem sooner or later. The restaurant also must encourage regular feedback to track guest satisfaction.

Third, a good 'Mystery Guest Programme' should be put in place. While proper guest interaction is important, equally important is consistent interaction. Often, guests get turned off if they get good interaction sometimes and none at all at other times.

Last but not least, it is very important to teach the staff to listen. They must be taught to listen first and then talk, pay attention to the body language of the guests and know when to leave the guest alone and when to strike up a conversation.

They should focus on learning from the conversation to serve the guest better and not just strike empty banter. Each conversation is a great opportunity to learn more about what the guest feels about the experience and what else the waiter/restaurant can do to make it better.

At Qwiky's, for example, our mantra for guest service is called swat that stands for Smile, Welcome, Attend and Thank. Guest interaction is an integral part in each step. We put equal emphasis on what to say as well as what not to say to guests. For instance, our staff are trained to never say anything negative about competition.

Guest interaction is a great asset, if you can deliver it consistently. Otherwise, it can backfire too. One simple rule of thumb: always remember the main reason why guests visit the restaurant-to have a great dining experience, and not to have a great conversation. Never forget that.