Is Everything OK?
Is your company striving for OK?
Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? But it happens every day in
foodservice operations around the world. It is a pet peeve of mine
when a manager comes striding to my table and asks the inane
question, "Is everything OK?"
What's wrong with this picture, you ask? Hmm, let me see...
Everything? Is the manager asking if I am satisfied with
the political, economic, ecological and sociological status of
humanity? Or maybe the manager thought that I was about to burst
out crying and was attempting to offer help?
What about the word OK?
By definition OK means the minimum acceptable level. I
doubt seriously if the mission of any company is to strive for the
minimum level of customer service! So when the eager manager
excitedly receives the expected "yes", knee-jerk answer
to the knee-jerk question, the manager goes away pleased. But
should the manager be pleased?
I think not.
I don't blame the manager. He or she was trained that way.
Indeed, it was probably pounded into him or her to visit every
table. 100% table visitation. Asking everyone in the
restaurant if "Everything is OK" is like a prime
directive in most restaurant chains.
What's so wrong with wanting to get the opinions of all your
customers?
First of all, when you ask 'Is everything OK', you're not
giving the customer an opening to respond. Instead, it becomes a
formality, like the greeting of "How are you?" You don't
really expect an answer, except for the polite "Fine".
Of course, visiting every table in most restaurants
doesn't give you any time to actually stop and listen to the
customers! By running around and asking "Is Everything
OK?" you can quantify the experience, and give yourself a
false sense of accomplishment by making your 100% table
visitations.
It is like the owner of a hotel demanding that the hotel
manager keep the hotel full. All the hotel manager has to do is
keep reducing the price of the room until the owner's results are
accomplished. Never mind that the hotel is losing money. It may be
full now, but it sure won't be around for long.
Don't get me wrong; The concept of customer feedback is right,
but the execution and results are dangerously wrong. By getting
a stock response from a hastily asked question, you've learned
nothing about the customer's experience that night. And what
if everything actually WAS just "OK"? In today's market,
will a so-so "OK" experience guarantee that the customer
will come back? Of course not.
Here are four rules to follow when asking about your
customer's perceptions of your service:
- Allow time to listen, don't just go through the formality of
asking.
- Ask specific questions, not general, sweeping
statements.
- Use a superlative that you want to be identified with to the
customer. Was your service excellent? Fantastic? Outrageous? Set
your sights high not low. Never OK.
- The quality of the effort is worth far more than the
quantity of effort.
It's time that the hallowed expression "Is everything
OK?" was finally laid to rest.
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