In February there is a conference called Customer Service is the New Marketing in San Francisco

I may we wrong here but isn't customer service the OLDEST form of marketing? My mother, grandmother, grandfather, friends, family all do word of mouth marketing and what is the one thing highest on their list for negative press on a place - yep, service.

Point in case, I was out for dinner on Saturday night at a new(ish) place in Liverpool. Usual footballer and WAG crowd were installed at the bar but that's not a guarantee of good food. In fact the food was above average but bar one waiter, the service was sloppy. So would I recommend it to friends? As it happens I probably would as the service was okay...only okay, but it's not got much competition.

I know nothing about the restaurant industry and I don't mean to be rude as they work very hard but I bet I could make that place more successful in about 2 months. Here is what I'd do

  • I'd find a local college with a cookery/hospitality course and make that my staff pipeline in exchange for guaranteed jobs and have my chefs visit them to share skills
  • I'd make my team a real team. I was squabbling on the dining floor on Saturday night and it's just bad for service.
  • I'd make sure my cloakroom has room for as many coats as possible. It's Christmas, it's cold and the first thing you should do is welcome your customers who are paying for dinner - not tell them your cloakroom is full with coats from folks at the bar.
  • Most of all, I'd pay for my staff to go have a fine meal in a top London restaurant and instruct them to enjoy the food but most of all, watch world class service in action.

Once you've done this stuff, word gets around. You can't stop working at it of course and you need to decide who your clientele are to be long term

This isn't a rant. I just think living in London highlights how much competition can make you better. As more places open in Liverpool over the next 18 months, standards will naturally rise and those that don't will fail.