Every so often a new tool comes along. Some people embrace it right away while others wait until it becomes "main stream". Either way, as time goes on we look back and wonder how we ever did business without it. You can think of tons of examples, including fax machines, p.c.'s and even cell phones.



As a provider of customer service solutions, much of my time is spent telling people what to do in order to attract customers, retain customers, and to exceed the expectations of customers… Continue

“Good night now, thank you so much for dining with us, was everything great?”

“Sure was, thanks, have a good night.”



The typical exchange between restaurant and customer. Oh, but what would I give to know what they REALLY thought of their experience in my restaurant, good and bad. You know, like when they get home and the phone rings and maybe they’re talking to a friend. Probably a different conversation, right? Those are the comments I want to hear.



Of course these… Continue

A couple is deciding whether to order a bottle of wine, or just two glasses. Frugality prevails, so they decide to save a few dollars and just each order a glass. Further into their dining experience they decide “Oh what the heck, let’s have another.” Upon serving them their second glasses of wine, the server points out that it would have been cheaper for them to have ordered a bottle than four individual glasses. “I’m going to see if I can get my manager to remove the charge for the 4 glasses,… Continue

Challenging times require... less whining! Recently a national organization of C.P.A.’s advised clients to save money by spending less on dining out. As if the suggestion from the accountants wasn’t enough, Suze Orman and other personal finance gurus are giving their clients the same advice. I don’t particularly like this advice, but I do know from personal experience that it’s sound. Much of the restaurant industry response, so far anyway, is to point out how vital we are to the economy, how… Continue

I recently changed my professional tag line from “Restaurant Consulting” to “Customer Service Training Program for Restaurants”. There were a number of reasons for this. One was so that I could replace the word “consultant” with the word “program”. “Program” implies a specific purpose, as well as a finite time frame and price. I’ve encountered too many managers who felt threatened by the presence of a consultant and uncertain about where the consultant’s responsibility and authority would end.… Continue