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As noted in Make Your Customers Happy: It’s All About the Experience, first impressions, in the restaurant or on your website, are everything to ensuring a delightful experience. In this next tip, Make Your Customers Happy: Keeping Customers Coming Back, your next step is to make sure your Customers make your restaurant their go-to spot.

When it comes to customer retention, most restaurant owners know that maintaining a consistently high standard in food preparation is only half the battle. For first-time guests and regulars a good restaurant experience includes attentive and timely service, a sincere greeting, and employees who understand and appreciate the food they are serving and who can acknowledge and fix problems when they happen. A bad experience can seem more complex and difficult for restaurant owners to deal with because most people will not complain about feeling unwelcome or ignored. In fact, the feeling may be so subtle, they may not be able to articulate why the experience wasn’t worth their time or money. They just won’t come back.

To calculate the potential dollar cost of a lost customer, try this: Multiply the amount of your average customer sale by the number of time that person visits your restaurant in a year. (For example, $50[avg customer sale] x 12 [number of visits] = $600) Now calculate the number of years this individual could be your customer. Multiply the yearly sale by the potential years. ($600 [potential $] x 20 [potential] years = $12,000.)

But restaurant owners should know that missed profits come from a variety of sources, including lost opportunities for recommendations. Loyal and engaged customers who refer their friends, family and co-workers to your restaurant, or better yet, bring them to your restaurant, are your best assurance of a consistent customer base. So if a dissatisfied customer tells 10 other people about a bad experience in your restaurant and these 10 decide not to visit and each represents the average worth of a customer, what is the potential cost of these 10 lost customers? If you use the calculation above, the amount is $120,000 (10 x $12,000).

But wait, there’s more.

Don’t forget to add in the additional cost to recruit new customers. Conventional wisdom suggests the cost of bringing in a new customer is some seven to nine times as much as it is to retain an existing customer. This means you’ve not only lost the customer and the power of his referrals, but you’ve lost the original investment made to recruiting him the first time.

The fact is, problems happen. If employees are able to respond to customer complaints, or get a sense when diners are not happy, then problems can be articulated and solved. Train staffers to take ownership of the problem (whether it’s their fault or not), listen without justifying and apologize sincerely. Then give them the power to make it right by satisfying the customer’s original need and adding a gift. This could be a reduction in the bill or a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert. Don’t forget to say thank you. A customer’s willingness to bring a problem to your attention (or to the staff’s) should be appreciated. Remember, most people smile, say nothing and then spread the tale.

Word-of-mouth advertising is not new, but its 21st century iteration, viral marketing, which depends on the multiplying force of messages sent by customers using social media, email, the Internet and mobile applications, is still new and growing fast. In a market survey of 500 consumers, conducted by Technomic for American Express, approximately three-quarters of consumers said they used social media in the last month. Of those who use it, 30% report that they use social media websites to find, friend or follow restaurants. Why? Primarily to chase promotional deals, get coupons and, to a lesser degree, to learn about new menu items.

But how can restaurant owners tap into the positive power of viral advertising without succumbing to its dark side? Let’s not forget that word of mouth advertising works two ways. Bad news spreads faster than soft butter, and people will always talk more about a negative experience than a positive one, though not often to the business or person responsible. Dissatisfied customers are more likely to tell friends, family and co-workers. Plugged-in consumers are also eager to share experience on Facebook and through on-line review sites like Yelp, Zagat, Restaurant Guide, etc., thus turning off potential customers in this growing user base.

If you are unsure about using Facebook or Twitter, “friend” and follow other independent restaurants in your area and category. This will give you a sense of how these players keep their audiences hooked (or not). Once you’ve joined the networking site, stay with it. Social networking for business is cheap to get into (Facebook is free!), but expect to follow your page and respond to comments daily.

It’s also a good idea to Google your restaurant regularly to stay current on customer reviews on online city guides. Negative comments should be addressed tactfully and immediately, but do not remove them. Instead, use comments and reviews as the opportunities for engagement they really are.

To Conclude: Calculate the cost of replacing lost Customers and recruiting new ones. Stay on top of your online reputation with frequent visits to search engines and social media sites.

Next tip: Get Customers to Come Back: Seek Customer Feedback.

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1-888-700-8181

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