Ramzey’s Big Ideas #2: Enhancing the Customer Experience
Ramzey’s Big Ideas #2:
Enhancing the Customer Experience
In today’s market place, restaurants don’t just sell food and drinks… they sell experiences.
Our Grounds mission is “to create unique and memorable experiences that spoil our guests”. The fact that this is our actual business mission statement shows how much this point means to me in everything that I do. From end to end we continually search out, assess and re-asses, what’s working best and what will create the most enjoyable and memorable experience. We want to wow the customer at every step.
From our mission, I break down the focus of the business into three realms or pillars that define the foundation for who we are and in doing this enhancing the experience of our guests.
- The staff and culture
- The beauty of the space
- Customer experience
1. The Staff and culture
We want to give our customers a sense that our business is a special place, created by special people, doing what they do in the best possible way. Hospitality starts with the genuine enjoyment of doing something well to bring pleasure to other people. It should become a primary inspiration for coming to work everyday. When our staff embody this it becomes a part of the customer’s positive experience. Those working within their passion or sweet spot will always exude their enjoyment. Joy is infectious and will always impact the customer. All our staff and culture need to be geared toward the mindset of spoiling our guests.
A challenge of course, particularly within hospitality, is finding the right staff. Employment can often become more of a desperation act rather than a well thought out one, particularly when dealing with a vocation that so often attracts those that are transient or perhaps not in it for the career. Labouring over the right decision in this realm will benefit your business wonderfully.
2. The beauty of the space
“What makes our spaces, or us different and special?” This the question we need to ask ourselves every day, and certainly not just in relation to food.
I walk around our places and spaces within the The Grounds of Alexandria every day and try to step into the customer’s shoes. I will look at our Garden and ask myself “is it colourful? is it flourishing? is the space beautiful? what would i think if i was seeing this for the first time?”, i’ll look at my food and ask similar questions “is it beautiful? is it fresh? colourful etc”, after all, they say that you eat with your eyes.
Our aim is to wow the five senses and for all of those senses to be activated throughout the experience. We continually strive to innovate as a business, so that we remain unique and ahead of our competitors or those that draw from us for inspiration. Again the culture for myself and my staff must be to be keyed into the finest of details in order to really make the business beautiful.
3. The Customer Experience
It may come as no surprise to you but without the customer the business doesn’t exist, and without a returning customer you’ll quickly find yourself running out of potentials. The below excerpts from two of my favourite authors are pretty scary:
Never underestimate the power of an angry customer. You’ve seen the stats and they’re frightening: an unhappy customer tells an average of 12 people each about their bad experience. Each of those 12 people tells 6 of their friends who tells 3 of their friends each and before you know it, 216 people hear about the bad service experience of just one customer. Now multiply that times ten or a hundred or a thousand once they share their story online. (Sullivan, J 2013)
Ninety percent of clients who are dissatisfied with the service they received will not come back or buy again…Thirteen percent of these people will tell their story to more than twenty people…it takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one negative experience in the eyes of the customer. (Abraham, J 2001)
The way in which you look after the customer is crucial to your business. Maintaining their loyalty and their interest through continual great and meaningful experience is what separates you from the unsuccessful. At The Grounds we want to amaze, spoil and be attentive to our guests so that they always feel welcome, inspired and cared for.
We hope that you’ve had this experience at The Grounds, and if you haven’t we’re always pushing ourselves to make it a better experience. We care a lot about what’s gone wrong for a customer, we’re always willing and always want to be better and i believe that always has to be your attitude.
