What Does Great Service Cost?

What Does Great Service Cost?
When it comes to Customer Service, I don't need Outstanding Service, I don't need Great Service, I would settle for Good service!
As you know from last week, it was my birthday on Thursday (by the way, thanks for all the birthday wishes!) Wifey took me to Number 8, an upmarket restaurant in the Crown casino complex. It had great reviews and seemed suitable for a posh night of celebration. It's not cheap (about $50 for a steak) but I am happy to pay for "an experience".

The summary is that the food was good (presentation was a bit ordinary) but the service was atrocious for what I expected from such a high quality establishment.

Simple things like:

• They were advised this booking was for my birthday, but made no reference to it
• The waiter did not engage with us at all - merely asked if we had finished when he took plates
• The waiter offered to get another drink when we had 2/3 of a glass (when we didn't need it) and did not offer when it was empty
• We waited so long to give our dessert order that we left and bought ice cream as we walked along the Yarra River

Notice how these things are incredibly minor? As I said, customers do not expect a great deal. Get the basics right and they will be impressed. All they had to do was listen to what we said, and be observant for our needs.

What about in your business? Do you listen to what your customer wants? Are you observant to what you think they will need next? It could be an internal customer (you know, your colleagues) or an external one. Great Service does not cost much extra effort to provide but it pays off big time. Can you afford not to provide great service?


PS For more tips on Great Service when Exhibiting, check out our 2 hr, $29 Exhibit Like a Pro session on next Monday in Melbourne.

PPS Don't get me wrong. I get that this situation is a real "First World Problem". Can't get good service for my $50 steak - really! The idea is what small thing can you do to improve your service?

Image: Flikr TinyApartmentCrafts - This image is a vegetarian friendly steak. I didn't want to upset anyone!