The importance of staff training

I collect examples of great and poor customer experience. Here is one example from a holiday (it’s better than looking at my photos!)

There were two restaurants near our hotel in the USA. They had similar menus, prices and décor, and the food was good in each. Yet one you could get a table in at any time and the other, although 5x bigger, had a 30 minute wait most times for a table.

We went to the smaller one once, and realised why you could get a table immediately. The staff didn’t seem to care enough about customer service. Although there was nothing major to complain about, they just seemed disinterested. They were just doing a job without much enthusiasm or passion.

We visited the larger one more than once because the service was brilliant. The serving staff were all knowledgeable and passionate about the food. They had all tried every meal, and they were happy to make suggestions and give advice.

As an example, the first time we went, the waiter asked us where we were from. When we said we were English, he  said  we would find the portions large. He said we  should consider sharing a starter and main course. And he was right! – the starter (meant for 1) was huge. When he saw our faces, he held the main course until we gave him the OK, in case we were too full from the starter. We ate most of the starter but couldn’t manage anything else.

They didn’t make as much money as they could  have done from us on that first visit because of the waiter’s advice. But over 2 weeks, we went back 3 more times so they ended up emptying our credit card.

Training your staff  in  customer care takes time and money, but it leads to higher profits!

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