Not long ago my husband, Jim, and I celebrated a wedding anniversary. We decided to go to a restaurant here in Phoenix which had even been highlighted in "Bon Appetit" magazine. We were definitely excited to go. The atmosphere was very nice, the food was definitely good, but we could not believe how lame the service was.
Jim had to ask numerous times for more water. He even put his empty water glass on the outer most part of the table so the waiter would notice it. That did no good. Our conversation kept being interrupted by Jim saying, "Geez, I just want to get some water." (Keep in mind, this is in Phoenix, where we dare not take a drive to the store without a bottle of water in hand.) You'd think that once Jim asked once for more water, the waiter would keep an eye on it. You'd really think that once he asked for it twice, he'd never have to ask again! But he did. When our bill arrived, consider how we felt about tipping our waiter!
A couple weeks after that, we received some coupons in the mail for several surrounding restaurants. We decided to go to a little Japanese place. When we arrived, we found out that it was a little buffet place. I'm not a fan of buffets. Although the theme is "All you can eat," I'm always thinking, "Yeah, but who wants to eat any of it?" Typically the food just isn't very good. And when it came to the food, this place provided no surprises; it wasn't very good.
However, there was one surprise that night. It came from a woman who worked there. Once we had made our way through the buffet line, the waitress had set up a table for us with silverware and glasses, even though it was a "serve yourself" kind of place. She was a most delightful person. She welcomed us and offered to get us anything we needed. She noticed which things we liked and made comments about how good those things were. She brought each of the children a special treat at the end of the meal, and guess what? We never had to ask for more water! Basically, she went that extra mile.
After we left, thinking of the food, I said, "Well, I don't think we need to go there again." My husband then said, "Well now, I don't know about that. The food wasn't that good, but that waitress was so nice." Our kids said, "Yeah, we really liked her, and we liked the food too!" I then said, "You're right, we should go back."
Here's what I find interesting; at one restaurant the food was superb (Bon Appetit magazine has printed some of its recipes), but the service left something to be desired, and consequently we have no desire to ever return. At the other restaurant the food left something to be desired, but because the service was so helpful and friendly, we'll probably return.
Perhaps the moral of my little story is that good service is the flavor that remains in a customer's mouth more than anything else. Considering how essential "word of mouth" referrals are to anyone in business, we must see to it that our customers' needs are met, even before they ask!
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