Florida based Company, Satisfaction Services has been featured in Magazines / News Articles and on Network TV featuring Customer Service & Restaurant Secret Shoppers .

Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association

People dine where they feel good, and an effective quality and service evaluation program will ensure they feel good with you

Service with a Smile: The Key to Success

In a recent "Zagat" Survey, 72 percent of the respondent complaints were service-related. That is a staggering number, but not entirely surprising given the current state of customer service.

For years, restaurant and hotel guests have been disillusioned by declining service at even some of the most exclusive places.
As a result, most customers have simply come to accept bad service as part of the guest experience.

Many restaurant chains and hotel operators pay more attention to promotions and filling seats than ensuring that customers occupying those seats are having a positive experience.

Businesses spend thousands of dollars on marketing and advertising to get customers to come to their places of business, but invest little time or money on understanding what they do to you once you're there. If you can give someone a good experience, you don't have to run an ad every morning to try to get customers in for lunch.

People like to spend money where they feel good, and Houston's is a restaurant that truly understands this concept.

Unfortunately, customers accept lower levels of service because their experience with competitors has not been any better. Customers are thrilled when staff members show the smallest effort in doing a good job. This current state of customer service has created a goldmine for any business that goes even the slightest bit above and beyond what customers expect.

A genuine smile and fairly quick and professional service make a dramatic impression that will result in rave reviews from customers and endless word of mouth referrals.

Knowledge of your customer’s experience is power
If you've been thinking about improving your company's level of service, the rewards will come to your bottom line in several ways:

1) Customer retention and repeat business (10 customers that love your experience and stay with you once per month, spending at least $50 each visit, for the next 10 years means $60,000 to your business);

2) New business gained from word-of-mouth (whenever people have a good experience somewhere, they like to share it with their friends – say the 10 customers above tell 10 people per year – results become exponential.)

Establishing better customer service within your organization is relatively easy and starts with you listing the standards by which you wish to operate. Then communicate these standards to all employees and set up a program by which you can measure and monitor the results. Because some habits take a while to become ingrained, communicating the standards is not enough.

The measuring and monitoring portion is important to be sure the standards become ingrained. People tend to do more of what you inspect than what you expect.

Whether you create a quality and service evaluation program internally or outsource it, there are certain elements that should be included:

• Recognize and reward employees for what they do right. Recognizing or even rewarding positive behavior makes it happen more often and is a much better approach than looking for things employees are doing wrong.
  Making a big deal over the top performers goes a long way to communicate top-down philosophy for superior service.
  
• Build suggestive selling into your program. If your restaurants, bars, and gift shops routinely suggest customers try new products or in-store promotional items, the incremental revenues can be enormous.
  
  Moving your suggestive selling percentages from eight percent of the time to 98 percent of the time companywide can mean big increases in revenues. Do a quick analysis with your average price for some shocking numbers.
  
• Timely data and frequency are key to analyzing the company's performance. If you have a hundred evaluations of the execution of your process you can be pretty sure that the resulting trend analysis has accuracy.

Shopping your properties frequently will ensure accurate information that will provide the actionable data to make decisions with confidence.. Be sure to use different shoppers all the time to ensure accurate results.

Timely information is important. Quickly email evaluations to managers and employees so the experience is still top-of-mind and the evaluation makes more sense to your employee and so that your manager is aware of any problem areas sooner.

A good aggregate backup reporting system is essential too so that you can look at the company's overall averages for various time periods to monitor progress and even drill down to specific locations and even specific employees performance over time.

Measuring and monitoring performance and the delivery of service is not a new concept. Doing it right and consistently can mean a much bigger bottom line.

Mike Albert is the founder and CEO of Satisfaction Services, Inc., a leading provider of quality and service evaluation programs and an FRLA member.

Nations Restaurant News
Wingstop franchisee: Secret to mystery shopper success is good service for all - Treat every customer like a mystery shopper and you won't worry about poor ratings on anonymous customer service surveys, said Diwan, franchise owner of a Wingstop fast-casual restaurant in Mentor on the Lake, Ohio. MORE

Restaurant News Articles - Steps of Stellar Service QSR
Quality and Speed for Restaurant Success Sep 6, 2006
Using technology to improve mystery shopping.
When a restaurant operator wants to evaluate their operation, it would be nice to be able to read customers’ minds. Secret shoppers, who are clandestine agents sent to evaluate your business, can provide that insight. MORE

We Look forward to talking with you about improving and monitoring customer service in your restaurants Satisfaction Service 800-564-6574

Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show 2010

Gain A Fresh Perspective
Learn Creative Solutions For Today’s Economy

 Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show - September 14, 2010 http://www.flrestaurantandlodgingshow.com/
 Orange County Convention Center , Orlando Florida

These days, every decision you make can have far-reaching consequences for your business. Why not arm yourself with the best, most up-to-the-minute information and insights possible?

At the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show, you’ll find the cutting edge solutions you need to guide your business through this uncertain economy and grow into better times to come – and you’ll go home with ideas and solutions you can apply right away.

The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association is among the most influential trade associations in Florida. The association was established in 1946 to represent the restaurant industry. Since that time, the scope of FRLA's representation has expanded to include the entire hospitality industry including lodging establishments, restaurants and thousands of suppliers to the industry. The association counts among its members some of the largest businesses in each of these categories.

The power and influence of FRLA is indisputable with a legislative track record to back it up. Led by CEO, Carol Dover and an active Board of Directors, FLRA has been effective in influencing legislation that has saved the industry $1.2 billion in taxes and fees over the past 10 years.

Florida's hospitality industry represents:

• A 57 billion dollar industry

• 20% of Florida's economy

• 3.4 billion dollars in sales tax revenue

• More than 900,000 employees - Florida's largest employer.

With numerous local chapters and dual membership in the National Restaurant Association and American Hotel & Lodging Association FRLA members are offered unlimited opportunity for involvement. Association members enjoy a variety of benefits including discounts on products, services and training; free tickets to the annual trade show; accessible insurance; state, local and federal government representation; networking opportunities, special events including seminars, golf and fishing tournaments, parties and much more. The association is committed to safe-guarding the needs of the hospitality industry and improving the business climate. To learn more about the FRLA, visit www.frla.org or call 888-372-9119 to find out how you can get involved.

Click here for printable PDF of the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association Education Seminars

Magazine Articles, News, Restaurant, Retail, Marketing, Industry publications, Electronics Industry CEA, Para, TODAY Show segment on customer service and articles on the Steps of Service and Guest Loyalty and Staff Rewards,Restaurant News

Site Map - News - Mystery Shopping - Customer Experience Management - Customer Service - Shopping Jobs - Mystery Shoppers for Your Company

We Look forward to talking with you about improving and monitoring customer service in your restaurants Satisfaction Service 800-564-6574

Restaurant Service - Customer Service - Staff - Evaluations & Rewards - Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Guest Feedback from the Customers Perspective

"QSR" Quality and Speed for Restaurant Success -Magazine - Article - About Mystery Shopping, About Secret Shoppers - Mystery Diners in Restaurants - also featured in "Nations Restaurant News", PMQ, Pizza Magazine and "Hotslice". FRLA - Restaurant News.

Member of The Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association - FLRA - Convention Speaker Texas Restaurant Show, Southwest Food Expo, CEA, Para, -Florida Restaurant Show -Speaker- "Mike Albert" Keynote speaker Customer service and the Guest Experience - Houston, Tx, Dallas, Knoxville, Memphis, Nashville,Tn, Ashville, Charlotte, NC, Spartanburg, Columbia, SC, Metro DC, DC, Germantown, Md, Indianapolis, In, Columbus, Oh, Toledo, Denver, Co, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Az, San Antonio, Tx, San Diego, California, Napa Valley, Ca, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Savannah, Ga, Richmond, Va, Manhattan, New York, Ny, New Jersey, Ma, Boston, Hartford, Ma, New England, - Seattle, Wa, Hawaii, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Offices in Tennessee, New England, Massachussettes, Maryland, Metro Dc, Texas

Secret Shoppers visit your restaurant secretly, posing as a member of the public, they complete a detailed critique of their visit, giving you a complete evaluation of the customers service and experience. Different secret shoppers make several visits over a period of weeks or months depending upon what type of service you are evaluating.

Each secret shoppers program is custom tailored to the clients needs.

Contact Us 1-800-564-6574 We look forward to talking with you.

Satisfaction Services Inc. ®
PO Box 11045 Ft Lauderdale, Florida 33339

Some of the Services we offer as a leading Mystery Shopping Company:
Mystery Diners -IVR - Instant Voice Response - Telephone Surveys - Guest Surveys - Exit Surveys - Comment Cards and programs - Guest Service Checks - Secret Shopper Programs

With Our Mystery Shopping Programs and Service Evaluations you Have 24/7 Access to Your Evaluations and Back Up Reports From Anywhere you Have Access To The Internet.

"The Customer Experience" - Mike Albert is an authority on customer service and is a featured keynote speaker at conventions and annual management conferences for all types of industries. Mike speaks to groups and has been featured on the Today Show, Money Talks and CNN. As founder of Satisfaction Services Inc. the leader in Quality & Service Evaluation Programs or Mystery Shopping Services, Mike has over 20 years of experience improving customer service and creating ""The Customer Experience. He has been featured in Magazines / News Articles and on Network TV featuring Customer Service & Mystery Shoppers.