slide 1: Top Restaurant Marketing
Strategies to deal with Fastidious
Restaurant Customers
Even when we try bending over backwards to please our clients sometimes we
encounter people impossible to please and display negative behavior too.
slide 2: What can a restaurateur do to avoid a confrontation with these people in your
establishment and how do you neutralize and perhaps eliminate their
disruptive behavior
This is not an easy task.
It might help you to remember: most of the time these people are using your
restaurant or your employees in order to vent their personal frustrations.
Sometimes people come to your place bringing along their emotional baggage.
It would be great if they could leave it at home but unfortunately they do not.
You must always try to maintain your cool. Keep your emotions out of the
discussion and think about your other customers. They do not need to have their
experience spoiled by witnessing an unpleasant public argument.
Here are a few Restaurant Marketing
Strategies to deal with fastidious customers
feasibly:
The author of 151 Quick Ideas to Deal With Difficult People Carrie
Mason-Draffen writes that this kind of person grew up surrounded by
negativity. They were probably criticized by their parents or others and
developed a negative attitude by replicating what they heard.
slide 3: These people will wear you down if you keep listening to their continuous
complaints about everything — from the way your napkins are folded to the
temperature of the food to a two-minute delay in the delivery of their
appetizers.
You must always remember that although these complaints may be directly
directed at your staff or yourself the roots of their unhappiness are inside of
them. These people are just venting their unhappiness and negativity at your
establishment.
Ask your waiters to try to Diffuse The Negativity by responding with
understanding and saying something positive. For instance if your Critic
claims that the food is cold then your staff can respond by saying “I’m sorry
about that. I will bring it back to the kitchen warm it up and get it right back to
you.”
Remind your staff to always be positive in their attitude and not to take the
criticism personally. Critics thrive in conflict and they look for it.
You owe it to your other customers to keep a nice relaxed ambience. If they see
that despite these complaints your staff is trying to correct the situation and
keeping a positive attitude they will value your place even more.
slide 4: Please notice that I am talking here about a person with a pattern of negativity
not an angry customer that may be reasonably upset because of a specific
dining issue.
One of the best ways to deal with an angry person is to actively listen to what
they are saying. Often the angry person is frustrated because they don’t believe
they are being heard and think no one wants to help them.”
Always try to listen first to your customers if they are angry. They may have a
reason that can be easily solved. Listen to what they have to tell you and try to
come up with a satisfactory solution. This often diffuses their anger and leaves
everybody happy.
However if you see that these people are purposely disruptive politely ask
them to leave your place and suggest they come back when they feel less upset.
Tell them something like:
I’m sorry that you are not having an enjoyable experience. Perhaps you should
leave tonight and we can start over another time. Since you haven’t enjoyed
your time here your meal is in the house.”
To conclude you must try always your best to be polite when dealing with
difficult customers. Remember that these people are bringing their own
slide 5: problems and issues to your place and your restaurant and staff are just the
vehicles through which they vent their frustrations.
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