When we talk about customer satisfaction, are we referring to satisfying their primary needs? Meet expectations? Or provide a good service? Customer satisfaction must exceed these paradigms and in this article we will discover how to achieve it.
Before advancing on the subject, it is necessary to go back to Maslow's pyramid theory, which conceptualizes 5 hierarchical levels in which it describes the motivations that drive human beings.
Then we can link human motivations with satisfaction, according to the need, we offer a solution and we obtain satisfaction.
One of the physiological needs that concern us as restaurant entrepreneurs is to eat, which is found in the first step, the widest of the pyramid, at this level we can say, speaking of the primary need that is food, that there are many restaurant businesses that can provide the satisfaction of this basic need.
Knowing this How can you manage to differentiate your business and not be just one more that meets the need to feed such a person without more?
E.g.When thinking about tacos, the selection process of this product can be based on the proximity of the place where it is sold or the price, and the customer is satisfied with the simple fact of eating them, Are you doing enough to climb the ladder and satisfy more than hunger?
churros el dorado managed to position itself on the level of recognition by being constant in the quality of its products, how? He acquired technology when his restaurant demanded it, always offering a friendly service and gaining the trust of his guests, being the ideal place to have breakfast with the family in CDMX.
Possibly your restaurant is on the safety step, being the preferred restaurant for its kindness and cleanliness of the facilities or a social restaurant, being a pleasant place to enjoy with friends and family, where people go to upload a photo on their networks having fun and having a good time.
In this case, your duty is to satisfy their need for entertainment and fun, offering events, new products and a charming treatment.
At the top of the pyramid we have self-realization, here we can classify the restaurants that by the fact of eating in them represents a goal achieved in the short term that generates satisfaction and exclusivity, such is the case of restaurants like Pujol in Mexico, this This restaurant is featured on this rung because it is world renowned and offers a unique experience.
You can position your restaurant with any of these satisfaction levels mentioned in the pyramid. Do you already know how you want to position your business?
Let's see the following ...
How to achieve customer satisfaction without dying in the attempt?
Before studying your clients, start analyzing your workspace and the work environment that exists among your team, since in customer service issues the emotional health of your collaborators will directly influence the quality of the work they offer to your clients.
What does the work climate of your restaurant forecast?
They are under a storm, it is a cloudy day or the sun is in its maximum splendor, it is essential to know this information to take action before wrapping your customers in an unfavorable climate for your restaurant.
There are tools such as 360 evaluations that allow you to know the work environment that flows in your company and thus be able to take actions that allow the healthy professional development of your employees.
Knowing this, let's see what else could affect the satisfaction or satisfaction of your customers.
Factors influencing customer satisfaction
Maintaining a cordial relationship with customers is vital, and that you must be very clear about. However, there are also factors that make it difficult to obtain good results with your clients, we list them for you to take into consideration.
Human factors
Previously we discussed the importance of the work environment of your restaurant since it is an important point to know if your collaborators are satisfied with their current situation at work.
It is important to generate a commitment and to obtain it we need 2 things:
- TRUST, You must reinforce your empathy, open the dialogue and give solutions, not scolding, this will help to instill trust among your collaborators.
- MOTIVATION, When a collaborator knows “what” he is doing things for and makes sense of it, he releases an emotional energy that helps him better face challenges.
Restaurant processes
This point is clear, imagine that the card terminal in your restaurant fails, what solution can you offer to avoid damaging the quality of your service? maybe you can have an engine like pagonline to charge by credit card through a link.
Many processes in your restaurant can be automated through Softwares, such as use tablets to receive ordersYou save time by having direct communication to the kitchen and reduce the effort of having to decipher a written command.
Analyze what processes can influence the satisfaction of your restaurant's customers, discover what actions your collaborators take in these events. Do they know what to do or with whom to channel the customer to solve a problem?
It will help you to carry out a contingency plan in the event of random events that may influence the satisfaction of your customers, and this should be shared with your entire team of collaborators so that they are on the same page and know how to react to this.
Factors that determine the quality of service
Time is money and when the customer requests the account it is crucial to deliver it in the shortest time possible and for you it is still important because it means that a new guest will be able to occupy the place in less time. Do you know how long it takes your team to carry out this process?
The factors that determine the quality of your service have 2 vectors, technical competence and customer service.
La technical competence is the dexterity with which they carry out their functions and the knowledge they have in the service, on the other hand, the customer care it is the attitude they take when performing the service.
Your restaurant can not say we do it wrong, but we are charming, much less say we are incompetent and unfriendly, the goal is to put the banner of we do our work with the highest quality.
Evaluate the performance of your restaurant and locate in which quadrant your service is located, the quality of each process in your restaurant reflects the harmony between competition and customer service.
Relationship between satisfaction and excellence
So far we have discovered that satisfaction can be obtained by meeting the expectations and needs of the client, following Maslow's pyramid we can idealize what step we are on and what need we must cover from the client.
We also discover what factors influence when offering our services.
Excellence goes beyond meeting expectations, it is offering a wow experience that moves your customers and to get to this point you need to implement technology in your restaurant.
Take advantage of technology to know your customers, what products they enjoy the most, what hours they frequent and what their average consumption is, tools like RestCard, allow you to use frequent customer cards and offer promotions that your diners really enjoy.
5-star service guarantee
Now your pquality and satisfaction friction They are through the roof but you must bear in mind that your customers' buying process is a circle and they will soon return to revive your 5-star service.
For this, it is necessary to document the processes to ensure that the operation flows properly regardless of who offers the service.
Documenting your purchasing processes will not only help you understand the path your customer goes through when they arrive at your restaurant, but it will also allow you to have empathy with him and that will help you identify if there are gaps or bottlenecks in your purchase process, which can be streamlined and optimized to improve the shopping experience of each of your customers.
Take into account that job satisfaction is also a exponential factor that determines the experience of your customers in your restaurant which builds a culture around customer satisfaction.
How do you know what perspective your customers have of your restaurant and how to start improving their experience and satisfaction in your business?
Knowing where you are standing is very important so that you know what direction to take and what actions to take.
The same applies to the beginning of your plan to maintain or improve the satisfaction of your customers when they visit your restaurant.
You don't need expensive market research to find out what your customers think and how they feel in your restaurant. It will be enough for you to approach your customers and ask them yourself to find out their opinion firsthand.
We share 3 simple ways to do this activity
- You can do it directly and personally
If you have generated a lot of trust with your guests and especially with your frequent customers, you can directly ask them to give you an opinion about your business and how they feel every time they visit you.
This type of research would be more qualitative because you will have to interpret according to the comments and identify how you can improve. You also run the risk that your client is not entirely honest with their answers.
2) Brief survey through your tickets
This is an easy way to do it, if you have command printing software. You can come up with a short number of questions, these questions should be focused on what you want to know about the opinion of your customers and print them on the tickets.
Upon submitting the bill, you can request the response of the survey from your guests.
In this way, it is more likely that your clients will express their opinion without restrictions.
For Soft Restaurant ® customers this configuration is available in the section General configuration / Surveys and Reports.
There they can customize their surveys, the number of questions and the type of answers.
3) Use technology to your advantage
The third way is a variant of the second, that is, you can request that your clients solve the survey through your tickets, the only difference is that you will have a link that directs them to answer the survey.
For this you can support yourself from various platforms on the internet that allow you to carry out surveys, and at the end it gives you a link so you can share it with your clients.
Another benefit of this type of platform is that they allow you to know the statistics of the responses and view them graphically.
Such is the case of platforms like survival o Monkey.
You can also configure these two in the Soft Restaurant® system so that when you deliver the tickets for the accounts, you can request to answer the brief survey through the link generated.
One of the good practices of restaurants is the installation of internet in the business for their diners. With this you not only give them value, but also allow you to use it to your advantage. A good example is providing access to solve your online surveys, such as those of survival y surveymonkey.
Now that you have the responses from your guests, what's next?
The most important thing about having the information at your disposal will be what you decide to do with it later.
It will be time to start your work, carry out an analysis of the answers obtained, which may be good, those of course that help you to know what you are doing well, however, the ones that you should consider most important are those that tell you what not. you are doing well, these answers will help you to devise strategies to improve the satisfaction of your customers and the experience they have being inside your restaurant. 