• If you are a park or garden, ask your gardening team to share seasonal tips.
• If you have a golf course you might share tips on the latest equipment or techniques to hone their swing.
• If you have a spa, ask your spa team to share information on relaxation techniques, aromatherapy remedies, tips for the perfect pedicure, skin car regimes, etc.
• If you are an historical site share some of your story on how you preserve special features.
• Ask housekeeping for tips on stain removal, cleaning household items such as glass, leather, silk etc. or ‘the day in the life of’.
• If you are a wedding venue ask any of your joint venture partners or preferred suppliers such as florist, photographer, limousines, suit hire for their top tips.

What’s happening

Last but not least keeping in touch with your customers is an ideal opportunity to keep them up to date with what’s going on. Yes, this will include forthcoming events and promotions that they may be interested in, but it’s not just about this. No one wants to be bombarded with sell, sell, sell emails. You’ll soon get unsubscribes from your list if you do this. Create a sense of intrigue and curiosity; tell them about your plans, changes you’re making (e.g. progress reports on refurbishments), what’s new (e.g. your new menu, new toiletries, treatments or service, refurbishments, celebrity involvement). You then have a reason to invite them back or make an offer.

Don’t be afraid to tell people what they’ve missed; what are your success stories.

If you are an education centre share some of the projects you’ve been working on with schools. If your target market are families with young children, tell them about activities children in enjoy (with plenty of pictures too, to show them having a good time with their favourite TV or Book character!)  Historical site may cover recent discoveries. These also provide a great opportunity to share photos and testimonials, which all helps build credibility.

Maybe they missed it this time, but now they can see for themselves what they’ve missed out on it will be a lot easier to get their attention next time.

So don’t leave a return visit or referral to chance. Ensure you’re keeping yourself in your customers’ minds; keep in touch.

You can find more on building customer relationships in the Hotel Success Handbook

Introduce your future customers to the team; let your head chef describe the menu or his/her signature dish, personal recommendations from one of your local team members of places to see or things to do, your gardener to talk about what’s in bloom,  your events team about any special entertainment. Anything that will whet their appetite.

Pass on useful (and most importantly up to date) information that will enable a smooth journey: forewarn of expected traffic delays, what’s the quickest and/or cheapest way to get from the airport or railway station, personalised driving directions from their home post code.

Act like a travel company and give tips on what to bring, and what you provide, so they don’t have to overload their suitcase or cram the car with unnecessary toiletries, clothing, sports’ gear or travel books.

Say thank you

The quickest and easiest way to create an impression and get remembered by your customers after their visit is to send a thank you note. A handwritten and personalised card or note will win hands down over and above an automated email.

Show you appreciate their custom, and show you care. Make reference to the rest of  their day out, their holiday, onward journey or something they mentioned during their stay. And one of the easiest ways to show your appreciation is with a small gift of some kind. This might be an exclusive offer or deal for them or a friend, a memento for them to keep or pass on, or some useful snippets of relevant information or tips.

A follow up thank you is also a great opportunity to get feedback too. If you know they enjoyed their visit prompt them to write a review in TripAdvisor or Google Reviews (make it easy for them by providing a link). Ask for direct feedback too; what they enjoyed most and any ideas, comments or suggestions they have to enhance their stay next time.

Tomorrow we’ll look at how to start to build the customer relationship before they have even become a customer.

But can we afford to do this when it comes to our valued restaurant customers? We’ve worked so hard to get them in the first place, so surely we want to do everything we can to get them back. Simply saying ‘I hope to see you again soon’ is not enough. Hoping or wishing them to return needs some action on our part to make it a reality.

Yesterday we talked about how to build your list, so don’t waste that valuable database by doing nothing with it.

Keeping in touch is a great way to continue to build the relationship with your restaurant customers and keep you in their mind when the time comes for a return visit or when asked to make a recommendation.

How you keep in touch will be dependent on the type of business you have, and the messages you want to convey. Obviously email is the cheapest and easiest option. But if you have an audience who are less IT savvy (someone like my father comes to mind, who would never even had a computer, let alone an email address) then a physical mailing or phone call may be a better option. And let’s be honest here, how many emails get deleted before even being opened these days, so it’s not always the most reliable format. A hard copy mailing with a hand written envelope, a small gift, or something quirky will often get someone’s attention far more effectively than 10 emails.

Irrespective of the format the important thing is to keep in touch. And not just to bombard people with offers that they are not interested in.

Tomorrow we’ll talk about to use your customer contact list for existing customers.

I am amazed how few hotels and restaurants use e-mail marketing. It’s never too late to start building a database, and e-mail marketing is a great way to continue to build the relationship with your customers and keep you in their mind when the time comes for a return visit or when asked to make a recommendation.
Without a list, every time you want to get something in front of your customers or prospects you have to start all over again. Your list gives you the opportunity to tell every existing and potential customer about promotions, seasonal events and any other newsworthy information relevant to your target market.
The more detail you have on people who are interested in what you offer, the more often you can return to them with additional offers that are tailored to them. And the more often you do this, the more likely it is that this will result in business.

Offer incentives to build your list

To build your list, you may need to set up incentives for people to fill in a physical form or coupon, or sign up online and share their details. Some ideas might be:

• Discounts or vouchers (ensuring they are attractive offers,  but include time limits and offers that won’t leave you out of pocket once redeemed)
• Free information such as a pdf downloadable guide to something of relevance and of interest to your target market, your business or your local area. For example, recipes for your popular dishes, aromatherapy guide related to your spa, golfing tips if you have a golf course, 101 things to do with the kids during your stay….. You get the picture
• Prize draws or competitions, with relevant prizes from your own products or services, or those of your joint venture partners
• Access to exclusive offers or ‘members only’ offers

Whatever the incentive it needs to be something that is of value and highly desirable to your target audience; something that will compel them to fill out the form and part with their details.

Where to find contacts

There are three key sources of names:

Existing customers: Simply ask them to leave their business card, or fill out a blank card which enables those who’d rather not give their business details to fill in their personal contact details. Present this with their bill so it gets their attention.
You may want to combine data gathering with gaining feedback on your customers’ stay or visit at the same time.

Collecting phone numbers at the time of booking will allow you to make follow up calls, and having a mobile number allows you to confirm reservations.

Online: This may be existing customers, but more likely will be for people in response to an advert or people who have just stumbled on your website.  You’ll need an ‘opt in’ or ‘landing’ page to capture their details.

As there is no relationship yet with these people you need a really enticing offer to encourage people to share their details. Remember, some of these may be those who may not want to buy right now, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be potential customers in future.

In order to track the effectiveness of your marketing activities it’s useful to be able to identify the source of the contact. So you may need to include a ‘how did you hear of us?’ field, unless you have dedicated urls for different adverts or press mentions to help you keep track.

Your joint venture partners: Ask your JV’s to give their customers your discount vouchers or an invitation to receive your exclusive offers. Then ask customers to complete their details in order to redeem them with you.

Never compromise your contacts’ trust by giving or selling your list to anyone else; if a joint venture partner wants to offer something to your contacts do it through you, and vice versa.

You could in theory use contact information taken from customers’ registration details, but use this sparingly and only for a follow up and very relevant offers. You’re legally entitled to contact your own customers with future offers, but always seek permission to use customers’ details for any marketing activity. And of course if any customer asks not to be contacted at any time, you must respect this, and record their preference on your database.

Whichever way you capture prospects’ and customers’ contact information, under the Data Protection Act 1998 you must have permission to communicate with them. The Information Commissioner’s Office website (www.ico.gov.uk) shows what you need to do.

What information you really need

The more information you have the better in order to tailor your mailings to suit the needs of your customer. Asking for a lot of personal detail up front is, however, not very practical (and likely to be very off putting) so it’s better to gather it over time.

What you gather first off will depend on how you want to contact them, so if emailing is your preferred option start with just their name and email address. But if knowing who is local and who is not is important, you may want to gather mailing addresses too. This opens up the opportunity for a physical mailing, which although more expensive is certainly more eye catching than an email and may be a better match for your audience.

So balance what you ideally need with what is reasonable for people to share with you.

Tomorrow we’ll look at what to do with your list.

It’s also said that 68% of customers will fail to return if they feel unappreciated. This is the number one reason businesses lose customers.

Based upon these two statistics, it is obvious your business be it a hotel, visitor attraction, restaurant or events venue needs to place as strong an emphasis on keeping existing customers as it does on gaining new ones. Here are ten ways to do this.

1. Last impressions
   Make sure your customers leave with great lasting impression of their stay with you. Ensure they realise that you appreciate their custom. A sincere thank you in person goes a long way. Give them a little memento to take home with them as a lasting reminder: a box of homemade truffles, jam or pickles or gift bag of your exclusive toiletries for your leisure guests, or quality logoed accessories for your corporate market. Following this up with a simple personalised thank you note a few days later will not only show your appreciation, but it will give them something to remember you by, especially if it is handwritten and tailored to them.
2. Keep in touch
   Out of sight is out of mind so even if your guests are only likely to visit you once a year, keep in touch with them for the whole year so that when they come to book again you are very firmly in their mind. Let them know what other activities you have going on, you never just know it could just tip the balance in favour of them coming to see you as an extra visit. You can also remain on their radar by your presence on social media. Do your homework first and find out the best options to suit your guests.
3. Reward their loyalty with exclusive deals
   Make your loyal customers feel special by putting together packages or deals which are exclusive to them. This again demonstrates your appreciation of their custom, as well as potentially prompting additional bookings. As a loyal customer, the last thing you want to hear about is an offer that’s only available to ‘new’ customers.
4. Understand your customers’ needs
   Keep up-to-date with what your customers want from you by listening to them. Get to know your customers and be visible in your hotel, or at the venue making personal contact with your customers to build rapport and trust. They are then far more likely to tell you what they want and what would encourage them to return. The more you get to know your customers the easier it is to anticipate their needs, and deliver what they want on a consistent basis to keep them satisfied. Avoid being so bound by your own rules that you can’t be flexible. If a guest wants a lie in and would like breakfast at 11.30, is this really that big a problem if it means they enjoy their stay and tell their friends?
5. Ask for feedback
   Never take your regular guests for granted; ask for their feedback and resolve shortfalls quickly. Problems or challenges are often your opportunity to shine and leave a positive lasting impression if dealt with positively. Now’s a chance to exceed expectations. Face to face feedback will always win over a comments form or questionnaire.  Ask them what they like and what disappoints them if anything, so you can learn from this and continually improve.  Guests will be flattered if you ask for their opinions. So also ask for their feedback on new ideas, or for their recommendations on how things can be improved.
6. Remember them
   Address your customers by name; it’s really positive when someone remembers your name especially when you aren’t expecting it. This goes for giving the name right when you’re writing it down. And although you may know this regular customer, do your staff know them too. Record their personal details and any special requirements. Do they have any particular likes and dislikes, what is their favourite room, do they have any particular requirements such as access issues. Do we know their birthday or any special anniversaries? Remembering such details will always be appreciated.
7. Get the basics right
   Ensure your customers’ second, third, or 50th visit is as good as their first. Have systems in place to ensure you’re able to deliver the same level of service on a consistent basis. Take the customer journey regularly, and see everything from a customer’s perspective. Be sure to under promise and over deliver. With regular customers this means continuous improvement, as they will have set expectations, which we need to strive to exceed on every visit. Simple things delivered well will always be better than trying to be over sophisticated and delivering it badly.
8. Train your staff
   Your staff need to know the level of service that your customers expect, and have the appropriate training, tools and systems in place in order for them to deliver this. Brief your team so that they too can recognise and remember your loyal customers and empower them to deliver what your customers want and expect. In the unfortunate event that your customers have cause to complain, give your staff the training, confidence and authority to deal with complaints promptly. Your recovery of the situation can in itself earn you brownie points.
9. Know your competition
   Keep an eye on your competitors, what they are charging, new services they offer, improvements, marketing promotions, etc. Make sure your services are the best value for the money. You do not necessarily have to lower your prices when your competitors do, but make sure your customers know that you are worth the extra money. Stay competitive.
   But I’m not just talking about other hotels, restaurants or attractions; your customers will compare you with anyone else who delivers a similar service. So as long as you deliver a five-star service you’re going to compare favourably with all your ‘competition’.
10. Wow your customers
    Think of the things that are of high value to your customers but low cost to you so you can give added value. Give people a reason to talk about you. Always look for an opportunity to go that extra mile to wow your customers to make it really difficult for them to ever contemplate not coming back to you.

Go here for more articles and free resources on retaining customers for hospitality and leisure business

So that’s just what I’m doing and it’s starting next Wednesday (2^nd May).

Here’s the run down on the programme:

(the video isn’t one of my finest, but it will help you get an idea of what you’ll get from the programme – please don’t laugh at my startled look!)

I’m setting you a challenge to bring about a real change in your team in just 29 days.

This is what you’ll discover

• Practical ways to keep your team motivated even when balancing labour costs
• How to get your team on board and share your passion for your future plans
• Ways to inspire your team to take ownership
• Actions to retain your valued team members so they don’t leave as soon as they’re up to speed
• Steps to develop your team so they are able and willing to cover each other when necessary
• Strategies to get your managers and supervisors to manage effectively, so you don’t have to do their job for them
• A proven formula to deal with poor performance in a positive way that leaves team members motivated to change
• How to delegate more to achieve some free time to focus on the bigger picture

Here’s where to learn more and sign up

So we were all set for our last evening to have some fun, reflect on our trip and end our holiday with a grand finale.

What we got instead was a boring, lonely and flat evening.

Rather than make the most of this opportunity the restaurant had decided to change the format for the evening and laid on a buffet. And rather than having a set time as on previous evenings the buffet was served over a 2½ hour window. We hadn’t seen our dining companions all day so opted to go in at our normal dinner time in the hope that they would have done the same. Instead when we arrived at the restaurant it was deserted; it seemed that virtually every other passenger had already come and gone. There were a few other stragglers like us but in the large restaurant, sat at our assigned tables we were scattered around all four corners of the restaurant. The result was no atmosphere and a feeling of isolation. Not conducive to a relaxed evening.

And because of the lack of other diners we felt that the restaurant staff had lost interest; it was over 15 minutes just to get a drink. The buffet table itself although there was an extensive range had been picked over and we felt we were just getting the remains; it seemed as if nothing fresh had been bought out in the last hour.

The end result was a less than favourable last impression. And a missed opportunity as the last thing we felt like doing was sitting over a few extra glasses of wine (hmm, come to think of it I don’t think we were even offered the wine list…). We just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible!

What do you do to create a grand finale for your customers?

• Save some of the highlights until the end of the day or event. As well as making it memorable for your customers it gives a more natural close to the occasion, but keeps people interested (and potentially spending) right until the end.
• Recognising there will be a time in the day or evening when you need to start preparing for the next day e.g. laying up for breakfast, entice people into another area e.g. into the lounge for their coffee (opposed to making people feel uncomfortable and forced to leave).
• Ensuring everything is still available right to then end of their visit.
• Present a gift, memento or a (pleasant) surprise at the end of their stay or visit “I heard what you said earlier and thought you might like this…..” Anything that is unexpected and adds a personal touch.
• Ask for feedback in a way that shows you are genuinely interested and value their opinion and comments.
• Don’t leave people hanging on when they are ready to leave – queues at the cloakroom, delays in getting their bill or settling up, bottlenecks in the car park, long queues at the toilets.
• Ensure the last thing your customers see is a friendly smiling face….

The main culprit was a drink all you like coffee deal. At the start of the cruise you could purchase your own ‘souvenir’ mug, and refill it as often as you liked. At 250 NOK (approximately £27) this at first glance seemed a lot of money, but when you saw that it was 20 NOK for a single cup, 6 days at a probably 4 – 5 cups of team of coffee per day this didn’t seem such a bad deal.  Presumably some people would drink less and therefore this deal was a potential win-win.

However, here’s the rub: the mug provided were approximately 40% bigger than the standard cups, and the coffee machines were set to fill a standard cup. This meant that each time you went to fill your mug with coffee, instead of pressing for one measure, you pressed again for a second measure to fill the mug. Of course you don’t need to be a mathematician to realise that as the mugs were only 40% bigger 2 measures would be too much. What happens to the excess coffee? You guessed it, it goes down the drain.

So what on the surface seemed like a good deal for both parties, must have meant in reality that almost 1/3 of the coffee dispensed was ending up down the drain.

And this wasn’t the only area of waste. Where ever passengers helped themselves you saw waste that was avoidable:

Lack of labels or descriptions: On the buffets at breakfast and some evening meals there were several items not labelled. This meant that people would help themselves, then when they realised it was not what they thought it was, inevitably it got left on the plate. This included everyday items that I’m sure you may serve such as fruit juices – is it pineapple or it is grapefruit? They both look the same, but if you were expecting grapefruit you’re unlikely to be happy when you taste pineapple. Indistinguishable sandwich fillings, speciality breads and sauces, all can confuse our guests when they are not labelled.

Poor portion control: Little pots were provided for your jam, but the size of the pot encouraged you to take twice as much as needed, and most was wasted. And over-sized serving utensils meant that people took too much of meat dishes.

Lack of batch cooking meant that dishes got dried up and unappetizing towards the end of service, so people avoided them until they got replenished.

So if you have any self-service items such as at breakfast or drinks, take a look at what is being wasted and where you can make savings. Not only can this save money, but it’s better for the guest too. A win-win for both of you.

Recognise and reward staff who go the extra mile and give exceptional customer service. Listen to your guests and acknowledge the feedback they give you and pass that on to your team. This helps both you and your team or to understand what your guests appreciate and value, and help identify where you may be falling short.

Encourage your team to come forward with their own ideas of how customer service can be improved and make every effort to take their ideas on board where appropriate. This gives the team a sense of ownership and pride which will inevitably have a positive knock-on effect on your guests.

Lead by example

Your personality is part of the business. Making yourself visible in your hotel and engaging with your guests not only builds rapport and trust with them, but sets the tone and example for your team to follow. If you hide yourself away in the office, or seldom even visit the hotel, this sends the message that it’s okay to hide away from guests.

Talking to your guests is far the best way to get feedback, and they may tell you things that they wouldn’t feedback to your team. Get to know your guests personally; their likes and dislikes, their routine, their suggestions, their network. All this not only builds rapport but makes it a lot easier for you to tailor your offer and service to meet your guests’ needs and expectations.

A team effort

Service should be seamless, and to achieve this, the whole team must support one another. Encourage staff to take ownership when necessary, rather than passing the buck. Allocate responsibilities to specific team members to conduct briefings, training, collate feedback and suggestions.  This spreads the responsibility, gets everyone involved, ensuring these happen even when you’re not there.

All this adds up ultimately to making your customer service memorable, and a potential point of differentiation – for the right reasons.

Upskilling your team by giving them the appropriate training, coaching and support enables you to delegate authority and gives your  staff a sense of responsibility, so they take the initiative and make decisions. You’ll be surprised how often they end up improving the process.  It means you don’t have to keep an eye on things 24/7, in the confident knowledge that your guests will always get great service.

Encourage staff to think ahead and anticipate guests’ needs, rather than waiting to be asked. Demonstrate your trust in the team by giving them responsibility and authority to respond to guests’ expectations and requests in the way that they see fit. Develop champions for areas of responsibility that need a specialist knowledge or particular attention. This promotes a sense of pride and responsibility and will encourage continuous improvement. This in turn can have an impact on your guests’ experience, when
specific knowledge is required to gain the guest’s confidence, for example dealing with function bookings, or food allergies, when from the customer’s perspective someone with specific expertise in that area may be needed.

Giving your staff authority to deal with unplanned situations (including complaints) enables them to resolve issues quickly and with minimum fuss. This is not only far better for the guest, but less effort in the long run for you and your team if they don’t need to find you or a manager. Telling a guest you don’t have the authority to deal with an issue is both frustrating for the guest and degrading for the team member.

There will naturally be situations where a manager’s input may be required, but aim to keep those to a minimum by ensuring that any one of the team can deal with the most common issues, questions or complaints.

Motivate and encourage your staff in making guest service a priority. Create a culture of continuous improvement by encouraging your team to ask for guest feedback. When they receive favourable feedback ask them to suggest ways to build or capitalise on this, and when less favourable to come forward with their own suggestions of where and how things can be improved.

In the final part this week,  it is about reward and recognigtion for the staff that go that extra mile for the customers.