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Capture and Retain the Attention of Your Customers

I’ve been away lately trying to escape the so-called British Summer, but found decent weather in short supply on much of the continent too.  This, combined with major effort into an exciting new website project has meant I have neglected my PYC blog.   I usually write about ways to attract and retain customers through Internet marketing, which is PYC’s main focus, but this time I want to share with you a recent customer service experience that illustrates to me how businesses can be good at both offline and online marketing, but if they don’t follow through and deliver a quality product and service to match they will ultimately suffer.

A pub not too far from where I live has recently changed hands yet again and reopened in a fanfare of publicity.  The new owner has spent a lot of money on refurbishing it inside and out and has marketed the new venture in the local press and via a new website.  He has recruited an enthusiastic team to run the place and even went as far as to hold a launch party during opening week, where all and sundry were invited to partake of free wine and sample tasters from the food menu.  The evening certainly encouraged us to revisit the pub and mark it down as a place to go for a meal out in an area that quite frankly is not over-endowed with great food pubs.  I was also sufficiently impressed with the tasters at the launch event and the positive and attentive staff who were evidently proud of the place to recommend friends to try the place out.  So far so good.  It was a good move by the pub owner to garner good publicity by providing local people with the chance to sample in advance of buying a meal there.

Now comes the bad news.  A few weeks later I asked a good friend who eats out regularly whether he had eaten there yet?   He had and he and his fiancée were not impressed.  After they had finished their meal the waitress asked whether everything was OK and after hearing their negative response, instead of taking helpful action, she ignored their complaint and just asked whether they would like a dessert!  So, because the the pub did not deliver on food quality and good customer service they have lost two potential regular local customers.   And if this experience is replicated to other customers, the pub will join the long list of other pub failures, because in today’s economic climate consumers will not accept inferior quality, poor value for money and bad customer service.  My friends gave the pub an opportunity to put things right and they ignored it.  In most cases in this country we don’t complain if we receive poor food or service, we just don’t go back and we tell all our friends to avoid the place.  So, if the owner of the pub wants a return on his considerable investment he had better ensure his staff sharpen up their act.