Saturday, June 22, 2013

"I'm sure glad I didn't give them good service..."

Some years ago, I was chatting with a friend of mine who was co-owner of a popular dining and brew spot. As we talked, one of the wait staff came by and said to him, "See those guys leaving right now? I'm sure glad I didn't give them good service, 'cause they left me a lousy tip." After a few seconds and a swallow of his coffee, my friend turned to me in sheer disbelief at what he'd just heard. Suffice it to say that there was an opening on the wait staff very shortly thereafter.

Clearly, that waitperson had a complete misunderstanding of the whole relationship of service quality and tips, and did not understand much about cause and effect, either.
Poor service quality should not bear a direct relationship to dollars collected. I'm sure that you can think of an instance when you received good, personable service in a deep discount store, or from someone who was giving something away for free.

"I can't afford to give good service here" is a very lame excuse. Attitude and focus do not cost money. 

As a business person, you are responsible for the results of your business. (Duh.) If you are not conveying the proper sense of cause and effect, you need to rethink your focus.

Money follows service.

Are you getting "lousy" tips?

No comments:

Post a Comment