Restaurant Success Secret #4

You Must Understand The Importance of a Relationship With Your Guests Versus Just Having Customers.

Guest versus Customer.  A guest implies an ongoing relationship.  We show hospitality when we greet our guests – we want them to come back, we treat them special and make them feel welcome.

A lot of people that work in this business look at the people who come into the restaurant as customers; a one-time transaction.  The really successful people look at it as a relationship – an ongoing relationship.  Make marketing decisions based on this relationship.  All of the money in the restaurant business is based on ongoing repeat transactions.

The concept of the “lifetime value” of a guest:  If you look at a transaction you might see it as being $25, $30, $50 or $70 of what someone might spend in your restaurant.  BUT… if you look at it over the lifetime of that guest and by using an estimated lifetime value (approximately 5 years), twice a month and bring the average amount of 2.3 people in each time, that equals over $3,000.00 over five years.

If one person has a WOW experience at your restaurant they will tell five other people and at least one of those will turn into a loyal guest as well.

When you look at your business in the long-term, a comfort area for your guests, you make different decisions about your business and your marketing.  You make decisions based on the desire to get more loyal guests to come in because they are going to be spending more money in your restaurant over their lifetime.

The thought process about how you view your guests and how you treat them and the decisions that you make based on that has to be a long-term view of ongoing transactions.  If you’re only going to look at one transaction with this person, it’s so short-term you’re not going to be making very good decisions; you’re not going to be treating that person very well.  They’ll sense it and your staff will sense it and you’ll be making marketing decisions and all sorts of other decisions like it too.  Make sure you are treating them as a guest and thinking of them in terms of a guest, and then everyone in your staff thinks the same way too.

Since you’re in the marketing business you realize the importance of direct marketing and focus on it.  What are the things that are important in the direct marketing and what do you need to focus on in terms of your marketing?  What is the definition?  What you need to be thinking about?

Just to review.  We’ve revealed the following secrets so far:

1. The desire to change and willingness to confront your situation head on, as well as being Open-minded and willing to learn
2. Taking action on the RIGHT activities;
3. Recognizing the business you’re in – a marketer of memorable dining experiences;
4. Importance of relationships to the customers – Customers versus Guests

These are hugely important as the building blocks of success, the foundation.  This is what many restaurant owners have in place before they achieve success.  We have prepared the mind with the foundation… now it’s time to plant and harvest!

Next, we will get into the brass tacks and tactics necessary to achieve success. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topics I present and their link to True Restaurant Success. Please do not hesitate to share -  Leave a Comment

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