What Can Jamie Oliver Learn About Customer Service?

I'm happy to admit...I'm A Fan!

Jamie Oliver has been extremely successful in not just building and growing a financially successful business empire which includes publishing, online products and a chain of restaurants (including one brand which does a commendable job of helping individuals who have faced, or continuing to face severe personal and emotional challenges, learn how to cook, and often, gain employment in either one of his outlets or elsewhere.

So what can Jamie Oliver learn about customer service?

The major lesson to be considered is 'Remember that it is wrong to demand tips from your customers.'

My wife, daughter and I enjoyed a fantastic lunch last week at Jamie's Italian in Leeds.  The food was easy on the eyes and light on the tummy.  I am definitely not a chef or proficient cook.  The only time I invest in the kitchen at home is either when I've been 'encouraged' to do the washing up, or boiling the kettle for a cuppa, so I have no idea how fresh the ingredients were that served to produce a wonderfully array of enjoyable meals for the three of us.  But, the one thing I am proficient at, being a typical Yorkshireman, is spotting and appreciating when 'good' or 'excellent' service has been provided by the waiting staff allocated to us.

OK Service...With An Unwelcome Twist!

If you have ever visited Harvey Nichols cafe in Leeds, you may (or may not) have noticed that when your bill arrives, it already INCLUDES a service charge of 10% of the total bill.  Rather cheeky, as this 'service charge' isn't reserved for the usual group of six or more diner.  Even if you visit on your own, you get smacked with the supposed 'service charge'.  Why does Harvey Nichols do it?  Well, there could be a number of reasons, and they may (or may not) include:

1. It's Harvey Nichols...and you don't expect it to be cheap or reasonable do you?  You pay to 'enjoy' Harvey Nichols' brand.
2. The cafe hopes that you, the trusting customer, will be too embarrassed to ask for the 'service charge' to be removed from the bill, so they take their chances...and a liberty too!
3. The cafe is being blatantly greedy, subversive and eager to scrape in every last penny it can...perhaps because of their hard working, completely professional and oh so responsive staff.

There may be other reasons of course, and the above are just my humle opinions rather than a statement of fact or truth.  But why is it that this brand (as you'll see, just like at least one member of staff at Jamie Oliver's Leeds outlet) feel that it is fair, reasonable or even right, to actively impose such charges on customers, who are ultimately paying their employee's wages, whether or not during a time of austerity?

Back To Jamie's Italian, Leeds

So, we've enjoyed a lovely meal, lots of laughs and the bill arrives.  The waitress who has been 'OK', nothing spectacular, presents me with the bill by placing it down in front of me, wrapped in a promotional leaflet for the restaurant.  Yes, the bill is correct and that is absolutely fine.  Now it comes to the discussion with our nine year old daughter about what, if any, tip to leave for the waitress.  And this is where the trouble begins!

Not content with waiting to be pleasantly surprised with a reasonable tip, for OK (aka 'Average') service, the waitress decided to rather visually draw to our attention the fact that 'Service Charge is not included' by underlining the sentence and asterisking the line too.  Why?  Of course, to draw our attention to the fact that she either, felt she was worth, or indeed expected, us to tip her.  Why?  Not because she is perhaps worthy of a tip. After all, the food was fantastic, but the service was nowhere near that standard.  She wanted to inform us of her desire to obtain additional income from us, simply because she wanted to!

The final line in this comedy of customer dis-service can be seen on the receipt below.  How overbearingly patronising is it to focus attention on a self-serving action, to then write 'Thank you' at the bottom of the receipt?

Mr Oliver.  Please understand, your customers are not always right.  But on this occasion, someone your organisation chose to employ, entrusted with your brand, and pays to be 'professional', got it very badly wrong.  Is this just one example of the darker side of the hospitality industry?  And more importantly, is this a behaviour that your leadership and management teams actively encourage and endorse?

Emotional Intelligence Training Benefits

Cut Training Costs & Boost Results

With training budgets for management training and team building training being slashed due to the uncertain economic climate, an alternative and worthwhile option is required when it comes to providing worthwhile and meaningful learning for managers.

The Management Training Channel is a completely portable management training and coaching portal that is available 24/7 via any internet-enabled device.  The BIG benefits of this solution are that:-

- Managers can learn 'on the go' rather than having to take a day out of the workplace.  This means that the user can access any number of the current 137 subject-specific audio and video casts within the portal - before that important meeting or challenging performance management chat.

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So, that's The Management Training Channel and it's available to you now.  Go take a look!

Employee Engagement - The Facts

Employee Engagement continues to be the buzz phrase in a tough economic climate.  With under pressure bosses needing to navivate choppy waters, face uncertainty on a daily basis and keep their customers and stakeholders happy - or at least not as 'unhappy' as they may be, keeping employees motivated, committed and focused is quite a challenge.

This infographic details some research data together with my recommendations on how you and your organisation, whatever industry, whatever size and whatever culture you operate within, can boost employee engagement.

Yes, I know, it's always easier said than done.  But it CAN BE DONE, and quickly too. Take a look and feel free to share your thoughts with me.

Enabling Learning In Your Colleagues

So so often I observe well-meaning coaches and managers 'showing' a colleague how to successfully undertake a task or procedure. Of course, sharing information, knowledge and skills is a vital contributing factor to every organisation.

BUT, the challenge manifests when the educator, manager, coach or well established colleague simply shows the learner what to do, in what order and at what 'reasonable' speed.  Especially frustrating for the learner, even though s/he is very likely to speak up and mention it, is when the educator appears to become frustrated with the slow pace at which the learner 'appears' to be learning.  The subsequent 'Give it here, I'll do it and then you can do it' comment really doesn't help, motivate or engage the learner who, is for all intents and purposes, proceeding slowly because s/he wants to get it right.   Or at the very least, doesn't want to get it wrong!

Impulse Control Gone Crazy

Busy managers and coaches need to develop an awareness of how to effectively set the scene for learning to take place.  As I mentioned to an audience of teachers recently, 'Just because you are teaching, it does not necessarily mean that your audience members (students) are learning.'  The very mention of this fact stimulated fantastic discussion amongst the teachers who, albeit unwittingly, had been on auto-pilot setting when teaching.

A key challenge for those entrusted with teaching colleagues new skills, processes and procedures is the absence of effective impulse control.  Their desire for immediate gratification 'I want this done now', is exactly the same principle that applies to you, me or anybody else who really wants that biscuit, glass of wine or feels the need to shout and ball at the driver who just pulled out in front of us at the junction. It's poor impulse control at it's very worst!

Here is a 5 minute audio that will help you to coach others to learn more effectively, confidently, and very likely, more quickly too.

Enjoy

http://summitpodcasts.s3.amazonaws.com/Enabling Learning.mp3