Before you can enjoy the benefits of having a life-time relationship with your customers, you first have to get them into your restaurant, store or other business. Good directions can make or break that fragile budding relationship. Here are tips to give great directions!

Make triple sure you directions are accurate, that is, read through them yourself while looking at a map, have someone else who doesn’t know the area drive them and give you feedback, and be sure to ask real customers if the directions are working. Your customers don’t care how hard you worked or how many times you’ve been through them, if the directions don’t work, they don’t work, period!

Layout your directions in bullet points and a large font so they are easy to follow while driving a car through a strange city, at night, in heavy traffic, in the rain. Be ready to fax or e-mail directions at a moments notice. (Super tip: For fast and easy e-mailing, put your directions in “signature files” in your e-mail program.)

Some people like directions with numbers, street names and mileage (proceed 1.5 miles on Harper Road then turn left onto 2nd Street East). Other people do better with directions based on landmarks (drive about 5 minutes past the Mall, then turn left at Hollywood Video). Consider offering both types of directions.

Be sure you include your full physical address (some people will prefer to call up a map or directions from a place like mapquest.com). Don’t forget to include your logo, a photograph of your restaurant (or other business) and a blurb about why you are the greatest destination on earth. This will keep your potential life-time customer motivated if they make a wrong turn.

One final tip: Offer free coffee, soda or dessert to anyone who tells you they got lost. And when they tell you what happened, listen closely and thank them sincerely: They are helping you put thousands of dollars in your pockets from dozens of future life time customers.

About the Author

Rodney Robbins is a cartoonist and author with years of front line experience as a quality manager in manufacturing, retail, restaurants and more. He has worked his way up from hourly help to the management suite at several companies and knows what it takes to be successful. Go to http://www.Rodneys52Ways.com for bulk order pricing on his latest cartoon tip booklet.

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A recent article on the focus of the new leadership of Six Flags centers on details such as
becoming more family friendly, keeping the place cleaner, and focusing less on “big wow”
rides - and it’s a valuable lesson for restaurant operators.

How often over the last year have you looked for the silver bullet and instant fix? Dropped
a boatload of cash on a huge (and unsuccessful) promotion? Launched a new product just
because the competitor did? Complained that sales are down due to all the new
competition? Wondering why nobody is applying in your restaurant?

Perhaps there are lessons to be learned about changing the focus. The Next Big Thing is
actually the little things — that is, the details. There might be more appeal in launching
frequent new products or expensive advertising campaigns, but if the restaurant isn’t run
properly or becomes run down, or if the staff is inadequately trained, the only thing you
have done is told more people you’re not very good.

Start by taking an honest assessment of where you are — in your eyes, the eyes of the
customers, and the eyes of the employees. Ask customers and employees what they feel is
needed to move service, quality, and the restaurant itself to new heights. Run potential
ideas by them to see what their thoughts and responses are so you know what you will be
facing as you implement the selected changes.

Treat the customer to the basics, such as high-quality food, consistency, accuracy, a
friendly staff, and a clean, well-maintained facility.

Need to attract better talent? Ask the team what you can do to make your restaurant a
better place to work. Focus on the details — rewarding the performers, removing the nonperformers,
maintaining high standards, and providing ongoing development and training.

Now, all you have to do is execute…no big thing!

T.J. Schier is service professional, consultant and speaker with over 20 years experience in operations and training. Founder and president of Incentivize Solutions and podTraining, T.J. has helped numerous clients enhance their service and training programs and spoken to tens of thousands of managers, franchisees and operators in various fields. Visit http://IncentivizeSolutions.com/ for more info motivating today’s employees, training today’s generation and delivering outstanding guest service; or http://podTraining.us/, a unique new system and the foundation of ‘i-learning’ - using the device of today’s generation, the iPod - to train your workforce.

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