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You Know What Is Hard?

4 October 2009 by Allison 757 views 9 Comments

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Here’s a question, is there somewhere you go because you just love the service you get there?

Today I went to a cafe for breakfast. A cafe that I know is just terrible, but they have all-day-breakfast and you know, maybe they will hit a home run… I mean they can’t be bad all of the time can they?

Well yes they can… they had no sausages for the breakfast, they had no banana for the banana smoothie, they charged me full price even when they didn’t serve what we asked for and they didn’t try to make up for their bad planning.

On the spot my dining partners and I vowed NEVER,EVER to go back there again.

So how does a cafe, that sells and does what every other cafe does, differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack?

They could give larger portions (costs)
They could drop their prices (costs)
They could make their service extraordinarily good (free)

Why do cafes go for the first two and not the last. In fact why do so many businesses that sell the same things as so many other businesses go for the first two? Why is it so hard for businesses to provide good service?

Talking to everyone like a friend, smiling, helping, giving of yourself rather than putting up a wall, treating your customers as guests and not as annoyances, admitting mistakes and making amends for them, going out of your way to be a decent person, not expecting anything in return from the kindness you are showing…. all free to give and great for your business.

You know what is hard? Finding businesses that are THAT good. If you know one please drop us a comment as encouragement for all.

9 Comments »

SherylLoch (SherylLoch) said:

Twitter Comment

Does it need a little blue pill? This is 20 questions, right? RT @SWBN: You Know What Is Hard? [link to post]

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Allison Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 9:50 pm

Sheryl you are so naughty!

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# 4 October 2009 at 6:55 pm

SWBN (SWBN) said:

Twitter Comment

You Know What Is Hard? [link to post]

– Posted using Chat Catcher

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jbafaith (jbafaith) Reply:
October 4th, 2009 at 8:41 pm

Twitter Comment

@SWBN Too many service-oriented businesses have forgotten the service part! Food can be burnt once but service should always be good!

– Posted using Chat Catcher

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# 4 October 2009 at 7:32 pm

Megan said:

Good food for thought!

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# 4 October 2009 at 8:40 pm

Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach said:

So very true. I just read earlier today on Ari’s blog a post about his experiences with a Chinese restaurant – do any restaurants ever monitor what’s being said about them?

Did you try talking with management? Sometimes that helps.
Barbara Ling, Virtual Coach ´s last blog ..Today’s Humor of the Day – Karate Bloopers Part 1

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# 5 October 2009 at 2:52 am

Barbara the Virtual Coach's Journal - Page 17 said:

[...] Secret Women's Business Network Blog Archive You Know What Is Hard? [...]

# 6 October 2009 at 1:46 am

Nikki Backshall said:

I think that your analogy sums this up perfectly Allison. Also for anyone running one of these less than desirable places, you also said the following:

Today I went to a cafe for breakfast. A cafe that I know is just terrible, but they have all-day-breakfast and you know, maybe they will hit a home run… I mean they can’t be bad all of the time can they?

So it’s not too late for these undesirables to change their ways, for we, as mere mortals, are a pretty forgiving bunch and we do like to give second chances! Screw that up though and you’ll be left with Allisons final verdict:

On the spot my dining partners and I vowed NEVER,EVER to go back there again.

…and then it’s game over!
Nikki Backshall´s last blog ..HootSuite – Best Twitter Client for Scheduled Tweets and Tracking

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# 10 October 2009 at 11:18 am

komadori said:

Perhaps the reason that so few places try to differentiate themselves by service is that good service isn’t free: people that provide good service cost more to hire than those that don’t; people that don’t naturally provide good service cost money to train to do so. But it’s still odd that more don’t try the good service approach, because service quality will gain (or lose) customer loyalty in a way that lower prices never can.

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# 11 October 2009 at 2:26 am