Bar Service and Business – Part 2

Part 2 – Keep the Customer Area Clean

So, if you read my last blog, you’ll remember the number 1 priority and similarity between bar service and business is to serve and acknowledge your customers.  So if you don’t have any customers needing you right now, what’s next?

The customer area.  Sadly, this is something that is also done with mixed outcomes in NZ.  When was the last time you were at a café/restaurant and you had to move dirty dishes to use the table while staff were seemingly pre-occupied with other things?  The last time you went to a mechanic’s or panelbeater’s workshop – was the waiting room clean? Could you sit on the chairs without fear of oil or dust staining your clothes? The last time you went to a doctor or dentist – did you have to sit there reading a 2yr old ripped and tatty looking magazine while looking at age-yellowed torn posters on the wall?

If you want a customer to feel welcome at your business, you have to create a welcoming environment. For Hospitality venues this is of utmost importance, but you don’t have to go overboard – just a simple, CLEAN, space is all most people want.  Dust and run the vacuum over your waiting room once a week if you don’t have a cleaner.  Make sure the things you are displaying on your walls – certificates, accolades, trophies etc – look fresh, are relevant, and reasonably current. As a customer I don’t particularly care if you got a “got a cat out of a tree” certificate from 15yrs ago.  Surely you’ve done something more relevant since then?

You do have to be mindful of your market though. I heard a story from another Elite 6 member recently – she was trying to treat a young boy in her line of expertise and couldn’t work out why he had shut up shop and wasn’t open to treatment. Turns out her customer area was TOO clean and tidy and the boy felt uncomfortable about that!  Once she’d scattered a few toys over the ground, he relaxed and things progressed from there.

So, have a think about your customer area now, whether it be a waiting room, a treatment room – even your car in some cases.  How does it look? Is it clean? Is what you are displaying relevant and current and stills looks good? Is it tidy or cluttered? Sit there and think about it from a customer point-of-view. It’s more important than you think.

Next week – part 3 – Keep Your Area Clean and Tidy.