PRST STD US POSTAGE PAID BOISE, ID PERMIT 411
600 Stewart Street #1300 Seattle, WA 98101 westcoastfranchiselaw.com (206) 724-0846
In This Issue 1
How Operations Know-How Gives Owners the Edge Chick-fil-A’s Bold New Tactics to Rev Up Drive-Thru Service
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Get to Know Your Customers
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Flavor-Packed Korean Food Hits Top Spot on the Charts
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Dealing With Cranky Customers
Backing Your Team
managers have checked for quality, accuracy, and speed of service to ensure customers don’t have a legitimate grievance, they may need to strengthen employee support. Workers benefit from training and role-playing effective behaviors with challenging customers. The first rule is to stay calm and practice active listening, focusing directly on the customer and showing you are paying them respectful attention. Show empathy; even if the customer is wrong, by saying something like, “I’m sorry you’re frustrated.” Employees also need clear guidelines on when they are empowered to offer compensation or a solution, such as a free meal, and when they should escalate a complaint to a manager. Role-playing in common customer complaint scenarios can build employees’ confidence and conflict-resolution skills. Beyond that, what gives employees an edge in serving customers is the belief that they are valued in their jobs. When employees feel engaged, committed, and loyal to the business, they are more
Complaints about fast-food jobs abound on social media, and most of the gripes aren’t about the pay or dishing fries. Help Employees Handle Tough Customers
motivated to invest in its success, exceed basic job requirements, and go the extra mile to satisfy customers. Raising Cane’s, an award-winning fast food chain, trains employees in customer service standards, including enthusiastic greetings and effective conflict resolution. The company also provides clear career paths to management, promoting hundreds of hourly workers to salaried positions each year. It offers industry-leading pay, benefits, and profit-sharing, with a long-term path to leadership and even “partnership” — giving employees the opportunity to “be a millionaire in the restaurant industry,” according to the company. Knowing they have a future there fosters a sense of ownership among employees and may even provide the added motivation they need to handle the crankiest customers.
They’re about the customers.
Some people arrive at the counter or drive-thru already angry, employees say, or become annoyed or impatient waiting for their orders. Others seem intent on dishing personal insults to anyone in their path. Such behavior led one former fast-food employee to post on Reddit: “The customer is always right, and when they’re not, they get angry until they are.” Employees need more than platitudes to deal with difficult customers. Once
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