Why Feedback Should Be a part of Your Growth Strategy

When Blockbuster closed, I was a little surprised. My surprise was because Blockbuster was such a successful company at one point. However, I wasn’t completely caught off guard. 

Blockbuster thought they were too big to fail. Sound familiar? They chose not to see the warning signs and because of that they didn’t evolve or adapt. Instead, Netflix saw an opportunity to take that business and more. Likewise, The united States Post Office couldn’t figure out a successful model so Amazon showed them how to do it.

This story strikes close to our industry as well. Now we see long standing chains like Apple Bee’s, TGI Friday’s, and Red Lobster moving toward extinction.These restaurants are case studies of restaurants that stubbornly ignored warning signs that they needed to reinvent themselves. 

And, they were satisfied with their success.

I’m teaching my 5 year old son how to play baseball and golf. The common theme is “keep your eye on the ball”. The problem with failing restaurants is that they became complacent. They take their eye off the ball. That ball for us is the “People Experience”.

One of the best ways to keep your eye on the ball is to review constant feedback. The two most important groups to get feedback from are your guests and your team. When it comes to your team, they are Ambassadors of your brand. Take care of them by supporting, valuing, respecting, and developing them and you will have them promoting your restaurant and taking ownership of your success. Doing anonymous employee surveys is important to get honest feedback. However, having the relationship with your people that includes an “Open Door” culture that they feel comfortable with is the best way to hear what they have to say.

Regarding the guest, many of them aren’t comfortable sharing constructive, honest feedback face-to-face because it often feels confrontational. Only when they are pissed do they feel the need to tell you everything that went wrong. I used to get upset when I would read a negative review online and know that not only did I stop by that table and straight up ask them how their experience was and if we were taking great care of them, but their server also felt like they had a great time. Then I realized what I mentioned earlier, people most often don’t want to make a scene. By offering a chance for the guest to give feedback both positive and negative through surveys, you are able to pull that information out of the guest so that you can learn from those experiences.

One of the best companies out there that can automate and increase your feedback, database, and SEO is the company Ovation, founded by Zack Oates. I have added Ovation to the tech stack I build for clients and I highly recommend them.

Join me tomorrow (Thursday) on Restaurant Success Club linked In Live 2PM EST here on my Linked In page to listen in to my conversation with Zack and my co-host Scot Turner and to ask us questions about crushing a review focussed campaign.