As you might well have realized, I am a real believer in exceptional customer service. Success as a business owner - restaurants included - is so much in how we make people feel about doing business with us.

Here is yet another example of customer service - gone GOOD.

We needed new blinds for a window and sliding glass door. I called several places, received estimates and decided upon the blinds and the company. The woman who was the sales representative took her time with me, offered suggestions and stood on her head to meet a deadline we had (we were expecting company). I signed on the dotted line and off she went.

Next day in the mail arrived a brightly colored envelope, hand addressed. I opened it to find the same brightly colored note card with a hand-written note thanking me for my business and a telephone number if I needed any help or had questions.

It wasn’t on company stationery, just a personal note on personal paper. And she did not leave it at that. She followed through with a phone call a few days later to see if I had heard from the installers that the blinds were in.

I had not, so she called them, called the manufacturer, and called me back to assure me they would be delivered and installed before our company arrived.

Good service and follow-up are expected, not always received, but expected. Hand-written-thank-you notes go a long way to make someone feel that their business is really appreciated. When I need more window treatments, who do you think will be the first person I call?

I got to thinking how easy it would be for a restaurant to send hand-written thank -ou notes to a customer who booked a large party, to regulars who support you, to a member of your own staff who has done something outstanding. In fact, a note to a staff member or regular customer who makes the paper for coaching a Little League team, or winning a golf tournament, or celebrating a promotion would really be outstanding. The list of possibilities goes on.

When I was in high school I had a summer job in the local bank. I tended to the lock boxes, filed, and the first thing I did every day was to read the paper and clip out articles about local people, including employees. Then I sent a congratulations note and included the newspaper clipping. That was a hundred years ago, but the idea is still a good one.

What might you do in your restaurant to take advantage of the lost art of hand-written thank you notes?

Remember there is a lot of power in the pen. Try using it and see what happens.

By Fred Langley

Creating the schedule in a restaurant is like fitting together the pieces of a puzzle. A proper functioning schedule is vital to your business. But putting all the right people in all the right places is just part of writing a schedule. The other part is knowing what your true needs really are.

Here at TheRestaurantExpert.com, we teach several different kinds of systems that make your independent restaurant operate more efficiently, more profitably and without you.

I know because I am one of those restaurant owners. Because I’ve implemented the restaurant expert’s SMART Systems, I can do extracurricular things like write this blog post.

For labor systems, the key measurement is dollars per labor hour. This number will tell you with certainty when you don’t have enough labor and when you have too much labor scheduled for a certain shift.

But even quantitative measurements can lie. You have to be careful because you could be hitting your labor numbers and still be setting up your restaurant for disaster by having a combination of shifts that are either under staffed or over staffed. That’s when it’s important to combine your quantitative data (such as the numbers) with your qualitative data (the things you see in the restaurant along with your gut).

Ideally you want the right amount people in place for the needs of the business and no more.

To get there, first focus on your quantitative measurement and begin tracking your dollars per labor hour. Dollars per labor hour is hours divided by sales. This tells you how many dollars are coming in the restaurant per hour worked. It’s a road map to scheduling your hours in the right places. You’ll see trends and be able to move hours from less-efficient shifts to over-efficient shifts.

Efficiencies are different for everyone’s restaurant, so track your dollars per labor hour and realize that three weeks is what makes a trend.

And if your gut is telling you something different, pay attention. But don’t forego the numbers just because it doesn’t feel right. Change is hard for everyone, and if your team is used to having a dishwasher on Thursday nights, they’re not going to like it if you tell them they’re not getting one anymore. Observe what Thursday nights are really like and what is really needed. Then compare that to your quantitative results of your dollars per labor hour and make an educated decision, not a guess.

The most important thing is to just get started, gather the information you need to combine your gut instincts with solid numbers.

(If you’re a member with The Restaurant Expert, use your coaching call time to work through developing a budget and implementing things like the labor systems so you can start hitting your goals.)

Fred Langley is the executive chef and owner of two restaurants in Windsor, Calif., in the heart of the Sonoma County wine country. Langley’s on the GreenLangley’s on the Green, a fine dining establishment, and Pizzeria DePaoli, a family style Italian restaurant, are living, breathing examples of how essential systems can be to a successful restaurant. He is a part of restaurant expert David Scott Peters’ coaching team. His unique restaurant setup, family involvement and high standards make him an incredible asset and coach.

By Jenny Brooks

I came across these three cheap public relations tactics for independent restaurants and wanted to share them. I wrote them for an issue of the SMART Systems Insider. These are activities you can do whether you’re rolling in the proverbial dough or scraping the bottom of the barrel.

1. Offer Meeting Space. Do you have a space that is great for meetings or parties? Offer it up — for FREE. Send an email and actively call PTA/PTO presidents, Little Leagues, non-profit organizations, professional associations (real estate, advertising, and accounting), etc. Become a community resource. There are people all over who are in need of free meeting space. If you find one to three groups who could use your space to hold their monthly meetings, you have just increased awareness and found a potential audience of more than 30 customers. Provide water and coffee for free and offer a customized simple menu of nibbler items for the meeting, for which you can charge.

2. Make Your Signature Item Known. What do you make best in your restaurant, or what is your signature item? Prepare it and deliver it to TV and radio stations along with a description sheet they can read on air, including your restaurant name and location. Develop a short-term promotion and for every person who says they heard about you on the radio or on TV, give them a free appetizer or dessert. This takes a lot of prep, but it’s something that can drum up some good exposure for you. And if you meet with the right producers in TV and radio, you might just start building relationships that will get you on air regularly.

3. Tell People What You’re Doing! Send calendar listings to your local chambers of commerce, daily and weekly publications, and your radio and TV stations. If you have live music, you have to tell people about it and there are newspapers who have space to report it. Get the band on TV to play and promote their appearance in your restaurant. Host book signings of local authors and distribute the calendar information. Anything you do in your restaurant other than serve food has a place in some sort of calendar. You just have to get it out there. And then turn those calendar listings into fliers for your restaurant and hang them up everywhere. That way, people who eat lunch there, but never dinner, will be inspired to come back for dinner. If you don’t have anything planned in your restaurant, start planning!

Don’t forget about using your social media tools, such as Twitter, in all of these tactics. Gee whiz. Another post I need to write. How to implement each of these things using social media tools.

Jenny Brooks is a public relations professional providing expert and strategic tactics for businesses trying to increase awareness about themselves and their products. She is also the editor of SMART Systems Insider, a monthly newsletter from Restaurant Expert David Scott Peters. Questions about PR and how she can help your restaurant? Email her.

By Linda Peters-Getchell

A taxi is a taxi is a taxi, right? I mean, you wave your arm in the air trying to flag one down, one finally stops, they are cars with signs saying they are a taxi, they are hopefully reasonably clean, you get in the back seat, someone drives you from one place to another and charges you a fee. You arrive at your destination. You pay them, thank them and give a tip for their service. Off you go. You most likely will never enter that cab again, but simply hail down another when you need one to repeat the experience again and again.

Well, while in Chicago for the NRA Show a couple of weeks ago my friend and I traveled by cab about 4 times per day – whoever stopped for us we got in, until we got into Charles’ cab. (Not my first story about excellent cab service.)

He stopped for us, we scooted across the backseat and as we looked about we were immediately amused. Tired as we were, we felt a little rejuvenated. We smiled and delighted in this cab that was decorated with tiny Christmas lights, tinsel garlands, little cups attached to the back of the front seats filled with penny candies and more lights and tinsel. New Orleans jazz was playing softly. Our driver was smiling and cheerful. He asked where we were going and took off headed to our destination.

We got to talking with him about his delightful and interesting cab and during the conversation he asked why we were in town and how long we would be staying. When he knew we would be around for a few days he handed us his business card and told us we could avoid the lines at the show by calling him. He worked mornings, took the early afternoon off and worked dinnertime until late in the evening. He said to just call him and let him know when and where we wanted to be picked up and he would be there for us. (The card did have a little line drawing with lights and tinsel—visual reminder of what the card represented among a stack of others you might have.)

It was a fun, festive, and totally different cab ride with a more-than-personable driver who seemed to love his job, even the traffic, and he cared about the people he chauffeured about. What cab do you think we took almost every time thereafter? You got it, we called Charles. No matter how tired we were it was a little shot of fresh energy every time we got into that cab. We felt better when we got out.

He did the same thing everyone else did and then took it one step further – decorations, fun music, a little sugar pick-me-up, and warm personal care all with the addition of a business card to give you the opportunity to repeat the experience. He added the value of not having to wait in line for a cab, and you did wait in line when the show let out each day – a long line.

I’d venture to say that your restaurant is no different than most. You serve good food - maybe great food, you have four walls, tables and chairs, servers, and you are clean.

What would you say sets you apart from all the others, from the chains?  What makes people come back again and again? Do you have customers that request a specific server?

How can you make the experience of dining in your restaurant memorable and keep them coming back? How can you help your servers develop the skills to keep them coming back and even requesting them?

Linda Peters-Getchell has 20 years in restaurant management and food and beverage customer service. She has owned her own restaurant and catering service, developed unique training programs and won two Key Player Awards for her customer service programs at Showboat Casino Hotel. She is currently a powerful creative force for restaurant expert David Scott Peters and his company, Smile Button Enterprises, serving as Fairy Godmother.

By David Scott Peters

I was recently interviewed for my suggestions for reducing employee timeclock abuse for an online newsletter from American Express. Look for my suggestions for how to cut abuse of wages and hours at the timeclock here.

I want to bring the newsletter to your attention as a resource. There’s legal advice, human resources information and much more. The newsletter is called Briefing and you can find it here.

David Scott Peters is a restaurant expert, coach, trainer and speaker, specializing in systems for independent restaurant owners. He is the nationally acclaimed restaurant coach whose unique “SMART Systems” approach to boosting profits has earned him the title of, “The man who can walk into any restaurant in America and find $10,000 in undiscovered cash before he hits the back door – Guaranteed!” Visit www.TheRestaurantExpert.com for more.