Thursday, August 27, 2009

Blue Water Grill Service Lessons

I was reminded about how fragile good customer service is sitting at the Blue WATER Grill last night at about 10.30pm n Union Square, of one the best retaurants in the area was were we were sitting...well when we FINALLY got to sit.

In my work with retail clients I'm proud to be a part of supporting orgaizations that give superior customer service, like bath junkie.It makes all the difference to make it work for the customer...whatever it takes!

Last night...the greeting my party of 5 got from a disinterested hostess, set the tone. We'd had dinner at a fantastic place nearby Japonaise, where the quality of service was so fantastic! We decided to move on for dessert and after dinner drinks. The Blue Water was pretty empty, two out of twenty tables were ccupied in the outside section where we wanted to sit.

For the life of us, we couldn't persuade the hostess to seat us anywhere except the bar...which is not comfortable for coffee lots of desserts and drinks.

This is a recession...and we are spending money...and we are professional people...but nothin doin!

After persuading the bartender, we were seated finally outside...and about 10 minutes later were given menus.. with an attitude of less than graditude for our choosing the restaurant...

Whoever is training staff there needs to give these service providers some brushing up lessons on customer service...all I know is, I will stay across the Square next time. ..and enjoy the customer service through dessert at Japaonaise!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

I am my Brand...a Curriculum

I've been asked to do a speaking engagement for a wide ranging group of business participants. In the conversation, my contractor was concerned about talking with people who weren't in the sales dept. about "Branding".

Today, the idea of a brand starts way, way before we are part of a company and pick up a paycheck.

It starts almost in the cradle with a name that may brand a child. Kids on Myspace are in the business of developing a personal brand each time they tweak their pages!

We are all living in an age of personal branding when we can record our smallest actions on a twitter post " Am oogling hot guy in Starbucks, yummm!" suggests a personal brand that goes out as skywriting into cyberspace.

In business, I consult with people to build a business brand which is connected to his or her personal core. We talk about articulating from our gut, our heart, our core to portray who we are. We clarify what that means for others,and we create language and images that show the authenticity in a brand.

I'm suggesting as the school year begins, that their is a real need to talk about BRANDING in schools as part of the communications curriculum and standards. It's important to do that with children who are unconsciously in the brand biz as the work, some for hours, on social networking sites.

It's a necessary part of professional development for teachers...and young teachers especially can lead the way. They may be rookies in the classroom, but they have lived--and tweaked their brands as early adopters of social networking.