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Recently Ben made a post about “Long Island Ice Tea” and dear ammi brought back sweet memories of “Millers 46” (not 36, am-boihs! lolz ). Which gave me an idea for this next article.

How many times have you received feedback forms after dining at a restaurant? And how many times have you actually cared to write down your feedback on those forms? Most people usually ignore such feedback forms and leave it blank, as they consider it a waste of their precious time.

Here is what I have to say: Big mistake. How much of your time are you actually going to waste filling out the feedback form? It will take only just a few minutes to fill up that form. Trust me, there are a lot of perks from filling out feedback forms.

In today’s highly competitive World, there is nothing more important to an entrepreneur than getting feedbacks from the customers. To most establishments, their motto has always been “Customers first”. If customers don’t like something, then those customers are not going to come again, unless the Firm enjoys a monopolistic advantage. And no customer simply means no revenue. It is every Organization’s dream and aim to establish some sort of a brand loyalty among the consumers.

Here is when conniving scheming bastards like me exploit this fragile situation! Always give a feedback to any restaurant, pub, hotel etc. Once you know how to play with words, you can even make the most trivial issue sound serious, like, “The lighting on the lounge section of the discotheque speculates a merrier side of a make-believe delusional mixed emotion which does not reflect well on the over-all ambience of the discotheque that seems to portray a more darker side of mankind’s attempt to indulge in his inhibitions that are considered taboo by society”, which simply means “The light is too bright at that section”

Ofcourse there are many people who can see right through your bullshit, but there are also many suckers who will genuinely think you’re giving a profound feedback. And I usually get rewarded for such feedbacks, like free drinks, free passes etc. Spinz, Styx, Taika, Pub World, Pecos, Geoffry’s etc are just some of the few Pubs in B’lore where me and my friends got extra rounds of beer or free kebaabs because of our “feedbacks”.

Another very important point is this. When giving a feedback or a complaint, always mention the fact that you are a REGULAR CUSTOMER, even if it is your first time there. Don’t worry, the management is more or less likely to not remember you. “Regular customer” is the magical word that can turn even the coldest heart into mere putty when it comes to customer relationships. In order to make the Management not remember you, make sure you don’t stand out in the crowd. Bangalore has a large chinky population so there was no problem for me. But in the case of BlackWhite who is extremely ugly, because of his prominent ugliness, people will immediately know it’s his first time there

I once went with a friend to “Miller’s 46”, the best steak house in town. We both had a mug of long island ice tea. And later we had another mug each. When the bill came, I was charged for 4 mugs of long island ice tea (150 x 4 = 600). On the feedback form, I just made a small comment, “Since I am a regular customer, I thought you would have charged me the cost of a pitcher of long island ice tea (500) which has the same quantity as 4 mugs. I find this quite disappointing”.

After I dropped my friend, I went home. The next day I checked my mail and there was already a reply from the management of Miller’s 46. This is the mail that they sent me. Hehehehe.

From: “millers46″   Add to Address Book  Add Mobile Alert  To: silv_kim@yahoo.com

Subject: Your visit to Millers46
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 20:08:11 +0530

Dear Kima,
Thanks for dining with us frequently and for your feedback yesterday. We appreciate the situation you faced with the long island ice tea. With regards to the same we would like to offer you a Rs. 300/- discount on your next Drinks bill at Millers 46. We request you to kindly hand over a print out of this email to avail of the same.

As the drinks were ordered separately the barman had to bill it accordingly. We would be glad to offer the pitcher price if the same is ordered again.

Looking forward to your next visit to millers 46!

Thanks.
Best Regards
Chef Satish
Manager and Exe Chef.

300 means a free pitcher of draught beer! Now that is what I call good Customer Relationship Management. And I am not even that regular a customer there.

A long time ago when the Fusion Lounge Bar “Tuscan Verve” first opened in Bangalore, I wrote a review about it on my blog. Although I didn’t even get comments at all for that post, two days later I got a mail from the Management offering me 4 free passes with 300 bucks cover charge each on my next visit to Tuscan Verve! Who could turn down such an offer?

The bottom-line is this: Always write a feedback before leaving a restaurant, Pub etc. You’re not going to lose anything if you do that. It really matters a lot to them to know what you think or feel. And who knows, you might end up with free food or drinks because of your feedback.

Cheers!

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 7th, 2006 at 1:09 pm and is filed under more than words. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.