Marketing or why I didn’t tip at a great restaurant
It was a sunny weekday lunchtime. Any self-respecting male not at work would’ve done exactly the same thing. Surely.
Pint of Stella please.
It came quickly. And with a smile. I was quickly falling in love with this restaurant. Love blossomed when my rump steak burger with handcut chips arrived.
Good lord above, please open one in Ipswich.
Another Stella. A little more sunshine. Smiles all round.
Then the bill arrived: £12.45 for two Stellas and a tasty meal. An absolute bargain. I got out my Maestro and was all set to pay £15 and reward the friendly waitresses £2.55 for their wonderful service.
And my card sat there untouched for twenty minutes. Twenty bloody minutes. My food had arrived in half that time.
So when I finally did get the chance to pay, I paid £12.45 exactly.
Because one bad thing can undo the work of so many good ones.
Marketing isn’t an event. It isn’t an advert, an email, or a website. It’s a process. You’re marketing when you hire and you’re marketing when you fire. When some idiot dials the wrong number and calls you instead of the local tyre kickers, that’s right, you’re marketing. It continues when you’re not looking.
And the problems start when you’re not looking.
But solving the problem isn’t impossible.
So when I walked out of that restaurant, a little grumpy and £2.55 better off, I was annoyed. Let down maybe. But I needed to get the tram. And I had no idea where from.
So I asked the waitresses. And they told me - with the same friendly smile that I’d received in every contact I’d had with them. I got my tram, and my happy face returned.
Those twenty minutes were a blip. Everybody has blips. Marketing gives you the opportunity to iron them out. Keep doing things the right way and when you’ll be forgiven for the odd time when things go the wrong way.
And next time you’re in Sheffield, do me a favour would you? Visit Yorkies and tip them that £2.55 I owe.
