Scoring a great Customer Experience during the 6 Nations Tournament

Posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2013 by Gary Topiol

With the sporting prowess of the world’s Olympians still in everyone’s minds, European nations are once again going head to head with the kick off of the RBS 6 Nations Rugby Tournament. After a very cold and snowy January, it’s an event that brings many of us out of our homes and into the nearest pub or restaurant to watch the matches with friends and family and fly our patriotic flags.

Following an often slow January, sporting events such as the 6 Nations lead to an increase in footfall for the food services and hospitality industries with customers tucking into bar snacks washed down by a few pints during the games.

In the past, many restaurant brands have seen such events as a big business boosting opportunity but perhaps not a time for building loyalty since many of the newer customers are one-time or transactional.

The reality is that a rush of traffic is the perfect opportunity to win new fans and also to build loyalty in your existing customer base.

There is help out there for managers who want to really capitalise on this opportunity to grow their customer base. Today’s customer experience management (CEM) programs are focused on helping local managers to uncover what elements are most important to a great experience, and also help drive the right front line actions to ensure those key elements are consistently delivered.

These programmes help to:

• Provide programme accountability to local managers. The most effective programmes should turn complex customer feedback into simple insights and clear actions
• Help ensure consistency across every location. CEM programmes can help ensure that all of your local managers understand the key elements of a brand promise and what factors they control to ensure they are delivering it
• Coach local managers on what to fix and how to execute. Today’s programmes eliminate wasted time spent reading and interpreting reports. Instead, local managers are focused on the most important area to improve and spend their time ensuring the correct front line execution. Locations control an action plan based on best practices to tailor the execution to the needs of their specific teams.

Having the tools in place to ensure a consistently great customer experience becomes especially critical at the busiest times of year such as during major sporting events like the 6 Nations. Brands need the tools to ensure that all customers receive the best experience, at every visit.

Enjoy the games!

This entry was posted in What are the Best Practices for Setting Up & Running a Program? and tagged CEM, customer experience management, customer feedback, food service, GEM, guest experience, guest experience management, local, location managers, restaurant, UK. Bookmark the permalink.