Sometimes it won’t make sense to send so many of your employees to an off-site training event. We totally understand and agree. But that shouldn’t prohibit you from providing your people with great information and great training.

So forget about all that travel, airplane, hotel expenses, as well as having so many away from their offices and teams and business responsibilities, have us come to you instead.

This is the most economical means of injecting powerful content into your ongoing staff training program. We can bring our Social Media Marketing Bootcamp content to your group or organization for a lot less than it costs to send everyone to our closest event.

We can also customize the content to fit your existing marketing and social media strategy and can further customize it to include any option(s) you need in order to achieve your education or training goals.

Contact us for additional information.

Halloween is around the corner. The biggest fear, though, may not be from the scary masks, witches or monsters.

“What did they say?”

From around the corner in a restaurant I remember hearing; “Were they mad?” and upon hearing that the guest was not “mad”, there was a sigh of relief.

What They Say: If measures of success includes: “Were they mad?” and the goal is for the team and manager to avoid the complaint, then all is lost and business will slowly grow the disease of “marginality”.

The Fear: Fear of consequences as a motivation factor is not to be ignored for a business owner. For you as a restaurant owner specifically, there seems to be a special target as the community likes to share more about the best restaurant vs. the worst restaurant. The fear of your staff is that if anything goes wrong, they will not get in trouble and pay the consequence.

Can you say: “I love feedback.” It matters little whether the feedback received are complaints and rants or someone shouting glorious escalades on a soap box. If you think about it, to have someone willing to take the time to pause and make a comment, write a note or fill out a comment card is an opportunity to learn more about the wants and needs of those who matter. Hopefully you will join me in sharing the philosophy: “Any feedback is good feedback.”

The Challenge: Think seriously about the response for those on your staff who are not perfect and have fear of consequences. Don’t shoot the messenger. Once you as a restaurant owner have a reputation for giving hard consequences for accidents, bumps and mistakes, then most will do what they can to hide. “Fight or Flight” is part of the human condition. When mistakes are hidden, the restaurant owner or manager has less and less to go on when making decisions for how to improve business.

The Acceleration: Social media has created a platform for the critics to add words, photos or videos with a few clicks. An astute diner could even use technology (Such as Ustream.com) to broadcast the experience live online. (I wonder why no restaurant critics have begun to do this yet.) There is more for

the staff and management of a restaurant to fear than ever. How can restaurant owners stay ahead of the curve and ensure every detail gives their guests satisfaction?

The Lie: What is truth vs. what is a lie? What is a spin? Is that comment displayed for all the world to see a competitor attempting to sully your good name or is it in reality a real family who were violated while dining at your restaurant?

Since the answer to this question is always tough to answer, should they be ignored?

Will comments online begin to affect business? (Regardless of whether they are a lie.)

The questions are easy to ask but are not always considered:

1. Do you love feedback whether it is positive or negative? Do you seek out and celebrate both equally?

2. Are you the type of leader who reacts poorly when “things go wrong” and the guest complains? Does the celebration become apparent to your team?

3. Are you interested in what people are saying about your restaurant and team even after they leave? Does your calendar include activities to review what people say?

4. Are you willing to make the effort to connect with those who talk about your restaurant though there is a chance that they may not be real or true?

5. Are you afraid? Are you afraid of what might be around the corner when you make the effort to listen?

The answers are yours to give and will impact the morale of your team, which is crucial to keep your
business healthy.

The best part of new technology is that you can also listen to what people say about your competitor. How to take advantage of this opportunity is a topic for another day.

Your next step may be to decide how to set up measures of success and which services or software you need to listen to the chatter. No worries, if you don’t believe that word of mouth is important and the comments shared online are unimportant, then you have other proverbial fish to fry.

Michael Hartzell – Inbound Marketing Certified Professional, entrepreneur, writer, speaker, restaurant marketing coach. Co-Author of “The Reality of ROI & Social Media Marketing”. Member of the American Marketing Association. Read more at www.michaelhartzell.com/restaurant-marketing

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Today’s tip is brought to you by Inside Hospitality™, a comprehensive and innovative guest experience management and measurement company whose integrated suite of hospitality business solutions from restaurant focused mystery shopping to online reputation management achieves tangible results in the marketplace and is the choice for restaurant and hotels worldwide.

Contact us today and learn how Inside Hospitality™ can create a custom solution for your organization. We can be reached anytime @ (888) 260- 0380.

Click the “RingMe” button and we’ll call you back within 1 minute.

“Guest Pulse’s service is simple: it helps you monitor your online reputation by emailing you the most recently posted reviews and mentions of your restaurant (at Citysearch, Google Maps, Tripadvisor, etc.).

The sign up procedure is quick, easy and user-friendly.  No CC required.  Just enter your business’s name and verify your contact info and a few details.  Once this is complete, Guest Pulse begins sending you the emails.”

Read complete review at Guestengage by clicking here!

and get your own 30 day free trial of GuestPulse by clicking the image below.

“GuestPulse™ allows us to communicate with our customers at a whole new level. Collecting and aggregating “mentions” of our restaurants had always been time-consuming and inconclusive. GuestPulse™ gives us the ability to listen to what our customers are saying about our restaurants, see what our competition is doing and allows us the ability to engage customers easily and efficiently with software that is easy to use and comprehensive. If you’re serious about knowing what your customers are saying about your business on the web, GuestPulse™ is an easy, inexpensive tool that you cannot live without.”

There is a easier, better & more cost effective way to manage your online reputation. That’s with GuestPulse™. Don’t take our word for it, signup for a free 30 day (no credit card required) trial by visiting www.GuestPulse.com

New GuestPulse Feature Roll Out – Facebook

We have some pretty exciting news to officially announce today. Beginning July 2nd. the premier Restaurant & Hospitality Social Media Online Reputation Monitoring Solution, GuestPulse will be integrating Facebook into it’s platform. Account users will be able to directly engage with facebook fans and followers from the GuestPulse dashboard.

Anytime someone mentions your restaurant or hotels name in a status update, comment or post you will be immediately alerted.

GuestPulse, the first Restaurant & Hospitality Online Reputation Management solution offers a totally free 30 day (no credit card trial) to any restaurant, hotel or food service operation within the US.

Sign up is quick and easy and takes 25 seconds. To sign up for your free 30 day trial visit GuestPulse by clicking here!

Your very own Reputation Genius™ with GuestPulse™

In the month of June we have helped Operators & Managers save, recover, engage, and attract guests over 1,750 times.

What’s better than asking someone who knows best when you have a question at 2pm or 2am? Nothing.

Not sure the best way to handle a certain mention or need some help tracking a guest down who posted something about your property so you can speak with them further? We have you covered.

With every GuestPulse account you get access to your very own Reputation Genius™ that is never more than a call, click or tweet away.

Watch the 40 second screen cast below.

Haven’t tried GuestPulse for yourself? What are you waiting for! Sign up today for our 30 day (no credit card) trial and start receiving your guests comments within minutes !

Click here to visit GuestPulse

Came across this blog post and wanted to share.

One of my favorite restaurants is at Salty’s Seafood Grill Restaurant in Redondo Beach. (Des Moines, Washington).  I am also a fan of GuestPulse and Gary Tripp of Inside Hospitality (Who is also recommended by Jeffrey Summers from RestaurantWorx.  I listen to Jeffrey and you can too at Hospitality101Radio.)

If you can stay with me for a moment because this is not a plug.  (Even though I just plugged Salty’s Restaurant, GuestPulse AND RestaurantWorx.)

Since I no longer own a restaurant, I miss some of the good times when I can play around and test the fun stuff.  I can’t resist any longer, I am now testing GuestPulse personally.

This will be a personal challenge as I use my expertise in Inbound Marketing, restaurant marketing, guerrilla marketing, magic marketing and tricks up my sleeve.  I will be using Twitter, Facebook, Stumble, Blogging and commenting on Blogs.  The bag of magic marketing is pretty deep and I will be pulling out all the tricks of the trade.  Rather than wait for the news about Salty’s Restaurant, I will be using social media tools to create a buzz.  Well, at least a mini-buzz.  After all, I am but one person.

Read complete blog post by clicking here!

Join us in Chicago on June 21st. & 22nd.  for the Restaurant & Hospitality Focused Social Media Marketing Bootcamp.

“Early Bird” registration and additional information can be found at http://RestaurantSocialMedia.com

“Jeffrey provides a level of professionalism that is a cut above the rest. Because of Jeffrey our members are now better equipped to be competitive and survive these tough economic times.” ~ Gabe Munoz, Director of Sales, Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City.

“Our goal is to give operators the tools and knowledge they need to “kick it up a notch” or two or three. You won’t get this information from any other event or source. It’s that impactful.” ~ Gary Tripp, President, Inside Hospitality

Day 1 – General session of all attendess. We will talk about what exactly Social Media Marketing means for you and your business and how it can be utilized to grow loyalty and profitability. ***Limited to 100 attendees.

Early Bird Day 1 Tickets – Limited to the first 10 people to register.

Bring A Friend – Day 1 – This is for those who have purchased a full-price Day 1 ticket & want to bring a friend or colleague with them.  There is no limit on how many people you can bring with you from your company.

Day 1 Dinner – Charity Dinner. We will travel to one of the areas best restaurants for dinner on the evening of Day 1 with only the first 10 people to register and pay. This is a great event and the networking and professional opportunities make it a “can’t miss”. All dinner ticket sales go to the event charity – The Children’s Miracle Network.

Bring A Friend – Day 2 – This is for those who have purchased a full-price Day 2 ticket & want to bring a friend or colleague with them.  There is no limit on how many people you can bring with you from your company.

Early Bird Day 2 Tickets – Limited to the first 10 people to register.

Early Bird Day 1 & Day 2 Tickets – Limited to the first 10 people to register.

Came upon this while visiting (via http://www.foodiggity.com) one of our favorite websites www.YelpYack.com and had to share. We are not fans of any platform that allows anonymous guest experience reviews.

Yelp Yack is a blog featuring original drawings by artist Jessica Wassil. Each illustration is based off a brutally real, random, and anonymous Yelp review. All reviews appear in their original form, so don’t front on the grammar!

Actual Review:

“Ok, can someone please get a bus to pick all these hipsters up and send them to their own private island??  Or at least ban them from working in the service industry?

They don’t listen, act annoyed at your simple requests and can’t afford grooming kits.

After teaching a belly class I started craving bacon.  Nice crisp bacon.. I went with some fellow dancers and we were frankly starving from all that dancing.

We walk in and i could smell the attitude over the food.  It was chilly outside and we had on our belly garb so we wanted to wait inside for our table.. OH NO! The waitress scurried us outside and said she would let us know when SHE was ready for us.

Because I was starving i decided to pre-order some bacon while we waited.  the waitress acted as if i asked her for her raybans.  after the stare down she reluctantly put my order in.   10 hours later i got the flimsiest piece of bacon you could ever see.  My dog would reject this crap.

I told the hipster and she said- “if you arent happy with the bacon, you probably wouldnt like our food here”  SERIOUSLY?!  Don’t eat here.”