When I say, “marketing strategy” you may not instantly think of, “customer service” but you should.

When it comes to customer service, as a marketing professional it is painfully obvious to me that customer service in this country has taken a drastic downturn in the last five years or so. 

Making a customer happy, whether an existing client or a new prospect is tantamount in the battle for customer loyalty yet customer service is seldom discussed in the marketing phase of creating a customer acquisition strategy.

TGI Fridays has taken big (but simple) step to improve customer service for their patrons. Along the lines of the call button on hospital bed or an airplane, Friday’s in Toms River, New Jersey has adopted the, “ESP System” to provide better service to their diners.

The ESP system consists of a wireless table top button that when pressed sends a signal to the tables assigned waiter / waitress. The server wears a wrist watch that vibrates and displays a smiley face and table number when the button on the receiver is pressed.

I was a featured conference speaker for the New Jersey Restaurant Association in 2007 at their annual conference and will be speaking there again on March 31^st at their 2008 conference. When I spoke there in 07 I was able to sit with some of the restaurant owners and discuss the customer acquisition issues facing today’s restaurants as well as the marketing challenges they are experiencing in a competitive connected world.

I learned that the number one reason diners do not return to a restaurant is poor or slow service and the number one reason a diner frequents a restaurant for the first time is a result of word of mouth marketing from other satisfied customers.

I don’t know how much the ESP System costs but I can’t imagine it is an investment that would take much thought. First off this device solves two major issues facing a restaurant, it increases the level of service offered to a patron (this in and of itself is worth the price of admission). Second, while the device is new it gives diners something to talk about to other people once they leave the restaurant (look at me, I just saw the thing an hour ago and I’m already writing about it!).

In our busy and noisy world creating word of mouth marketing is difficult to say the least. Anything that can help spread the word and attract new people to your business deserves serious consideration and if it can help make a diners experience better that’s a slam dunk!

I have a few clients that run high end restaurants and I already know what their objection would be to the ESP System. They would say, “Our diners are affluent, they don’t want to see a device like that on the table in our restaurant, it cheapens the experience”. Personally, I would want a five star restaurant utilizing everything in their power to make my service the best it can be (and I already expect it to be better than a TGI Fridays), especially if I’m paying five star prices for a meal.

If you’re worried about the look of the device on the table, dress it up, wrap in jewels or put it in a crystal dish but be rest assured, as a diner, I’d appreciate the effort to make my service the best it could be. If anyone from ESP Systems is reading this you may want to create a high end unit for the upscale places so you can avoid the objections all together.

There is a Chili’s, Olive Garden, Applebee’s, Red Lobster, Longhorn, Outback and countless other dining choices within a three mile radius of my house. Guess which one I’ll be visiting next time my stomachs growling?