Tags
a place of yes, amazon, barnes & noble, Bethenny, bethenny frankel, BOA, customer service, Facebook, forbes, Happy Hour, IDG, Innovative Dining Group, Katana, Seth Glassman, skinnygirl, social media, Sushi Roku, The Grove, Twitter, West Hollywood
Restaurant & Retail Both Using Social Media To Make Customers Happy
I recently had two poor customer service experiences at two entirely different businesses (BOA Steakhouse in West Hollywood and Barnes & Noble at The Grove) which both turned into fantastic experiences via their use of social media combined with traditional customer service.
First up: BOA.
I did not have a “DeathbedFood” experience at BOA on Sunset recently when I went there for Happy Hour. To use a marketing term, Happy Hour should be a “loss leader” for a restaurant – a pricing promotion that gets people in the door and satisfies them so that they: (1) come back; (2) buy more; and (3) refer their friends. My recent Happy Hour was not happy, thereby doing the opposite.
My friend and I ordered three menu items from the Happy Hour menu: (1) the cheese plate; (2) the shrimp; and (3) I forgot. The cheese was beyond bland. I didn’t think it was possible for me to NOT like a cheese plate but, apparently, it is. The shrimp was even worse, overcooked to the point that it became super rubbery. While the service was fine, the food was so poorly prepared that it made me question the overall reputation of the restaurant.
Since I’ve been a big BOA fan, I decided to reach out to them and write about our experience on the Facebook wall of their parent company (Innovative Dining Group – “IDG” – they also own Sushi Roku and Katana). Encouragingly, they responded to me right away and asked me to email Comments@InnovativeDining.com – saying that they would call me to learn more. Soon after, I received an email from the General Manager at BOA in WeHo, Seth Glassman, who asked me to call him. He told me that he wanted to make things better and asked me to call him before I went there again so he could “take care of things”.
So, with my girlfriend’s birthday as the occasion, I called him to let him know we’d be coming by and that would be her birthday.
When we arrived, he greeted us warmly. We knew he would be treating for some of it (not sure how much) so we began ordering … and ordering … and ordering! As always, the service was lovely and, this time, all of the dishes were spot on. We enjoyed a variety of lovely salmon, salads, asparagus, and wine. Then, at the end, they brought out a crazy dessert with a candle on it for her birthday.
Before the bill arrived, she and I basked in the experience. Amazing food, wine and company. I told her I’d treat and was fully expecting to do so to some extent as I wasn’t quite sure what Seth would be picking up. Next thing we knew, our server came by and told us not to worry about the bill as Seth would be taking care of it. Wow – I could not believe it. Honestly, that was way more generous than I had expected! All in all, I’m now psyched about BOA again and feel I’ve made a great contact with Seth.
Meanwhile, I had a similar experience at Barnes & Noble. I went to a book signing event for Bethenny Frankel’s book, “A Place of Yes,” at their store in the Grove on June 20th.
I was so excited as I’m a HUGE fan of hers. The Reality “It” Star, she has built a business empire selling her Skinnygirl cocktail line for $100 million and being named one of Hollywood’s leading entrepreneurs by Forbes magazine. Pretty impressive.
Unfortunately, the employees at that Barnes & Noble store made the experience so unpleasant that I began questioning why I should patronize B&N at all when: (a) they usually don’t have what I want; and (b) Amazon always does (and is so easy). Still, having been a formerly happy B&N customer, I decided to tweet them (@BNBuzz) about the poor experience to see if they might address it. And, happily, they did!
I emailed Dan right away and received a call from Pedro, the manager of The Grove store, about a week later. He seemed genuinely frustration at my experience in his store and offered me a $50 gift certificate which I think was a nice gesture.
Overall, I’m happy to report that social media and good old fashioned customer service came through in the end – both on the restaurant and retail fronts. Each made an unhappy customer into a delighted one. Kudos to the customer service teams at IDG/BOA and Barnes & Noble!