Yea, I know -- they're called servers.
Noted.
About 10 days ago, while I was in the Newport Beach area for the SoCal networking luncheon, I thoroughly embarrassed myself while dining at a cozy little Italian restaurant.
I mean... I was a disaster!
My dinner experience started out perfectly fine: a nice quiet table, Italian music filling the air and freshly-baked bread served piping hot.
I could hear "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant' playing in my head.
Life was good.
That was until I poured olive oil all over myself.
Immediately, I picked up a napkin and began furiously dabbing my shirt with tap water. (Apparently, I'm supposed to be much more gentle and dab my precision after a spill.)
Anyway... the waitress, who is also part owner with her husband, saw this and ran to get me some club soda instead.
Just as she was coming back, I turned to the side to cross my legs... and POW! I nailed her right in the knee.
But she just rolled with it and tried to make ME feel better because I was so apologetic.
Yet despite these mishaps, the food and service were excellent.
But the most surprising part came when I received the check.
To my surprise (and delight), I was offered a survey to rate my experience. The survey also contained a section for my physical and email addresses and coupon offer for my next visit.
Either the owners are secretly reading my newsletters... or... they've been watching episodes of The Profit (a great show on CNBC about operating successful businesses) .
Either way, I was extremely impressed.
And that's exactly how a restaurant or retail establishment -- OR ANY BUSINESS -- should be building their list. Capture the contact info of happy and satisfied clients, market to them REGULARLY with offers and special deals, give them coupons to use and pass around... and...
Rinse and repeat.
Sometimes marketing can be so simple.
