Why My New Local Pizza Place Needs A Media Trainer
The owners of the new pizza place in my neighborhood could use a little media training.
I say this a bit tongue in cheek… After all, they’re a brand new small business and will likely have little to no interaction with the media. However, their messaging and communications skills could certainly benefit from some help.
So please allow me, pizza place around the corner, to give you and our readers a few pointers gratis.
1. All of your communications create a picture of you. My husband loves pizza. So when we saw the sign go up that said the abandoned shop around the corner would be a pizza and subs takeout restaurant, we got excited. We watched as they painted the place and installed their equipment. Every time we drove by, we checked to see if they were open yet. Finally, we saw the “Now Open” sign. We rushed online to find a menu. All we found were some half-photos taken of a menu posted on Facebook. We looked for a phone number and found a few different ones, some of which weren’t correct. Even the map and address online was wrong. When we called, we were directed to an incomplete website with spelling errors (“Comming soon!”). By the time we finally ordered a pizza for delivery, given the disorganized and sloppy way they presented themselves, I expected to get it in a week.
2. Remember the post in which Brad writes that your receptionist needs media training? So does the annoyed sounding woman who answers your phone. The woman who answered the phone at the pizza place sounded completely annoyed when we called asking where we could find a menu. She didn’t know the website address and she didn’t know if they had any specials that day, even though they advertised that they’d be posting daily specials on the Facebook page. She was our first interaction with the business, and she made it completely unpleasant.
3. If you’re going to apologize, you have to act like you mean it. I’ve worked as a waitress before. I understand that new restaurants can be totally chaotic. So I wasn’t surprised at all that it took more than an hour for our pizza to arrive and when it did, it was lukewarm. However, what did surprise me was the deliveryman who only uttered a half-apology. “It’s our first day, I’m sorry if it took too long…” He didn’t have any printed menus, and what’s more, he didn’t have any coupons or offer a discount. Basically, it was like he shrugged his shoulders, said “I know this isn’t great, but we’re new, so, what can I say?” There was no attempt to retain us as new customers.
Opening a new small business can be chaotic. In the rush to open their doors, it’s understandable that many entrepreneurs forget to talk to their employees about the corporate image they want to project and their top-line messages. But that failure can make even the best slice of pizza taste a little worse — and cause customers to flock to the less tasty but more competent pizza joint down the street.
Christina Mozaffari is the Washington, D.C. vice president of Throughline Group. Want to talk all things pizza and media training? Tweet her at @PMRChristina!
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My question is always – Do you give this feedback directly to the business owner? I have in the past and I’ve generally met with mixed reviews. We’re only trying to help!
Hugh,
Thanks for your question. I’m not sure what Christina did in this case, but I can tell you how I’ve handled these situations in the past.
As an example, I once wrote about a local cupcake shop in my neighborhood that suffered from messaging problems. I decided not to tell the owner – I walk past that shop every day, and if the owner reacted badly, I didn’t want to have to deal with evil stares.
On the other hand, there’s a wonderful salad/sandwich shop nearby. On the wall, the owner posted a message that says something like: “I want to hear from you! What can we do better? What else would you like to see available for sale? Please email me at…” Because he had created such an open atmosphere, I did email him. I told him that I loved his restaurant, but would like to see more than just one salad dressing available. He replied thanking me for the feedback.
The lesson for me is that businesses have an obligation to communicate their openness to hearing customer feedback. If the cupcake shop had done so, I would have considered sharing my thoughts with them, as well.
Thanks for writing!
Brad
There is a Chinese restaurant in my little backwater hometown (pop. 7000), but I love them, and here’s why:
• They have their menu online.
• I can order electronically on their website
• The woman at the counter (who I believe is the wife of the owner) has recognized me and what I like after my very first visit. She also remembered where I work (I only told her once), and she routinely asks after my father who came up in conversation (she’s never even met the guy) during one dinner pickup.
I’ve even considered doing media relations for them gratis because I think they’re so awesome. That’s the kind of relationship small business owners need to have with their customers.
Interesting. I’ve complained both directly and indirectly to restaurants about terrible service, and have received mixed replies. On one occasion, our waitress brought out the wrong bottle of wine (a $150 bottle instead of the $60 bottle we ordered) and we ended up paying for it on the assumption that if we didn’t, the waitress would be charged with the snafu and possibly fired. After the meal, we wrote a lengthy (pointed, but calm) letter of complaint, and sent it to the manager. We didn’t receive a reply or even an acknowledgement of the letter. After the disappointing response, we decided to never go back to that particular restaurant.