Are you in a stalemate? Your existing customer base is loyal. Revenue is steady. The problem is you’re not growing. What are you doing
to generate new income? Besides every day specials, food and drink promotions, what else have you offered to boost that bottom line?

Here are just a couple of ideas to consider when deciding how to bring in new customers and additional revenue. I’ll be covering each of
these ideas in more details over the coming weeks.

• Private dining
• Catering
• Your website
• Social media tools like Twitter and Facebook

There’s a general consensus that customer service makes or breaks a restaurant. Industry professionals, insiders and outside consultants agree that exceptional customer service can result in the following:

• trust, confidence and a solid reputation – all can lead to long-term customer loyalty
• happy customers who spend more with less consideration of cost – and they keep coming back
• happy employees who enjoy their jobs and have positive things to say about their place of employment. They tend to stick around longer which means you can decrease the costs associated with hiring and training
• an advantage over your competitors who may not provide the same level of service in the same way
• a better bottom line – it’s less expensive to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. In addition, excellent customer service creates buzz and nothing costs less and means more than word-of-mouth marketing. And, most companies that offer exceptional service are often more profitable overall

We provide our restaurant customers with all of the tools they need to provide incomparable customer service – with the exception of good employees and the drive to stand above the rest. That’s up to them.

Do you have the drive and the staff to take your service to the next level? What about the right dining reservation and table management software?

So, what are your thoughts on 2011 so far? Have you seen an increase in business yet?

Industry experts are predicting growth across the board this year. In its “2011 Restaurant Industry Forecast,” the NRA said the nation’s 960,000 restaurants will see aggregate sales increases of 3.6 percent in 2011, or 1.1 percent in real, or inflation-adjusted, terms. The association also said that operators focused on growth will explore area like mobile applications and social media to expand their reach and grow business.

From customer incentives to online reservation applications to mobile marketing, restaurateurs will be relying more and more on technology to reach a larger audience. Mobile applications and social marketing tools are also changing the way restaurants market to their customers, as well as the way consumers view dining out. According to the NRA, 51 percent of social-media-savvy individuals say restaurants are an essential part of their lifestyle, while 43 percent of all consumers say that.

At ReServe Interactive, we are fully aware of the opportunity presenting itself to our customers and the industry as a whole. Not only are we aware, we are acting on that knowledge to bring the industry new tools to help them reach more customers while preserving their bottom line.

It won’t be long now until we roll-out our latest technology, but in the meantime, we’d like to know…Do you Q?

To read more from the National Restaurant Association, click http://bit.ly/gdwybZ.

Would you hire a plumber to fix your car? Or a sculptor to build you a house? Then why choose a software solution built by people unfamiliar with the hospitality industry? Sure, they can program software, but can they really speak your language? Do they understand what you do on a daily basis? Is the software designed to meet your needs or does it have pointless bells and whistles that look cool but are of no use to you or your business?

Our guess is you don’t need software that looks the part, but still forces you to remember where information is saved, what needs to happen next and what button means what. Your software should be so simple to use that it makes your life easier, not more difficult. If you’re wasting time trying to figure out what your software does or can do, then your software isn’t doing its job.

Our users drive our product development. They let us know what they need and we find the most effective way to make it happen.  Every feature, every function, is designed and included because it has been requested by an actual user, including members of our own staff who found themselves with a specific need when they were working in the industry.

At ReServe, our team is made up of hospitality industry veterans who, together with some of the technology industry’s brightest professionals, provide our users with a product that is more than a software system. It’s an extra pair of hands, an extension of your staff. We’re passionate about changing the way our customers do business. We want them to be efficient, profitable and, most importantly, able to do their jobs quickly, easily and accurately with software that truly useful.

 The hospitality industry is being inundated with technology and those technologies are changing at a rapid pace. Different areas of the industry exhibit various levels of acceptance of this fact. In some cases, there isn’t much of a choice. For example, everyone agrees that PCI compliance is important and steps need to be taken to ensure the right technologies are in place to protect consumers and merchants.

In other cases, the choice to implement new technologies is considered an option. The old way has always worked, so why change it? We understand. We also understand our customer’s desire to use technology to improve operations and the hesitation associated with changing the way things are done.

We understand because we face the same challenges. Whether it’s implementing new technologies internally to help us do business better or finding ways to advance our existing technologies to provide a better product for our customers, there’s always that moment of resistance; that moment of hesitation because things are going to be different than before. But once we open our minds to the benefits of the technologies we have chosen, the easier it is to implement and execute. And, before too long, we find ourselves wondering how we ever functioned without it.

Times continue to change and we’re looking to the future. Not next Friday, not October, but next year and the years to come.  We’re in the business of technology so making sure we’re on the cutting edge is one of our priorities. It won’t be long before you hear about our latest advancements, new tools, and plans for the future. We continue to change with the times and we hope you decide to join us.

Your Catering Sales Manager takes a new job and leaves the company with little notice. As her assistant, your feelings toward her departure are bittersweet. She’s happy about her new position, so you are happy for her, but you will miss her. Above all else, you realize that until a replacement is hired, you are left to do her work as well as your own. After a brief meeting prior to her exit and a lone assessment of the entire situation, which scenario most likely represents your situation?

• Her desk is loaded with file folders, stacks of paper and an avalanche of yellow and pink sticky notes. You know she manages a few things in a computerized spreadsheet, but you can’t seem to find it on her desktop. Her Rolodex, now ages old, is no longer in alphabetical order. This month’s events, a few names and the occasional phone number are scratched onto a dry erase calendar board next to her desk. You know what you need to do on your end because you’ve kept your own stack of file folders and a legal pad with a long to-do list, but now you need to consolidate her information with yours to make sure all the upcoming events are covered and nothing slips through the cracks. You’re overwhelmed and nervous – how will you organize everything and still keep things moving forward?

Or…

• You sit down at her computer and click on the ReServe Anywhere icon. After you log in - Ta-Da! Everything you need to know about this month’s events (as well as any events in the future) is right at your finger tips. You dive in and review the centralized event calendar complete with times and dates, all of your set up, service and labor requirements, menu and pricing information, and a detailed customer database complete with comprehensive contact information for all of your guests. You check the task list, review any follow up reminders and get started. Everything is in order. Every detail has been captured. Nothing is missed. ReServe prompts your next steps so you easily and efficiently keep things moving forward. Everything goes off without a hitch. Job well done!

Our hope is that the first scenario is more of an exaggeration rather than actual truth. However, we know that many catering professionals are dealing with the frustration of paper-based event management.  The second scenario represents where we would like everyone to be – calm, cool and in control.

So, what’s your situation? Are you surviving or thriving?

Easy. When it’s smarter.

Boasting technology that is easy to use can put certain suppliers in a vicarious position. Simplified software can be so diluted or ‘dumbed-down’, that it doesn’t meet the basic needs of the user. Besides touting simplicity, the software may have nothing of real value to offer. Just because it looks like other, more universally known, software products, or has an attractive screen display, or is a plug and play platform, doesn’t mean it’s a fully evolved product. While it may seem appealing to a user at first, they soon realize that with all of the ‘simple’ bells and whistles, functionality has been compromised and a comprehensive tool is nowhere to be found. On the flip side, what if simplicity is positioned as a dominant feature, but the software is so complicated to navigate that the user throws up their hands in frustration and heads back to their pile of file folders or a tattered reservation book?

In our case, the software we design is complex on the development side and user-friendly on the front end. Our development processes are lengthy and detailed. We critically study the work environment of users so that we completely understand the process flow of information and the unique demands of their environment. We gather user input at various stages in the development process to make sure that we’re addressing the subtle details that make all the difference between a usable finished product versus one that becomes simply another obstacle in the way of completing required tasks. This iterative, user-centered design approach results in a product that is truly assistive – easy to navigate, rich with valuable functionality, easily integrated into the normal process flow of the work environment – and simply smarter than the rest.

Our software simplifies user practices without watering down functionality. Our platform is intuitive so that the software does what users need it to do and want it to do, all while prompting them through their own internal, operationally specific processes. The software speaks the user’s language, utilizes their unique business parameters, as well as incorporates industry knowledge and assumptions to help anticipate next steps.

We’ve been known to say that our software is simple to use. We’re not going to deny that. The difference is that we’ve taken simple to the next level and made is smart. We would never assume that the industry is only drawn to pretty screen displays or try to fool them by saying we’re as easy to use as other software products just because we have similar layout. The industry’s needs are diverse and layered with complexity and our job is to make the user’s job easier. Because our software is smart, we become that extra pair of hands, that second set of eyes, that extra reservationist or that catering sales assistant. There’s real value there. We know that. Our customers know that.

That’s how simple really becomes better.

The hospitality industry is so unique. It is highly segmented, thematically diverse and powerfully resilient. On top of all of those things, its needs are vast, from food and beverage to operational needs, financing to marketing resources, and equipment to technology requirements. Suppliers, with a passion for the industry, sometimes find themselves wanting to fill as many needs for their hospitality customers as possible.

The problem is, when you try to be everything to everyone, you lose sight of who you are. And so do your customers. Not only do you lose your competitive edge, but you run the risk of becoming forgettable.

The pool of hospitality suppliers is large and our offerings cross over a myriad of operational needs. With so many choices, hospitality professionals are often at a loss with where to start. It’s our responsibility to make our offerings crystal clear so our customers have the right information to make the best possible choices. By muddling features and benefits or using deceptive language, it’s impossible to stand out and be seen as a viable, long-term solution.

Many successful hospitality professionals have figured this out long ago and can serve as a great example. They are the ones that have thrived through a struggling economy, and quietly boast a solid, targeted and growing customer base. They have honed in on what makes them unique and have built a reputation on that uniqueness that is accompanied by industry accolades and customer ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’. Some examples – Wolfgang Puck Catering, McCormick & Schmick’s and Gaylord Entertainment. They are the masters of their brands and have earned their success by decidedly not trying to be everything to everyone.

While we offer several hospitality management software solutions to our customers, our message is clear and so is the ReServe Interactive offering. We would rather be something incredible to someone than run the risk of being overlooked because we tried to be everything to everyone.

There’s a saying that goes ‘The only thing constant in life is change’. Very true. And, in some cases, very hard to accept. When people are used to doing things a certain way, it can be difficult to change their course of action. People get caught up in what they have to give up and what has made them comfortable, versus what they may gain in the long run. You may find that some are eagerly willing to make the change, while some people dig in with their heels and fight you every step of the way.

Technology is often a trigger for significant change and therefore, a potential trigger for resistance. Whether you’re implementing software to take the place of manual processes or replacing one system with another, it’s important to remember that the reaction to that change will vary across your organization. To ease the pain, consider choosing a provider that will take the time to provide adequate training to your staff, as well as remain accessible throughout the implementation process, so concerns can be addressed and minds can be set at ease.  Take a moment to zero in on employees who are eagerly embracing the change and have them assist you in training others. Let their enthusiasm become contagious.

Our new customers are often surprised at how easy our software is to implement, train on and use. It is technology after all.  But our users, regardless of any resistance, or enthusiasm for that matter, are typically up and running, using the software to book actual events or dining reservations within a few hours of training. We work closely with them and provide all of the tools they need to ease any discomfort they may have with making the change.

Paul Pace from Treasure Island Hotel & Casino is a great example of an individual embracing change. When his company’s legacy dining reservation software system was phased out and ReServe Anywhere® was implemented, he said, “I came on board after implementation, and because the system is so user friendly and easy to use, I logged in and taught myself how to use it. I was able to take single and group reservations, make changes to floor plans and update menus within a couple of days.”

Change is inevitable, yes. But resistance to it doesn’t have to be.

Reports vary across the industry – some hospitality segments have continued to show steady growth, some have struggled and are eager for a comeback, while others have remained stable.

Where did your organization fall over the last couple of years?  What changes have you made to position yourself for growth as economic conditions improve? 

Many industry segments have taken this challenging time as an opportunity to improve operations, develop management and build relationships with industry partners. They have focused on improving existing processes and finding ways to save money without sacrificing service and quality. Many have decided to invest in technology solutions developed to help them streamline operations and enhance efficiencies.

We’ve found that more of our newer customers are choosing ReServe Anywhere®, our web-based Dining Reservation, Table Management, Catering and Event Management solutions, because they offer all of the functionality and efficiency-creating features of our traditional client/server software without the costs associated with purchasing extra hardware and investing in additional on-property IT resources. All they need is a high speed internet connection and they can connect to their business from anywhere, at anytime. This allows them to take advantage of tools that help them make great strides in improving productivity, streamlining operations, and enhancing customer service, all while positioning themselves strongly in today’s competitive landscape.

When considered smartly, technology can be an ally in the fight for growth in this touchy economic environment.  Let the solutions you choose give you the added strength you need to thrive.