One day, Shlomo isn’t eating the soup, so the waiter comes by and says, “Shlomo, what’s wrong? Why are you not eating the soup?”
“It’s fine,” Shlomo says.
But, the waiter sees that something must be wrong, so he calls the manager over. The manager says, “Shlomo, what’s wrong with the soup?”
Again, Shlomo says, “It’s fine.”
This happens another two-three times and Shlomo keeps saying that it’s fine. When the waiter has finally had enough, he comes back to Shlomo’s table and says, “Let me taste the soup. Give me the spoon and I’ll try it.”
“Aha!” says Shlomo, “I needed a spoon because I didn’t have one to eat my soup.”
The moral of the story? Don’t just ask what’s wrong. Look and see what’s wrong.
When I used to manage restaurants, I would stop by the dish room 1-2 times per night to see what was coming back to be thrown away. What didn’t people like? Why?
Everyday at Steiner Sports I do the same. I look at returns to see what we did wrong and why, as well as think about how we can do better. Remember, customer service is the key to any successful business.
