On the 20th January IRUN ran its first ever customer service training session tailored to meet the demands that the hospitality industry face. Fred Copestake and Ray Watson from IRUN led the training, which has been introduced to enhance the IRUN hospitality marketing system.

What a success the course was, here is some feedback from the delegates that attended:

Feedback from Anthony Lloyd – Owner of Fallowfields:

“We absolutely must not forget behaviour WAS changed yesterday.  Fallowfields staff will view customers differently as a result of the “lifetime value” calculation; we will in teams be using the +1 to improve our performance, and create more of those WOWS. THAT IS A SIGNIFICANT RESULT!

You changed behaviour yesterday, I have been on many a training course in the past which did not change my behaviour or that of the attendees at all. So a very positive result, for which thank you.

If you want to bring it back for another run, I know all the GMs of all the hotels in the area and we could invite a rep from each!!!”

And Trevor landlord of  The Talbot Inn also attended the ‘IRUN’ Customer Service Training and took his key staff with him.  I popped into the Talbot last night and was instantly accosted by those who had attended unprompted and enthusiastically stating that the session had been superb and I quote:  “much better than the Customer Service Training they had recently attended at Arkells Head Office…”  Well done to Ray Watson, the team at the Talbot say you are a great bloke.

We all know that you can’t continually market a bad experience so we believe that customer service is as important as marketing. This is the start of many customer service training sessions,

Interested in taking part then let your local IRUN office know!

The recession has meant landlords have had to face up to customers having less money in their pockets to spend on a night out on top of ongoing problems such as the smoking ban and cut-price drinks competition from the supermarkets.

As a result, scores of pubs across the country are closing every week as people stay at home.

But Trevor Johnson, landlord of The Talbot Inn in Oxford Road, Eynsham, for the past five years, has managed to build his custom steadily thanks to a £500,000 investment from owner Arkell’s, a rolling business plan and a major marketing campaign in 2009.

He said: “We are bucking the trend a little but we have had to be very proactive with our marketing – it is tougher now than it has been.

“You have to offer value for money and good service. Anyone thinking they can come into the trade, do nothing and make a lot of cash is deluded.

“This year could be difficult but it will be better if I see more people getting jobs locally.”

To grow the business in 2009 Trevor turned to Lynne Jones from IRUN and agreed they needed three things:

• Customer’s contact details to be able to communicate with them
• An effective way to manage customer data and regular communications
• Offers and incentives to attract more customers and keep regulars coming back

The strategy is working, the pub and restaurant is full and 2010 is looking rosy for Trevor and his team.

You can read the full case study here and the local Press article here.

If you need help with staying in touch with your customers and prospects give your local IRUN office a call, we’d be delighted to help you.