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Janet Wood

Janet Wood

44 posts •

Ridiculous T&C's: Nose to spite face?

Recently, a B2B company moved the goal posts, of what had been agreed, completely off the pitch. Not only was this change completely unfathomable to me but it also incurred me additional, unexpected

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Are you seeing what your customers are saying… or feeling?

Do you sometimes find customer feedback difficult to believe? You’re not alone. When it’s about your business or service, something you’ve spent hours thinking about and honing, if a customer

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Is the 'optional' service charge on its way out?

I wished I had a quid for every time one of our Silent Customers moaned about the service charge being added to the bottom of a bill for two. Customers just don't like

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The onus is on car drivers to look out for hazards to avoid accidents, so should it be the same for cyclists?

This afternoon was the second time I’ve nearly been run over by a road bike, ridden by someone in lycra. The cyclist took the time to stop and call me a ‘f%

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Do some restaurants oversell the experience?

Humans are fickle creatures: We are distrusting and dubious most of the time (especially when someone is trying to sell us something), yet when it comes to customer experience, for some reason, we

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Do you Push or Shove?

Whilst I fully appreciate that the guys and gals, who collect trolleys in supermarket car parks, do get paid, I always wonder what goes through the minds of people who, get within a

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Review

Review Sites: White Noise?

Is TripAdvisor being bullied under the table by Google Reviews and other review platforms? For several years we have asked our Silent Customers to answer questions around the expectations set by feedback on

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M&S: Just a pile of ... trousers?

M&S are the next high street dinosaur facing extinction. What a crying shame. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I actually shop in there, anymore, but

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Just how S.A.F.E is your pub or restaurant?

Four elements are required to create a secure and loyal customer environment:   • Service (pro-active, engaging, friendly and knowledgeable) • Ambience (warm lighting, contemporary décor, sympathetic acoustics and ambient temperature) • Food (balanced flavours, quality ingredients,

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Plastic straws

Are you on the plastic straws ban'wagon?

I think it's great that companies are choosing not to buy plastic straws but I'm not sure it's worthy of the constant stream of self-congratulatory -'Look at us not using straws anymore' -

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mystery shopping

How to be a Successful Mystery Shopper

Reviewing restaurants is not as easy as most people think! Finding fault and being critical is easy but this is not what any mystery shopping company look for in their assessors and it is the polar opposite of what we look for in our Silent Customers.

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Google adwords

Is it true that big companies can't cope with delivering exceptional customer service?

Well, it seems not! Up until my recently I would have argued, until blue in the face, that big companies are simply unable to run adequate systems to cope with customer enquiries, especially

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mobility

Inclusivity: What does it mean to you?

Recently I've been thinking about how we can help customers who are unable to dine out due to accessibility limitations. When I've mentioned consideration of this to business owners in years gone by

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When is a pie not a pie?

When it’s in a casserole dish!?   Last week a Silent Customer expressed her disappointment when she ordered ‘steak & Ale pie’ and received casserole in a dish with a puff pastry top.

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TripAdvisor: keeping it REAL

Rather than focus energy on the 'unjustness' of it all, business owners would do well to look at TripAdvisor as a fabulous business tool and marketing opportunity of self-promotion. It is, after-all, just

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Condiment sachets: Ingenious, money saving gems or infuriating packets of pointlessness?

I get the existence of condiment sachets: They are hygienic and save on waste and washing up, but I find trying to open the blasted things beyond irritating. I’m ready to tuck

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Review Sites: Do some businesses make it too easy for customers to use them for revenge?

As someone who runs a feedback company I am paradoxically very lazy at posting on review sites and have rarely posted anything on Trip Advisor over the years. Although, I do read them

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Passive aggressive service recovery: Does it work? You tell me!

I dragged myself to a well know phone store last week for a long overdue upgrade. I know this task can be achieved online but I don’t have the patience to trawl

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Internal work conflict: Who's right?

If you need to make some changes in your organisation but no one can agree on who, what and how. Should you go with your gut and/or the team member you think

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How sophisticated is your customer journey?

This rather pleasing graph shows how Brakspear have improved their customer experience over the last 7 years. When we started working together they were quite ahead of their time in running a mystery

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Waiters who verbally list specials at your table: Customer engagement or Mensa test?

Recently, a Silent Customer expressed her annoyance when a waiter hastily regurgitated the list of specials rather than offer them to her on a menu or a specials board. The result was that

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Marketing stuff: Not much uptake? Try this...

Our Silent Customers are often chastised by managers for not noticing their social media details on the bottom of menus but, aside from the reasons outlined in this earlier blog post, there are

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Steak: Is it actually any better from our local butcher or are we just being food snobs?

Now - don't get me wrong, I love shopping in my local butchers and farmers markets. There is something luxury yet wholesome about the experience. Then there is the passion for the product

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Is it acceptable for restaurants to take pre-orders for large tables?

Tables of twelve and more, you would think, would be welcomed with open arms by most restaurateurs BUT could you be wrong? Larger tables take longer to arrive (there is ALWAYS someone who

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Cauliflower Cheese: A standard part of Sunday roast or a side order?

Cauliflower Cheese, for me, is an absolute MUST for a Sunday Roast. I can say with absolute confidence that the Rowbarge in Henley and the Bull in Wargrave do the best Cauliflower Cheese

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SIlent Customer blog. Mystery dining insights. © 2019
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