Often customers reflect the managers, sharing their values, philosophy and the style that characterises the café. If you want a polite and amiable clientele, learn how to attract it to your café! How? Here are the ten rules of good manners and useful tips to better manage your business, day after day.
Quality comes first
Do you want to avoid complaints and negative feedback that would make your regular customers go to the café opposite yours the next time they want a coffee? Serve them only the finest products, starting with espresso. Try Caffè Vergnano’s showcase of café products: they will be delighted! A smile on your lips, always: if you smile, life will smile back. The same is true for your customers. Even the most reserved and grumpy customer will slowly loosen up and return your smile, as long as you keep being friendly and cheerful each time you see them. There are simple, successful techniques to win the favour of each type of customer. One of these is to build a friendly relationship with the regular customers of your café. Avoid becoming too friendly, but address your customers by first name, if possible. Write down each detail: without being nosey or seeming like a gossiper, if you remember details your customer said the previous time or if you can guess their order even before they open their mouth, it is a sign you care about them. The effect is usually flattering and “personalising”.
Your coffee shop as a second home
To make your customers feel comfortable, let them carve out their own space inside the coffee shop. If they are talking on the phone, for example, avoid going there to ask them if they would like anything else, but wait patiently until they hang up. Your job as a barista offers you the opportunity to get to know a large part of the city or the neighbourhood, and you often entertain your customers: avoid getting sucked into gossip and be impartial, if reference is made to people who usually come to your café although they are not present at the time. The same is true for colleagues in the industry, the so-called competitors: don’t try to make yourself look good at their expense because it would be counterproductive. Serving a glass of water next to their cup of espresso, hazelnuts with Campari and sweetener and brown sugar in addition to the regular sugar sachet are small, yet great touches that contribute to creating added value.
Behind every cup there lies a long story, a family, and a number of choices. It’s about expertise, experience and attention to detail passed down and perfected by each generation.
The loyalty bonus
Retaining customers also means treating them with kid gloves compared to those who arrive by chance. Offer coffee subscriptions, a free refill of their favourite cocktail, or organise raffles and initiatives exclusively reserved to regulars. Last pearl of wisdom: nobody, not even the most experienced baristas can ever give up learning more about their professional sphere. To be up to date, go back to school with the courses offered by the Vergnano Academy!