Client followups

[marmalady]

Do you do client followups after a party? Maybe a phone call a couple of days after the event - how did your guests like the food, how were the servers, any problems, etc.

One of my bosses usually did this (and lots of times made a visit post-party, as she usually left something behind!) and we got a lot of good feedback from it. Most of her parties were small, home locale events.

This is in response to a comment from RitaFajita in the 'What-No Oscar thread?' in Late Night forum.

[W.DeBord]

We never did. But we ALWAYS knew imediately how the host and hosts (and guests for that matter) felt about the party (unless they were drunk). We got paid dirrectly from them so you got verbal thank-yous and a nice tip or rarely the silient treatment (that seemed to happen only when the host and hostess fought through the whole event).

In fact it worked the opposite way for us...typically the host would call us the in the next day or two and thank us.

I'm not fond of the leave something behind technique....we actually had a couple conflicts over dish towels or wooden spoons on a couple huge home parties. It opens the door for them to do a whole house inventory, when they had not thought about it previously......

just my two cents.

[marmalady]

Wendy - Re - leaving things behind. Just one of the many reasons I'm not working for this lady anymore!!!!

[RitaFajita]

I am not as consistent with follow ups as I should be. I've made some follow-up calls in the past when it struck me to do so, but I'm not systematic about it. I probably should be. It occurs to me that my claim that nobody ever runs out of food on drop off and leave jobs (except one lady) might be a wrong assumption! I deal mostly with pharmaceutical reps who are ordering for doctor's offices, and I rely on their feedback (not the people who are actually eating the food)- which is almost always 100 percent positive. How realistic is that? I might be great but I'm not perfect! I could probably learn a great deal by being more diligent in following up. Maybe several people have had suggestions on how I might improve, but only one actually called me up to tell me about it. I read something somewhere that claimed most people who have a complaint don't verbalize it to the person with which they have the complaint, they just b**** about it to ten of their closest friends (read "potential customers"!). Scary thought! People are so quick to offer positive feedback, its easy to assume when I hear so many nice compliments from people that everyone must be totally satisfied. Perhaps I'm not hearing any negative because people aren't so quick to offer up that sort of opinion. I need to seek it out more.

My fragile ego is so comfy with the way things are, though.
My skin gets thicker with experience, but I can be overly sensitive to negative comments! I recognize the need for criticism - it helps me serve my customers better. Oh, but it sure is hard to hear!

RF

[chefteldanielle]

Iam fairly new at this and have been extremely lucky so far.
The first responses to my services so far have been all in the form of a hefty tip.. sometimes 50% of what it actually cost to do the party. Secondary I have a questionaire that i leave behind tailored to the type of service that I have rendered with a self addressed stamped envelope.
I usually follow up with a handwritten thank you card and a phonecall.
Iam a very personalble person and particularly if they gave me such a huge tip and treated me nicely.
It has helped with word of mouth and I gues I could focus on customer relations more because Iam not a fulltime caterer.
Danielle