You can tell when trust has been built between staff and our guest – it is when their is natural conversation going on.
It’s not general chit chat about the weather, it’s genuine conversation.
Psychology of trust is interesting and its based on how well we feel we know someone and even happens at a subconscious level.
The knowing is very important – a sense of familiarity is critical.
How do you build familiarity?
You can mirror the persons body language or using their name and them knowing your name. This goes a long way to building trust and familiarity.
Trust is never about one big gesture, it’s often a series of little gestures throughout the dining experience.
Through the dining experience we have a great opportunity to achieve this – through setting expectations and then either meeting or exceeding them. If you have promised to get something for the customer and you’ve said you will be a couple of minutes, make sure you are back within 90 seconds. In this way you have exceeded their expectations and over delivered.
If you can have a series of those mini gestures throughout the experience this helps to build trust. By the time they get to the end of their time with us, they feel like they know you and trust you and more likely to come back next time.
To get started on this straight away – you can:
Think about how you can set mini expectations for your guest and then exceed them. For example, if you know the meal will be 7 minutes away, let them know it will be 8 minutes so you have set the expectations and then exceeded it.