Reservation Genie comes with built in tools to encourage concierge traffic and measure your results. Most of the ideas we discuss here pertain to the tools we offer, but the general procedure is the same for all businesses that seek hotel traffic. Courting concierges to send their guests to your business requires building a relationship, ensuring the concierge you’ll take care of their customers, showing you appreciate their referrals, and keeping in touch. The simple fact of the matter is that they are approached constantly by managers of restaurants, tour companies, and clubs and they know they hold all the cards. We’re going to write this with respect to restaurants, but the process is the same for tours, clubs, golf courses, etc.
The Initial Visit
First of all you have to make sure that they know about your restaurant. Even if you’ve been in town for 20 years, they could be new in town and we recommend you assume they have never dined with you. Concierges need to feel comfortable they’re sending their guests to a place that will satisfy their guests and that means they need to sample your offerings. Send a charming member of your staff by to invite them into to dine with you. When you visit a concierge, don’t come empty handed. It’s a nice gesture to bring them a sample of the menu such as a good appetizer that keeps well. But don’t stop there. Bring them a gift certificate and whatever you do, don’t skimp with a buy 1 get one free type of coupon. Give them a full $50 – $100 gift certificate so they can bring a friend and order well from the menu. They know that they’ll get food critic service if they annouce their visit and some of them want to try you out secretly. That’s why a gift certificate is better than saying “just come on in and we’ll take care of you”. We’re assuming you’re already delivering great food and service and they’ll be impressed with every facet of the experience without having to announce their arrival.
Ask for Their Email Address
Tell them that you have a referral program and that you’d like to invite them to join Big Concierge where they can make money by sending you guests. Also mention that you have periodic contests and you’d like to be able to email them the information. Some concierges may hesitant to give you their email address, but most will be fine with it.
Leave Your Info Behind
As a back up to getting their email we suggest you also print an invitation to Big Concierge using the unique code that is available in your Invites > Concierges screen. You can also use one of the ones we designed for you. Don’t just print it in black in white or it will find its way into the trash can quickly. Print it in color, even better…laminate it. Ask them if they can leave it on the concierge desk for the next shift or post it in the break room if you’re dealing with front desk staff. It is also wise to leave brochures, menus, and anything they can help convey the experience and price points to guests.
Send them an Invitation to Join Big Concierge
Invitations Screen
Entering their email into our system is the best way to invite concierges because our tools allow you to keep track of your efforts. You can easily resend the invitation using the Resend button if they don’t sign up the first time around. It also keeps track of when you sent it last and how many times you’ve sent it. We recommend you invite them up to 3 times to join Big Concierge and wait a 2-4 weeks between invitations. If you invite them too many times and they don’t join, they may find it annoying and you’ll risk alienating them…so don’t over do it.
Contests Screen for Concierges
Post a Contest
If you’re new to Reservation Genie and post a contest, make sure you do it for an extended purpose. It will take awhile to get concierges to sign up and get in the habit of sending you customers online and you don’t want a weak contest showing. The idea is to make it for 6 months and offer something compelling. A $100 gift certificate to the restaurant isn’t that good of a prize…remember you’re already supposed to comp their dinner any way. Cash is always best, but airline tickets, trips to Vegas, and gift cards are also compelling. We’ll talk more about using the Contests Tool in a later post. You can click on the image to the right to view what Concierges see in the Contest Screen
Stay in Touch
There are all sorts of ways to stay in touch, but we recommend sending that charming staff member on a hotel run every 3 months collecting emails and building rapport. You can then invite all concierges who’s email you have in your system to come in and dine with you. An easy way to do this is to simply send them all an email saying thank you and inviting them in. Have them show your staff a business card to get dinner or lunch comped that week. This has an added benefit as they will tell other hotel employees. The more hotel employees you can reach, the better. You can also use the Contest Tool referenced above in conjunction with your Concierge Reporting feature to offer a standing bonus to concierges who send you a certain number of reservations each month such as a $100 gift card bonus for every concierge that sends you 20 reservations a month.
October 25, 2009 at 3:06 am |
[...] Genie's Blog « Table Turning for Restaurant Week & Holidays Courting Concierge Traffic [...]
October 27, 2009 at 6:50 pm |
Very detailed…i like it.