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Lesson Info

Scripting Service

Scripting service. So, a lot of places have a bad association with scripting things. It sounds like it's robotic, it sounds like there's no personality, and we're gonna talk about that because I agree that that should not be the result. But I think scripting can be a very helpful thing so that we can ensure the consistency is happening and that answers are being offered and that people understand what they're getting into. So, when I was a waitress back in the day, I worked at this French restaurant and when I first worked there, it was really education on French food. I didn't know a lot about French food at the time, and so, I learned about ingredients and I learned about methods, I learned about techniques. And one of the things that we had on the menu as a special was tripe. Stomach lining, delicious. Something I had never grown up with I had, for the first time, at that restaurant. Now, when you hear stomach lining is our special tonight, that's not very appetizing to a lot of peo...

ple. Of course we didn't say that, but we came up with a script for it and the script was about how the tripe had been cooked in red wine and tomato and it's cooked down and it's so tender, and it's delicious, all right? So, I could say the script, but I was still a newbie to tripe, so I couldn't really wrap my brain around how to sell this because I hadn't really had it before. So, another colleague of mine had the same script, which was all these basic things, but she was from Italy, and she could tell about how her mother, she used to make-uh, this tripe-uh, it was so good, right? And I'm not even doing justice, but you get the picture. She could like talk about this tripe and it would come to life and she was like melting with desire for this dish and this is even an Italian dish, but she could still like make the connection to this French dish. She sold that thing off the charts. Now, I couldn't do what she did. I didn't grow up with a mother who cooked tripe that melted in my mouth. I couldn't tell that story, but I learned something from her and what that was was she could sell it. I could sell it. Oh, they cook this tripe and it's amazing and it's so delicious and I have only had it one other time, and this is the best I've ever had. Like I learned how to sell by listening to her. And we had the same script, but it was what she put into it. She made it personal, she made it come alive. And that's the point of the script is to empower your staff so they can make it come alive to your guests. So, let's talk about scripting your service. So, it's really about guidelines and its guidelines on how to conduct those steps of service that we just talked about, so if you really think about scripting, like I said, it could be completely robotic. It's not gonna sound true, it's not gonna sound honest. But really asking your team to add their personal touches to bring it to life is really important. Makes it more fun for your team member to add their personal flair, but it also helps them send the message and repeat the gospel to your guests, so that they hear it pretty much the same way every single time. So when you're creating this script or giving examples, it's essential that you build consistency, but also these examples are really really important. So, the examples would be, when you're talking about that greeting. Maybe it's, hello and welcome to my, hello and welcome to XYZ store, what can I help you with today? It could be hello and come on in, we're glad you're here. It could be hi there, what's your name? My name's Kate, I'm happy to see you. There's so many ways to welcome someone into your store. So you have to give examples and you have to give guidelines for what works for your company and what works for your brand. So if it's answering the phone, could be, hello, thank you for calling XYZ Photography. How may we assist you today? Now there's a choice in that. There's a word that we use here, we that we're avoiding the word I, OK? That's a choice, so thank you for calling the store, how may we assist you? It's not a personal thing, it's a we thing. We are here for you. And then the essential word you. You is the most persuasive word in the English language. So very neutral, but it does the job. Here's one with a little more personality. Hi there, this is Stacy at XYZ Photography Studio. Thanks for calling, how can I help you today? So a little bit different, now we've thrown in the I. Now we're saying I can help you. I'm also giving my name, a little bit more personality. The hi there moved from hello. Hi there Stacy might use in a nice way, right? I might not say hi there, you might say hi there, we'll see, but there's a greeting, there's an acknowledgement of who this is and offering assistance. Then very, very simple. XYZ Photography, this is Steve, how can I help? You ever call those businesses where it's so short and to the point? So I have a doctor's office, when they call they just say, "Doctor's office." Thanks, which doctor? I don't even know, right? So that would be very, very simple. But I think the idea with these is that there's so many ways to say it. What's important to your business? Do you want it to be a we're here, or do you want Stacy to be able to say I can help you. They both work, there's nothing with either one of them. Do you want it to be short and sweet? But in all of them we have a greeting. Hello, hello, hello, and even there's not a hello, but this is XYZ, an identification. There is the brand name, the XYZ and there's also the offer of assistance. How may we assist you, how can I help you, how may I help? So those I'd say would sort of be the cornerstones of this phone greeting, so the greeting, the name, the business, and the offer of assistance. So those would be the things to think about in terms of your approach to this moment of service and you're going to do this and you're going to choose one of these. You're not going to give all three. You're going to choose, this is the one that we're using as our script and then for each moment of service you'll do the same, so in the sales moment, in the hello moment, in the second hello moment you're going to get examples that are similar to this. So if we give examples all the way through that are like Stacy and then all of a sudden we throw in one that's very blunt and to the point like Steve that's suddenly going to be a moment of doubt. Wait a second, this seemed so friendly and now it's very cut and dry. So you've got to think about your brand personality through all these moments and give examples so your staff can do that and feel confident and comfortable in doing so. I said a moment ago it's important for people to add their own expression and I think that's very true. For your brand, though, you need to be very clear on how much expression can we give? Some places are very effusive and that can be a nice thing for your brand. Your brand might not need to be so effusive. So it might say, I want you to say your name and be warm and kind in your way, but I don't want to go outside the box. So be clear on what works for you. Zappos does this amazing training video where they talk about how to answer the phone and they encourage people to get a little wacky and get a little wild and somebody answers the phone like, it's a zaptastic day here, how can I help you? Like they come up with crazy little slogans and things and that's really cute for Zappos, but I think other businesses, that would just be a little bizarre. So you have to make sure that it's in alignment with your business, but at that business they're encouraged to get a little wacky and go off the grid a little bit. But still, I think that they're very clear on, here's our message, this is what we want our team to do and that's the most important thing. Do you have questions at this moment, no? [Man With White Hair] I just have a comment. Yeah. With the multiple greetings, I think if everybody had that same script, it's kind of like the example you use with the stationary store, it seems too scripted. Like identifying the business for the first greeting makes sense, but after that-- That's right. You clearly know where you are. That's right. So that could be a little more personal, I think. That's right, and that's why we do have to say that this is happening a number of times. [Man With White Hair] Exactly. That's really key, and I'm glad you're bringing that up. You know, when I worked at that fine dining restaurant it was a multiple course menu, so we came to the table with food. There were nine courses, plus, plus, plus. So you went to the table about 12 times to bring people stuff. Now in a normal restaurant where you might serve one course, two course, maybe three courses, when you bring the food and this is your hamburger and this is your chicken, what do we say when we leave? Enjoy, right, that's the American version of Bon Appetit. Now we were told at the fine dining restaurant you cannot say enjoy. You can't say enjoy, I'm hired-wired to say enjoy, right? (man laughing) But imagine, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. I'm on five times now and I haven't even gotten close, halfway to 12, if we do that 12 times the person would be like, I get it, I'm supposed to enjoy this. So it would come out as very phony after a while, right? So we have to be aware of how many times are we interacting with this guest and what are we saying and what is that moment for? So we all had to get trained on saying the dish and departing which felt very naked at first 'cause you're supposed to tie it with a bow. Nope, tying with a bow comes at the end of the meal. You're all good. This is your chicken and this is your fish, leave it alone. So you have to be aware of what are those things that become so repetitive, right? What could be repetitive. Even when I was a waitress at the French restaurant you'd take orders all night and you'd say, "Oh, what would you like to eat?" And you'd say, "the hamburger," and I'd say "Great." And you say, "I'll have the steak," and I'm, "Fantastic." "And the lady's having the chicken." "Wonderful," and the last person and you're like, oh my God, I'm out of adjectives, what do I say? So you have to be careful of that stuff, too. You know, like, praising, praising, praising, good. And then that person's gonna be like, I'm getting the fish, it's only good. His was wonderful, his was perfection, and now I'm good? So we have to be careful of those things 'cause it can hinder us sometimes. That's why we have to give people examples and script it a little bit so that they have a consistent experience. So listen in, listen to what your people are saying. This is not in a big brother way. This is just to really understand what's happening. Call out the good stuff. If someone is saying things and it comes across as natural and authentic and really beautiful, complement that. Make sure they do that and that they share that with the other members of their team. If they're saying things that don't belong, I get why you said it, but let's try to steer towards something else, you need to identify that as well because it might be out of place in your spot. Like saying enjoy at the fine dining restaurant didn't make any sense there so we were all like, can't say enjoy, find another word, don't do it. In restaurants, another phrase that people have big pet peeves about is the term, are you still working on that? When you're eating your food. A lot of people hate that term, so we have to give the staff alternatives. May I clear your plate, have you finished? May I is just simple enough. And so you have to give them alternatives of what to say when you're saying I don't need you to say that, but I'd love you to say this. Always give alternatives and make those corrections in real time. "If you don't know where you're going "you might wind up someplace else." Yogi Berra, but it's true. The script is going to help you, like he said, it's a map for where you're going to go. It's a map for that guest experience so that you're ensuring that they have the consistency and the full range of experience that you want them to have. You don't want to skip any step. You want to make sure they have the whole full experience and that it's consistent from experience to experience. Remember, you might have a variety of people who are representing your brand so you need to make sure that no matter who's there the customer has the same or similar experience each time. Something they can rely on. It's going to help build trust in your brand and trust in your products.