Sitting down in a restaurant and having the waiter/waitress ask you, “Is this your first time to dine with us,” is not an unusual experience. What is unusual though is if you ever hear from the restaurant again when your answer is “yes”. Most often they tell you how the salad bar works, or that the peanuts are free and you can throw then on the ground, or some other operational aspect of the restaurant, but it could be so much more. Such a missed opportunity.

What if instead, the restaurant tried to turn your first visit into many visits by following up with you after that initial visit – viewing the meal not as an end result of everything else they do, but as step one in the process of gaining a new customer? Maybe with the bill there’s a thank you note from the manager along with an invite to sign up for the restaurant’s monthly newsletter. Then when the customer signs up for the newsletter they get a special offer such as an offer for a free entree on the diner’s birthday or something similar. Maybe once in a while there is a special night for newsletter subscribers. Something – anything – to show appreciation and to leverage that singular encounter into something more substantial.

Will some people take advantage of the offers? Sure, but if you go around trying to prevent the 5% of people who are dishonest no matter what the situation is, all you’ll end up preventing is yourself from being successful. And if you’re thinking to yourself, “if the food is good enough they’ll come back,” don’t kid yourself. Think about your own experience – where on a scale of 1 to 10 does the food have to rate on your first visit for it to become a new regular spot for you? 9 or higher? 8 maybe? What if the food is an 8, but the service is only a 4 or 5? Will a first time diner be back again? Do you think that customer follow-up with an offer and an on-going dialog might make someone who caught you on an off night and only got 5 food and 5 service give you another chance?

Very few restaurants do this, but the few who would be willing to try could create an asset they would benefit from for years to come. It would be so easy to start as well. If you have a computer and a printer, you could make this happen tomorrow with little effort and little expense.

I’d love to help a restaurant in the area try this out. If you run a restaurant in Austin, San Marcos, New Braunfels, or San Antonio (or if you know someone who does), drop me a line if you’re interested. Or if you decide to implement it yourself, please let me know. I’d love to know what the customer reaction is and what the ROI is. I have a suspicion that both would be through the roof.