Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Robbery Special

One of our members responded to a robbery at her restaurant at 3:00AM. She sat down in her jammies amid the smashed doors and broken glass and asked herself, "how can I make this work for me?"

Here's what she came up with - a "robbery special." No, we're NOT kidding. Within days she emailed the following with a picture of the broken glass to her customers . . .

Continue reading at:
http://www.restaurantowner.com/snip/121.htm

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Tactics for Responding to Online Critics



Tactics for Responding to Online Critics
Posted by Luther, Local Business Outreach

Rating_dist_graph-en_US

In an entry yesterday morning on the NYT Boss Blog, Southfork Kitchen owner Bruce Buschel writes earnestly about a pain-point we frequently hear about from business owners:

What’s the best way to deal with an online critic?


I won’t recount the piece in full here. The gist: one of Bruce’s customers has written a negative review about his restaurant (on Yelp and elsewhere), recounting a crummy experience. Bruce wants advice on how to address the critic.

I feel your pain, Bruce. As the manager of business outreach, I’m constantly out on the road for Yelp, mainly speaking at gatherings of small business owners -- some of whom get panned on the website that employs me. As a human representative of a forum where businesses’ dirty laundry is sometimes aired, I’m accustomed to encountering critical feedback (though anyone can yelp Yelp).

It’s never easy to read negative things about your business on the Internet.
Here’s some advice on how to respond when it happens:

Step 1: Stay Calm.
Give yourself a cooling down period. When someone is using a public forum like Yelp to attack something you’re pouring your heart and soul into, a very natural response is to get emotional. Don’t. The last thing you want to do is overreact to someone online (See: Streisand effect).

Step 2. Respond (Privately)
If you haven’t already, unlock your business listing on Yelp. One of the tools you’ll unlock is a free review response feature. Start out with a private response. Most online review platforms (Yelp, Yahoo Local, TripAdvisor, Citysearch, etc.) allow business owners to respond to their reviews. On Yelp, a business owner can respond privately or publicly. We recommend starting with a private, diplomatic response. Here’s a template:

* Introduce yourself. (“Hi, It’s Bruce, the owner of Southfork...”)
* Thank them for the review. (“Thank you for sharing your feedback...”)
* Apologize. (“I’m deeply sorry you didn’t have a 5-star experience...”)
* Acknowledge their complaint, and explain what you’ve done to address the problem.
* Don’t be too defensive. As tempting as it is to try to convince reviewers to see things from your vantage point, it’s easy to come off as dismissive of their accounts.
* Invite them to return. (“We hope you’ll consider joining us again... Here’s my direct contact information if you do...”)

In short, embrace that old mantra, “The customer is always right.” Jeff Diamond, of Farmstead Wine & Cheeses, says it well here:


Optional Step 3. Respond (Publicly)
If the reviewer doesn’t change their review after you’ve apologized privately, and there’s something flagrantly inaccurate within that review, write a short public response to correct the facts. (i.e. “Molly mentioned the bar closes at 10:00 PM, but we actually close at midnight.”). You shouldn’t view the public comment feature as an opportunity to nitpick at slight inaccuracies within a review; instead, it’s a chance to demonstrate to would-be customers that you’re on top of your customer service. The overwhelming number of people who are on Yelp right now are reading reviews, not writing them. Approach each public comment with caution, because if something is miscommunicated by you, other potential customers will be able to read it. Again, don’t be defensive. Getting your side of the story out isn’t as important as demonstrating you can keep your cool when problems arise and that you care about customer feedback.

While only constituting 17% of Yelp, 1- and 2-star reviews seem to receive disproportionate attention from just about everybody -- except consumers themselves. Generally speaking, using common sense and applying a customer-is-always-right-(even-when-they’re-not) mentality is the best way to keep your online reputation strong.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Security Cameras on your Mac!

Own a Mac? Want to see your security cameras?

Now with Georgia CCTV you can- Friday we released our beta of our GACCTV-PSS desktop software for Mac OSX.

We've been testing it and it works GREAT! There is a demonstration video on our website -

Georgia CCTV is dedicated to staying on the cutting edge of surveillance camera technology.

View your cameras on your Mac, Windows, iPhone, iPad, Android, Blackberry, MS Phone, & Nokia smart phone.

Georgia CCTV gives you the most ways to take control of your business-

Georgia CCTV - Advanced Surveillance Technology Made affordable!

Thursday, September 30, 2010

How does a nightclub increase sales in 14 days?

Today we received a call from the owner of a large and very successful club here in Atlanta.

The owner Rom, was thrilled! his bar sales have increased $8000 since we installed our Georgia CCTV POS mirroring system.

The first night they caught EVERY SINGLE bartender stealing cash from the bar. The owner, Rob says "it was so bad that I called the police and had one of my bartenders arrested!"

The Georgia CCTV POS mirroring system was so successful that they've ordered three more systems!

Increase sales, Control Costs, decrease losses- Georgia CCTV

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Raw Video: Enraged Over McNuggets

A woman in Toledo, Ohio has been indicted for vandalism after going into a rage at a McDonald's drive up window when employees refused to sell her McNuggets because it was breakfast time. (Aug. 9)


Monday, July 26, 2010

POS Cash Register Integration


Georgia CCTV Point of Sale (POS) Integration
Integrate cash register transactions into your Georgia CCTV Surveillance Security Camera system utilizing the GC-Data Capture Device.
How Georgia CCTV Point Of Sale Monitoring Can Save Business Resources:
Loss prevention in the retail businesses is concerned with inventory shrinkage and the shortage of currency. Losses related to POS transactions can be a main cause of the shrinkage and a constant drain on the resources of the business owner. The Georgia CCTV POS-DVR surveillance solution can help employers deal with these situations and stop the loss.


In addition to the video of your register or counter area the Georgia CCTV key stroke Capture device adds the entire screen from each connected POS device to provide visual contextual awareness that helps reduce shrinkage and protect assets from losses.
When the Georgia CCTV system works in conjunction with GC-Data Capture device, the Georgia CCTV surveillance system can turn into a POS/DVR surveillance system, which adds vital transactional Point Of Sale data to the system.
With these tools management can more effectively monitor and remotely monitor cashier areas, associate POS transaction data with videos, record videos for retroactive analysis, search transaction data to visually verify accurate sales and even output alarms for emergency events.
Ultimately, you’ll be able to see each and every button press and keystroke your servers make on their POS system, helping you to keep your staff in check.