Whether you are looking to increase sales by attracting new customers or considering an expansion, data collection is an important tool in the business intelligence arsenal. Data collection services aid you in collecting quantitative data that is useful in determining the future direction of your restaurant; communities can be surveyed for their particular dining preferences and customers can be surveyed for an accurate picture of how satisfied they are with their dining experience. Making good decisions requires good data, so it's important to start collecting accurate data as soon as possible from your customers and the community around you. Here are the ways how a data collection service can help your restaurant get an edge over your competition:
Targeted Data Collection Aids In Location And Menu Decisions
Expanding your restaurant by opening a new location is a risky venture; if you don't know the what the community wants, you can struggle to find customers, and your restaurant may operate at a loss. Targeted data collection, which uses mail, phone and online surveys directed to residents in the area in which you want to open your restaurant, can help you avoid an expensive mistake. You can determine how much the average customer is willing to pay for dinner, if they believe portion sizes at current restaurants are too small or if they are unsatisfied with a lack of fine dining options in the area. Hiring a data collection service to scope out potential restaurant locations helps you find the best location for any expansion.
Point-Of-Service Data Collection Helps You Identify Trouble Areas
Every restaurant owner knows that when a table asks to speak to the manager, it's almost always going to be a complaint about your restaurant. Since the most vocal customers are nearly always expressing negative opinions about your restaurant, it's important to collect quantitative data from as many customers as possible to have a representative set of how the average customer feels about your restaurant. You should ask about the food, the service, the lighting and the cleanliness of your restaurant to spot any problem areas. A data collection and conversion service can print paper surveys that you can give to your customers after they finish their meals, which can then be returned to the company to be digitized. Digitizing the data gives you instant access to a wealth of information with which to create reports. You can easily identify certain menu items that your customers are unhappy with, certain times of day when customers are unhappy with the noise level in the restaurant or certain members of the wait staff that aren't providing your customers the best experience.
When you contract out to a data collection service, you should ensure that the service you use is skilled in this area of work and has the expertise needed to analyze the quality of the data. For example, online survey or point-of-service survey takers may fill out your survey with random answers, especially if it is a compensated survey. These surveys need to be identified and excluded from the final dataset. As your data set grows, it will become easier to reliably filter out bad data. Having poor data is worse than having no data at all since it will lead you to make incorrect decisions about the future of your business. Since data becomes more accurate over time, restaurant owners considering the use of data collection services to make business decisions for their restaurant are advised to contract out to a company and begin collecting useful data as soon as possible.
