We were not asked this simple question at a certain Chinese restaurant tonight. We'd been sitting there more than five minutes before someone came over and asked us for our order. And there was not even 3 full tables in the whole place. I can understand if they were busy, but dang, we didn't even get a "Hello, we'll be right with you in a few minutes" greeting or anything.
This got me thinking about how greetings and first impressions are so important for any business. Yeah, the food eventually came and it was good, but next time I consider going there, I'll definitely remember the bad service at the beginning. I'll probably go there again, but a lot of people aren't as patient as me.
Businesses need to look inside at their own operations before expecting to see huge results from an ad campaign. If the business is broke on the inside, no amount of advertising will probably fix it. This is a no-brainer but I bet a ton of companies could improve their customers' experiences (and their profits) just by being more friendly.
It's really not that hard to just smile and greet people and offer good service, is it?