It’s a new year. The pre-Christmas and NYE madness is over and looking ahead, how are you going to make sure bar or restaurant staff don’t keep making the same all-too-common service mistakes?

• Wait staff not knowing how to describe wines sold by the glass.
  
• Bar staff not following your exact recipe specs for classic cocktails.
  
• Staff serving guests when they still smell of cigarette smoke.
  
• Bar staff serving drinks in warm glasses.
  
• Staff storing wine bottles in direct sunlight.
  
• Staff sneezing into their hands in front of guests.
  
• Wait staff not knowing which wines have sold out.
  
• Bar staff not using the right spirits in your house cocktails.
  
• Staff over-pouring wines by the glass.
  

Unfortunately, this list could go on and on…

Some are universal; others will be particular issues arising out of your own venue’s style of service. And even if a fault seems minor, small mistakes repeated over the course of yet another year can easily snowball to mean loss of customers, increased costs and ultimately a dent in profits.

Fortunately, any one of these can be fixed by training.

So, if you make one management resolution this new year, make sure it’s that you provide your staff with better training – or any training at all.

Because training not only fixes mistakes, it also motivates staff to come into work each day feeling confident and ready to serve. According to Linkedin's 2019 Workplace Learning Report, 94% of employees said they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their learning and development.

And if you’ve previously found it hard to implement a training program – because of cost, management man-hours or just the set-up process – we understand. It can be hard.

But here’s how we think Small Batch Learning helps managers keep up a staff training promise throughout the year:

• Mobile: Staff can access training wherever and whenever, meaning no struggle to coordinate diaries or pull people out of pre-service prep. According to Linkedin, 74% of employees said they wanted to learn during spare time at work – and our mobile-first, micro-learning approach allows staff to train according to their own schedule.
  
• Sales-optimized: Our training content cuts out the fluff and gives staff the knowledge and confidence to do their jobs properly and grow your business. You can read much more about how our training tools and learning features will help drive revenue here.
  

Juggling all the necessary balls while running a business is tough. But giving staff access to training through the year – and using the best tools to communicate to your teams how to do their jobs – will mean the same customer service fails stop happening every year.

It will also mean happier staff and the best chance you have to make the next 12 months a success. Happy new year!