The Customer Confidential Podcast
Rob Markey talks to Humm CEO Bernard Briggs and Robert Irvine, host of the Food Network's Restaurant: Impossible, about Humm's customer service tools, the surprising lessons of real-time feedback and what's next for the company.
I eat out in restaurants a lot. Objectively, it’s fair to say that I eat out too often, sometimes as many as 15 times a week. While I wouldn’t say that I’m a restaurant snob, I do pay attention to lots of little things like how genuine the initial greeting feels, or whether the server is attentive or how confidently they talk about menu items.
Does the server make recommendations that I find compelling? Do they sense what I’m looking for and try to figure out how to pace the meal? And maybe most important, do they keep my water glass filled?
You might think it odd for a guy who is so focused on customer feedback for a living, but I’m also a little bit shy about providing direct feedback to my servers. I don’t know why, but unless there’s a real problem I tend to suffer in silence. And at the end of the meal, I tend not to vary the tip all that much based on the quality of service because I don’t think tips offer a very efficient way to provide feedback.
In the newest Net Promoter System podcast episode, we hear from two people who have recognized this dynamic and are trying to do something about it. Bernard Briggs is the CEO and founder of Humm, a company that provides systems for collecting customer feedback at restaurants, stores and other retail environments. Robert Irvine is a restaurant owner and the host of the popular Food Network show, Restaurant: Impossible. He has actually put the system to use at his restaurants.
I love watching Robert’s shows, and I find it both fascinating and gratifying that he’s using the Net Promoter System® in his own restaurants. Moreover, I love the simplicity of the solution that Bernard and his team at Humm have developed. I’ve never actually used it myself, so I can’t attest to how it works in practice yet. But I love the concept and hope that companies like Humm continue to innovate and make the process of delivering real-time feedback easier and more frictionless for both customers and companies.
For more about Bernard Briggs and Humm Systems: Humm Systems website. You can learn more about Robert Irvine: Robert Irvine website.
You can listen to our discussion on iTunes or through the player above. Click here to browse more Net Promoter System podcasts.
Net Promoter®, Net Promoter System®, Net Promoter Score® and NPS® are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.
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