Sunday

You Could Learn a Lot from a Girl Scout

I know a Girl Scout, we'll call her Susie*.

Susie is in the process of selling Girl Scout Cookies in her neighborhood. Here's how she went about it:

1. Set a goal (400 boxes, might be a little ambitious)
2. Identified places to reach her audience: book store, grocery store, door to door, made a list of family and friends
3. Overcame obstacles. For those who 'already purchased from someone else' and for far away relatives who want to support don't really want you to send the cookies, she identified a local charity (a retirement community) to which you could donate boxes. She increased her ticket average significantly just through donations.
4. Made a plan. Monday: call bookstore owner, set up order taking in store (owner will provide a coupon - buy 2 get one free - for paperback books to anyone who purchases), Tuesday: call family, Wednesday: door to door in neighborhood x, Saturday: door to door in neighborhood y.
5. Identified an accountability partner. She and another girl in her troop share experiences and brainstorm solutions.

Cookies are more about sales than marketing - everyone knows about Girl Scout Cookies - yet she samples at events anyway, gives a little something to whet the appetite.

Maybe, if we think more in terms of sales instead of marketing, we might be able to learn something from a 10 year old (if we're willing to listen, that is).




*Names have been changed to protect the innocent...and minors who didn't ask to be profiled.

Friday

A Little Tough Love

This post is going to sound a little haughty, but it needs to be said. It doesn't pertain to all of you, maybe not even most of you, but it applies to some of you and you need to hear it.

Insert whatever brand you hold in high regard below...
"I want to be the next Starbucks."
"Starbucks does this, and Starbucks does that."


What most people don't realize is that Starbucks does things many of you abhor. They give away free coffee to alter potential customers' habits (and yes, most often existing customers benefit with free coffee).

They also are very involved in their communities and in the world. What have you done to benefit a neighbor that, except for the good PR, didn't benefit you?

Lastly, have you seen the new Starbucks TV commercial? Visit any store, pledge 5 hours of community work, get a free cup of coffee? You want to be "just like Starbucks" but you need to realize that, except for their packaged goods that are distributed through other channels, Starbucks built their brand on word of mouth and real estate. Their advertising, in the past, has been limited primarily to billboards.

How about McDonald's? You want to be like them? They give scholarships to employees and provide them with training to retain the good ones.

Chick-fil-A. Are you going to be like them one day? Giving away free or discounted food for fundraisers in order to build goodwill and spread positive word of mouth?

The truth is, some of you aren't prepared for what it takes to be a local icon. You give 10% off coupons and wonder why no one redeems them. You don't know your other community leaders and you don't train to retain your good staff members.

In this climate, with 'change' all about us, with a renewed sense of community and impersonal restaurants struggling, you might want to reconsider what it takes to be the mayor of your village.

Wednesday

Are You Planning to Fail?

If you fail to plan, you're planning to fail.

Trite, eh? But it's pretty true. You might not fail miserably, but you almost always are less efficient without a plan. You waste time in forgetting things, you miss opportunities, you become so focused on completing the task you miss out on going deeper, bigger.

A marketing plan does three things for your restaurant:
1. It schedules your time.
2. It holds you accountable.
3. Focuses your efforts.

When you have an idea as to the scope of your tasks, you can take time to prepare accordingly and execute when ready. If you don't plan your time, you'll never find it (you have to make it).

A plan can be either a carrot or a stick. If you knock things out, cross them off of your list, it's a carrot. If you get sidetracked, encounter obstacles, or otherwise do not succeed, it's a stick.

Focusing your efforts means as much as the quality of your tactics. I've seen a lot of people with a lot of great ideas that just don't get it done. They chase another "opportunity" without giving the current one its due. They spread the word too far and wide and never gain enough frequency of message.

Plan your work. Work your plan. Visit the CommonMan Group if you need help getting started (go on, you have to register but it's free).

Thursday

Make the time - it won't appear on its own.

The Sysco order needs to be made.
My manager is sick.
I'm training the staff. Again.
I have to do payroll.
I have to do the scheduling.
The Sysco order needs to be put away.
The bathroom needs to be cleaned.

All are perfectly good reasons for not marketing, at least until you realize that you don't do marketing on a weekly basis. Marketing is every bit as important as doing payroll. It's as important as scheduling and ordering the food.

You need to schedule the time, or it will never just "appear". You need to make the time, not find it. Here are some suggestions to make it happen.

1. Commit the time. If you don't acknowledge its importance, marketing will always get pushed down on the list - even behind cleaning toilets.

2. Hire well. Train well. Retain. These are investments, not simply costs. The better you retain good people, the more business you're able to do.

3. Refine processes, delegate. Once you have a good staff, delegate.

4. Schedule the time. Schedule time to plan for the week, time to prepare (print coupons, arrange meetings), and time to execute.

5. Mix it up. If you want to build lunch, market at 10am. Dinner - 5:00-6:00pm. Weekends - market on the weekends. Make it different every week depending on your audience (schools, churches, offices) and objective (trial, frequency, ticket average).

6. Find and accountability partner. Think of it as a work-out partner, someone who can help you plan, encourage you, help you work out challenges. Someone who will give you encouragement...and a kick in the pants when you need it.

Tuesday

Who's in Charge: You? Or the Restaurant?

A consultant we had for one of the franchise systems I was involved with once told us that when you have franchisees talking about working 70 or 80 hour weeks, they were really just bragging about how inefficient they are.

There's some truth there. Not to belittle someone busting ass to make ends meet, but too many hours is usually a sign of poor processes, insufficient training/poor hiring, and an unwillingness to delegate.

Specifically, when it comes to marketing, most owners find other things to occupy their time. Face to face marketing is outside the comfort zone of many operators, so it gets pushed to the bottom of the priority list.

So the questions are:
- Is marketing as important as doing the schedule or payroll?
- Do you schedule your week, or at least your day, or do you take each day as it comes to you?
- Are your current efforts effective? Bad markets often expose mediocre tactics for what they are.
- Did you intend to buy yourself an $8 an hour job when you opened, or did it just evolve that way?

For marketing ideas and discussion with other restaurant operators, visit the forum at The CommonMan Group.

Sunday

New Year's Resolutions

Do you want to spend more time on your business instead of in it?

Do you want/need to be more effective in terms of cost per customer gained, instead of cost per thousand reached?

Is your marketing mix too one-dimensional?

Vote in our poll and visit forum.commonmangroup.com to discuss and hear what others like you have said.

Friday

Email marketing tips

Some tips and tricks:

- Use images to augment your message, but make sure text is the majority of your message.

- Email regularly, not necessarily frequently. Send too often and customers will remove themselves, not often enough and you'll have bad data. Every 3 weeks is a good rule of thumb (12-17 times per year).

- Give something away. "You've won x, y, or z" is a nice benefit that drives word of mouth.

- Use offers with tight deadlines. Today only, this Saturday only, after 6pm, before noon - all put time restrictions on offers which will encourage the viral nature of email and prevent abuse. Offers give you a chance to drive trial and measure your results.

- Build your list everywhere you go. "Sign up and win a t-shirt (or hat)", take a fishbowl to events, ask for cards when out marketing or at Chamber meetings, train counter and wait staff to ask for sign-up.