Customer Loyalty Rewards
Customer Loyalty Rewards – Not
Customer loyalty rewards, -you know the ones that I’m talking about, the “reward card” programs where a business will get you to sign up for a scanable loyalty card, -sounds like a great concept for an independent restaurateur, but these reward programs can also alienate patrons.
Cards
First of all, who needs another card to carry around in their wallet or handbag? I refuse these things more often than not, but still have a dedicated wallet in my glove-box filled with them. When I remember to use these, I seldom feel like I’m getting anything special. When I forget the card in the glove box (most of the time), I usually end up feeling like I’m getting screwed because I can’t verify that I’m a loyal customer–or even more annoying, get to play a guessing game with the cashier as to which phone number was used when I signed on to this.
I went into a supermarket last week to grab a couple of items and I didn’t notice any prices until heading toward the register area where my favorite cookies were on sale for $2.50. I’ve been trying to stay away from these addictive little sweeties …but a deal is a deal.
I went for the shortest checkout line, which was the self-check line…you probably know the rest of the story. I didn’t have my card and the $2.50 cookies cost me $3.75. I was either in too much of a hurry or too proud to go to the customer service desk and get a refund, so I ate the cookies in the car and vowed that if I do have to go back to that store, I’ll fill a carriage with stuff that I don’t need and leave it in an aisle.
Thinking about it now, the stores that have customer loyalty cards are the ones that I most try to avoid. I almost always leave them feeling like I got suckered.
A number of independent restaurants and most chains have been offering cards. The reasons to offer them are good; they seem like win-win and they make sense, except that I don’t think many operators think about the number of customers alienated and pissed-off by these things.
You create loyal customers by treating them exactly like you enjoy being treated. Do you really need the customer to carry an ID, and do you really need to be able to track on a spreadsheet what their favorite side dish is and how many times they had dessert and how many cocktails they had? (If you want to track all of that stuff just get a corporate job.)
You know this stuff, but sometimes you forget. So tonight, take a stroll around the dining room. If you see a familiar face, stop by their table and thank them, maybe comp them a dessert. If you see an unfamiliar face, ditto. Then smile and get back into the kitchen to stir the frigg’n peas.
The two most dangerous lies in business are:
1.-You can’t lose
2.-You can’t win
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Why We Buy
Why We Buy
Think of how we buy stuff, -any stuff. We buy shoes, cars, houses, boxes of beef and cans of tomatoes. There are three factors to all of our buying decisions: quality, service and price. That’s the value proposition. These are the logical factors that we consider.
Then there are the emotional factors: relationships with the salesperson, trust in the company, feelings about a product, and just the plain old desire to have a certain thing …whatever that might be.
In all of these areas there is give and take; we give a little more money for a perceived lift in quality or trust. We might feel better about one label than we do about another or we might be more attracted to the coloring on a label; reasons could be empirical or emotional. Our buying decisions are not always logical. Marketing companies might say that our buying decisions are seldom logical.
Our customers buy the same way that we do, they measure quality, service and price, -and then they feel it out and make a decision. The regulars who patronize your restaurant, they have already sorted it out. They are there because they trust the value proposition and feel good about the folks who deliver that value.
The folks who have never been into your place, -they don’t have a clue. They have no idea of what they’ll be getting if they go through your door. If you were a chain, the probability that they would just walk in “off the street” would be much greater. The power of the chains is in the expectations that have already been established.
How do you compete with that? You are one location, -they are 800 locations.
When we look at a person, the first thing that we notice is their face. When we look at a restaurant, the first thing that we notice is the storefront.
If a person’s face is dirty, we tend to turn away. Ditto restaurants. If the sidewalk or parking lot is filthy, we turn away.
You know this stuff, but there is so much to be looked after, so many details to tend to and so many local and regional and federal regulations to pay attention to, that we sometimes forget the front windows or sidewalk. So, during a slow period, remove the apron, take a walk out the back door and take a stroll around to the front, take a look around, walk into the front door, take a look, take a sniff, smile, and then stroll you way back into the kitchen and cook some more frigg’n peas.
Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new beginning. —Anon.
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98 Percent
98 Percent
We are always juggling. We are planning for future stuff, trying to perfect present stuff, worrying about past stuff that might not have been up to snuff – that’s a lot of stuff.
I used to hear a saying, “yesterday is a cancelled check, tomorrow is a promissory note – all we have is today.” I don’t hear that saying so much anymore. Maybe because nobody uses checks anymore – it’s all debit cards.
The reality is, we do need to plan for the future and we learn by looking at past mistakes, but when a customer is involved, we should be focusing on the now.
In a recent column, Bob Oros, a foodservice business and restaurant guru recently wrote, “I know that’s hard to believe. But the truth is people think about themselves 98% of the time.” (http:www.BobOros.com).
Your customer doesn’t really think much about you-they are thinking about themselves and their levels of satisfaction. Keep the focus on them. They’ll like it. You’ll gain an advantage.
On one hand, there is plenty of competition out there trying to get the business that you have. Those competitors are thinking about what they want -your business. On the other hand, your customer is thinking about what they want -to be pampered and fed.
So, if the customer is thinking about their own wants and needs, and the competitor is thinking about their own wants, and if you focus on the present and the customer’s wants, then you are much more likely to get what you want-more customers more often.
You know this stuff, but with all the juggling and pressing matters, we sometimes forget it. So, keep smiling, remember to enjoy doing what you do, and get back into the kitchen and stir the frigg’n peas.
The qualities of an exceptional cook are akin to those of a successful tightrope walker: an abiding passion for the task, courage to go out on a limb and an impeccable sense of balance. —Bryan Miller
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Strengthening the Foundation
Reinforcing the Foundation
As a restaurateur, when you wake up on Monday mornings, you have a clean slate: zero sales for the week. You know that you won’t end up at zero for the week; you have a good idea of where you’ll be at the end of the week (give or take $5k or $10k). That amount …that “idea of where you’ll be” whether it is $4k or $104k, -that is your foundation.
The restaurant business is basically a transitory business. Nothing is forever; everything is temporary, -every customer, -every piece of business …even we are temporary. You’re working in tough times; things can seem even more transitory, -more temporary. It seems like lots of people are trying to chip away at your rock-solid foundation. Have no doubt, -they are.
How can you protect your restaurant business and grow it in this climate? Those who are doing it know that there are no single answers and no silver bullets, -but lots of things that need to be done and done well …one at a time. There are lots of i’s to dot and t’s to cross. The first order of business is to protect the business that you have, that is your foundation.
One thing is simple in the restaurant business, there are only two ways to grow business: 1) keep customers; 2) add customers. Face it, we are going to lose some customers; they die, they move, or, heaven forbid, they choose a competitor. When this happens, a piece of the foundation is chipped off. It has to be repaired or replaced.
Where’s the best place to find new customers? On the slower nights, take a few trips to eat at different competitors. Go to a chain during on an especially slow night, -you might be surprised at the number of customers they have even during the slower times. Their customers are your opportunities. Yes, think about it …their customers represent your opportunities.
Yeah, I know, you really know this stuff, but with all the stuff that you are accountable for, all of those i’s to dot and t’s to cross, you sometimes forget. So just smile, get back in the kitchen, and cook some more frigg’n peas.
Wavering between profit and loss
In this brief transit where the dreams cross
The dreamcrossed twilight between birth and dying
—T.S. Eliot
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Three Simple Things, Twice
Three Simple Things – Twice
3 Steps
Geoffrey James, a columnist for Inc. Magazine, recently posted an article called, “How to be Happy at Work.” (http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/how-to-be-happy-at-work.html) It’s a short, simple, no b/s story with three simple steps to staying happy on the job. I strongly suggest that you check it out.
I recently woke on the grumpy side, -well, more ornery than usual. My favorite football team had lost the Super Bowl for the second time in four years, – both losses came during the final minute of the game. If that’s not a good reason to be grumpy, -then what is?
Then I thought about James’ article. He suggests that we write down “What has to happen for me to be happy?” Do I have to wait for the Patriots to win the Super Bowl to be happy? That might not happen during my lifetime. Does that mean I’ll have to be grumpy forever?
3 Rules
When we get caught up with many of the peripheral things that affect our lives, businesses and moods, we sometimes forget what we are really trying to do. Whether it’s run the restaurant or help the kid with math homework, we are often sidetracked into making simple matters complicated (not that the math homework is a simple matter).
We need a foundation to fall back on. These simple 3 rules will help you shore up your foundation. Your big business dreams will be no stronger than the foundation that they are built on.
- Get better at doing our job (running your restaurant) every day. When we get better at something, whether it is playing golf or more efficiently washing the dishes, we enjoy doing it more. When we improve at something, we feel a satisfaction that creates a little positive energy. That’s a good thing …positive energy attracts others.
- Do the right thing, -the right thing for the customers, for the employees and for the business. No, it’s not easy. There will always be customers who say the prices are too high and employees who say the pay is too low. Somewhere in the hollows, between your gut and your brain, you know what is right. Stick to it and demand that your employees stick to it. In the long-term, it will pay off. Besides, when we are doing what we think is right, or working for someone who demands that we do right, we feel pretty good about doing what we do. We get this satisfaction that creates a little positive energy. That’s a good thing.
- Enjoy doing what you do. You own and run a restaurant, not vice-versa, and if you are miserable doing it …then it ain’t worth it. Sure, there will be tough moments and tough times, -that’s always part of the equation. Nobody said it would be easy. But there is really no reason to have a bad day. Have a bad moment, don’t drag it into an all-day affair. Deal with the bad, deal with the tough and get on to enjoying the good. If you can’t see the good then you are in the wrong place. Life is too frigg’n short to spend all those crazy hours doing something that we don’t enjoy. Besides, when we enjoy doing what we are doing, then that enjoyment lends a satisfaction that creates a little positive energy. That’s always a good thing and if we keep all three rules in place, we can create a virtuous circle that fuels itself in creating positive energy. That’s a good thing.
Morale of story: I shouldn’t be so ornery just because the Patriots lost the frigg’n Super Bowl. Okay? Okay.
You know this stuff. Sometimes you just get wrapped up in slow nights with too much help scheduled and too many bills in the office to get paid and all of that stuff. So solidify that foundation, put a smile on your face and get back in the kitchen and cook some more frigg’n peas.
Energy will do anything that can be done in the world; and no talents, no circumstances, no opportunities will make a two-legged animal a man without it. — Goethe
©2012 la10duh.com
la10duh.com is © copyrighted and protected under copyright law and all applicable international, federal, state and local laws, with ALL rights reserved. No part of this may be copied, or changed in any format, sold, or used in any way other than what is outlined within la10duh.com under any circumstances without express permission.Read More
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