A Challenge to Business Owners
Recently Rika and I took a long walk along the beach and the pier in White Rock, BC. Afterwards, we walked past perhaps twenty little restaurants before deciding on one where we would have lunch. While some of the restaurants were pretty busy, we were the only people at this particular restaurant. The food was excellent. Prices were reasonable. Service was acceptable. Will we ever return? Maybe, maybe not. And therein lies my challenge to small business owners.
Let’s use this restaurant as an example. If you owned this restaurant with forty competitors within walking distance, what would you do to differentiate yourself and insure that your guests eagerly returned, passionately told their friends about you, and planned to enjoy all future special occasions at your restaurant? Would you even be interested in achieving this goal?
Our experience at this restaurant is the same we’ve had for nine years in Vancouver restaurants. The managers / owners/ Maitre D’s are usually AWOL. (Army term: Absent Without Official Leave). They make no effort whatsoever to build relationship, obtain your information (if they do, they don’t use it) or give you any reason, however remote, to return. The same goes for the “Hostess” who seats you. The servers are notoriously untrained. They have no idea how to serve and they have no idea how to make guests feel good. They call you by your first name, treat you as an equal and disappear forever after drawing a happy face and writing some inane message like, “Thanks, Tracy” on your bill. No added value, no incentive to return, minimal service, minimum value. The term, “Vending machine” springs to mind. My loyalty to such a restaurant is about at the same level as my loyalty to a candy vending machine. And it’s not the employee’s fault – they don’t know any better. They have no training and no idea what service is.
Imagine if we were made to feel very special as soon as we graced the restaurant with our presence. Imagine if we were treated like royalty, and if we were given the opportunity to build a relationship with the establishment. What if we were to receive valuable, unexpected gifts worth hundreds of dollars (at no cost to the restaurant)? And what if we were given a really compelling reason to return as soon as possible? What would happen if that restaurant had a way to communicate with us on a regular basis and pre-empt any special event that required the use of a restaurant or catering service? And imagine if all this additional value added thousands of extra dollars to the bottom line of the restaurant! Seeing that NOT ONE restaurant that I know of in this city does that, do you think that this restaurant would possibly do exceptionally well as a result of implementing these special, simple systems, at no cost or risk? And perhaps that I would be naming that restaurant in this article, which will be read by thousands of people?
Regardless of the type of business you own, these simple yet highly effective systems can be added quickly, at no cost or risk. In addition, you can jump-start your bottom line with 100% pure profit from Joint Ventures, using your existing resources! I challenge you to consider the use of Joint Ventures. Before your competition does, that is. Right now, most businesses provide such mediocre service that you probably don’t have much competition. Until they start to wake up and start to use these systems, that is…
Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com
(Robin J. Elliott is a trained and qualified Hotel Manager and spent seven years managing hotels and restaurants. He has also trained hundreds of restarant owners and managers in the use of Joint Ventures.)
Let’s use this restaurant as an example. If you owned this restaurant with forty competitors within walking distance, what would you do to differentiate yourself and insure that your guests eagerly returned, passionately told their friends about you, and planned to enjoy all future special occasions at your restaurant? Would you even be interested in achieving this goal?
Our experience at this restaurant is the same we’ve had for nine years in Vancouver restaurants. The managers / owners/ Maitre D’s are usually AWOL. (Army term: Absent Without Official Leave). They make no effort whatsoever to build relationship, obtain your information (if they do, they don’t use it) or give you any reason, however remote, to return. The same goes for the “Hostess” who seats you. The servers are notoriously untrained. They have no idea how to serve and they have no idea how to make guests feel good. They call you by your first name, treat you as an equal and disappear forever after drawing a happy face and writing some inane message like, “Thanks, Tracy” on your bill. No added value, no incentive to return, minimal service, minimum value. The term, “Vending machine” springs to mind. My loyalty to such a restaurant is about at the same level as my loyalty to a candy vending machine. And it’s not the employee’s fault – they don’t know any better. They have no training and no idea what service is.
Imagine if we were made to feel very special as soon as we graced the restaurant with our presence. Imagine if we were treated like royalty, and if we were given the opportunity to build a relationship with the establishment. What if we were to receive valuable, unexpected gifts worth hundreds of dollars (at no cost to the restaurant)? And what if we were given a really compelling reason to return as soon as possible? What would happen if that restaurant had a way to communicate with us on a regular basis and pre-empt any special event that required the use of a restaurant or catering service? And imagine if all this additional value added thousands of extra dollars to the bottom line of the restaurant! Seeing that NOT ONE restaurant that I know of in this city does that, do you think that this restaurant would possibly do exceptionally well as a result of implementing these special, simple systems, at no cost or risk? And perhaps that I would be naming that restaurant in this article, which will be read by thousands of people?
Regardless of the type of business you own, these simple yet highly effective systems can be added quickly, at no cost or risk. In addition, you can jump-start your bottom line with 100% pure profit from Joint Ventures, using your existing resources! I challenge you to consider the use of Joint Ventures. Before your competition does, that is. Right now, most businesses provide such mediocre service that you probably don’t have much competition. Until they start to wake up and start to use these systems, that is…
Robin J. Elliott www.DollarMakers.com
(Robin J. Elliott is a trained and qualified Hotel Manager and spent seven years managing hotels and restaurants. He has also trained hundreds of restarant owners and managers in the use of Joint Ventures.)
posted by Robin J. Elliott at
4:43 PM
