"It's
ShowTime, Baby and You're the Show"
Part
II
Maximize
your Profitability
"I've
always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more
specific"
- George Carlin
Your
guests define 'value' by the quality of the restaurant
experience and the memory it creates. Memories of great
value last and are shared with others.
Quality experiences don't 'just happen'. They get orchestrated
like a play or piece of music, scene by scene, note by
note. It requires a process. |
In
the last issue, we focused on transforming existing data into
wisdom and wisdom into profit. You must know the habits of
your guests & how they use the restaurant. If you don't,
it will cost you. Specificity is a must.
Guests want to be wanted, acknowledged and loved. These are
some personal ways to accomplish this task. It permits you
to continue a dialogue and develop a relationship. Both are
key ingredients to expanding on the guest's experience. It
begins to offer the guest a transformative relationship -
the most powerful value- added/competition-killing strategy
you could execute. Let's look at two very specific areas of
'ready made' data that can be easily captured and turned into
sales.
1. Capture a guest's email and get their permission to
contact them
- HOW?
- Ask
for a business card
- Invite
guests to 'sign up' when you give them the check
- Tell
your guests that you want to put them on a mailing list
to keep them 'up to date' on the 'happenings' in your
restaurant
- WHAT?
- Use
the 'Give Us Your Business Card, And We'll Draw for A
Free Lunch'' promotion
- Create
a rotating 'guest panel' where you invite guests to come
in to sample new menu items, offer opinions on promotions
or simply report on their visits
- Send
an on-line newsletter
- Perform
'on-line 'research
- WHY?
- Reminds
them that you love them and want to keep in touch
- Keeps
your 'story' in front of them
- Advertises
inexpensively to people who are likely to respond
- Gets
immediate feedback
- Creates
a 'proprietary' relationship that competitors will have
difficulty breaking up
2. Use Your Website to capture data and develop a deeper
relationship
This supposes you have a website. I know, but bear with
me. It may give those of you who do not have one, a reason
to consider it.
- HOW?
- Talk
to your web business plan guy
- Talk
to a web designer
- WHAT?
- Use
the same kinds of strategies to collect the email addresses
in the restaurant
- Ensure
that this point of guest contact is consistent in tone
& content with other points of guest contact
- Determine
how your site is being used, by whom and when
- WHY?
- Embodies
the spirit of "To know you is to love you" as
your guiding philosophy
- Uses
the net to be more than a one way information source.
It is another way to have a relationship
Most
websites try to be too many things to too many audiences.
Look at it as another means to stay in touch, and nurture
the guest's memories of their experience. Remember
that it is the memory of their experience that determines
the guest's perception of your value.
In
the next issue, we will take
a look at the vital role of the menu. -->
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Part
1 - Maximize your Profitability
Part
2 - Maximize your Profitability
