The other day I was speaking with one of my new Restaurant Owners that’s a consulting client and he made this statement, “I’m hoping for a really good weekend… I need the cash!”

Oh My!!! Can you imagine my surprise when he made that statement? Any owner of any business should never be put in the position of hoping for sales. I can’t imagine opening my doors and hoping that someone comes into my business and shops. I asked him what would happen if they decided to go across the street to the big chain restaurant. Would it mean he can’t pay rent or meet his food bill? How long before he’s out of business??

Wake Up Folks

This is not the same old economy where money is flowing like the stimulus bill. We’re in a new economy with new rules… and let me tell you, those rules are very harsh! “The government is not going to bail us out” .. Either you can decide to follow the same old marketing patterns or create new ones that actually work and can be brutally and honestly measured. One of my clients in Washington has a very successful restaurant, doing 6 mil a year in business, with a wait of 1½ to 2 hours every Friday or Saturday. I asked him why he still uses me for his marketing, and his answer was“… because I’m afraid the line will go down to less then 30 minutes, that would be very bad for my business!” Theoretically, he could quit marketing and save all that money. However, he understands that people aren’t spending as much today as they did in the past, so he must continually market in order to keep his numbers constant.

This Is Not A Time To Become Timid

This is not the time to become timid with your marketing or only use the cheapest and easiest marketing methods. E-mail marketing is the big craze however it’s not always the best .. Sure it’s cheap but it’s only about 3% effective… meaning if you sent 3000 e-mails, 90 will get opened. BUT how many will actually respond is the big question? You need to stop and ask yourself, “How effective and How much business did I receive from the E-Mail???”

You must use all methods that make you money and can be measured, such as postcards, inserts, e-mail , newsletters , no peeking, and bounce back coupons (remember the easy customer to sell is the one you already have ).

Diversity leads to stability

The more methods you have to bring customers into your door, the more stable your marketing (and your customer count) will be. So figure out how to expand your marketing strategies and use every one that creates a positive cash flow.

……Next blog Why Customers Stray …..

Have a Great Marketing Day!

I was watching the last 30 minutes of The Biggest Loser on my TIVO last week and Darius had just ran a 26.3 mile marathon in under 5 hours! That’s a heck of a feat for anyone, not to mention someone that 7 months ago weighed something like 360 lbs! Anyway, after the marathon, the final 4 contestants had to weigh in to see who would be eliminated. As a side note, I really find it unbelievable that people can lose 10 to 26 lbs every week. I don’t care how big you are, that’s a lot of weight!! Sorry… I’ll get back to my story…

So Darius gets up on the scale and he gained 2 lbs… after training for and running in a marathon!! He then proceeds to tell Jillian, Bob and the rest of the contestants that he was only worried about running the marathon, not his diet. Jillian starts chastising him (not nicely, but well deserved) and accuses him of lying about his intake of food, because he should lose weight not gain when running.

To make my long story short, Darius finally breaks down crying, admitting how he laid in bed stuffing his (previously) fat face! However, I wanted to point out (and the purpose of the whole story…) that he started out in complete denial…

Denial Is Not a Strategy

Whether you are losing weight or marketing your business, denying the outcome will never give you the results needed for success. Many of my clients, on their initial consultation with me, flat out deny that their current marketing, frankly, sucks. They typically cannot tell me the hard numbers or actual outcome of any of their advertising. They also cannot tell me who their best customers are, or the niche that works best for them if they are marketing business to business. They just tell me their marketing “works” because they don’t want to look like a fool who spends money on a sinking ship. They are in total denial…

Eventually, after prodding and pulling, I steer them to accurate thinking, where they finally admit that some strategies are absolutely not working, and as a result, become realists of their situation… just like Darius.

Accurate Thinking

To become an exceptional business person and company leader, we must all stop denying what is in front of us; whether it be our short comings, bad employees, financial or personal situations. Accurate thinking must happen and we must not deny what’s going on in both our business and personal lives.