Our 5th contact is always a personal phone call. Here’s how this restaurant owner started the conversation with our Marketing Director. “I love your stuff, but it’s too expensive and I can do the same thing myself for 60 cents. That’s your cost so you guys are just trying to rip me off.”

First, what he does himself is a chintzy, small postcard. We send out a full color personalized letter with a glossy certificate. SO he was measuring apples to oranges.

Sorry, I digress…let me finish the story. Now, we do it all: Get the list, design the letter, insert the letter, stamp and mail! So it’s a completely Turn-Key and all Done-For-Them specialized New Customer Acquisition mailer. The owner does none of the work except decide how many new guests he wants to come through his door.

After his brusque, inaccurate reply, my Marketing Director asked him the following questions:

#1. Is your personal time worth anything? He answered, “No, that’s just part of my job.”

Okay, that tells me he’s a loser already, but the second question got his undies in a bundle. My Marketing Director asked him:

#2. I see on your website that you sell a 12 ounce New York Strip for $29.95, is that right? The restaurant owner replied, “Yes, that’s right.” So my Marketing guy proceeded, “Well if I can buy a steak that size in the big family pack at Costco for $8.90 a pound, my question to you is are you ripping off your guests or have you created a value for them?”

Of course the restaurant owner said that he was creating a value for his guests which my Marketing Director replied to by saying, “Well, that’s exactly what we do for our clients.” The restaurant owner said he still wanted to do it himself. Fine. We can respect that. But we would have appreciated him not telling us that we were ripping him off.

As my mentor says, “Sorry, but you can’t fix stupid.”

Have a Great Marketing Day!

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!

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.

There are only 2 types of marketing:

1. Marketing to acquire new guests

2. Marketing to have existing guests come back more often

These objectives require different types of media… here in this blog, I’m only going to discuss marketing to acquire new guests.
Here’s the best type of media to use to acquire a new guest… use any media that can be brutally and honestly measured and that also brings in a guest at “Break Even or Better” cost…

All media works but at what cost to acquire a new guest? Know your numbers because as stated, all media works, but at what cost?

New guests will cost you more to acquire. However, that being said… always do your math. If it cost you $1000, $2000, or $3000 to get a new guest.. (remember, they are WORTH $500 a year with what we call “Lifetime value”), spend the money.

Also, never rely on one source or one media to bring in more new guests. The Federal Government might jump in and start taxing e-mails or raise postal rates to 85¢ a letter, making marketing prohibitive using that type of media… so be diversified.

AND, always know your ROI (return on investment)

2. Decide on the What… What will your message be and how are you going to tell your story? Remember this saying, “Facts just tell, Stories Sell!” Tell them why you are offering them the discounted free appetizer, free drink, or whatever… You Must Have A Believable Reason!

3. Decide On The How… How are you going to deliver your message? Coupon Book? BillBoard? Radio, TV, Postcard, Special Message?? Whatever you decide, make it the best way to reach your best customer and make sure you can brutally and honestly measure your results!

4. MOST IMPORTANTLY: as Nike™ says, “Just Do It!” You must implement your system over and over to continually reach new and existing customers.

DO IT!

Well, I believe that’s an absolute hoax which has been perpetuated by liberal professors with absolutely no business experience! They have been trying to brain wash the unsuspecting business person. In fact, I will go as far to say that’s plain B.S.!!!

Let me tell you “NOT All Guests Are Created Equal!” Many so-called guests don’t even deserve to have us spend one red cent (okay, pennies are a copper color) of our marketing dollars to come back and visit again… OR try us for the first time.

In Dan Kennedy’s new book, “Marketing To The Affluent”, he explains why spending our advertising dollars on people that can spend tons of greenbacks in our business is so important. (side note… Dan’s book is a must read!) But, let me tell you the down and dirty, quick, best-kept marketing secret… we all have guests, customers or clients that fit our perfect mold. Let’s take my marketing business for instance… our best customers are restaurants that gross $350,000 or more a year, spend a minimum of $700 a month on marketing, and are not in a downtown (major city) location. If a restaurant doesn’t meet that criteria, we don’t actively spend our marketing funds on them. However, there are always exceptions… so always be on the look out for that exception!

Maybe your best customer (if you’re a family restaurant), is 30-55 years old, owns their own home, makes a minimum of $50,000 a year and has kids at home. Then 80% of your marketing budget should be spent on trying to get customers who match those demographics into your restaurant!

Everyone should have a best customer hit list… if you don’t, take 10 minutes and put together your ideal guest demographics now!

78% of the people sort their mail over the garbage can before they come into the house.

That means you only have a 22% chance of getting your marketing piece opened if you are using Direct Mail.

So, here’s several ways to get into the house and beat the 22% odds:

1. Everything must be personalized with the guest’s name – No “Dear Friend”, “Dear Neighbor”, or worse yet… “Occupant”.. eek!

2. Do not use labels… with the advancement in laser printers and the creation of new fonts everyday, you can make your envelopes look hand written.

3. If they are existing customers, tell them what’s inside the envelope (ex: $500 coupon Inside; “Here’s Your FREE Breakfast!”, etc.). If you are mailing to
new guests, use your return address only, leave off your business name. If they don’t know who it’s from, they’ll open it out of curiosity.

4. Only use over-sized 6×11 postcards… even if it’s being mailed to existing guests. Never use the 4.25 x 5.5 size… it’s not worth getting lost or thrown away without a glance.

5. New Customer Acquisition – never use a postcard as your first mailer… always use an envelope with a letter and certificate… ESPECIALLY with New Movers. They get so much junk mail, they toss it in the garbage half the time.