Great Marketing Can Kill a Bad Business
Far too many companies spend millions of dollars marketing an inferior product and average service. But if you promote a dud, guess what? More people will know it’s a dud. Great marketing (“We’re committed to excellence!”) can kill a bad business! (“Sorry, not my section.”)
Marketing campaigns are important, of course, but they can backfire if your staff isn’t trained to provide exemplary service. And, even if your staff is trained to provide great service, if they aren’t trained to sell effectively, your marketing ROI isn’t living up to its potential.
Once your restaurant is running at the desired levels of service, you can unleash the marketing beast. Until then, it makes no sense to attract more guests into a restaurant that doesn’t sizzle. In fact, many marketing ideas — clever ones, too — have bitten the dust because the service supporting them was merely average or OK. The best sequence? Fix the product, make it outstanding, then market it. You can call on numerous marketing strategies such as TV commercials, radio advertising, remotes, coupons in the local paper, newspaper advertising — even an “Under New Management” banner. These external methods, however, aren’t nearly as important as what you do internally to get guests to come back.
Based on Now That’s Service That Sells! The Art of Managing the Sizzle, sequel to the best-selling book in foodservice history, Service That Sells! Click the book titles to read excerpts and learn more.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy: Keys to a Profitable Happy Hour
Bar patrons everywhere look forward to sipping a cold one in a lively atmosphere as a wrap-up to their hectic work day. Everyone loves a good happy hour — except, usually, the bar or restaurant operator.
Competition has gotten fierce in the industry as operators have been forced to compete for those happy hour patrons, continually trying to offer a better deal than the operator next door. Of course you want your place to be “the place to be” after work. But as you lower prices to offer unbeatable deals, you have to wonder if the extra traffic makes up for the low margins.
Don’t worry. Your happy hour promotions can be as profitable as you want them to be. You’ll just need to train your staff to maximize their sales during that happy hour while providing a great experience so guests will want to stick around — or come back during regular hours. The key is to set realistic goals for your happy hour promotions. Don’t just arbitrarily lower prices to beat the competition. Offer specials that provide a server with an easy upsell opportunity. A lot of bar patrons have come to expect two-for-one drink specials. Train servers to attach an appetizer sale to the deal. For example, “You folks want the two-for-one draft deal? Great! Tonight we’re also offering a heaping plate of our Macho Nachos with our two-for-one drafts for just $6.95 more.”
Or offer regular drafts at “happy hour” price, but offer an upgrade to a large draft for just a dollar more. The same goes for well drinks: “Would you like to try Bombay in that Gin and Tonic? During happy hour it’s just an extra buck!”
Run server incentives to provide extra motivation. For example, reward a lotto ticket to the server who’s able to upgrade the most well-drink orders to premium brands or regular drafts to larges. Another effective way to maximize happy hour profits is to convince those guests to stick around for dinner, a game of pool or a big football game. Just train servers to engage customers in casual conversation and invite them to stick around.
Then reinforce your training by offering a five dollar bill to the server who’s able to convince the most happy hour patrons to stay for dinner. Just have bar servers count the cocktail-order tabs that they turn over to servers in the dining room.
Excerpted from Pour It On: 52 Ways to Maximize Your Bar Profits. This innovative book is part of the 52 Ways series of restaurant management books that offer one idea a week to increase profits, improve staff morale, reduce turnover, and make more money! Buy four 52 Ways books, get one free!
Beyond Halloween: Scare Up October Sales
Sure, Halloween can be a big deal to some, but there are plenty of October “holidays” to scare up additional sales. Here are some of the most fun October holidays and a few ideas to turn them into celebrations at your operation:
National Wine Month – Include wine specials all month long, invite wine distributors to come and host tastings, offer wine samples to those waiting in line or at a table, pair new wines with old menu favorites.
Hispanic Heritage Month – Highlight your Hispanic employees with photos around your operation (but ask for volunteers first), create Hispanic-cultural dishes, post signage with Spanish-language welcomes and acknowledgments.
Hunger Awareness Month – Host a food drive and offer discounts to customers who participate, organize and communicate your own efforts to distribute leftover food, cater to a homeless shelter and ask employees to volunteer their time.
Sweetest Day (3rd Saturday in October) – Organize a dessert contest that is “competing” for the Sweetest Dessert and invite customer to cast their votes, give coupons in advance for a free dessert (with an entrée) on Sweetest Day, offer a Sweetest Plate with a mix of your most popular dishes (and consider making this sampler plate a permanent part of your menu).
Fire Prevention Week (October 3 – 9) – Partner with schools to award kids with gift certificates (free kid’s meal) for those who bring in a fire escape plan, offer fire fighters discounts all week (drop off coupons and letters of appreciation to nearby fire stations), organize a kid’s contest for best “Fire Safety” poster and display all the entries.
Restaurant Marketing with the One-two Punch
The mistake many business people make is to view a particular promotion as an end in itself. Effective marketing, however, isn’t a one-shot deal. Your goal should be not only to attract new customers, but also to encourage them to make purchases, enjoy the service or “experience” your staff provides and come back another day – with their friends.
Think of a one-two combination of punches in boxing when developing your marketing strategies. Don’t be satisfied with just getting people in the door. You have to sell them something while they’re there – and do it in a way that enhances their experience.
Add-on sales and upselling are key components of generating “One-Two Traffic.” In a restaurant environment, it’s important to train front-of-the-house employees, especially greeters, servers and bartenders, to suggest appetizers to go along with beverage orders, upgrade cocktail orders to include premium spirits, and recommend extras that complement entrées. Remember: If customers don’t know the special deals you offer, they can’t participate.
To train your staff to make the most out of the customers your marketing efforts attract, check out the Service That Sells! “Real World Selling” DVD series. Click here for more information, and view a clip below!
Restaurant Marketing Ideas for May
The weather is getting warmer, it’s time to heat up your sales! It may surprise you how many national observances are in May. And while many of us don’t “celebrate” them, they can be effective tie-ins for creative summer promotions. Here are some ideas to try in your operation:
National Hamburger Month – The entire month of May is dedicated to the burger. While it’s sponsored by White Castle, the hamburger began in Hamburg, Germany, and the holiday is considered an official “celebratory” month for everyone. Increase your burger sales this month and bump up lunch traffic with hamburger specials. Create different specialty hamburgers each week and post hamburger trivia for customer contests. Put all winner’s names into a bowl and draw the grand prize winner at the end of the month. The prize? Burgers for everyone, of course!
National Salad Month – If burgers aren’t your operation’s thing, May is also National Salad Month. Use the same strategies (create specialty salads, schedule different weekly specials) to make the most of this summer promotion.
International Pickle Week – May 15 through May 25 is International Pickle Week (even though it’s a ten-day time period!). Deep fry pickles and serve them as appetizers, offer unusual pickles with your deli sandwiches or stick pickles on a stick and promote them at the bar (“Beer and pickles?! “ Why not!).
National Strawberry Month – If you’re a family-service restaurant, this holiday is perfect for promoting summer desserts, fruit plates and breakfast and lunch sides. Offer special prices on homemade strawberry dishes and check into local “pick your own” strawberry patches. They may be willing to trade services with you, allowing you to promote “fresh-picked, local strawberries” while you provide your smallest customers with gift certificates to “pick your own quart.”
National Barbeque Month – While many people view this observation as an opportunity to fire up the grill, you can create barbeque promotions for your guests. Or, if you’d like to perk up carry-out and catering orders, offer sides that compliment barbeques. Then market it as, “You fire up the grill; we’ll serve up the sides!”
Mother’s Day Marketing: Violets Are Blue
Mother’s Day can be a prime marketing opportunity for family-oriented establishments. Here’s a great promotion you can implement with another business, preferably a local florist.
Invite families to take mom out for lunch or dinner at your establishment, where she will receive a free African Violet. It sounds a bit extravagant, but there are two levels to this promotion.
First, for short-term results, present a bounce-back coupon to all visitors on Mother’s Day, encouraging a second visit within no more than a month. Second, for long-term results, the violets will have a ribbon with both your name and the florist’s name. This plant is easy to care for and every time she waters it she will be reminded of your restaurant and the florist.
It’s best to look for a florist to partner with at least a few weeks before the big day. Other tasks for this promotion can be done ahead of time so you’re not swamped in the days before the event. Use the weeks prior to the event to prepare the ribbons, online and newspaper ads, email campaign and bounce-back coupons. The week before Mother’s Day, train your crew on the promotion, run the online and/or newspaper ad, and send out an email blast promoting the event.
Need help designing and executing your restaurant marketing plan? Whether you need a complete overhaul of your marketing processes or you’re just looking for some fresh ideas, Slam Dunk Marketing: From Rim Shots to Results has the expert ideas you’re looking for.
An Inside Job: How to Build Repeat Business
It stands to reason that your marketing strategies should include your front-line people. That doesn’t mean you should have employees dress up in chicken costumes and wave people in from the street corner out front. It does mean you should have them join you in the effort to build traffic. How do you get started? Call a staff meeting and ask what each person can do to generate new and repeat business. For example:
Acquiring new customers: Establish an incentive for employees to encourage friends and family to come in for cocktails or to dine at your restaurant. For each party brought in, the person responsible gets to put his or her name in a drawing for a prize at the end of the month.
Increasing the frequency of customer visits: How does your staff get guests who come in once a month to come in twice a month? Invite them. Sounds simple, but it’s an often-overlooked form of hospitality. Insist that hosts and hostesses thank every departing guest ¬— by name if possible — and always invite them back: “Come see us again, Mr. and Mrs. Miller!”
Greeting first-time customer to come back: Give your staff the power to pamper first-timers. A pitcher of beer or a complimentary appetizer might be in order. Or samples of house specialties. Or at least a thoughtful overview of the menu and wine list. Take care of your new guests and repeat business will take care of itself.
Involving your staff in the marketing process will promote ownership not only in the ideas generated, but also in the well-being of your bar or restaurant. Be sincere in your approach and odds are your employees will be sincere in theirs.
Excerpted from Pour It On: 52 Ways to Maximize Your Bar Profits. Click here to read more.
