Will You Add? - Business

How to Beat the 'Turf' Mentality
Want to hear a fascinating story? Let's sit in at a meeting of the human resources department of a large corporation. A number of human resources specialists are gathered in the board room. They chat idly to one another as they await the opening of what they expect to be a routine monthly meeting. The door swings open and the director of human resources strides in. He smiles warmly, greets everybody heartily and spends a minute or two exchanging pleasantries. Then he drops the bombshell! "Effective immediately, this department is closed. I'm sorry, but we're all out of a job." Audible gasps escape from the lips of the doughty professionals seated round the table. The director pauses just long enough to let them get some breath back, and then carries straight on: "Top management has decided that there needs to be a change in the approach to managing the human assets of this company. From here on, human resources services are going to be delivered in a new way. "A company is being formed to do that. It's called HR Incorporated. You are welcome to apply for a job. Personally, I hope you do. I would enjoy continuing to work with you. If you want to apply, there are job descriptions and appli

se Specials or New Menus:
"With a marketing database, you are prepared to communicate with your regular customers. It's a great way to introduce a new menu or a new menu item. Always include some special offer just for VIP members," says Horn.

Many companies have developed a newsletter for VIP members. Others are sending out e-newsletters. This is a great way to say thank you to your frequent customers. It's also a great medium to tell them about new menu items, new employees, and new recipes. All this helps to make our customers take an interest in your restaurant and keep your restaurant's name in front of your VIP members. Be sure to make the newsletter newsy and fun to read. Always include some sort of incentive for those members to stop by for a meal. Change your incentive in each newsletter and track the results.

Sponsor Contests:
One restaurateur saw a substantial increase in VIP member visits when she started having a weekly drawing. She sent out a postcard to the VIP members and asked them to bring in the postcards for a FREE offer. When redeemed, the postcards were entered into a weekly drawing for a free lunch or "Dinner For Two". Monthly drawings were also held with prizes such as a digital camera, CD player, clock radio, etc. Grand Prize Drawings held twice a year gave away a grandfather's clock or a cruise. With every mailer, she reminded her customers of the grand prize drawings.

The Ten Principles of Highly Ethical Network Marketers
These ten principles are patterned after the Ten Principles of Highly Ethical Business Leaders.1. Treat all downline and potential business partners as unique and valuable individuals.Isn't it about time we put a stop to looking at people as if they had dollar signs on their foreheads? Let's be thoughtful and courteous to everyone we meet.2. Support each downlines freedom, growth, and development.While there is something to be said about duplication, there is also something to be said about allowing a person the freedom to build their business within their own comfort zone.Don't create a political or spiritual platform in the business.3. Communicate to downline by name with respect.Call and visit your downline regularly and find out if you can help them accomplish their goals.4. Model and encourage a balanced life of good work and rest.Schedule time for your family as well as time for your business. Seek balance.5. Honor and respect downlines families.That means it's OK to miss a Network Marketing meeting for a family wedding, graduation or other important event.6. Protect downlines l

"Before you begin marketing through a VIP Club, you need to take a step back and look at your restaurant. Make sure that you are ready for increased business. Don't attempt to market your restaurant unless you have above average food and service. Good marketing can actually put a restaurant that provides poor food and service out of business faster because more people will have a poor dining experience, and the negative word-of-mouth will cause them to fail faster than if they do not market at all," says Brent Davis, Director of Coaching Services for RestaurantMarketingGroup.org (RMG) a company that specializes in helping restaurants to build sound, trackable marketing systems through its easy-to-use software, "How-To" marketing manuals and personalized coaching.

Gathering the Data:
Once you have taken an internal inventory and feel good about the food and service that you provide, it's time to start using and building your database of existing customers. Remember that in most restaurants 30 percent of the customers are bringing in 70 percent of the business. For the sake of our discussion, let's say that Joe's Family Diner has 10,000 customers a month. That's 322 customers each day. Seventy percent of the diner's monthly customers would be 7,000. If the restaurant's VIP Club marketing creates only one more visit per year per customer at an average check of $25, the volume will increase by $175,000 per year or $14,538 a month and that's with only one extra visit per existing customer per year. You can see why it's important to go after additional customer visits.

"Don't forget that your existing customers are your neighbors. A VIP Club enables you to market within your neighborhood to existing customers. It's permission based and therefore considerably more effective than if you did a blanket coupon offer to all of your neighbors. These are folks who know and frequent your restaurant; they took the time to fill out a VIP card and have shared personal information with you," says Davis.

"VIP Clubs are a great way to build customer loyalty. Always give a thank you reward bonus for joining the club. We recommend that the offers go out by email or regular mail within 72 hours after signing up. The offer should be without any strings attached. I like to suggest that the offer be for a dollar amount. A flat $15.00 or $10.00 amount could be enough depending on your guest check average. You could give a FREE, dinner with a $10 or $15 limit. Give them an offer they can use on anything they want. The offer is now valuable and they feel compelled to use it," says Teresa Horn, RMG Marketing Program Development Specialist.

To enjoy the greatest return on your VIP Club enrollment campaign, you should train your employees so that they understand everything about the VIP Club. Have a contest and give prizes to the employees who sign up the most customers. Place VIP Club displays and sign-up cards in very high-traffic, highly visible areas. Use pre-printed "Post-It" pad messages and put them on your menus so that your customers and employees will be reminded to fill them out. Always emphasize the benefits of VIP Club membership. Enter the names and additional information into the computer software program on a daily basis, using a part time employee.

Horn suggests that your VIP Club sign-up cards include the following information:

Name:
Address:
Birthdates of each family member, so that they can receive a birthday surprise.
Anniversary:
Email::
Phone: (Optional)

"Carefully select your expiration date. I usually suggest using a three-week expiration date. If it's not used by then, it is usually lost. You want to create a sense of urgency," says Horn.

Processing the data:
Don't wait until you have built a large database. Start marketing to each VIP Club member the minute you get their data. You will find that this information is your most valuable marketing asset.

Creating a database of your customers and immediately communicating to them on a regular basis will increase the frequency of visits to your restaurant. For almost any reason, or sometimes for no reason at all you should send the customer a postcard or an email with an incentive to bring them into the restaurant again. Remember, the goal is to bring the customers in at least one EXTRA time per year. By sending them a reminder postcard or email around a holiday or during a local community event will remind them to visit your restaurant. And if they make several EXTRA visits you have exceeded your goal and dramatically increased the sales and profit of your restaurant.

Create a Birthday Club:
What is the most popular holiday for eating out? According to the National Restaurant Association, it's on your birthday. In fact, 55 percent of all Americans eat out on their birthdays. The best news of all is that people have birthdays 365 days a year, spread out over 12 months. Birthdays are the perfect time to encourage additional business.

"Use the information gathered in your database to send out birthday cards for each VIP customer as you recognize one of the most important days in their lives. Their celebrations might as well happen at your restaurant. Always include a FREE offer such as a FREE dinner for the birthday guest. Remember that birthday guests rarely party alone; the average size of a birthday group is five individuals," says Davis.

Go out of your way to make the birthday party a special event when a customer redeems his/her certificate. Your restaurant needs to become the "Party Place." Develop definite policies to ensure that it happens??that the parties are fun and your birthday guest is treated like royalty for their day. You must create a special party atmosphere. One Northwest seafood chain has a crazy fish hat that the birthday person wears while they take a Polaroid or digital photo of the birthday guest and his/her friends. The photo is then slipped into a cardboard photo holder and becomes a nice takeaway remembrance of the evening. Of course, the restaurant's name and address is on the card. If you include a "year" sticker, it can become a collectable item.

Celebrate Anniversaries:
Another great marketing campaign can be centered on your VIP customers' anniversaries. Forty-three percent of American couples say they go out to eat to celebrate their wedding anniversaries. If you own a fine dining restaurant, try to make your guests dining experience special and romantic. Doing "little extras" is what will set your restaurant apart from the competition. Value-added incentives are more important than discounts on anniversaries. You must make it a "special occasion."

Quick Service Restaurants and Pizza Shops can effectively wish mom and dad a happy anniversary by giving them a great offer for their children's meals that way, Mom doesn't have to cook for the children before she goes out to dine. This let's the children celebrate the anniversary too.

Advertise Specials or New Menus:
"With a marketing database, you are prepared to communicate with your regular customers. It's a great way to introduce a new menu or a new menu item. Always include some special offer just for VIP members," says Horn.

Logo-ize For Instant Identification & Increased Awareness
The task of creating an indelible impact on the memory of your target market is arduous but can be made much easier with a well thought out logo. The word comes from the ancient Greek where it was used in philosophy and theology to mean “the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning.” The function of a logo in today’s business world is much the same – to make the visual identification of your company implicit by giving it form and meaning.The form and meaning of a logo are expressed in three elements – name, slogan, and icon. Think for a moment of the fabulously successful sporting goods and apparel company, Nike. The name obviously, is the name of the company. The slogan “Just do it” explains the meaning, philosophy, or emotional expression of the name. The “swoosh” icon is a visual representation of the name. Together the name, slogan and icon form a powerful “logo-ized” representation of the company which is vital to the brand. Today, because of their constant use, logos of many national companies (think Nike, McDonalds, Travelers Insurance) are indelibly imprinted somewhere in our brains.While the logos of most companies will never attain that level of memory retention, it will be a great advan

on based and therefore considerably more effective than if you did a blanket coupon offer to all of your neighbors. These are folks who know and frequent your restaurant; they took the time to fill out a VIP card and have shared personal information with you," says Davis.

Horn suggests that your VIP Club sign-up cards include the following information:

Name:
Address:
Birthdates of each family member, so that they can receive a birthday surprise.
Anniversary:
Email::
Phone: (Optional)

"Carefully select your expiration date. I usually suggest using a three-week expiration date. If it's not used by then, it is usually lost. You want to create a sense of urgency," says Horn.

Need to Save Some Labor?
Too often, restaurants and other businesses keep dead-weight or below average employees because it's hard to hire. Unfortunately, the good employees pick up the slack and often make about the same money, or less in some cases, as the problem employees.It’s easy to say run short-handed, but if it’s not presented right, you can force even more work on the better employees. To further enhance the ‘Send Flowers to the Living’, you can save some money, and improve the culture by losing the below-average performers. The key is to recognize and reward performance!If a below average employee makes $8 per hour and works full-time, they earn $320 a week. Lose that person! Now, go to the rest of the team and offer them a challenge: run the shift without this person and everyone receives a 25 cent bonus for every hour worked, as long as we beat sales and productivity or lower costs.The savings of $320 from one employee equates to 1,200 hours of 25 cent bonuses per hour or 600 hours of 50 cent bonuses per hour for the rest of the team. How will these good employees feel when they get paid an extra bonus to help you make more money? Instantly, the attitude of those employees will change as they ramp up productivity and sales.Notice

iversary:
Email::
Phone: (Optional)

"Carefully select your expiration date. I usually suggest using a three-week expiration date. If it's not used by then, it is usually lost. You want to create a sense of urgency," says Horn.

The Innovation Journey-A Roadmap
As with any journey it is always a good plan to get directions and know where you are going before you start. This ensures you of knowing the fastest route and revealing where the roadblocks may be.The innovation journey, much like any driving excursion, also requires an understanding of where you want to go, the roadblocks you may hit and how long it could take. So before you get in the car and start your engine, here are some things to consider on the Innovation journey.First, innovation must be fully aligned with your marketing strategies and objectives. Sounds obvious, right? But many marketers today undertake product innovation simply because they think change will provide an added benefit. This is not always a good thing, nor is it always greeted at the shelf with applause. Marketers oftentimes fail to properly align innovation with actual consumer needs, and this forces their strategy right off the road and into a ditch.Innovation in product development and packaging design must be fully integrated; not separate. If not, your innovation strategy, like your brand planning, will never get out of the garage. More than anything, if you focus on being connected with the emerging needs and desires of consumers, your marketing strategy w

a FREE offer such as a FREE dinner for the birthday guest. Remember that birthday guests rarely party alone; the average size of a birthday group is five individuals," says Davis.

TRY Before You BUY
Advertising is a necessity in business. You must inform people about your goods or services. However, there are many forms of incentive advertising which can be employed to promote sales. And in some cases the cost is very small.The small business proprietor who is often dwarfed by the giant super stores who carry a massive variety and quantity of products to attract customers has to constantly think up unique strategies to draw customers to avoid being swallowed up by the whales of the business world.In the suburb where we live is a French bakery. Only a small store, but always with freshly baked crusty bread. At the entrance the aroma simply drags you inside the store. There's even more to come once inside.In the center of the store is a large wooden table filled not just with appetising baguettes, croissants and breads of all shapes and sizes, but with sample loaves for tasting, complete with bread knives and butter. In addition, cut up pastries. No doubt, some people take the opportunity to eat their breakfast from the fare on offer, but more importantly, this tactic is a clever way to encourage customers to buy once they've had a free taste. And the cost to the shopkeeper is minimal!Another example. The proprietor of our lo

Additional Celebrations:
Create theme nights to attract your VIP members back to your restaurant. Tie your theme occasions with holidays. For instance, February is National Chocolate Lover's Month. Offer your VIP members a special chocolate dessert promotion for the month of February. One creative Italian restaurant owner did a VIP promotion for its St. Patrick's Day elebration. He sent out an email invitation saying, "Come party with real Italians on St. Patrick's Day. We'll show you how to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in style." Any holiday will do. One restaurant celebrated Agatha Christie's Birthday by offering a surprise entree special.

Remember that the number of dollars that a customer is going to spend is limited. To get more than your share, you are frankly going to have to take them away from your competition Effective marketing will help you get a larger share of your customer's dollars and includes the tools to track each and every promotion to determine your customer response and return on investment. With good marketing and tracking you will be able to keep your restaurant in Top OF Mind awareness with your customers.

"It's not your customer's job to remember you. It's your obligation and your responsibility to make sure the customer doesn't forget you! An effective VIP Club will do just that," says Davis.

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/28045/atriclecheck-Developing-VIP-Clubs-that-Increase-Business.html">Developing VIP Clubs that Increase Business</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.atriclecheck.com/article/28045/atriclecheck-Developing-VIP-Clubs-that-Increase-Business.html]Developing VIP Clubs that Increase Business[/url]

This article contains 20 great ways to generate more traffic to your website. A must for any serious entrepreneur.

Interview nervousness is something you can prevent with a bit of planning and preparation. Here's how.

As a manager, you will have difficult staff to deal with. Most of your time is spent with these 'difficult' ones!!! Want to reduce that amount of time so you can get on and finish the tasks you have to and maybe have a better work/life balance. Then read this article.

Tags

Links

Will You Add? - Developing VIP Clubs that Increase Business

Related Articles: