It's a place where communication can take place--in a most organic and low-tech way.
These low-tech, high-touch communication devices still work marvelously well. They don't need batteries or other forms of electricity, and they can be easily modified.
I've seen two ways of businesses using them to their advantage.
The usual way is to have a smallish 3-foot by 5-foot corkboard near the door or checkout counter. Here patrons can post their business cards and local groups can post their announcements for events and such. Special store events can also be posted here. Because the board is so small, a bit of management may be needed--such as putting dates on the items posted and removing them after one month. Nevertheless, by putting a board up like this at your business establishment, you can generate interesting traffic as well as provide a "community service" for your regular customers.
The other way is a bit more unique--you won't see it very often, but it is usually impressive if it has been going for a while. This is the wall of cards--one of our favorite restaurants in Albuquerque was Papa Felipe's at the Coronado Mall. As you entered the restaurant from the main entrance, you had to walk by a wall covered from floor-to-ceiling and for a full 25 or so feet length in business cards. Because sometimes we had to wait for a seat, it was amusing to look at the business cards and see where some of them were from. There were cards from Asia and Europe and other states, in addition to the local folks posted there. There's a restaurant in Tracy, California on Central Avenue across from Big-O tires--they, too, have a wall of business cards--not quite as extensive as the one in Albuquerque, but also an interesting mix of cards.
Either of these two ways of displaying business cards is using the power of the miniture billboards to attract attention and drive business.
Saturday, June 19, 2004
Saturday, June 05, 2004
Restaurant Follies
If you have a business, don't use come-ons unless you can deliver on them. Otherwise, the consequences of not coming through on those come-ons could be painful for you.
For my birthday recently, my wife and I decided to visit a restaurant we hadn't visited for about four years.
Four years ago, we had gone to the restaurant with our whole family when we first moved to our community. It was the only ethnic-style restaurant of its type then. (Now there are at least 4 other restaurants with similar style food, so we definitely have more choice than just driving to a neighboring town to get similar food.) Anyway, when we first tried this restaurant, the food was bland and not well-cooked or prepared, the service was shabby, and the building was showing signs of neglect, even though from the outside the building seemed to be fine. Then, to top it off, the food was overly and surprisingly expensive. Way more than what one would expect for this type of food (perhaps you could expect to pay this at a classier restaurant in San Francisco or San Jose or Palo Alto... but in the California Central Valley?). The experience was so bad that we had not gone back to that restaurant in four years--we've since chosen Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, or Italian restaurants in town... or, if we were *really* having a hankering for this type of food, we'd drive over the hills to the West to visit a restaurant in the neighboring town.
So... here it was, my birthday, and my wife knew that I liked this kind of food. We were aware from the sign painted on the huge picture window at the front of the restaurant that the meal would be *free* for the birthday person. We figured that we could then afford to manage what we already knew would be pricey. We *had* unfortunately, seemingly forgotten about the rest of the problems the place had. (And, now, there were similar restuarants in town from which to make a choice.)
We got there at 7:30pm. (It takes about an hour for me to drive home from my office two towns to the west.) Although the place was not very crowded, we were told that there would be a waiting period of about 15 minutes (the food is cooked at the tables--and two tables were already full and occupying two cooks). So, we sat in a booth on the bar-side of the restaurant. After about 30 minutes, we were getting fidgety and contemplating leaving to go to a more effective attempt at a restaurant. A waitress overheard our conversation and decided to seat us and another couple at one of the tables. Turns out that the other couple was also there to celebrate a birthday. We visited a bit. And eventually, the waitress brought out a plate of appetizers and apologized for the delay--it would be a "few more minutes". It was almost 9pm before our cook started the process--by that time we were fighting off the hunger pangs. Although the cook was a pleasant fellow, and seemingly had the training, again the food was not well-cooked or prepared. An attempt at a fancy atmosphere, yes, but the food didn't match the atmospheric attempt. And the building was even more shabby than it had been when we visited it four years earlier.
But the kicker came when we went to pay--we had made mention numerous times that we were there for a birthday meal... and the waitresses and cook even gathered around and sang the "Happy Birthday" song. But when we questioned why the bill was so high, the waitress said, "Oh, that free meal for the birthday person only applies if there are four people in the party." The other couple was similarly disappointed.
Needless to say, no-one in my family will ever go back to this restaurant again. Our memory has been restored on why we wouldn't want to go there. We have plenty of better choices in town. This restaurant had their chance--two, in fact--and they blew it. Now, I might not go around warning folks not to go to this particular restaurant, but I *would* recommend any of the *other* similar restaurants in town to folks wanting this kind of food. Do you think the restaurant will get the message?
For my birthday recently, my wife and I decided to visit a restaurant we hadn't visited for about four years.
Four years ago, we had gone to the restaurant with our whole family when we first moved to our community. It was the only ethnic-style restaurant of its type then. (Now there are at least 4 other restaurants with similar style food, so we definitely have more choice than just driving to a neighboring town to get similar food.) Anyway, when we first tried this restaurant, the food was bland and not well-cooked or prepared, the service was shabby, and the building was showing signs of neglect, even though from the outside the building seemed to be fine. Then, to top it off, the food was overly and surprisingly expensive. Way more than what one would expect for this type of food (perhaps you could expect to pay this at a classier restaurant in San Francisco or San Jose or Palo Alto... but in the California Central Valley?). The experience was so bad that we had not gone back to that restaurant in four years--we've since chosen Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Mexican, or Italian restaurants in town... or, if we were *really* having a hankering for this type of food, we'd drive over the hills to the West to visit a restaurant in the neighboring town.
So... here it was, my birthday, and my wife knew that I liked this kind of food. We were aware from the sign painted on the huge picture window at the front of the restaurant that the meal would be *free* for the birthday person. We figured that we could then afford to manage what we already knew would be pricey. We *had* unfortunately, seemingly forgotten about the rest of the problems the place had. (And, now, there were similar restuarants in town from which to make a choice.)
We got there at 7:30pm. (It takes about an hour for me to drive home from my office two towns to the west.) Although the place was not very crowded, we were told that there would be a waiting period of about 15 minutes (the food is cooked at the tables--and two tables were already full and occupying two cooks). So, we sat in a booth on the bar-side of the restaurant. After about 30 minutes, we were getting fidgety and contemplating leaving to go to a more effective attempt at a restaurant. A waitress overheard our conversation and decided to seat us and another couple at one of the tables. Turns out that the other couple was also there to celebrate a birthday. We visited a bit. And eventually, the waitress brought out a plate of appetizers and apologized for the delay--it would be a "few more minutes". It was almost 9pm before our cook started the process--by that time we were fighting off the hunger pangs. Although the cook was a pleasant fellow, and seemingly had the training, again the food was not well-cooked or prepared. An attempt at a fancy atmosphere, yes, but the food didn't match the atmospheric attempt. And the building was even more shabby than it had been when we visited it four years earlier.
But the kicker came when we went to pay--we had made mention numerous times that we were there for a birthday meal... and the waitresses and cook even gathered around and sang the "Happy Birthday" song. But when we questioned why the bill was so high, the waitress said, "Oh, that free meal for the birthday person only applies if there are four people in the party." The other couple was similarly disappointed.
Needless to say, no-one in my family will ever go back to this restaurant again. Our memory has been restored on why we wouldn't want to go there. We have plenty of better choices in town. This restaurant had their chance--two, in fact--and they blew it. Now, I might not go around warning folks not to go to this particular restaurant, but I *would* recommend any of the *other* similar restaurants in town to folks wanting this kind of food. Do you think the restaurant will get the message?
Thursday, June 03, 2004
What are your "business" hours?
Well, there are 24 hours in a day.
Having a home-based, freelance business is one thing.
Having a store-front or office-based business is something else.
I remember one of our leaders in a network marketing company many years ago saying "You got into this business to eventually *free up* your time--in other words, making enough income with this home-based, part-time business to make your full-time, regular 8-5 job irrelevant."
He went on to say, "That's why you must establish a "call-in time" for only about an hour or two on only one night a week, and a "product-pickup" time for only about an hour or two on only one night a week. Otherwise, you are nothing more than another AM/PM Minimart."
You *don't* want to be available for *customers* or *associates* coming by and banging on your door all hours of the day.
The joy of working from home is that you can set your own hours.
The good news is: You are your own boss. The bad news is: (you guessed it) You are your own boss.
What if you *do* have an office-based or store-front-based business?
Then you still must establish your hours. Post them on your door. On your advertising collateral--your business cards, your flyers, your newspaper ads, your phone book ads, and so on. Then, STICK TO THOSE HOURS!
Aren't there times when you've driven to a small, mom & pop store, only to find that it's closed? If the hours are posted, at least you have an idea of when it might be open the next time you come by. But if the hours posted indicate that the store *should* be open, yet the store is not, THAT'S a different problem.
I've seen instances of both. One, in which the store does *not* have posted hours... and every time I go by, the place seems to be closed. Or, the store *does* have posted hours, and yet even though I'm there within those posted hours, the store is closed.
This only needs to happen a few times, and I decide to save myself the trouble and never go to the place again. If others behave the same way, that most likely isn't very good for the little store and I'm sure that's not what the owners primarily intended.
Once, when I was standing in line at the bank, I met a friendly proprietor of a store that I had visited the week before that was closed during the business's posted hours. I asked what was up. She said that things had been slow all morning, so she decided to close up early and go home to relax. Okay... but who knows how many other folks dropped by the store that afternoon, only to be disappointed by the thing being closed. I've meant to go back to the store since then, but I've been busy with other matters. The chance she had to get my business has passed. I may go back to the store in another few days or so when I can free up some time, but if the store isn't open during their posted hours, I may decide it isn't worth my time and effort to chase after products that I can get more easily at the supermarket acrorss the street from my home.
As for my freelance, homebased business? I try to get all contact with my clients through email. Period. I answer the emails each evening after dinner, or bright and early in the morning before breakfast. Phone calls don't work well. Too easily missed. Too easily dropped. Too easy for them to interrupt important meetings or other tasks--in particular, my train of thought. Email stores the information for later referral. Email is still quick--if I want to respond more quickly, I can. It beats the heck out of "snail-mail". More on that later.
Having a home-based, freelance business is one thing.
Having a store-front or office-based business is something else.
I remember one of our leaders in a network marketing company many years ago saying "You got into this business to eventually *free up* your time--in other words, making enough income with this home-based, part-time business to make your full-time, regular 8-5 job irrelevant."
He went on to say, "That's why you must establish a "call-in time" for only about an hour or two on only one night a week, and a "product-pickup" time for only about an hour or two on only one night a week. Otherwise, you are nothing more than another AM/PM Minimart."
You *don't* want to be available for *customers* or *associates* coming by and banging on your door all hours of the day.
The joy of working from home is that you can set your own hours.
The good news is: You are your own boss. The bad news is: (you guessed it) You are your own boss.
What if you *do* have an office-based or store-front-based business?
Then you still must establish your hours. Post them on your door. On your advertising collateral--your business cards, your flyers, your newspaper ads, your phone book ads, and so on. Then, STICK TO THOSE HOURS!
Aren't there times when you've driven to a small, mom & pop store, only to find that it's closed? If the hours are posted, at least you have an idea of when it might be open the next time you come by. But if the hours posted indicate that the store *should* be open, yet the store is not, THAT'S a different problem.
I've seen instances of both. One, in which the store does *not* have posted hours... and every time I go by, the place seems to be closed. Or, the store *does* have posted hours, and yet even though I'm there within those posted hours, the store is closed.
This only needs to happen a few times, and I decide to save myself the trouble and never go to the place again. If others behave the same way, that most likely isn't very good for the little store and I'm sure that's not what the owners primarily intended.
Once, when I was standing in line at the bank, I met a friendly proprietor of a store that I had visited the week before that was closed during the business's posted hours. I asked what was up. She said that things had been slow all morning, so she decided to close up early and go home to relax. Okay... but who knows how many other folks dropped by the store that afternoon, only to be disappointed by the thing being closed. I've meant to go back to the store since then, but I've been busy with other matters. The chance she had to get my business has passed. I may go back to the store in another few days or so when I can free up some time, but if the store isn't open during their posted hours, I may decide it isn't worth my time and effort to chase after products that I can get more easily at the supermarket acrorss the street from my home.
As for my freelance, homebased business? I try to get all contact with my clients through email. Period. I answer the emails each evening after dinner, or bright and early in the morning before breakfast. Phone calls don't work well. Too easily missed. Too easily dropped. Too easy for them to interrupt important meetings or other tasks--in particular, my train of thought. Email stores the information for later referral. Email is still quick--if I want to respond more quickly, I can. It beats the heck out of "snail-mail". More on that later.
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