Today's my birthday...and the older I get the more I feel like I can kinda sorta say and do what I want to do. I'm at the point in my life that I don't have to have a job with lots of stress and lots of money. However,, the money WOULD be nice. :) I can pick and choose what I can do with my extra job income going towards extras. Extras.....Like my annual vacation south to the caribbean. Best money I've ever earned...or ever spent.
I've been a bit stressed out lately over something that's not one bit my business. Keep tryin' to let it go but it's something I really care about. I mean I really, REALLY care about.
You know that old story line about "build it and they will come"? Well, that's not the truth. You can build a fancy business, whether it be a restaurant, gift shop or club .....but if you don't spend the time to promote it and make the customers feel welcome and special....they might come at first...but they will leave. And just like my daddy taught me...the ones that leave will tell 20 other people why they left. It doesn't take long for that pyramid of disgruntled customers to close your doors.
It takes a lot of work to make a business thrive. First and foremost is to make your customers feel like they're the most important thing going on. You have to shmooze.
EVERY customer wants to be recognized. They need the boss lady, or boss man, or manager, to be visible and hopefully know them by name. They want to be told that you're glad to have them. If you can't remember their name you can always call them buddy or sugar....just call them SOMEthing nice.
You have to have specials and you have to PROMOTE those specials. You can NOT depend on one group of customers to keep your doors open. Find something for EVERYbody...EVERY day. You have to spend a little money to make a little money...Just make sure you spend it in the right way. A way that the customers FEEL....even if that's in their pockets. More people means more sales...even if you have to cut your prices to get the volume. 10 customers a day at $5 a pop gets you $50 dollars a day. 200 customers at $4 gets you $800 dollars a day. Now...Did that dollar hurt that bad? Or did it give you 200 customers who will be back tomorrow?
Be CONSISTENT. Open early and close late. At the same time EVERY day. Be there for the convenience of your customers. When they come more than once and find your doors closed they probably won't come back again. They will find another business that cares enough to be open for 'em. Give them a REASON to come. Those three customers who were there at 10AM may come back tomorrow and bring 10 more with them because you were OPEN...you had a REALISTIC price on your product...and you made them feel like they were the best customers you've ever had. SCHMOOZE...one more time...I can't say it enough.
If you're unhappy with how your employees are handling things...sit them down and talk to them...in private...show them by example. If they're experiencing more customers than the employees can handle...get in there and HELP them. Get some extra hands in the door and get the customers taken care of...with a SMILE on your face. Videotaping them with a frown on your face in front of your customers will NOT get you better business. And, it certainly won't get you better employees. It only puts a bitter taste in the mouth of the customers who have to witness your poor management. It will also cause you to be short-staffed TOMORROW! Your employees have to KNOW what is expected and be given the tools to make things happen. If you're happy with your employees...for gosh sakes let them know!
"Too many Chiefs and not enough Indians". Assistant managers are OK...but there should only be ONE manager. And let that manager call the shots! There should always be an employee meeting once a week where the manager can set out the pros and cons of the week before...in a way that is not harsh and makes the employees feel that, YES, they can make better things happen. Upcoming expected busy dates and special events should be discussed and all employees aware of what to expect and what is expected of them. LISTEN to your employees and brainstorm where improvements can be made...and where extra help may be needed. The employees interact with the customers much more than the manager or the owner. If the owner chooses a manager that they feel is capable of managing his or her business let them make decisions, hire and fire, add extra help...whatever it takes to make their business a success.
Coming up with new ideas is great, but if you don't promote them they will not pay off. Deciding today to have a 50% off sale tomorrow will get you a few new customers but planning it far enough ahead to market the sales promotion will pay off in a much bigger way. Same goes with events and contests. The general public and your potential market customers have to KNOW about it! Poor promotion equals poor business. Don't be one of those people who tries something on the spur of the moment and then gets teed off at prospective customers because they weren't there. They didn't KNOW. Run a promotion long enough for customers to tell other potential customers what a great promotion it is and convince them that YOUR business is the place to spend their money.
A business can't expect to just cut on an OPEN sign when they think customers might come in. The ones that came by yesterday when the sign wasn't on won't be back today. The three customers in the morning are just as important as the fifty who come in the afternoon.
Success all depends on customer service and proper management. There has to be interaction between the customers and the employees have to be educated with what has gone on, what is going on and what is going to go on. Only the boss can make that happen.
My thoughts are...If it wasn't broke...Don't try to fix it...Just make it better!
Whew...What a way to spend my birthday afternoon! A true sign that I'm gettin' old...and crotchety....and my way is the ONLY way! Yeah, right! Let's just be happy and thank the Lord every day because we're clearly blessed. I'm not worried! Somebody's gonna take care of me.
If there was a DJ at the ODP today I'd go down and dance a little...but I guess me and the kids will just stay home and dance. Put the music on, Miss BayBay!
THANKS FOR DROPPIN' IN AND LISTENIN' TO AN OLD LADY...WHILE YOU'RE HERE WON'T YOU LEAVE A COMMENT?
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