Using cash rewards to bring people to your restaurant

Today I stumbled upon a Web site that uses cash rewards to bring people to restaurants.

I won’t name it, but if you look in Google for Restaurant Marketing, they show up in the Sponsored links quite high (under the heading: Restaurant Promotions).

Once you go to their web site, they have this Heading: Drive Huge Traffic To Your Restaurant With A Big Prize Offer!

There are so many wrong things with this marketing approach that I don’t even know where to start…

Ok, perhaps I do, let’s try this:

1. You will spend lots of money attracting new customers.
2. These customers will go to your place only because of the Prize Offer.
3. You will probably fill the restaurant once.
4. These are bargain seekers, not quality customers (the kind of clients that you want to attract and cultivate).
5. They won’t come back again (at least that you give them more prices or freebies).
6. You will make little or not money, even with a full restaurant.
7. You may alienate your existing clients.
8. You will attract the cheapest customers ever.

Do you think that this is worth it? I really don’t think so.

Instead, spend your money bringing back your best clients. Give them incentives to come back with their family and friends. (I’ve talked about this in my previous blog, this strategy is also mentioned in detail in my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar). This is the best way to spend your marketing dollars.

Forget about promotions, forget about ads in newspapers and magazines. Instead, spend your time and your money cultivating your existing clients.

If you do this, your return on investment will be always well spent. You will invest your money wisely and you will attract the best clients. If they don’t come, you don’t pay! Now this is being strategic!

For more information and to check what my seminar is all about, please check my web site Restaurant Marketing Strategies.
Happy Sailing,
Jose L Riesco

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

Advertisement

Using cash rewards to bring people to your restaurant

Today I stumbled upon a Web site that uses cash rewards to bring people to restaurants.

I won’t name it, but if you look in Google for Restaurant Marketing, they show up in the Sponsored links quite high (under the heading: Restaurant Promotions).

Once you go to their web site, they have this Heading: Drive Huge Traffic To Your Restaurant With A Big Prize Offer!

There are so many wrong things with this marketing approach that I don’t even know where to start…

Ok, perhaps I do, let’s try this:

• You will spend lots of money attracting new customers.
• These customers will go to your place only because of the Prize Offer.
• You will probably fill the restaurant once.
• These are bargain seekers, not quality customers (the kind of clients that you want to attract and cultivate).
• They won’t come back again (at least that you give them more prices or freebies).
• You will make little or not money, even with a full restaurant.
• You may alienate your existing clients.
• You will attract the cheapest customers ever.

Do you think that this is worth it? I really don’t think so.

Instead, spend your money bringing back your best clients. Give them incentives to come back with their family and friends. (I’ve talked about this in my previous blog, this strategy is also mentioned in detail in my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar). This is the best way to spend your marketing dollars.

Forget about promotions, forget about ads in newspapers and magazines. Instead, spend your time and your money cultivating your existing clients.

If you do this, your return on investment will be always well spent. You will invest your money wisely and you will attract the best clients. If they don’t come, you don’t pay! Now this is being strategic!

Thanks for reading and happy sailing,

Jose L Riesco
© Riesco Consulting Inc.
www.twitter.com/jlriesco
http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

Using cash rewards to bring people to your restaurant

Today I stumbled upon a Web site that uses cash rewards to bring people to restaurants.

I won’t name it, but if you look in Google for Restaurant Marketing, they show up in the Sponsored links quite high (under the heading: Restaurant Promotions).

Once you go to their web site, they have this Heading: Drive Huge Traffic To Your Restaurant With A Big Prize Offer!

There are so many wrong things with this marketing approach that I don’t even know where to start…

Ok, perhaps I do, let’s try this:

• You will spend lots of money attracting new customers.
• These customers will go to your place only because of the Prize Offer.
• You will probably fill the restaurant once.
• These are bargain seekers, not quality customers (the kind of clients that you want to attract and cultivate).
• They won’t come back again (at least that you give them more prices or freebies).
• You will make little or not money, even with a full restaurant.
• You may alienate your existing clients.
• You will attract the cheapest customers ever.

Do you think that this is worth it? I really don’t think so.

Instead, spend your money bringing back your best clients. Give them incentives to come back with their family and friends. (I’ve talked about this in my previous blog, this strategy is also mentioned in detail in my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar). This is the best way to spend your marketing dollars.

Forget about promotions, forget about ads in newspapers and magazines. Instead, spend your time and your money cultivating your existing clients.

If you do this, your return on investment will be always well spent. You will invest your money wisely and you will attract the best clients. If they don’t come, you don’t pay! Now this is being strategic!

Thanks for reading and happy sailing,
Jose L Riesco

You can find more information about restaurant marketing strategies in my website http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
© Riesco Consulting Inc.

Using cash rewards to bring people to your restaurant

Today I stumbled upon a Web site that uses cash rewards to bring people to restaurants.

I won’t name it, but if you look in Google for Restaurant Marketing, they show up in the Sponsored links quite high (under the heading: Restaurant Promotions).

Once you go to their web site, they have this Heading: Drive Huge Traffic To Your Restaurant With A Big Prize Offer!

There are so many wrong things with this marketing approach that I don’t even know where to start…

Ok, perhaps I do, let’s try this:

• You will spend lots of money attracting new customers.
• These customers will go to your place only because of the Prize Offer.
• You will probably fill the restaurant once.
• These are bargain seekers, not quality customers (the kind of clients that you want to attract and cultivate).
• They won’t come back again (at least that you give them more prices or freebies).
• You will make little or not money, even with a full restaurant.
• You may alienate your existing clients.
• You will attract the cheapest customers ever.

Do you think that this is worth it? I really don’t think so.

Instead, spend your money bringing back your best clients. Give them incentives to come back with their family and friends. (I’ve talked about this in my previous blog, this strategy is also mentioned in detail in my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar). This is the best way to spend your marketing dollars.

Forget about promotions, forget about ads in newspapers and magazines. Instead, spend your time and your money cultivating your existing clients.

If you do this, your return on investment will be always well spent. You will invest your money wisely and you will attract the best clients. If they don’t come, you don’t pay! Now this is being strategic!

Thanks for reading and happy sailing,
Jose L Riesco

You can find more information about restaurant marketing strategies in my website http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
© Riesco Consulting Inc.

Marketing Your Restaurant in the Yellow Pages

Marketing your restaurant in the Yellow Pages
Many restaurant owners spend an incredible amount of money advertising their restaurant in the Yellow Pages.
It always amazes when I see full pages advertising a restaurant in the Yellow book. Let’s face, do you know anybody who decides to go to a restaurant by looking at the ads of the Yellow pages? I surely don’t.
In these days of ubiquitous internet access, people go online checking for restaurants and they trust more the reviews of other people than whatever marketing materials restaurant owners can put out there.
Personally, I think that the mission of the Yellow Pages is for somebody to find the place’s phone number to call and make a reservation. Yellow Pages are great to find a plumber or a service that you really need, but are really bad to look for a place to eat.
Eating in a restaurant is an emotional experience. You go there with expectations of having a great time, of sharing a meal with your family or friends and it’s not a place that people pick because it has a great name or a good ad (or at least they shouldn’t).
But let’s do a quick math to prove my point. Let’s assume that you spend $3,000 a year in Yellow page ads, and that your average ticket per client is $30. Now, from these $30, you get 50% profit. This means that for each client, you spend $15 in cost and get $15 in profit.
So doing easy math: $3,000 spent / $30 per customer = 100 customers, but since you make 50% profit, you need to bring 50 customers just to break even. (You can do this same exercise using your own numbers).
Do you really think that you are bringing 50 customers because of the Yellow Pages ads?
I sincerely doubt it; but there is a simple way to prove it.
Create a special coupon that people can bring when they come to your place and put it in your Yellow Pages ad. Offer a free dessert or some kind of discount. In this way, you can measure the effectivity of the ad.
If you see that you get more than 50 people coming in with the coupon, great; this means that your ad works and you can feel good about spending the money. If not, well… you know what to do.
However, there is another way, a much more efficient way for you to spend these $3,000 and have guaranteed results. Create a special “Great Clients” coupons with a discount, and offer them to your best clients. You could discount 20% of their next meal, for example. This means that your profit per client with these coupons will still be 30% instead of the usual 50% (50% profit – 20% discount =30% profit).
In this way, not only you increase the odds that these great clients come back to your place, but you don’t waste any money.
If they come back, great, you still make a profit and they will probably bring quality people (like themselves) with them. If they don’t come back, you don’t spend any money. This is a win/win situation for you.
Do you see where I am going?
The best way to market and promote your restaurant is always by spending the money in promoting repeated visits from your existing clients, instead of trying to capture new customers all the time.
Not only you will maximize your investment, but every penny that you spend will be measurable and will contribute to the satisfaction of your existing clients.
In my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar, I dedicate a whole module to the important mission of increasing the frequency of visits from your existing clients.
This is one of the three only ways to increase your business, and perhaps the most important of the three (the other two being: increase the number of new clients and increase the purchase amount per client).
Don’t forget to participate in the forums.
Happy Sailing,
Jose L Riesco
joser@riescoconsulting.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

Marketing Your Restaurant in the Yellow Pages

Marketing your restaurant in the Yellow Pages

Many restaurant owners spend an incredible amount of money advertising their restaurant in the Yellow Pages.

It always amazes when I see full pages advertising a restaurant in the Yellow book. Let’s face, do you know anybody who decides to go to a restaurant by looking at the ads of the Yellow pages? I surely don’t.

In these days of ubiquitous internet access, people go online checking for restaurants and they trust more the reviews of other people than whatever marketing materials restaurant owners can put out there.

Personally, I think that the mission of the Yellow Pages is for somebody to find the place’s phone number to call and make a reservation. Yellow Pages are great to find a plumber or a service that you really need, but are really bad to look for a place to eat.

Eating in a restaurant is an emotional experience. You go there with expectations of having a great time, of sharing a meal with your family or friends and it’s not a place that people pick because it has a great name or a good ad (or at least they shouldn’t).

But let’s do a quick math to prove my point. Let’s assume that you spend $3,000 a year in Yellow page ads, and that your average ticket per client is $30. Now, from these $30, you get 50% profit. This means that for each client, you spend $15 in cost and get $15 in profit.

So doing easy math: $3,000 spent / $30 per customer = 100 customers, but since you make 50% profit, you need to bring 50 customers just to break even. (You can do this same exercise using your own numbers).

Do you really think that you are bringing 50 customers because of the Yellow Pages ads?

I sincerely doubt it; but there is a simple way to prove it.

Create a special coupon that people can bring when they come to your place and put it in your Yellow Pages ad. Offer a free dessert or some kind of discount. In this way, you can measure the effectivity of the ad.

If you see that you get more than 50 people coming in with the coupon, great; this means that your ad works and you can feel good about spending the money. If not, well… you know what to do.

However, there is another way, a much more efficient way for you to spend these $3,000 and have guaranteed results. Create a special “Great Clients” coupons with a discount, and offer them to your best clients. You could discount 20% of their next meal, for example. This means that your profit per client with these coupons will still be 30% instead of the usual 50% (50% profit – 20% discount =30% profit).

In this way, not only you increase the odds that these great clients come back to your place, but you don’t waste any money.

If they come back, great, you still make a profit and they will probably bring quality people (like themselves) with them. If they don’t come back, you don’t spend any money. This is a win/win situation for you.

Do you see where I am going?

The best way to market and promote your restaurant is always by spending the money in promoting repeated visits from your existing clients, instead of trying to capture new customers all the time.

Not only you will maximize your investment, but every penny that you spend will be measurable and will contribute to the satisfaction of your existing clients.

In my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar, I dedicate a whole module to the important mission of increasing the frequency of visits from your existing clients.

This is one of the three only ways to increase your business, and perhaps the most important of the three (the other two being: increase the number of new clients and increase the purchase amount per client).

As always, don’t forget to check my web site: Restaurant Marketing Strategies, read the blogs and participate in the forums.

Happy Sailing,
Jose L Riesco

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

Marketing Your Restaurant in the Yellow Pages

Many restaurant owners spend an incredible amount of money advertising their restaurant in the Yellow Pages.

It always amazes when I see full pages advertising a restaurant in the Yellow book. Let’s face, do you know anybody who decides to go to a restaurant by looking at the ads of the Yellow pages? I surely don’t.

In these days of ubiquitous internet access, people go online checking for restaurants and they trust more the reviews of other people than whatever marketing materials restaurant owners can put out there.

Personally, I think that the mission of the Yellow Pages is for somebody to find the place’s phone number to call and make a reservation. Yellow Pages are great to find a plumber or a service that you really need, but are really bad to look for a place to eat.

Eating in a restaurant is an emotional experience. You go there with expectations of having a great time, of sharing a meal with your family or friends and it’s not a place that people pick because it has a great name or a good ad (or at least they shouldn’t).

But let’s do a quick math to prove my point. Let’s assume that you spend $3,000 a year in Yellow page ads, and that your average ticket per client is $30. Now, from these $30, you get 50% profit. This means that for each client, you spend $15 in cost and get $15 in profit.

So doing easy math: $3,000 spent / $30 per customer = 100 customers, but since you make 50% profit, you need to bring 50 customers just to break even. (You can do this same exercise using your own numbers).

Do you really think that you are bringing 50 customers because of the Yellow Pages ads?

I sincerely doubt it; but there is a simple way to prove it.

Create a special coupon that people can bring when they come to your place and put it in your Yellow Pages ad. Offer a free dessert or some kind of discount. In this way, you can measure the effectivity of the ad.

If you see that you get more than 50 people coming in with the coupon, great; this means that your ad works and you can feel good about spending the money. If not, well… you know what to do.

However, there is another way, a much more efficient way for you to spend these $3,000 and have guaranteed results. Create a special “Great Clients” coupons with a discount, and offer them to your best clients. You could discount 20% of their next meal, for example. This means that your profit per client with these coupons will still be 30% instead of the usual 50% (50% profit – 20% discount =30% profit).

In this way, not only you increase the odds that these great clients come back to your place, but you don’t waste any money.

If they come back, great, you still make a profit and they will probably bring quality people (like themselves) with them. If they don’t come back, you don’t spend any money. This is a win/win situation for you.
Do you see where I am going?

The best way to market and promote your restaurant is always by spending the money in promoting repeated visits from your existing clients, instead of trying to capture new customers all the time.

Not only you will maximize your investment, but every penny that you spend will be measurable and will contribute to the satisfaction of your existing clients.

In my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar, I dedicate a whole module to the important mission of increasing the frequency of visits from your existing clients.

This is one of the three only ways to increase your business, and perhaps the most important of the three (the other two being: increase the number of new clients and increase the purchase amount per client).

Don’t forget to participate in the forums.

Happy Sailing,

Jose L Riesco
© Riesco Consulting Inc.
www.twitter.com/jlriesco
http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

Marketing Your Restaurant in the Yellow Pages

Marketing your restaurant in the Yellow Pages
Many restaurant owners spend an incredible amount of money advertising their restaurant in the Yellow Pages.
It always amazes when I see full pages advertising a restaurant in the Yellow book. Let’s face, do you know anybody who decides to go to a restaurant by looking at the ads of the Yellow pages? I surely don’t.
In these days of ubiquitous internet access, people go online checking for restaurants and they trust more the reviews of other people than whatever marketing materials restaurant owners can put out there.
Personally, I think that the mission of the Yellow Pages is for somebody to find the place’s phone number to call and make a reservation. Yellow Pages are great to find a plumber or a service that you really need, but are really bad to look for a place to eat.
Eating in a restaurant is an emotional experience. You go there with expectations of having a great time, of sharing a meal with your family or friends and it’s not a place that people pick because it has a great name or a good ad (or at least they shouldn’t).
But let’s do a quick math to prove my point. Let’s assume that you spend $3,000 a year in Yellow page ads, and that your average ticket per client is $30. Now, from these $30, you get 50% profit. This means that for each client, you spend $15 in cost and get $15 in profit.
So doing easy math: $3,000 spent / $30 per customer = 100 customers, but since you make 50% profit, you need to bring 50 customers just to break even. (You can do this same exercise using your own numbers).
Do you really think that you are bringing 50 customers because of the Yellow Pages ads?
I sincerely doubt it; but there is a simple way to prove it.
Create a special coupon that people can bring when they come to your place and put it in your Yellow Pages ad. Offer a free dessert or some kind of discount. In this way, you can measure the effectivity of the ad.
If you see that you get more than 50 people coming in with the coupon, great; this means that your ad works and you can feel good about spending the money. If not, well… you know what to do.
However, there is another way, a much more efficient way for you to spend these $3,000 and have guaranteed results. Create a special “Great Clients” coupons with a discount, and offer them to your best clients. You could discount 20% of their next meal, for example. This means that your profit per client with these coupons will still be 30% instead of the usual 50% (50% profit – 20% discount =30% profit).
In this way, not only you increase the odds that these great clients come back to your place, but you don’t waste any money.
If they come back, great, you still make a profit and they will probably bring quality people (like themselves) with them. If they don’t come back, you don’t spend any money. This is a win/win situation for you.
Do you see where I am going?
The best way to market and promote your restaurant is always by spending the money in promoting repeated visits from your existing clients, instead of trying to capture new customers all the time.
Not only you will maximize your investment, but every penny that you spend will be measurable and will contribute to the satisfaction of your existing clients.
In my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar, I dedicate a whole module to the important mission of increasing the frequency of visits from your existing clients.
This is one of the three only ways to increase your business, and perhaps the most important of the three (the other two being: increase the number of new clients and increase the purchase amount per client).
Don’t forget to participate in the forums.
Happy Sailing,
Jose L Riesco
joser@riescoconsulting.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
© Riesco Consulting Inc.

Marketing Your Restaurant in the Yellow Pages

Marketing your restaurant in the Yellow Pages
Many restaurant owners spend an incredible amount of money advertising their restaurant in the Yellow Pages.
It always amazes when I see full pages advertising a restaurant in the Yellow book. Let’s face, do you know anybody who decides to go to a restaurant by looking at the ads of the Yellow pages? I surely don’t.
In these days of ubiquitous internet access, people go online checking for restaurants and they trust more the reviews of other people than whatever marketing materials restaurant owners can put out there.
Personally, I think that the mission of the Yellow Pages is for somebody to find the place’s phone number to call and make a reservation. Yellow Pages are great to find a plumber or a service that you really need, but are really bad to look for a place to eat.
Eating in a restaurant is an emotional experience. You go there with expectations of having a great time, of sharing a meal with your family or friends and it’s not a place that people pick because it has a great name or a good ad (or at least they shouldn’t).
But let’s do a quick math to prove my point. Let’s assume that you spend $3,000 a year in Yellow page ads, and that your average ticket per client is $30. Now, from these $30, you get 50% profit. This means that for each client, you spend $15 in cost and get $15 in profit.
So doing easy math: $3,000 spent / $30 per customer = 100 customers, but since you make 50% profit, you need to bring 50 customers just to break even. (You can do this same exercise using your own numbers).
Do you really think that you are bringing 50 customers because of the Yellow Pages ads?
I sincerely doubt it; but there is a simple way to prove it.
Create a special coupon that people can bring when they come to your place and put it in your Yellow Pages ad. Offer a free dessert or some kind of discount. In this way, you can measure the effectivity of the ad.
If you see that you get more than 50 people coming in with the coupon, great; this means that your ad works and you can feel good about spending the money. If not, well… you know what to do.
However, there is another way, a much more efficient way for you to spend these $3,000 and have guaranteed results. Create a special “Great Clients” coupons with a discount, and offer them to your best clients. You could discount 20% of their next meal, for example. This means that your profit per client with these coupons will still be 30% instead of the usual 50% (50% profit – 20% discount =30% profit).
In this way, not only you increase the odds that these great clients come back to your place, but you don’t waste any money.
If they come back, great, you still make a profit and they will probably bring quality people (like themselves) with them. If they don’t come back, you don’t spend any money. This is a win/win situation for you.
Do you see where I am going?
The best way to market and promote your restaurant is always by spending the money in promoting repeated visits from your existing clients, instead of trying to capture new customers all the time.
Not only you will maximize your investment, but every penny that you spend will be measurable and will contribute to the satisfaction of your existing clients.
In my Restaurant Marketing Strategies Seminar, I dedicate a whole module to the important mission of increasing the frequency of visits from your existing clients.
This is one of the three only ways to increase your business, and perhaps the most important of the three (the other two being: increase the number of new clients and increase the purchase amount per client).
Don’t forget to participate in the forums.
Happy Sailing,
Jose L Riesco
joser@riescoconsulting.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
© Riesco Consulting Inc.

When aren’t customers good for your business?

Alexander Kjerulf

self defined as “Chief Happiness Officer” writes in his blog http://positivesharing.com/ about cases where customers are more trouble than benefit for the businesses.

He focuses his examples on the airlines industry, where thousands of people fly every day and have a few customers that are more trouble than benefit.

Mr. Kjerulf these top five reasons why business shouldn’t follow the strategy: “The customer is always right”. I will add my take on this applying his reasonings to the Restaurant industry.

1: It makes employees unhappy

Mr. Kjerulf says that business owners should always be in the employee’s side since they want to keep their employees loyal.
Of course, things are a little different in the restaurant business. Disgruntled customers mean no tips for waiters and really bad publicity (via online forums, etc.) for the restaurant.
Although I agree that you need to be loyal to your employees, and that if a customer is not reasonable and threatens any of your employees you should take always the side of your employee, I sincerely think that your employees could/would put up with any difficult customer if their demands are not unreasonable.
Happy customers are good for everybody (more tips and more referrals) and not all your clients will be pleasant and having nice personalities.

2: It gives abrasive customers an unfair advantage

The reasoning here is that abusive people get away with anything and get better treatment than nice people.
Again, I disagree here. Abusive people perhaps can bully their way once or twice; but your employees will always treat better nice clients by having extra attentions with them, engaging in personal conversation, etc., versus serving the minimum needs of nasty customers so that they don’t complain.

3: Some customers are bad for business

He has a point here. Some customers are impossible to please. Perhaps they have some mental disorders (how many people walk the streets with mental problems? Many for sure) or are just grumpy or unhappy with their lives and they share their unhappiness with everybody around them, or more specific with your staff since they probably feel superior and want to let them know who’s in control.
What can you do with these difficult customers? Well, I would suggest you to try to please them, within a reason.
However, if you see that they become aggressive or disruptive, invite them to leave your premises and tell them that you will call the police if they don’t comply.
The limit of tolerance is the point where they start bothering other clients. This is never acceptable. You can’t afford to have a few out-of-control customers spoiling everybody else’s dining experience.

4: It results in worse customer service

Mr. Kjerulf’s point here is that happier employees make happier customers. I don’t doubt this. I just think that disruptive customers are a minority and your employees should be trained to deal with them. Of course, you need to care about your employees and side with them when they are right, but you also need to care about your clients.
At the end of the day, your clients are the ones who give you the money so you need to keep a balance.

5: Some customers are just plain wrong

The example that Mr. Kjerulf gives here is about a passenger that behave like a jerk. Again this kind of behavior fits into the disruptive category that we mentioned before. This passenger, with his behavior, wasn’t only rude to the flight assistants, he was rude to the rest of the passengers and therefore this can’t be tolerated.
To conclude, your customers have the right to ask for a great dining experience in your place and should ask you to make right something that it’s wrong. However, they don’t have the right to be rude to your staff or disruptive to the rest of your clientele. This is the point where you should intervene and ask them to leave your premises, even at the expense of not charging them for the food. It is better to lose a few dollars that to start a confrontation that makes the situation very uncomfortable for you, your employees and the rest of your clients.

Any Comments? Please let me know what you think.

Thanks for reading and happy sailing,

Jose L Riesco
jose@riescoconsulting.com
>

You can find more information about restaurant marketing strategies in my website http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com

Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.

http://www.myrestaurantmarketing.com
Copyright Riesco Consulting Inc.