Branding Ad Vice

Who Manages The Manager

First off, let me say that up until now my experience with Perkin's Restaurants have been quite favorable, No matter how busy, there's usually a menu and pot of coffee at your table right after you sit down.  Service is prompt and efficient.  That's why we pulled off I-55 in Blytheville Arkansas for breakfast the other day.  Big mistake.

Granted it was busy for a Sunday morning.  But it took 15 minutes for someone to come over and ask us what we’d like to drink.  It took 10 minutes more to get our water and have our order taken.  25 minutes later we still hadn’t received our food so we got up and left.  It wasn’t like our waitress was busy with other tables.  She just vanished into the kitchen area, leaving 5 or 6 tables hanging.  That’s one problem.  The bigger problem was the manager.  Who passed by our table without as much as a good morning, I’m sorry for the delay, is there anything I can do to help?  In fact the most she would do was to tell someone else to go back in the kitchen to tell them that tables 11, 12, and 13 were waiting for service. 

When the chips are down it would seem everyone should pitch in to help; waitresses, busboys and even the manager.  Didn’t happen in this instance.  Fire the waitress at the end of the shift if she isn’t working out, but don’t leave your customers sitting watching the ice in their water melt in the meantime.

Here’s the point.  The only way to get an accurate picture of what’s going on in your business is to have someone visit it as a shopper when you aren’t around and report back to you.  If you have enough of these snapshots you’ll be able to put together a much clearing picture of your business than you’ve ever had before.  Your reputation is hanging in the balance.

What Will They Do When Your Back Is Turned?

When you own your own business you only have to work half days.  Pick any 12 hours.  Which still leaves 12 hours for your employees to mess up everything you’ve worked for.  For example, I was in Memphis over the weekend.  I wanted to have genuine "dry style" Memphis barbeque but it was too hot to drive downtown and wander Beale Street looking for it.  The hotel's Internet was down so I was forced to use  the phone book.  The ad for Corky’s (I usually don’t name names but this one is so special) gives an address but I don’t have a good map.  So I call and ask, “Where are you located?”  The girl who answers doesn’t ask for clarification, she puts me on hold assuming the address included in on-hold message is all I need.  The message repeats a second time before someone hangs up without coming back on the line.

I call back, this time a man answers.  I quickly blurt out that I know the address I need to know their location.  “Next to Tennessee First Bank.” Click.  What we have here is failure to communicate.  Evidently I should have specifically asked for directions.  Which I would have if given the opportunity before being put on hold or hung up on. 

Undaunted, I asked the receptionist at the hotel for directions and we found our way to the Corky’s on the east side of Memphis in Cordova.  Our waiter comes to the table for our drink order.  I ask what kind of wine they have.  He laughs at me, rolls his eyes and says,  “We only have beer.”  I guess they don’t get many new customers at Corky’s.  Either that or they’re all telepathic.  The ad said Corky's has his been voted #1 year after year in by Memphis residents.  I suppose customer service isn't part of the calculation.

How often do you send a secret shopper into your business when you’re not around?  If you don’t, it might be a good idea to schedule a visit once a quarter or so to see how your people act when when the cat's away.  I know what you’re thinking.  “That’s why I have a manager.”  Well do I have a story for you.

Don't Touch That Dial

The television ratings folks at Nielsen are going to start rating ads, or rather providing estimates for the number of people who don’t change the channel during commercial breaks (more).  I’m not sure the information will be very helpful.  I’ve been known to leave the room during commercial breaks, and quite often turn the volume off to avoid obnoxious ads such as Time Warner’s Beep Beep dot com.  In both cases the TV is on but the ads make no impact.

Over in Radioland, Arbitron is working on getting their personal people meter system fully accredited.  PPM technology should give advertisers the ability to see how many people change radio stations during those mind-numbing four and five-minute commercial breaks.  That should be an eye opener.   Once again hearing an ad and listening to it are two different things.  PPM only measures hearing (sort of) and not whether anyone is listening.

In a perfect world all ad writers and producers would take the time to create great ads for thier local clients, ads that viewers and listeners would pay more attention too.  In that case, we wouldn’t have to wonder about how many people tune out.   Are you doing your part or are you helping advertisers flush their ad dollars down the drain?

So Much For Supplemental Income

OfficeMax Ends Mail-In Retail Rebates, Implements New Instant Discount Policy at Check-Out Counter  (read)

What this really means is that consumers won’t be able to return merchandise for full credit after sending in their rebate coupons.  Fewer hassles for most customers and fewer open box discounts for OfficeMax.   The move makes a lot of sense, watch for other to retailers follow suit.

My Customers Are Different And Other Fairy Tales

Are you keeping track of what your potential customers are doing in the privacy of their homes and offices?  If you aren’t, it’s time to do so.  I’m surprised how many times business owners will tell me that “My customers are different, they don’t use the Internet,” or “Our customers wait for our ads to come out in the newspaper.”  Whatever.

According to a recent Harris Interactive study cited by Wall Street Journal Online, the profile of online users is looking more like the profile of the overall population. Approximately 77% of Americans are now online, up from 74% in the previous poll in 2005, and compared with 57% back in 2000. In 1995, only 9% of U.S. adults reported they went online.

Let’s break it down by age:
Adults 18 to 29 make up 21% of the population and 24% of Internet users
Adults 30 to 39 make up 18% of the population and 22% of Internet users
Adults 40 to 49 make up 20% of the population and 22% of Internet users
Adults 50 to 64 make up 22% of the population and 22% of Internet users
Adults 65+ make up 16% of the population but only 8% of Internet users

The results also show that adults with higher education and income levels represent a greater share of the online population than the population at large. 

So unless your customer is over 65 with less than a high school education making less than 25k per year it’s a pretty good bet that they’re online.  And whether or not you are personally on line your business needs to be.

At a recent advertising seminar in Asheville North Caroline I asked an audience of 100+ business owners how many subscribed to the daily newspaper.  You could hear the gasp when less than a dozen hands went up.  Might be one of the reasons that newspapers are increasing their online presence. 

I’ve had the extreme good fortune to travel the country meeting with business owners in towns and cities big and small.  People in America are more similar than you might imagine.  If you still believe your customers are different, you might start asking them how often they’re online.  The answer might surprise you.