@Spirocks

small business marketing

Sell Yes? Hell Yes.

What is a special request?

Its a momentary fork in the road, something that jumps up unpredicted, and can catch any of us off guard. That can scare, vex, and distract you, which is precisely why so many react with a negative emotion that is best indicated by a single two letter word. NO.

That’s the temptation which envelops and holds back so many, the magnetism of the ability to say no.

Let’s teach them a lesson. Who do they think they are? Who would want it that way?

Chefs do you recognize this emotion? Who else literally works in front of fire, dealing with randomly placed and unpredictable orders, some of which have at best half-witted requests on them?

Sell Yes.

That’s right, if you can say yes, just say yes. Then turn someone else’s weird taste, relative ignorance about flavors and combinations, or just boring preference into a profit for you and your co-workers.

It is literally just as hard if you say no, in fact, the tension it creates actually makes it worse when you refuse.

Now, I get it, sometimes it comes at the worst most stressful time. Here is what the best Chef’s I know do, they laugh at the absurdity, or post it on the wall with a collection of absurd requests, etc.

We open the door, we don’t control who walks through it.

When we sell yes, we enjoy our lives more, and make someone’s weird cravings go away.

Win. Win. Win.

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Embracing Change to Improve Your Restaurant’s Business

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You don’t read about marketing to gain insight on maintaining your status quo, you read to learn how to improve your restaurant’s business. All of us seek out ideas, strategies, and technologies that can affect change on the success of our business. That success could be the bottom line, the well being of our employees, or the satisfaction of our customers. In any light it is improved success that we are after.

To get there we seek change, and must lead our teams to accept, embrace, and crave it.

This change after all is not change for change’s sake, it is based on several analytical studies, among them:

  • Our Organization’s Data from successful sales and failed leads.
  • Interpretation of Market Opportunities and unfulfilled demand.
  • Employee and Customer feedback from the POS interactions.

So the change I speak of is another way of saying improvement or strategic positioning.

Am I supposed to do all this for my restaurant?

If you want to improve, yes you are.

  • You should be using the sales data on menu items to sort through the winners and losers, you should be tieing that data into the food cost of each menu item so you can emphasize the winners and work on the losers. Also how many private dining requests came in last month, how many did you book, what was the reason that those that did not book decided to go elsewhere?
  • You should be looking at your city like a consumer; to decide if there is a market opportunity. Like a town that had lines out the door for Sunday breakfast might cry out for an affordable brunch.
  • You should be constantly getting feedback from employees about what the customers are asking for, what they are loving, and what they were not so keen on.

Yes, these things will guide you to the points of change that you need to make, to keep your business getting better, growing, and becoming more successful.

Did someone say #Brunch today? Andolini's gets it going at 11am... #Andover

Employees often resist Change, your job is to lead them through it.

One of the hardest parts of doing something new is that it is unproven, and those who rely on a paycheck based on the current way of doing things often resist and/or subconsciously sabotage the new process. An entrepreneurial leader is one who will face the unknown, take a leap of faith in the decision that was made, and have earned the faith of the company’s employees so that they too believe and will work toward a successful change.

You must build an environment that allows you and your employees to connect with each other over the opportunity ahead of you, an environment that is sustained by trust.

Your employees are your most valuable resource, the genesis of your organization’s strength, and the greatest determinator of your success. You should engage them in the changes you make, let them take part in the determination of what ultimately is the final change, and also reap some of the benefits of the success you foster together.

In this way you are not their Boss, you are investing in them as a partner, and you engage with them on a level of mutual dignity. That should be the goal.

Next: Explain the Change to Your Audience.

Your audience, in truth, is a combination of the following groups:

  • Your current customers
  • The potential customers that exist in your market
  • Your employees

Some of your current customers may be adverse to change and the unknown that it brings. They may be attached to something that is changing or taken out of their comfort zone for another reason by the change. It is important to be clear and direct, avoiding ambiguities and outlining the positives of the change.

On the other hand your potential customers first need to hear about the change so that they know about this new offering that is aimed at them. When they hear about it, you should have the reasons outlined why they will love it, told from their perspective. Why is this what is missing from their lifestyle?

The employees are your ambassadors, they will be face to face with customers when they are asked what the Change is all about. If you do not give them the information they need, your change will be a muddled mess of interpretations not based on anything other than speculation. This is a major fail on your part.

Here is an example of how I addressed a major Change at my Restaurant to all these groups: http://andolinisrestaurant.com/brunch/

In Short, Change is a Challenge which when conquered results in Success.

What does your business need? I would love to talk about it.

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Tip: Consistently Communicate with Customers

Marketing a restaurant is a game of consistency, you can’t post/email thirty two things in the next 15 minutes and then take two months off. You know that. Yet it is still likely the case that you find yourself with gaps in your communications, lapses in the connection with your customers that helps drive business through your door. What you need is a plan, a system that helps you simplify, and I have one for you. 

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See What I do on Instagram and Twitter by following @spirocks on both. 

Restaurant Marketing Simplification System:

First you need a base that you control, a place where you can guarantee the rules won’t change and affect all the work you have put in. That is your website/blog, and I spelled out the reasons here: ( Don’t Just Rent Your Friends ) If your restaurant website does not have a blog section, you should make that project number 1.

  1. Create a Blog on your website: Your blog is going to be the place where you create the content that is spread throughout your social networks and email lists.
  2. Create a Mailchimp Account. Great news; they are free up to 2000 contacts so you can try this out with no risk. Mailchimp allows you to send RSS campaigns, which means that once you publish a blog post you have Mailchimp automatically create an email from it and email it out when you want, like say 10am on Friday. That’s it, email campaign done. 
  3. Decide the frequency with which you wish to contact your email list. Once you have that plan, all you need to do is create a post before the date and time (give it an hour early) you set in Mailchimp and you are done. Most people find creating a blog post a less cumbersome process than creating an email and best of all you kill two birds with one stone. 
  4. Social Network integration via Mailchimp allows you to connect your restaurant social accounts and post to them at the same time.

So there you have it a simple way to create great content once, on a platform you control, and get it distributed free to everywhere it needs to be.

How frequently to post to your social networks:

In addition to the above, I suggest having a plan for social media only posts, as you should post to them more frequently than you email. So say you have a new special every Tuesday, share a picture of that with a simple one line description.

One great place to do this is through instagram, where you can take a photo of a special appetizer for example and share it to not only instagram, but also facebook, twitter, flickr, and tumblr all at the same time. Maybe I will write another post on that if you are interested.

Got any tips on how you streamline your restaurant’s online marketing? I would love to hear.

_Summer_isn_t_over_yet.__Boston_and_beyond_soak_it_in.

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Don’t just rent your friends from Facebook

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Too many business owners have an online strategy which relies on garnering as many likes as possible for their Facebook page. This is wrought with peril and here is why:

At any time, and they do it often, Facebook alters how you connect with these people to further their goals. Which all revolve around making money off of these connections. They want you to rent your friends, plain and simple.

So as time changes, the investment you have made in those connections is adjusted, filtered, and rearranged to become more profitable for Facebook. Recently they altered how many of your business posts people who liked your page see if you don’t pay to promote them.  Its time to focus on making connections with these friends and followers as permanent as possible.

The answer for most of you: Build your email list. Start today, make it worth their while. How much should you invest in time and money? Answer one question: What is a permanent connection to your customers worth to you?

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Social Networks (Share on Them) But Host Your Own Website

Why Host Your Own Website, Social Networks Host a Page for You for Free? 

Today Posterous got bought by Twitter, and likely will fade away and be shut down in the not too distant future. It follows a long line of other social networks, some alive but irrelevant like MySpace, and others that have been shut down completely.

The image above is from The Next Web delivering the news today, and those who have built their web presence around a Posterous space are now left to either try and move it or start anew. I am here to explain why you cshould choose a wordpress sefl hosted site over other social networks.

This moving around could all be avoided, and should be avoided at all costs, by any business who wants an online presence. You need to create and host your own content, on your own website, and it is easy and not that much money either.

I host all my sites (15+) on one Bluehost account which runs about $5.95 a month, then I build them on wordpress using the genesis framework of amazing WordPress themes. You can check them out here: StudioPress Themes for WordPress, by using wordpress I can log in from any browser and post/edit/manage my website without needing any software on whichever computer or device I am using. I can also use the wordpress app on any iOS or Android device to make the edits. It truly is as simple as can be imagined for a self hosted website. I am an affiliate of both of these companies and you can see them in action here on spirocks.com, I love using them.

But You Want to Be on these Social Networks

You can be, in fact you will get more out of social networks this way. Here is how the workflow goes:

  1. Create Content for your blog. Video, Text, Photos, etc.
  2. Share the link to that post on your Facebook, Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr, Pinterest, Etc…
  3. When people click on those posts they are led back to your website/blog and you get a chance to show them more.

Now in this scenario if Posterous is gone, all you lose is the links from your blog that you shared there, not the actual content that you spent time, effort, and money creating.

It is clearly the way to go, and sooner or later there is always a new popular site, and a fading older one, so why not be a part of them while they are vibrant and not lose anything when they fade away?

What are your thoughts?

Find me on Twitter and say HI here: @Spirocks and be sure to subscribe to my updates above.

Your Blog is Your Online Foundation

 

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

The Only Way to Put Your Business in the Center of Attention

The time to deny it, IS OVER, mobile internet rules the day.

If you question this, do the following:

  •  Look at any child with your iPhone or iPad.
  • Look at your spouse across the table from you.
  • See what people are doing on the train.
  • Check out what gets the attention of people in line at Starbucks.
  • what was the driver of that car that swerved at you on the highway today doing?

Ignore it at your own peril, the future is in the pockets of all of your customers. Is your marketing online? Do you give it the credit it deserves? Is your website usable on mobile devices?

If you are using flash, do not have a mobile ready site, or spend your time and dollars on offline marketing only, the answer is no, and you are losing out regardless of whether you feel it or not.

Mobile is an Opportunity not a Threat.

Can you deliver more than your competitors via online content, mobile access, and social integration? Are you ready to allow your customer to know you, the real you? If you are you will be the new king of your market before long, as the customers you seek will be found here.

Where is Here?

Here is everywhere now. Here is where ever they are when they think they need what you sell. Here is on the toilet. Here is on top of the Empire State Building. Here is in an airplane. Here is in a Doctor’s Office waiting room.

People buy diapers on Amazon from a bar at 1Am, and you don’t think they are going to search for an eyeglass shop while they wait for their coffee in the morning?

Ask yourself if you have done enough to put your business where people are looking for you. THEN DO MORE.

Find Me @spirocks on Twitter, I hope you enjoyed this pep talk.

I am Spirocks on Twitter.

Business Communications with Google Plus

Google Plus for Company Communications

I thought I would share an example of the way that I am using Google Plus to strive for better communication with the employees of one of my restaurants. I created a circle in Google Plus and added all of the employee emails that I knew (I am hunting the rest as we speak), and set out to use that circle as a way to connect with everyone. When something new is added to the menu, when we run into and issue during service that needs to be addressed, when I decide to open or close for a holiday, and any other time that I want to contact the staff this will be the method. Of course I will still be managing verbally while I am present at the restaurant, but this is not a business where everyone is there from 9 to 5, Monday through Friday.

Some Employees work two shifts a week, and it has been up to me and a few managers to convey all the changes to each member of the staff when they came in. Until now.

Google Plus employee communications

This is the first message I sent to the staff to introduce them to the fact that I am going to be using this tool to communicate with them. It is my hope that I will be able to create learning moments from any snag we hit during service by bringing it to everyone’s attention as it happens with the hope that I can prevent the rest from stumbling over the same issue before it is resolved.

With access to this circle via my mobile and desktop I will be able to communicate with the entire staff when the need or solution arises, and that convenience is something that I believe will allow me to be better at what I do. With two restaurants and a growing marketing company my time is in demand and having the ability to communicate like this is a godsend.

Why Google Plus?

Well the greatest reason is that I can create the circle with just their email addresses and whether or not they are using Google Plus already I can contact them. It simply emails the contents of my messages to them if they are not G+ users already. You can’t do that with the friend request format of Facebook, and though I love Twitter it’s short messages and lack of a true group messaging function eliminates that as well. So Google Plus races to the forefront. The ease of setting up a circle is very key as well.

In the future I anticipate the ability to incorporate other Google properties such as: (Google Calendar – Scheduling and Google Documents – Training Materials) With Photos and Youtube there really is little limitation to where you can go with this.

Waiting for an Invite? Here You Go

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I am Spirocks on Twitter.

How to Use Twitters New Features for Business

Yesterday Twitter unveiled some enhancements to its service which have been just about universally welcomed. On the heels f its native photo service it seems that Twitter is intent on finally building on its simple but addictive base. I am going to go over a few of the ways that these new changes can and should affect your marketing.

What Do Twitter’s New Features Mean for Marketers?

The first change is the new @mentions tab, which not only lists the tweets that mention the profiles twitter handle but also shows any of its tweets that have been favorited, and the handles newest followers.

The ease with which this new tab allows you to track and respond to these things is a great improvement, and you should actively monitor the mentions already. If you have not been doing that, get on it now. Yeah stop reading this and start looking at who is trying to interact with you. That is what this is all about.

I think the greatest addition here though is the newest followers listing. What a help. Sometimes I get over a hundred followers in one day, like when I recently had a back and forth with @ochocinco.

 

I typically try my best to follow everybody that follows me and then try and form lists etc after the fact. But sometimes it is really hard to keep up with it, this new tab will allow you to know who is following your business on Twitter and allow you to start a conversation with them right off the bat.

Don’t Do This:

Please refrain from doing any of the following with new Twitter Followers, it is a horrible idea to:

  1. Send a DM thanking them for being a follower. Waste of their time, and so many people do it that it is not special. It is annoying.
  2. Ask them to Connect on Facebook Too. Right of the bat? You are connected, on twitter, talk to them there. Later they may find you on Facebook if you are compelling, or maybe not. Just don’t be one of the people that tries to get a like on facebook with immediately after getting followed… You can lose them forever right there, besides it’s Gross.
  3. Automated responses of any kind are generic so they sound generic. It is way better, way way way better to not say anything at all than to send an automated “Hi I strive to continuously help better the profit of your business. Need help?” message. Just don’t do it.

Twitter Activity Tab

The second change twitter made today is the addition of the activity tab, and this is brilliant because now we finally have insight into how others are using Twitter. The new Activity tab lists the latest favorited tweets from your Twitter Circle, the latest RTs, and new following activity.
What stands out here? To me it is the ease of having all three of these activities collected and curated for you under the tab, and secondly the new following activity details. Right off the bat the you can imagine how helpful this will be in learning more about the people you follow and their conversations on Twitter. A savvy business could monitor this new resource for conversations, retweets, and follows that may indicate a potential business opportunity.
In addition it provides a chance to learn from the greats, to better understand the way they use Twitter as a tool to succeed. I hear comparisons to the Facebook NewsFeed and obviously Twitter took a step in that direction by creating a feed of sorts, but I think you would miss out on some strategic implementation if you just thought of it that way.

Do This:

  1. Have a business that sells big ticket items? Identify the people you follow that could be customers, and pay attention to their conversations, offer help and advice when you can and start a relationship. When they are ready to buy, you will have a head start to get the sale.
  2. Getting up to speed at a new job, in a new market, or industry? Find those who are the most successful and pay attention to their connections, conversations, and overall activity. What they share, who they talk to, who they follow are all at your fingertips with this new tool. Use that info to excel and learn about the community in your field.
What ways are you using the new features for business?

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I am Spirocks on Twitter.