Harvest Roasting
December, 2009 Newsletter
By Don Eckles, President
I always like having a specific topic to address in these newsletters. But that only matters if there are some basics that we don’t need to keep discussing. Today, I’d like to talk about how important visibility and accessibility are to the success of your business. But, they are just one piece (actually, two) of the puzzle.
Last week, I was reminded just how important visibility and access are. I was in Denver working with a store owner who is doing SO MUCH right, but is still not where he needs to be. He’s frustrated, to say the least. I mentioned in one of my previous newsletters that he told me he had tried everything I’ve suggested, and it’s still not enough. Now what?
I went to Denver with an open mind, but suspecting that there MUST be some things that he’s not doing…or at least not doing as well as he could. I stand corrected. He has a beautiful store (clean and well lit), an incredible staff, friendly service, tons of traffic going by, but still…sales are sluggish.
As soon as I drove up, the problem seemed fairly obvious. Customers don’t see his building. He sits between a McDonald’s and a Taco Bell, well back from the street. His building is the same color as the Taco Bell, so it blends right in. There are lots of trees and shrubs between his store and the passing traffic. And, because traffic is so heavy, people are not looking around while they drive (they shouldn’t do that anyway), they are looking straight ahead.
I noticed that the people coming in loved the place…and, the baristas new everyone. They even knew the customer’s dogs names. They just needed more people to come in. Here is what I suggested…
His building needs to grab people, and pull them in. If the customer can’t see his building, he needs to MAKE them see it. He has a drive thru kiosk, double sided. His signage is prominent on the street side, with nothing on either end of the building. The fact is though, the two ends are the only parts of the building that passing cars will easily see. And, he has a business name that is not obvious to passersby. In other words, if they could read his sign, they wouldn’t be sure what he sold.
So…we advised him to get two vinyl banners, one for each end of the building. They will be large (the building is 15 feet wide) and the colors will match his logo. All they will say is “ESPRESSO”. That’s all it needs to say. Anyone who is a potential customer knows that that sign means “it’s a coffee place”. Once they come in…they can see the name of the business.
The banners need to be attached to the building by screws, not by ropes flapping in the wind. They need to look like they are actual signs. And they need to be lit up at night, so potential customers can’t miss seeing them. I suggested that he go to the hardware store to buy a couple of landscape lights that can be plugged in, and put on a timer. Cheap and effective.
I also suggested that he replace the acrylic name plate in his monument sign with the word “ESPRESSO”, and move his name plate to below the sign that says drive-thru.
So instead of the sign saying Business Name it will say, ESPRESSO
Drive thru Drive Thru
Business Name
Same logic as the banners…build your business, and then worry about building your brand.
Finally, he needs to actively, effectively, market his store. That’s a tough one for most business owners, whose business is not doing all that well. Whether it’s that they don’t want to throw good money after bad, or whether they just don’t think they can afford to advertise, this is a scary proposition.
There are two times to market your store. When it’s new, or, when you have something new that you want customers to try.
If your store is less than a year old…no matter what people are telling you, and no matter what you’ve done (as far as marketing goes), there are far more people in your trade area who have either not tried your store, or don’t even know that you’re there, than there are people who have tried you.
If your store has been around for awhile, you may need to fix some things before you spend any money on marketing. Make sure you’re serving a great product, with a big smile, fast. Make sure your store is clean and well lit. Then, in your marketing, tell potential customers what you’ve done. In other words, tell them why they should try you again.
The group I’m with just took over two stores in the Kansas City area. Neither store was well run, and both we’re doing poorly, financially. Both stores were poorly staffed. The one store had a willing and eager staff, but they didn’t have a clue about what was important. The other store had a staff that couldn’t care less about customer service, or their jobs. We retrained the staff at one store, and fired everyone but 1 person at the other store.
Sales improved immediately, just because of those things. But then, we sent out 8000 mailers to every home and business within a 2 mile radius of both stores. The piece simply said “New Management, New Attitude. Great Drinks, Amazingly Fast”. We knew that customers had had bad experiences with these stores. We wanted to tell them that we have changed, and ask them to try us again. The postcard had an offer of a free drink (12 oz.).
Sending out a free drink coupon wouldn’t be as effective if we didn’t’ tell customers that “things have changed”. Why would they want a bad drink with bad customer service…even if it’s free? We had something new to say, and we couldn’t afford to sit around hoping that the word gets out on its own.
One other thing about customer retention…in your efforts to build your customer base, don’t be too quick to give away the farm. By that I mean, don’t lower your prices below what a good margin would allow for, and don’t be anxious to start a customer loyalty program. Customers will patronize your store because of the products you sell, and the customer service they receive when they buy them…not because they can get a 10 punch card.
Speaking of products…let me get a plug in for Harvest Roasting. Everything we sell is the best of the best. Our coffee beans are the finest in the world, carefully roasted to perfection. And, they’re priced from $6.50 - $8.25 per pound. Most roasters can’t touch our quality, and if they can, they are generally much more expensive. Please contact us at harvestroasting.com. We’d love to send to samples to you.
We also sell Monin flavoring syrups and sauces, Mont Blanc Sauces, Maui fruit smoothie mixes, cups and lids, paper products, and a host of other things you need to run your business. And, if you order just 75 pounds of our specialty grade coffee, we’ll ship your entire order, freight free.
We would like to figure out how we can become your supplier of coffee beans and other assorted items. It would be VERY helpful if you would let us know what we could do to make that an easier decision for you. Is it lower minimums? Is it a shipping issue? Is it freight costs? Or, is it that you just like buying closer to home? I know we are not going to get everyone, but if we can serve your needs, that’s a start.
This will be the last newsletter you receive via U.S. mail. After this, all newsletters will go out via e-mail. If you have not given us your e-mail, and you would like to continue to receive this letter…let us know. E-mail Barb Miller at barb@harvestroasting.com. Also, you will be able to view these letters at our website, which is harvestroasting.com.
Sincerely,
Don Eckles
Harvest Roasting