Give Me An Experience, I Will Give You My Business

These are some tough times.  The business of business is difficult to work profitably.  Some of the brighter people in this world expect a lot of sectors in our society to face as many as ten more years of recovery before they return to the once robust economy they enjoyed a few years ago.  Some sectors will be an economic challenge for a long time.

I am in the process of wrapping up the marriage of one of my daughters.  We are completing that great event later today.  Last night was the rehearsal dinner.  Today, we head over to the rented facility and complete the decorations for the final event.  This process has been a good adventure.  It began its trail nearly nine months ago when they made the original announcement.  There is a lot of business to be done in preparing for a fair sized wedding.  It is not a small purchase.  The business of marriage is a big business.  Even the simple ones have a fair sized price tag.  It is fun being the person who I am when a new experience shows me how others do business.  The marriage business knows how to attract a good experience.  It works hard on pleasing the bride.

There was a moment last night at the rehearsal dinner that I discovered a facility that had no lack for business.  Three other wedding and rehearsal dinners were in process on the grounds of this famous restaurant.  Counting our small group of 20, they had a good night.  One of the wedding groups I saw last night had about 150 people outside in the open-sided event tent on the grounds.  The facility includes several buildings, a large garden area, and two restaurants.  All places were packed last night.  Both restaurants on the grounds also serve the general public with food and spirits.  They have figured out how to blend the two business services into one big happy family.  It was a good event, a good meal, and great service.  It was the happening place to be on a Friday night.

There was no sign of a recession in this place last night.  They may have served at least 450 people last night.  Each one a paying customer.  I doubt the average ticket was less than $20 per person.  I suspect it might have been at least a twenty thousand dollar night.  Not bad for a funky restaurant business out in the country.

If you own a small bagel shop, these kind of numbers may wick you off.  When my daughter selected this place to host the wedding and the rehearsal dinner, she was told they were booked in advance for four months.  That was seven months ago.  They still look to me like they are holding their own ground in the business of hosting wedding events.  It is obviously one of their specialties.

So many good ideas float around a business that has its capacity met on a regular basis.  This place does not seem to have any trouble filling up its doors with a full capacity crowd.  It had them standing in line, waiting to get in.  They did not seem frustrated with the length of the wait.  No sign of a bad economy here!

If you have read enough of my posts you will know by now that I do not believe in forming excuses to support a low level of income volume for the mere purpose of going along with being  part of the poor economic times we are facing.  I do not believe anyone needs to accept low production during tough economic times.  This business last night is my kind of business.  They do not accept the trappings a poor economy provides.  They, instead, violate how everything must slow down.  They have learned how to speed up during tough times.  What is your excuse?

This business model last night is obviously expanding its parking lot right now.  They have a current crew getting prepared to begin work on a neighboring plot to add paved parking for their increased guests.  No sign of a recession here.  The place was congested properly, filled comfortably and processed politely.  The complete staff handled 'busy' with a great deal of enthusiasm.  Enthusiasm was heavily encouraged.  Elbow deep in people to serve was not a problem, it was a joy.  The help, the movement to serve, the quickness in request response was well trained.  The patrons could easily carry on with their evening out and enjoy the experience without ever wondering why their request for more coffee had not arrived yet.  It was already on their table as if the servers were standing ten feet away to retrieve it when the request was made.  Spot on service.  No problems, all solutions.

I had fun.  Our section had fun.  The people I could see in my regional view were having fun.  All I could see was a special place, with special surroundings and special people serving the patrons that were out for the night looking for a good experience.  They found where that experience could happen.  It was worth waiting in line to enjoy.  Does this kind of patron response happen in your business model?  Apparently, it is still happening somewhere.  Why not your place of business?

If you learn how to give the customers a great experience, you will be rewarded with repeat activity.  The more you see the repeat activity, the more they will share what they have found with others they know.  The good experience will be shared.  As it gets shared and your model delivers what was promised by those who shared it with them, you win.  Confirmation occurs.  When your first time customer comes to 'inspect' how good you are and they receive enough to become confirmed, they will also add your business model to their routine of habits.  They will soon become another one of your quiet but effective net-workers that drive their circle of friends your way.  This is exactly how a great business model builds its customer base.  One satisfied lead after another.

Give your customers a great experience.  Make it your highest goal.  Today...walk into your place of business and truly look at it to see what kind of experience it gives you.  What do you see?  Is it interesting or is it boring?  Is it timely or does it need some updating?  Is it fun or is it dull.  Does it provide a good deal of interest or does it fade away as something not worth looking to see?  Does your place of business offer the patrons you serve a great place to come and see?  Look at it and tell the truth.  How does it measure up?  Go see the places that are filled every night with hundreds of customers.  Go to several of them in a short period of time and try to look for the way they make those places appear.  For some reason, the customers like what those places look like.  The appearances are attracting the masses.  Go see why.  This is not rocket science.  It is obvious when you go to see things in a different way.

I watched a simple Dairy Queen, small town restaurant make a huge appearance change recently.  They once had a very youthful, colorful interior design that honored smaller children and young families.  They had a theme that once worked well.  The traffic in that restaurant was less than what I would consider good.  I had not been inside that small town Dairy Queen restaurant for some time.  The other day my wife and I stopped in to get a small treat while we were travelling.  The inside of that place was remodeled.  It looked a lot like some upscale coffee shop now!  It had interest and new colors.  It had new lighting and 'coffee shop' design arrangements spread about.  I also had to wait in line to place my order and the seats were almost filled.  It was not dinner time!  I was pleased to see an owner make a change to improve their business traffic.  This was a whole new good experience.  This Dairy Queen was current, spot on in its recognition for where its customers wanted to be and the results were good for doing this change.  Maybe the owner took some time to look around to see what kinds of environments people were honoring.  The changes he made seemed to help generate new experiences for the customers to enjoy.  Dah!

Go take a few field trips.  Go to the places that own the most customers.  Look around at how they look, how they do what they do and how they maintain the high levels of good experiences they provide.  Get a good look at what the customers find interesting to support.  Do what the busiest people do.  Quit trying to invent the wheel that is already rolling.  For goodness sake, get your wheel out of the mud and dress it up with a long list of wonderful opportunities for the customer to experience.  Wake up.  Change what needs to be changed.  Get some help.  Allow your people to get involved.  Help them take possession of your new model of improved experiences.  Go to work to have fun.  I watched a lot of employees last night having a lot of fun.  It is infectious.  Their customers caught on and joined in.  Think about this kind of stuff.  Do something to add that kind of experience opportunity to your business model.  It will make a difference to the traffic you attract.

I am looking forward to going back.  One, to watch my daughter get married to a great guy.  Two, to know that they will have a memorable experience that will be secured by the place they selected to do that job.  It will be a good day and I am now confident they picked the right place to get married.  This is exactly how a good business model performs the work they perform well.  When the customer looks forward to going there, the business wins.  Create that work.  Create that place.  Create that environment.  Create that experience.

Until next time...