From the desk of Jim Laube, www.RestaurantOwner.com

I told Bill and Joel they were crazy to do this, but they wouldn’t listen!

Why two of the leading restaurant consultants in the country are inviting you to their Birthday Party ... and why you should take advantage of them before they come to their senses.

I have known Bill Marvin and Joel Cohen for years. They are down-to-earth practical guys who know their stuff and present themselves well. I have a great deal of respect for their abilities (although personally, I have never thought they charged enough for what they did, but that has been their business ... at least until now.)

Recently they asked for my reaction to an idea they were working on. They wanted to put on a major hospitality industry event in Las Vegas on November 14 and 15, just a week before Thanksgiving. When I asked them why, they said it was their Birthday Bash.

Now all birthdays are special ... but some were more special than others. It seems that this November, both Bill and Joel celebrate significant birthdays -- Bill turns 60 on November 1st (yikes!) and Joel will be 57 on November 20th. I will grant you that 57 may not be quite as big a milestone as 60, but Joel thought he was turning 54 this year! Talk about a rude surprise ... and a poor memory! So this year is significant for Joel because it appears that his mind may be slipping! (Just kidding ... but I couldn’t resist!)

Anyway, this whole Birthday Bash idea sounded intriguing and I wanted to know more about what they had in mind. The first part of their answer made sense to me ... it was the last part that I thought was crazy ... but I will get to that in a minute.

Do you know about these guys?

First of all, in case you are not familiar with Bill and Joel, let me fill you in on these two.

Bill Marvin is known as The Restaurant Doctor for his ability to make restaurants healthier. He works with good operations that want to be great and with managers who want to get their lives back. He is a prolific author, a noted international speaker and a sought-after consultant in the areas of concept development and organizational effectiveness. You can learn more about him than you ever wanted to know at www.RestaurantDoctor.com.

Joel Cohen, the Wizard of WOW, is founder of the Cohen Restaurant Marketing Group and is a cutting-edge marketing authority specializing in the restaurant/hospitality arena. His major foodservice clients have included McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Popeye's, Golden Corral and Landry's Seafood Restaurants. His whole story is at www.RestaurantMarketing.com.

Bill is laid back and philosophical, Joel is high energy and in-your-face. Together, they have helped thousands of restaurants to develop and implement a sales-building direction that works!

Bill and Joel's Most Excellent Restaurant Marketing Birthday Bash ...

To celebrate their birthdays, Bill and Joel are teaming up again to share some of their most powerful ideas -- tools that will help you prosper in today's challenging economy, raise your level of service and set yourself apart from the competition. They filled me in on what they have in mind for their Birthday Bash and it promises to be a fast-paced program crammed full of politically incorrect, no-nonsense, proven ways to increase sales, bring your operation up a notch or two and generally get out of your own way!

Among other things, they promise:
You will learn secrets that can give you an unfair advantage over your competition.
You will discover new programs that will recharge your batteries ... and your bank balance.
You will receive hints to help you maximize profit from the approaching holidays.
you will take home tools that will help you prosper in the tough times that still lie ahead.
You will see new ways to set yourself apart from the competition.
You will understand how to create the "buzz" on the street.

Here is some of what you can expect in two power-packed days:

You will open your eyes to new marketing opportunities ...

Someone once told me that operators are really only interested in how to build sales. That may be a bit one-sided, but I suspect it is not far from the truth. Volume cures a number of ills ... and this program will give you enough marketing ideas to keep you and your staff hopping (and your registers ringing) for years to come.

Some of the ideas are conventional “blocking and tackling” that you should be doing already ... but probably aren’t. Some will relate to how to create the “WOW” for your guests and stimulate positive word-of-mouth on the street. Some will be counter-intuitive ideas that might just be the nudge you need to make you famous.

For example, when you think of marketing, do you think of how to sell the most product to the greatest number of people? Do you think the best way to build a following is to always give the guests what they want? If so, you may be working too hard and missing a golden opportunity.

If this sounds contrarian, you are going to love a totally new way to think of your business ... and some fresh insights on how to grow it. Among other things, this approach will show you:

How to create more revenue by actually offering less ... and making it harder to buy!
Three critical elements that will spell success or failure
How to break the boredom and pump new life into your operation (and your staff!)

But that is just one marketing angle. Perhaps you would prefer something more mainstream. You certainly need some help if your restaurant is getting a little stale. If you are stuck in the same-old/same-old ... if you and your staff are getting bored with what you do every day ... I can guarantee that your guests are getting bored ... and boring restaurants can’t compete. Perhaps one (or all) of these ideas will help you break free:

Dozens of no-cost/low cost ways to increase your sales
How to up your WOW quotient and become more memorable to your guests
How to get people talking about you ... and saying what you want them to say

Perhaps your focus these days is on the possibilities offered by the Internet and other means of electronic marketing. Joel will show you what you need to know to put the power of these new media to work for you ... and avoid the pitfalls that have cost uninformed operators thousands of dollars in wasted money trying to get it right. Among other things, he will de-mystify the process and bring you up to speed on:

How to make your website accountable for increasing sales
How to develop a knockout sales-building plan in 90 seconds
How to develop an efficient, simple e-mail program that increases sales

You will discover new ways to build sales ...

No matter how you cut it, there are really just a half dozen ways to build sales. All six ways will work, but five of them are foolproof, inexpensive, work well and can be implemented quite easily ... while one is costly, risky, difficult to evaluate and only marginally effective. Guess what approach most operators take when volume starts to slip?

In this no-nonsense session, you will examine the pros and cons of all six sales-building techniques. You will learn proven secrets that will help you put more money in your pocket and open your eyes to the realities of growing volume in the real world. Among other things, you will understand:

Why the way most people try to build sales is the poorest choice of the lot
The hidden dangers of the second most common approach and how to avoid them
The two sales-building tricks that most people never even think of
How your staff can drive double-digit increases ... without costing you a dime!
The guaranteed source of new business that is off the radar of most of your competitors

You will see how to squeeze more profit from your menu ...

Your menu is a primary sales tool ... but most could use a little sharpening. Are you really getting the most bang for your buck? Could a menu make-over put thousands of extra dollars in your pocket? Would you like to find out? Bring a copy of your current menu and follow along as Bill and Joel show you:

Three common menu mistakes that may be costing you thousands each month
How to actually lower your average check and increase profitability
A guaranteed way to double your dessert sales immediately
The magic phrase that increases staff productivity and sales
How to double your bottom line profit without materially raising prices

You will learn how to get the right people ... the first time ...

There is nothing worse than a successful promotion for a bad experience. Even the best marketing ideas need a good crew to pull them off and deliver on the promise. To look at marketing without considering who will represent your business ... who will turn new guests into regulars ... who will take as much interest in the success of your business as you do ... is just asking for trouble. That is why we will not let you leave without some new ideas on how to get the staff you need to pull it all off.

The quality of your staff determines your level of guest service and produces your sales volume. The quality of your staff impacts all your principal operating costs. The actions of your staff determine how successful you will be at giving a great experience to all the new people who will discover your place as a result of applying the marketing ideas you will learn in this program.

As a break from the relentless deluge of marketing ideas this program will bring to you -- and it will be a deluge -- Bill will share a few key components of his staff selection system that will help you start improving the quality of your crew with your very next hire. You will learn:

The six factors that can make you the most sought-after employer in town
Proven recruiting techniques that will bring you more of the kind of people you need
How to be sure every applicant receives a positive first impression of your operation
A guaranteed way to get 50% of job applicants to screen themselves out
How to separate great workers from applicants who just "give good interview"
The four qualities of all successful foodservice workers ... and how to identify them in 60 seconds

This is a lot of information ...

It is ... and this is just a sample of what lies in store for you at the Birthday Bash in Las Vegas. Don’t worry that you will get buried in ideas and not know where to start. Bill and Joel will help you develop your own customized plan of action before you leave ... and they will follow up with you to see that you actually do what you say you will do. The Universe rewards action and they want to be sure that something changes for the better as a result of your attending this session.

So that's what they have in mind for you if you are fortunate enough to get one of the limited seats for their Birthday Bash. I doubt that you can find a better source of insights anywhere in the industry. Still, I know that your time is valuable and that you do not give it up easily. By now you should be convinced that the content is there but you might still be wondering if you should sign up. I will look at that question next ... because that is where the crazy part comes in.

You might have preferred another date ...

You may recall that this program is being held on Monday and Tuesday, November 15-16. When I questioned Bill and Joel about why they chose a date so close to Thanksgiving, they told me that it was as near as they could come to their respective birthdays. (Remember, this is a birthday thing.)

It seems that on November 1st Bill will be in Peru exploring the Inca ruins at Machu Picchu. He calls it his Fall Planning Retreat. I call it a good excuse. But he will not be back in the country until November 6th, so whatever is going to happen has to occur after that ... and since Bill’s #60 will never happen again, it this year or never.

Joel’s birthday falls on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, so the rest of the month is effectively gone. That leaves November 15-16 as about the only time available. As an old waitress once told me, “You have two choices, honey: take it or leave it. What’ll you have?”

OK. Here is why I thought they were crazy ...

After hearing everything they planned to offer, I naturally assumed -- as perhaps you have -- that the Birthday Bash would carry a hefty price tag. I knew that their Year of the Guest and Odd Couple Workshops were priced at $347 for a one-day event and were very well-attended. Bill's annual Super Summit commands a price tag of upwards of $2500. So I was thinking that for nearly two days of proven strategies and insider secrets, I was thinking that a fair price would be $500-600, maybe more.

I was shocked when they said they wanted to offer this entire program for just $100 per person!

It was lunacy! I wondered aloud whose "brilliant" idea it was to give away their best ideas for next to nothing when they obviously could charge a lot for the information ... and was doubly shocked to learn that it was Joel’s suggestion! (I warned you that his mind was going ...)

I gave them dozens of good reasons not to do it: nobody else in the industry would ever give away this much for this little ... they might have trouble charging full price for events in the future ... people might not feel that anything this cheap could have any real value ... my rational mind was going full speed.

But all my lobbying fell on deaf ears. Bill said that birthdays were the time for presents and since the industry had been so generous in its support of them over the years, they wanted to turn the tables and give a birthday present back to the industry -- in other words, to you!

Ever the accountant, I pointed out that restaurant people are fickle. At a price this low, they might sign up and then just not show up. There is a real limit on the number of people who can fit into the room and when you allow for the no-show factor ... well, I was concerned that there were some real economic dangers in their plan. Presents are fine, but I didn’t want either of them to volunteer for a financial blood-bath.

I guess I finally got through, at least a little bit, because they finally acknowledged that they really did have to know how many people would be attending so they would not over-book the room. After all, they did not want to refuse reservations and then have no-shows.

I thought that it only made sense to require a nominal seat guarantee deposit of $200 a person to hold a place in the program. Joel agreed, but only with the understanding that $100 of the deposit money would be returned when people actually showed up. Overly generous ... but fair enough.

So if you sign up -- and you really should -- you agree to pay $200 to hold each seat that you want ... and that if you reserve a seat and do not attend the Birthday Bash, no matter what the reason, you will forfeit the deposit. If that should happen, you also agree to be a big person and not whine about it! In turn, Bill and Joel agree to give you $100 back if you show up and a $200 credit toward any of their products and services if you don't show up.

I was still looking for the catch ...

Bill and Joel are smart guys but I still thought they were a little over the top. How did they think they were going to come out ahead on a deal like this? They told me not to worry. Their experience told them that when serious operators identify an area where it is possible to make material improvements in their operations, serious operators will want to take action ... and they will want to get started sooner rather than later.

Then I started to understand. Between them, Bill and Joel have developed an extensive library of proven resources that can help interested owners and managers to go deeper into any of the areas they were going to talk about -- resources that would help these folks implement profitable changes faster and more easily. When serious operators found out what was available to help them, I was sure that most of them would certainly want to get their hands on some of it.

Bill summed it up nicely for me. "The Bash will make people aware of what is possible and show them how they can get those results," he said. "Of course we will let them know what aids are out there that can help them to save time and make money -- we may even make a few Birthday Bash offers they can't refuse -- but whether they decide to take advantage of us or not is entirely their call."

(To inject a personal note, I have seen their material and it is first-rate. Perhaps they are not as crazy as I thought!)

Bill and Joel may be nuts, but that doesn't mean that you should be crazy enough to miss the Bash ...

You would expect to pay an arm and a leg for the Birthday Bash -- and it would be worth it -- but when the program is only $100 ... well, I only hope that you have enough sense to reserve your seats before the room is sold out.

Bring your key staff members -- at this price, you can afford it. Take a few extra days and make it a (tax deductible) mini-vacation before the madness of the holiday season is upon you. There are some amazing restaurant ideas to see in Las Vegas, the sun is warm, the golf courses await and perhaps a casino is calling your name. Remember: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas!

Oh, and in case you are thinking about putting your decision off until later ...

Bill and Joel will only let you register for $100 until Friday, November 5th. After that, it is going to cost you $200 (although truthfully, the odds of any seats being left at that point is just about zero! $200 is still a small fraction of the $500-600 that I still think they should charge ... but why pay $200 when you can come for half that just by making what should be an easy decision?

So now it is up to you. At first I thought these guys had lost their grip on reality, but this is going to be one amazing Birthday Bash and as long as they are willing to practically give it away, you would be crazy to miss it. The seating is limited and the available spots are nearly gone. In fact, as of October 25th, they had 144 people registered ... and the room will only hold 150. Obviously the word is out. You would be well-advised not to wait any longer.

Reserve your seats online by clicking on the button below. If you prefer not to register online or if you have questions, send an e-mail to Joel or call him in Raleigh at (919) 848-1253.

But whatever you do, BE THERE. Do not let this opportunity slip away. Reserve your seats now while you can still get them and work out the details later. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

Jim Laube
www.RestaurantOwner.com

PS #1: You will learn more ways to grow your business and upgrade the quality of your operation at this seminar than you could ever learn in a lifetime on your own. Bill and Joel have done all the work for you. Don't miss out.

PS #2: For planning purposes, the Birthday Bash will run from 8:00am to 5:00pm on Monday. You are then free to check out the great restaurants of Las Vegas ... but you will have a homework assignment. On Tuesday, the group will meet until 1:00pm, so if you have to catch a plane for the east coast you can still get home that night.

PS #3: The guys said that this is their birthday party and they will decide who they want to play with. The Birthday Bash $100 invitation extends only to restaurant owners, managers and staff members (and those who are about to become one of those.) The information, secrets and techniques they will present in this program are far too valuable to share with other consultants, PR/marketing firms or advertising agencies for cheap. However, they realize that people have to learn somewhere ... so if you wish to attend and you are not presently engaged in actual foodservice operations (or are not actively in the process of developing a foodservice operation), the fee to attend the Birthday Bash is a non-refundable $997 -- still a bargain.

PS #4: There are some particularly low airfares to Las Vegas at the moment. Check with your travel agent, go online at www.orbitz.com, www.priceline.com, www.hotwire.com, www.expedia.com or browse your favorite airline’s website.

PS #5: The program will be held at the Atrium Suites Hotel (formerly the Crowne Plaza) at 4255 South Paradise Road. Located next door to the Hard Rock Hotel and just two blocks from the Las Vegas Strip, the hotel is in the heart of the Vegas action, but provides a more intimate experience. You can relax by the pool or in the hot tub, lounge in the sauna or work out in the fitness center. Rooms feature a coffee maker, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, refrigerator, cable television and more. The hotel offers a business and conference center, a restaurant, bar, NO casino ... and all hotel guests can catch the complimentary airport shuttle. As of this writing, rooms at the Atrium Suites Hotel were available online for only $90 a night at www.hotels.com.

PS #6: DO NOT pass up this opportunity. Reserve your seats today while it is still fresh in your mind ... and certainly before November 5th!