ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - March 4, 2000

NICKEL AND DIME TIME
My mail was running about 101 in support of the idea I expressed last week that hotels (and all of us, for that matter) would do our customers a favor not to continually tap them for little expenses (like toll-free calls). I did receive a very complete response making the case for why "free" calls are really not free (the cost of the system the hotel has to install, etc.) and while I appreciate the case, my responses overwhelmingly suggest that the practice angers a lot of people.

My point still holds -- raise the room rate (more than) enough to cover the cost of the calls and don't charge for 800 calls. You will make more money and avoid irritating the guests. How many lines you need to do it is a management decision but I say that Job One is making the guest happy and until, and unless, that is happening, none of the rest of it matters. Of course, that is just my opinion. I could be wrong! -)

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
Alan Somek <BizcoachAS@aol.com> writes:
Do you know of any restaurants delivering upscale ready to eat food in large quantities and being very successful at it? I am a GM of two upscale restaurants and was thinking that this could be a way to increase volume if promoted smartly. I am looking for anyone who's done this.

If you have any ideas, please contact Alan directly with a copy to me.

A note from the Doc:
I was consulting with a table service restaurant in Arkansas last week that had a drive-up window. They did about 40% of their sales in take-out, enabling a respectable sales volume from a small number of seats. This may be something to consider in your next remodeling.

PROFIT PLANNING
Finally, my friend Howard Black of Neighbor's Bright Star Drive-In Grill in Mt. Holly, NC is always good for some practical marketing ideas. Here is one of his latest posts:

I make up an advertising calendar for the year. Each month I decide what specials I'm going to have and ideas that I want to push to the customer. I try to work holidays and special events into the mix. Along with this I decide for each month what payroll I'm going to need/use, but I justify the payroll expense by backing it up with my plan. I've found that there are months that I really push hard, my better months of April, May, June, October, November and December. The other months I scale back my plans and my payroll.

I once had a manager that had a saying, "you've got to make hay while the sun shines!"...simply, I try to build my sales, through a plan and when I know that I'm going to have the most exposure to the customer. Then in our slower months I let my success carry me through those periods.

A note from the Doc:
The advantage of a plan, no matter what it looks like, is that it keeps you focused and saves a lot of wasted energy . . . probably a lesson I could stand to learn as well!

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