ELECTRONIC HOUSE CALL - October 10, 2003

Fall is definitely settling in on Washington ... and I like it! This is really my favorite season of the year -- crisp air, a little rain (hey, we have a reputation to maintain!) and a chance to break out the sweaters again. Fall is also a time for settling in and getting serious -- the run up to the end of the year ... the last chance to make everything come out right.

For you it should involve laying the groundwork to get the most you can from the holiday season. This means thinking about booking holiday parties, selling gift certificates, making sure you don't get short-staffed with last-minute vacations, decorating for holiday after holiday (Halloween is only three weeks away!) and generally getting ready to make the money while it is there to make.

Of Course We Can!
I recently received this note from Patrick Griswold, owner of Pizzi Cafe in Conneaut, Ohio. He writes: "This morning I happened to be standing in front of the restaurant when a customer rode by and stopped when he saw me. He mentioned he once saw a old tin sign hanging in our bar with six or eight British bobbies sitting on a bench and hoisting beers. Being a retired policeman he always liked the sign and wondered what happened to it. I didn't recall the sign but I told him I would follow up on it."

"Turns out it fell victim to one of our redecorating projects. So I went to the basement and after looking for a few minutes found it in a stack of old beer signs. I knew the customer lived just a few blocks away so I jumped in my vehicle and took it to him. He was so happy I thought he would cry. He offered money which I refused. I ran a few errands and returned to my office. My secretary immediately advised me the same customer had just called and ordered sixty $10 gift certificates for each tenant in his rental property."

A Note from the Doc:
What goes around comes around. Stories like this get me all choked up -- what a wonderful way to say "Thank you" and really do something that touches another human being. Look for these opportunities. Treasure these opportunities. Act on them when they show up and don't hesitate, even for a minute. The long term rewards are far beyond the effort involved ... and the short term rewards can be pretty interesting as well!

PS: Patrick attended the last Super Summit and reports that his sales have increased by 70% as a result. If that sounds like your idea of a good time, take a look at what we have in mind for Super Summit 2004 in January.

Click here for more on Super Summit 2004.

Marketing on "Hold"
What do people hear when you have to put them on "hold?" If it is dead silence or a local radio station, you are missing a marketing opportunity. More and more savvy operators have replaced the elevator music with well done promos for their various products and services.

Do you do catering? How many people who call in for a dinner reservation know that? Do you have a special event coming up? How about a really super special offer that you would only know about if you had been put on "hold" long enough to hear about it?

Being placed on hold is increasingly a fact of life. The question is how you are going to make it a way to stand out from your competition.

See You in Raleigh?
The Year of the Guest workshop, High Energy 2003, is coming up quickly -- Raleigh, NC on Monday, October 27th to be precise. Will you be there? I sent you a note about it yesterday telling you how you could be there without paying any money up front -- truly an offer you should not be able to refuse. But your eagerness to respond may depend on your past experience with other workshops. For example, I got a note today from an operator in Hawaii who had the following opinion:

He writes: "I must admit paying to go to a boot camp type meeting where I expect to be told the problems I know I already face and be told a few hundred dollars more will get me more paper with "all the solutions" to these problems is not appealing."

My response: "... which is why we don't do it that way. (Sounds like you have been through all this before and had a bad experience.) In contrast to the typical boot camp model, this session is all meat -- all proven programs and approaches with enough detail so that you can implement them yourself when it is done. I have a terrific staff selection system that can help you out a lot but that is about the only product we will allude to ... and you would be motivated to purchase it only if you want to go farther than you can with the pieces I will give you for nothing."

If Raleigh does not work for you, the final session will be in Seattle -- actually Gig Harbor, my home town -- on November 10th. Whichever program you attend, we guarantee that you will come away with ideas that can make you a ton of money, even in this economy ... and if you don't agree, you pay nothing!

Click here for more information on these workshops.

The Perpetual Question
What did you learn from your staff today?

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