| PizzaPeel.com, Inc.™
May 19, 2001 Issue |
| The
Local Store Marketing Newsletter |
| A PizzaPeel.com, Inc.
Restaurant Marketing Newsletter |
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| IN THIS
ISSUE: |
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1) Today's Feature Article:
Marketing your Image
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2) Editor's Note -
PizzaPeel.com, Inc. Demonstration Software |
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3) Today's Quick Click
Specials - Pizza Marketing Quarterly, Restaurant Marketing and
QSR Magazine |
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|
Quick Clicks – Pizza Marketing Quarterly
PMQ is preparing to be your premier Local Store Marketing
Resource!
Get Free local store marketing ideas for your
business by visiting Pizza Marketing Quarterly. They've added multiple features to enhance your marketing
expertise, including the Think Tank Discussion Forum, Idea
Forum, and introducing the PMQ Newsroom.
Visit their site at http://www.pmq.com.
And don’t forget to visit the grand opening of the
first Pizza Industry Site featuring up to the minute coverage of
Pizza News and Events at http://www.pmqnews.com.
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| 1)
Marketing your Image
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| From the PizzaPeel.com eMail
Room! |
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| We
received an email from Steven Fischer with the following
comments:
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| “I own a small pizza takeout and delivery (with
about 4 small tables and chairs if customers wish to eat in my
store) in a town of about 12,000.
Our menu consists of pizza, subs, appetizers, etc. I just
can’t seem to get a lot of return business.
I’ve tried increasing advertising, but I have not seen
any impact in our sales. I’ve
heard word of mouth is the best advertising, but how do I get my
customers to talk about my store?
Any
suggestions would be appreciated!
Sincerely, Steven Fischer”
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I’ve received
several emails with basically the same laments.
To create an entire solution based off of Steven’s
limited information would not be possible, however from a local
store marketing standpoint, I can offer a few ‘free’
suggestions to improve customer relationships as well as sales
growth. |
| |
| In most cases, the
independent operator’s marketing budget can be quite limited,
and how to invest those marketing dollars requires crucial
planning as well as a clear understanding of the company’s
goals. However,
there are plenty of tools and concepts that require little or no
money to implement for the long term. |
| |
| Steven is correct in
the sense that word of mouth marketing is the most effective
means to market your store.
It is also free. However,
the content of what is being passed along via word of mouth
should be of the utmost importance to an operator!
What are your current customers saying to your potential
customers about your product, service, and image? |
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|
I’m not a
psychologist, but I’ve found in my restaurant experiences that
customers’ feedback, regarding their overall satisfaction, can
be broken down into one of three categories.
I’ve classified ‘Satisfaction’ into three parts: |
|
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| 1) Physical
Satisfaction – “Did we satisfy your physical hunger with a
Quality Product?” |
| 2) Intellectual
Satisfaction – “Did we satisfy your intellect by providing
you a dining experience at a reasonable price?” |
| 3)
Emotional Satisfaction
– “Did we satisfy your emotional needs by providing a
comfortable, clean, safe and enjoyable
ambience?” |
| |
| Assuming that
Steven’s product is phenomenal and the service is excellent,
the last piece of the “Big Three” qualities is cleanliness
or more importantly, Image, and how it relates to your
customer’s emotional dining experience. |
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| What is Image? |
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|
Quick Clicks – Restaurant Marketing Magazine
Find more Restaurant Marketing Information from
the publishers of Restaurant Marketing, at http://www.restaurant-marketing.net/.
Their site features excerpts from their publication,
ideas for increasing revenues, and special departments to give
you insight into marketing tips and techniques.
Visit their site at http://www.restaurant-marketing.net/ |
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| Image is the total
aesthetic impact that a store and its team members project to
the customer during their dining experience.
It is the customer’s perception of value during the
dining experience that pertains to emotional satisfaction.
Your goal should be to exceed your customer’s image
expectations, and foster an environment that your customer’s
will remember! |
| |
| I think cleanliness is
somewhat more black and white as far customer perception goes;
your store is both clean and sanitized or it is not.
It’s that simple.
But as far as image goes, we are delving into a grayer
zone of perception. |
| |
| The emotional
satisfaction of your customers really lie within the intrinsic
values of each person, however, there are several areas that we
can look at that most people look for in a pleasant dining
experience: |
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| Professionalism |
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| The ‘attitude’ and ‘look’ of you and your
team members makes all the difference in the world.
Your team should respect themselves as well as your
customers. Questions to ask about you and your team:
Are you team members well groomed and looking
professional? Limited Jewelry? Clean Shaven? Clean, pressed and complete
uniforms? Limited makeup/perfume?
“Can Do” attitude? |
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Safety |
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Feeling safe is an underlying need, and providing
a safe environment is important for legal as well as emotional
considerations. Is
your parking lot and store well lit?
Is your landscaping appropriate and trimmed?
Is your signage working properly?
Do you have the “Open” sign turned on?
Are all areas kept clear of hazards, i.e., spills,
mopping, ice… Fire doors clear for access and panic bars work
properly? “Exit”
signs well lit? Handicapped
areas marked, lit, and accessible? Video cameras in proper working order with backup rotation
in place? |
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Atmosphere
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The décor and condition of your dining room also
lends to your customer’s emotional experience.
Is the décor in need of restoration or replacement?
Carpet is cleaned regularly? All tile/floors/mats in
good, clean condition? Is
the temperature in the dining room at a comfortable level?
Dining room music at a reasonable level?
Are your tables, tablecloths, booths, chairs, menus,
shakers and condiment containers clean and sanitized?
Are you routinely inspecting your silverware and
glassware? Are your
plants watered routinely? How
often are you inspecting your restrooms and restocking supplies? |
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|
Quick Clicks – QSR Magazine
Get the latest Quick Service Restaurant news and
information at http://www.qsrmagazine.com.
Each issue highlights marketing and restaurant trends
within the Quick Service Restaurant industry.
Their site features the latest breaking news for national
and regional chains in the industry, as well as neighborhood
marketing, training, and restaurants in the spotlight!
Please visit http://www.qsrmagazine.com
for more information.
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| I’ve
recently returned home from traveling on business in Greensboro,
NC, and I’d like to share two experiences that relate to this
newsletter: |
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- I
had scheduled a two-week business trip in the Greensboro
area, and had found an extended stay hotel on the Internet.
The pictures of the hotel looked pleasing, and I made
reservations for my stay.
When I arrived in the late afternoon, I noticed that
the parking lot was littered with paper, the shrubbery was
growing up beyond the room windows, and that the glass doors
were covered with fingerprints. My intrinsic values are not as stringent as others, and I
basically overlooked these areas.
However, the hotel desk clerk sported two-day facial
growth and wore earrings, with the hoops about the size of
small oranges. I
checked in, opened the door to my room, and had found that
the room was not even cleaned from the prior guest.
I checked back out.
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- During
my business trips, I like to frequent local pizza operators.
I happened to spot a takeout outlet in a strip mall,
and the place looked interesting.
Curious as I may be, I went in to order dinner to
take back to my ‘new’ hotel.
I always like to order in person so that I have a
chance to ‘eye’ the operation.
Outside from the signage and the takeout menus on the
counter, I would have never known the name of this company.
The store looked average, hands were washed, and the
baseboards seemed clean.
However, the employees seemed to be going through the
motions as robots, and all were wearing different T-Shirts,
ball caps, and jeans.
Even the pizza boxes did not sport their company’s
name or phone number.
The pizza was excellent, but I sensed that there was
not a lot of consistency, teamwork or care.
Although the product was great, I did not feel
comfortable in the store, and from that emotional
experience, I would question whether a customer would return
to this store for a repeat visit.
|
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| In
summary, marketing your Image is crucial to building a recurring
customer base as well as developing new customers via word of
mouth.
If your customers do not experience all three levels of
satisfaction, i.e., physical, intellectual and emotional
satisfaction, they may choose not to visit your store again, and
that is the kind of word of mouth advertising you simply cannot
afford! |
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| ===========================================
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| 2) EDITOR'S NOTE |
| |
| PizzaPeel.com, Inc. is pleased to announce the release of our
FREE Local Store Marketing Guide Demonstration software package.
The Software is available for you to download and review.
You'll need to unzip our installation, and we recommend
WinZip (download a trial version of WinZip at http://www.winzip.com).
|
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| The Local Store Marketing Guide features the 7 Principles of
Local Store Marketing, Over 100 LSM Ideas, Training Agenda, Help
and Tips, Team Member/Partner/Planning Modules, and Reporting
Functions. The Planning Sheet is designed to allow the set up of
specific objectives, targets, and strategies, and the planning
of step-by-step activities.
Assign activities to team members, note promotional
materials required for each step, calculate labor dollars, labor
hours, and promotional items for your plans, and follow up with
target completion dates while holding your team accountable to
your goals.
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| |
|
Your may download the Local Store Marketing Guide or purchase
our sales building software for only $99.00 (US) at http://www.pizzapeel.com. |
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| We would like to thank all our
readers for reading our Network Newsletter. We hope you find
this information useful. |
| |
| Sincerely, |
| |
| Alan Nally |
| PizzaPeel.com, Inc. |
| Copyright
© 1999-2001 PizzaPeel.com™ All rights reserved |