Restaurant Success Secret #6

Know Your Numbers.
Not just in your marketing, but in all the things that are important in your business.

Your operations actually measure your customer/guest experience.  How are your guests rating you?  Quantify it so you can constantly work on and improve it and your profitability.

Don’t forget the basics.  Don’t forget what made you successful.

Together with the marketing, you need to concentrate on an important feature:  to keep a customer database that you can market all these great ideas and keep all the pertinent information you gather on the guests you have now.

People are always infatuated about going out and getting new guests, which you need to do, but it’s not nearly as important or profitable as marketing to your existing guests.  You need to have ongoing communication with your existing guests; monthly newsletters, birthdays, anniversaries, thank you – a feedback system.  Monthly promotions of things that are going on.  This does not mean or have to be discounts.

It may mean something more expensive than you’re used to selling.  Perhaps a package dinner with wine, flowers, chocolates – something to take home.  Oftentimes this can be more expensive if you create a very exciting and compelling offer for your guests.

A really important characteristic of highly successful restaurant owners is that they look at all marketing in terms of return on investment, not cost.  They don’t worry if something costs $50 or $100 or $0.22 to mail out.  What they look at is - after expenses, how much money did I make by doing this promotion?  Cost becomes irrelevant.

What you focus on expands.  The more you focus on a negative, the more the negative will happen and the more you’ll think about it, the more negative your staff will get.  Don’t get emotional about your marketing.  Take the emotion out of the marketing.  Let the numbers speak for themselves.

You need to understand and look to see what is making you money.  Which marketing is working for your restaurant?  Keep up with the numbers.  Focus on it and watch your marketing success expand!

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