What Aren’t I Seeing? You Won’t See the Things that You Take for Granted!

It can be easy to think that your customers are driven by price or that branded products are safe to eat, but as the chart above shows these can vary in different markets. I interpret the data to show the lower the score the more it is taken for granted.

The things that we have previously taken for granted have the potential to change over time and we need to be able to check and when this happens adjust our behaviour and our business. Over the last three years we have seen increased pressure and disruption to what is normal, so we may need to reconfirm our offering is what customers are now wanting. This is best done by redefining your customer profiles and doing a proper survey of your existing and potential customers.

If your business is trading strong and profitably, you just need to keep connected. But if your business is in stress, you may need to move quickly and redefine your available market and create a new offer.

For example, after the 1987 share market crash, there was a significant reduction in restaurant patronage and consequently restaurants. People had become used to socialising out of their own house or office and didn’t want to give that up. After the initial period of liquidations and shutdowns, we started to see an influx in small cafes with coffee bean roasteries in them. This continued through the nineties, with some of them growing into coffee bean empires -L’Affare, Allpress, Havana, etc. This provided people with the opportunity to have a few hospitality experiences in the same week (coffee and a muffin) for about $5.50.

Actions that allow you to see what you might be missing:

Keep your business simple so you can focus your available attention on the key measurements, keep them in constant sight, and take nothing for granted. If you have a business, you need to be tracking the following three things: sales; cost of goods and labour, at least weekly; and most importantly, focus your resources on improving each of them. Continue to review your monthly P&L to make sure you are managing your other costs and profit.

Don’t ever take your customers for granted, make sure they know how important they are to your business! Make it personal and reward them when they are loyal. Give them a reason to recommend you, to bring their friends, and recognise them when they do.

Regularly ask your staff, what are the three most important things they hear customers talking about? Great if they are specifically to what they like or don’t like about your business, but regardless of what they are, your business can be involved in the big agenda feedback.

Let’s say you run a café, and multiple people are talking about your background music, what is out of stock, or their feelings toward the pending election. Actions that connect you with your customers:

1. Change the music at a specific time of the day and run a customer feedback competition (make it fun and experimental).

2. Better communicate the out of stocks with a positive replacement recommendation and solution.

3. Embrace the election by promoting what your election policies are – We will give better customer service in 2024, supported with better informed small talk while you wait for your coffee, NO increased coffee tax, and a bigger commitment to recycling initiatives.

When we aren’t getting the outcome that we want and don’t know why, be prepared to ask the hard questions. When you are open to talk about the elephant in room, you will encourage your customers and staff to talk more honestly and give you the information that you can’t otherwise see.