I have the tendency to rollover.
I remember in my infancy in this business, I would stand strong on all coupons, and consequently we would loose allot of customers, from my unwillingness to bend.
My Supervisor at the time had gotten a few calls about it, and he sat me down and told me this.
Take every coupon!!! Don’t look at the expiration, Don’t worry about the discount…if the customer is using a Subway coupon to buy Pizza, Great!!!
Simply put you might have 200, maybe 400 customer a week. Only about 1 to 2% of them will pull this routine on you, the rest of our customers are pretty normal.
So you make money off the 98% and you pay the light bill on the remaining 2%.
Your perception is… its not worth it to serve this crazy crack pot pizza at a discount. But what I have found, is that this crack pot is usually your most vocal patron, and he usually promotes you more than the other 98%, and if you stand strong on a coupon and rub him the wrong way, you will probably loose more than just his business.
The funny thing is… its usually the 50% off coupon buyer, who turns around and tips 50%(you know buys a $20 pizza for $10 bucks, and tips $5. bucks) and then you think. GOOFY!!!
A customer for life…
The average customer lives to be 76
Probably orders twice a week in his 20’s(Party on Garth), every other week in his 30’s(spends all money on diapers), twice a week in his 40’s(darn kids), every other week in his 50’s, every third week in his 60’s, and once a month in his 70’s.
So you figure.
20’s 1040 orders
30’s 260 orders
40’s 1040 orders
50’s 260 orders
60’s 170 orders
70’s 72 orders
at an average of $20. per order that’s $56,840 per customer over his lifetime. If he gets you for 50% every time, that still $28,420… I’ll take a 1000 of those customers anytime.
Don’t risk burning a customer over a stupid coupon. You’ll make your profit on the next customer.