Ask Kamron Karington a Question

Years ago, I purchased your Black Book Of Marketing. I gleaned alot from your resources (but at times admittingly caved to local price wars because that’s what our franchise tends to do). At that time, I had two stores that were doing well (doubled sales revenues), but not like the big three. I felt I had no choice but to compete on price! Since we are technically not an independent (but a Dominos “wanna be”), it’s very difficult to differentiate ourselves and create our USP. I believe our pizza is better, however, than Dominos and Papa Johns, but since it’s a Delco, it’s viewed as second rate from many in the community. I’ve tried catchy slogans (“Pizza So Good It’s Addictive”), redesigned our operation and building, rolled out service guarantees, etc. in order to try to compete since our franchise is extremely weak in all areas of marketing and promotion. Fast forward, I sold one of my stores in 2007 and still have one in an area with average household incomes of only $32,000 (population ~ 5000 by a town of 37,000). I am still tempted to give steep discounts because it’s a lower income area. Any advice? I have been tempted to sell and pursue a more successful franchise? I appreciate your advice! --Darren
 
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Darren,

Sorry… haven’t checked in for a while…

I said: “Gourmet - delivered” and charged accordingly. But with 32k incomes… price shopping is just a reality for you…

That’s why I advise all businesses to get a loyalty program (mine, someone elses, do your own, but get one).

People focus more on how many points they are earning versus what they are spending… now, that won’t be true for all… but it will make a huge difference for you.

It will also reduce your marketing costs… win/win for you and your customers…

And check out what you can do with a 30/60-day lost customer strategy:

http://www.repeatreturns.com/?view=tour … omer-saver

KK
 
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Kamron,
when i advertize my pos allows me to see what the deal brought in - amount of offers redeemed, cash brought in, total order discount, amount of addl sales on top of the offer (they got extra salad, dessert, soda), how many of redemptions were new customers. What pos is not telling me and this is the most important number i m interested in is - out of those new customers that this particular advertizement brought in - how much in sales they brought me over say 1 year? (not just including original offer they redemeed), but how much these new customers brought in since they became customers… so if i spent 300 in local newspaper ad and it only got me 3 new customers who spent 50 dollars on week the ad came out, but a year later because they became loyal customers they spent at my store 1500 - it made it a good advertizement, but my pos can not show me that, cause all will show is that on 300 spent i generated 50 dollars worth of sales. my question to you is - is there a pos on a market that gives me this feature? (the feature of knowing lifelong value of particular customer and knowing which advertizing source brought this particulat customer in)
 
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Boston 09 - Most POS systems have integrated loyalty programs these days. Assuming you get the guest enrolled in the loyalty program, this system will give you exactly what you want. So will ANY loyalty program, but it sounds like you want a one-stop-shop.
 
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Boston, all POS systems technically have that information available (in some sort of data) as long as you are somehow linking the order to a customer (like with a phone number.)

Getting the information out of a data set and into a usable format is done with a report. I’ve never seen a POS come with a stock report for what you are asking, but I’ve written a report that does exactly what you are seeking for my POS (Point of Success.)

I enter in the coupon code and it will tell me every customer that used that coupon on their first order with us, how much they’ve subsequently spent, and what their lifetime value is. If you happen to be a Point of Success user I will gladly share it with you.
 
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guys, instead of saying “any loyalty program” please just name one and i ll look into it, because all of loyalty programs i came across - none had ability to do such report. Piper, i am glad that point of success pos has ability to pull such report. i have foodtec and it cant. the best way i can think of is when i have customer using “that” offer for the first time and i am putting him into my pos - when i put his name, instead of Michael Clark, i would put him as Michael Clark 01, and then i would assign 01 to the end of the name of all customers i acquired with “that” particular marketing tool. actually i would have to put him in as 01Michael Clark, so that at a later point i can sort all customers alphabetically to view how many customers with 01 i have and how much they have spent say last year. i understand thats sort of stone age approach, but the only one i can come up with so far that gives me what i want without switching pos. Kamron, is it a possibility to create such report in repeat returns? and i know few years ago i couldnt have that swimmimg screen with repeat returns in foodtec, did anything change? thank you all for contributing to this thread Dominick
 
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boston09:
Piper, i am glad that point of success pos has ability to pull such report. i have foodtec and it cant.
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Point of Success doesn’t have the ability to pull a report like that - I made the report myself (their report designer is open to the user). The point of my post was just to indicate that any POS system has the information available in the database, you just need a report to pull it.

So in a roundabout way, I was suggesting that you contact your POS provider to see if they can make the report for you. Does Foodtec offer custom report services?

I use Repeat Returns, and it’s freakin’ awesome. But it won’t do what you’re looking for. RR has no idea what offer a customer used when they ordered, or when they became a customer.
 
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Sorry, been a while since I’ve been in here…

The age old question… I wish I could help but I’m not familiar with POS tracking and reporting.

And yes… Repeat Returns can track lifetime spend (even grab customers back and start them spending again if they disappear) but only after the customer is on the program.
 
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Kamron Karington:
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We have 2 pizzerias within the family business. We do plan on more in the future. The customer base is very different and market challenges between the 2 areas are very different. Traditionally we have the same specials and coupons that can be used interchangeably between stores. Each store does have its own online ordering menu. We’re looking at the possibility of a store specific and even day-specific special or coupon to boost sales on Saturday nights at one of the stores. Our stores are pick up/delivery and the competition for this one store is every chain restaurant known to man all of which offers traditional sit down meals. Would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
 
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Excellent idea to use store-specific offers. You’ll find that you get more lift that way.

Take a peek at this video:

…it’ll help you zero in on “what” to promote. Same goes for offers… what pulls in the cash? Do more of that.
 
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Hi Kamron, we have been open for a year and have done pretty well meeting out sales goals. Lately, our Mondays and Tuesday’s sales have been about $100 lower than ideal. We’re about to print another round of postcards and are considering promoting a permanent Monday and Tuesday special. Our large 1 topping is usually $11.25, and we’re thinking about doing $8.99 large one toppings on those days. I like the idea of having relatively higher prices Bc I don’t want to compete in the lowest price arena. Do you think this mon & tues special will have a negative impact, or is it a good strategy?
 
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A few things…

Making a naturally busy night (like Friday - Saturday) even busier… is easier than pumping up a naturally slow night. So, if you need a few hundred extra bucks a week… think about how you can increase sales overall without getting too fixated on which particular night the money comes in.

I’ve liberated many owners by convincing them to open at 4 instead of beating their head against the wall for another year trying to make lunch pay off. If you don’t have a profitable lunch business… and you’re not geographically positioned around a starving lunch crowd… ditch it and quit frustrating yourself.

That said: You won’t see any difference between $8.99 and $9.99… so go with the higher number.

Pick one night and test your lower price special… but don’t start with two nights.

You mention postcards… a good way to get initial traffic… but you MUST get customers into an email VIP program… it will slash your marketing costs while speeding up your ability to reach cash-in-hand buyers any time you need to.

Are you doing anything serious with Facebook? Because you could test your Tuesday night thing as a Facebook-only offer… and encourage customers to share with friends…
 
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hey kam
i just opened my first pizza shop in dc. it was a dead location which i had hoped to turn around in few months. we are averaging 450 sales daily 12-15 k monthly. im hoping to double that number. in a few months to survive. i have lots of business offices and schools near by. i have visited many but i am unable to capture there business. i dont know whats wrong. i visit in person introduce my self and
bring along menus for them. however im not getting there business. am i not getting to the right person or what because i know the do order from somewhere. well what im asking is how do i stand out and speak to the proper person in charge. any help is much appreciated. thx
frustrated and worried
 
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What’s wrong is that these businesses already have established patterns. You are an unwelcome distraction with a self-serving message: “Buy my pizza because I need your money.”

Anybody walking in with menus in hand… is viewed mostly as a pest. The menus end up in the trash, or at best, a drawer - forgotten.

The best walk-in promotion we ever did went like this: We bought some cheap but nice looking over-sized coffee mugs, filled them with Hershey Kisses… and slid a few menus in each cup… and walked them into businesses… We were greeted with smiles and appreciation… and comments like “oh, that’s so sweet of you.”

Anyway… this gives you a stage to make your pitch. Be honest: We are new to the neighborhood and would love a chance to earn your business." Offer to deliver one free pizza during lunch…

The other method we used was to simply show up at lunchtime with free pizzas and menus. Now, that’s a welcome surprise!

Both landed ongoing business - and were well worth the small cost. Just figure it as a marketing budget item.

Either way, you’ll break through the clutter - quick.

Target hospitals, call centers, doctor offices, mom-n-pop businesses (where they can’t leave for lunch)… real estate offices, etc.

It’s not easy… but needs to be done… over and over and over again.
 
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