It’s been said that there are only three ways to increase your business’ revenue: sell more to your existing customers, increase the size of each sale to your customers and of course…sell to more customers.
Many businesses focus on the last method and darned near ignore the other two.
But not Norma’s.
The night before junior’s college registration and related activities, we decided to hit the beach for the evening and while there, get some dinner.
We’d been on the road all day and probably had a little white line fever, so a nice, relaxing sit-down dinner was just what the doctor ordered.
After reaching the beach at Seaside, Oregon, we wandered all over the downtown waterfront area trying to find just the right spot for dinner.
Norma’s caught our eye with outstanding reviews and a series of wins in the local clam chowder contest, so we left the rest of the short list for future visits and put our names on the list for a table.
Speaking of the clam chowder, everything in the place left the impression that you’d be nuts not to order a bowl of it.
Chowdah
I grew up in a rural valley that very much resembles the Flathead Valley (in fact, that’s one reason why we’re here). My parents were into seafood so they took us crabbing and to the beach enough that we had seafood fairly often.
As a result, I’ve had my fair share of good and not-so-good clam chowder. It’s not a dish I often find as a featured menu item here in the valley, but at Norma’s they promoted it as if only the criminally insane would pass up a bowl.
Far be it from me to be a problem customer, so the three of us went along with their “evil” plan.
When it arrived, it looked tasty. While it wasn’t as hot as I’d like, the chowder was still pretty good. Despite that, I was left a little disappointed because of the buildup they’d given it as to-die-for, must-have chowder.
Basically, I expected *amazing* after all the build-up. Not just good, but amazing. The chowder wasn’t a disappointment and I didn’t feel ripped off.
Taste aside, what they had wisely done (by knowing their market) was sell three cups of chowder, adding almost $10 to the ticket. I suspect that this was not unusual for a table at their place and it clearly raised their ticket average nicely. Multiply that by x tables a night all year long and you’ve got something.
What are you doing to make that extra revenue per ticket (or per sale, if you aren’t happen on each ticket at your business?
I absolutely do NOT mean that you should develop ways to pad a sale. Instead, you should be strategically seeking ways to add value to what you provide – for the betterment of the customer’s experience. You wouldn’t sell someone a gallon of paint and send them home without asking if they have brushes and rollers, right?
This is no different, no matter what you sell. Now that you have that under control, don’t forget about the other two methods I mentioned for increasing sales.
Expectations
The rest of the meal was good but not wow.
With all the review kudos on the outside wall (and not just for the chowder), I expected more than good enough to come back (it was). I expected that this would be the sort of place that would provoke me to drive 100 miles round trip during visits to see my son at college. It didn’t quite get there.
Don’t get me wrong, Norma’s was good. But it wasn’t wow, and that’s the expectation they set as you entered – and not just for the chowder.
So that brings the question back to your business.
What expectation is your business setting with new and returning customers? Once you succeed in setting it, do you deliver on it?
Next, what can you do to turn it up a notch?
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a business, operations or marketing problem? See Mark’s site or contact him via email at mriffey at flatheadbeacon.com.