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The charcuterie board
at White sh Handcrafted Spirits, a sample of chef’s choice cheeses and meats.
GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
White sh Handcrafted Spirits will also be o ering a ne selection of cigars that Danette said cannot be found anywhere else in Montana.
But the highlight of White sh’s newest establishment will be its spirits. Once the nal permits are in hand, the distillery plans on produc- ing a selection of whiskeys, gins and rums. Serving up those drinks will be mixologist Cory Ceballos, who previously worked in Vail, Colorado.
Distiller Adam Tunnell said it’s an exciting time to be opening a dis- tillery in the Flathead Valley; just a few weeks ago Spotted Bear Spirits opened up in downtown White sh.
“The craft movement is just so
huge right now, with craft beer, craft spirits and even craft cheese,” he said. “We’re really getting in on the ground oor right now.”
Danette said they’re looking for- ward to becoming a gathering place for the community, especially in summer, when their spacious patio opens up.
“I just can’t wait to see people having fun and enjoying themselves here,” she said.
White sh Handcrafted Spirits is located at 204 Wisconsin Ave. in White sh. For more information and current hours, visit www.white- shspirits.com.
jfranz@ atheadbeacon.com
TRANSACTIONS
WEEKLY BUSINESS BRIEFING
NEW PIZZA PLACE TO OPEN IN COLUMBIA FALLS
Diners in Columbia Falls will soon have a new pizza option, now that Russ and Kim Sikorsky are nearly ready to open their new restaurant venture on Nucleus Avenue.
North Fork Pizza should open in the next few weeks, serving up a menu that obviously focuses on pizza but also includes appetizer and salad options as well. The Sikorskys are the former own- ers of Jersey Boys Pizzeria in White sh.
“It’s going to be a nice simple menu,” Kim Sikorsky said.
The restaurant is located at 605 Nucleus Ave., and will soon have a menu up on its website at www.northforkpizza.com. Sikorsky said the best way to keep up to date on the restaurant is to visit its Facebook page.
“We’re really looking forward to getting open and getting some piz- zas pumped out,” she said.
Opening, moving or expanding a business in Northwest Montana? If you would like to be featured in “Transactions,” please email information to news@ atheadbeacon.com
BUSINESS IS PERSONAL MARK RIFFEY TRAIN THEM TO MAKE
IT EASY TO BUY
LAST WEEK, WE DISCUSSED THE importance of training your employees to use systems well beyond the cash register, including those strategic to the company. While a nor- mal cash register transaction is a typical customer interaction for a retail or ser- vice business, there are always the ran- dom circumstance that isn’t part of the “poke a few buttons, swipe their card or give them their change” process. In those situations, do you make it easy to buy?
What happens if you’re out of stock? This past weekend, my wife and I had an encounter with a young, polite employee of a national U.S. corporation who was dealing with an out-of-stock issue. The out-of-stock item could have been a sim- ple logical issue rather than a physical one. Had the employee been properly trained and provided with the right sys- tems, she would have been trained to “make it work” (hat tip to Tim Gunn), take our money and be resourceful. It didn’t turn out that way, but that’s not her fault. It’s management’s responsibility to make sure she has the systems and train- ing to handle situations like this.
When Easy to Buy is Out of Stock
I suggest you put some thought (and some action) into training your people to make it work, rather than to say no and refuse a client’s money – where it makes sense. When it isn’t possible to make it work, your team’s training and systems should be ready to take over.
Think about what happens when an item is out of stock.
• Do you place the item on backorder?
• Do you have noti cation systems in
place for your team so that they know when the out-of-stock item is back in stock?
• Do you have noti cation systems in place for your clients so they know the out of stock item has arrived so it can be scheduled for delivery or pickup?
• Is your sta trained to handle an out-of- stock situation in a way that preserves the sale, preserves the client relation- ship or creates a positive memory for the customer?
Assuming you have all of that in place, what happens in the meantime?
The Interim
In the meantime? In other words, even
if you have out-of-stock situations han- dled well and have systems and training in place to deal with them, what speci - cally happens from the moment the out of stock situation is detected to the moment it is resolved? This can be seconds, min- utes or months.
While the purchase was meaningless, so are many day-to-day purchases by your clients. The transaction may mean little in the big picture / long term, what mat- ters is how it is handled. This situation illustrates how easily and inexpensively you can turn a failed transaction into one that people will share with their friends.
This past weekend, I took the family to see Star Wars. It was our rst movie of 2016. The theater near us has an annual bucket program that works like this: You spend $20 on one of these buckets, which gets you popcorn today and the ability to re ll the bucket for $4 for the rest of the year. In case you haven’t been to a movie lately, a large popcorn and two drinks will easily cost $20 these days, so the $4 re ll for each movie is a nice savings.
Yet on Jan. 1, they were out of 2016 buckets. While this indicates broken inventory control, that isn’t the point.
The concession stand employee said, “We just ran out.” When asked if there was a way to get a rain check or pay for the bucket and take a disposable con- tainer for now, she looked ba ed. Had management trained her well, she would have had a clipboard at the register, could have charged us for the annual bucket, taken our name and number (or email, whatever), given us a bag of popcorn and moved on. A 20-cent solution to retain a $20 sale and impress a recurring client.
Trivial But Still Important
Trivial, but these things that happen to your clientele every single day. How are you training your team to handle them? What systems are in place to deal with issues like this, even if the solutions are as simple as a clipboard?
Word of mouth comes from handling these things gracefully and without dis- ruption. Prepare your team to make it easy to buy.
Want to learn more about Mark or ask him to write about a strategic, operations or marketing problem? Email him at mri ey@ atheadbeacon.com.
JANUARY 13, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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