Are You Working Hard or Smart?

This past week I worked with several communities in upstate New York and I stayed at a major hotel chain that is franchised to a local businessperson who also owns a conference/banquet facility and a great restaurant next door. There is a well done stone path that you can follow on foot between the hotel and the restaurant. I was speaking at the conference facility on one of the days so I really appreciated this convenience.

Sounds good so far? Absolutely, but it gets even better! The facility was first class, the function room size was excellent, the acoustics and sound were great, and the staff was WONDERFUL. They were so helpful and accommodating and they couldn't do enough for me even though they were very busy because they had two conferences taking place at the same time.

It was a family business with three generations working in perfect harmony. It was a beautiful thing. The food at the conference was very good and served when and how it should be served. Later that night I went back for dinner and it was superb. The quality of the food was creative, interesting, prepared perfectly, and served in a dining room with pure white table linens with a server who was as good as I have ever experienced.

So what could be wrong? Why was the dining room almost empty? Why am I totally convinced that this business could increase its bottom line almost instantly by 20% with very little work? (And most of you could also do the same!) I say that because the owners of this business were just too close to the business and weren't looking at their business like a customer would. I felt so bad because I saw how hard this family worked and the business could explode with a few minor adjustments.

Here is the rest of the story. I was sent a brochure of the hotel facility which looked good but it didn't have directions to the hotel on it. It just said "south of a certain highway". I didn't know what that meant. There was a sign on the highway, which was good, and at end the end of the ramp there was an arrow pointing left. But the hotel was about 3 miles from the exit and there weren't any other signs. You even came to an intersection in a downtown but there was no sign to turn right or left. It took me 30 minutes to travel that distance because I kept on making the wrong turns. Normally I would have used my cell phone to make a call and get directions, but the reception was terrible in this area.

I got to the hotel and was greeted by wonderful people but no one told me about the restaurant next door. There wasn't even a sign or a coupon to encourage travelers to try the restaurant. After I unpacked I traveled 8 miles to another restaurant that someone suggested to me. Why didn't I notice the path or the restaurant? Good question. Maybe a sign on the path would be helpful but maybe the sign for the restaurant should also be changed. It said Meeting Facility and REST. That's not a misspelling on the well done carved wooden sign--they abbreviated the word restaurant to REST. How is anyone supposed to know what the business does? I only learned that it was a restaurant after I spoke at the meeting facility, walked through a dining room by mistake, and someone helped me to the right door when I asked if this was a restaurant.

No wonder why I was one of only 3 tables being used. The next day I told the meeting planner about the great meal I had and she admitted that she had never been in the place for a meal other than a banquet.

The bottom line is simple. Some great informative signs would turn this business around almost instantly. But I don't want to be the consultant to have to tell the owner to throw away the sign that he spent thousands of dollars on because it is hurting his business. Generally business owners will fight you on this one but they are dead wrong. They are just too close to the situation. It's time to think like a customer. The initial loss of the sign expenditure would be offset by the added sales. Everyone doesn't know us; we think they do, but they don't. Yes, you see your business everyday and we just assume everyone knows us.

My advice to all of my readers is simply to stand back and look at the obvious. Look at your business the way a customer looks at it. Ask yourself this question, "If I were first coming in contact with this business and I was a perspective customer, what would my reactions be?" It's not an easy thing to do but it is something we must do.

There is also one more message here that is quickly becoming a passion of mine and that is the power of signage. This includes both interior and exterior signs, informative signs and signs that sell. Signage can be the difference between success and failure. So look at your business through the eyes of your customers and ask the questions your customers would ask and answer those questions with a sign. Then add a dose of fun with the signs and you have a home run. I dare you to try.