26 Degrees in the Shade . . .

Communicating With Your Clients

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When running a business it is very important to communicate whatever you are planning to do within your business in the immediate future to your clients.

I personally just imagine that I’m the client and then ask myself.” What sort of activities would I like my host to inform me about in advance?”

e.g. Here are some of the things that annoy me as a client when I am not kept in touch with scheduled of forthcoming events:

• Arriving at one of my favourite bars for breakfast and finding it closed with not even a note advising when normal service is to be reinstated. (If you’re going to take an impromptu day/week off, your regulars will really appreciate the fact if you tell them personally in advance and they’ll be there on your doorstep the day you reopen. Apart from regulars there will be prospective clients who are staying in your area and would like to try your bar, if you leave a neat well presented note stuck on the inside of your main window announcing when you will be resuming normal service, the chances are that they will come to see you when you return.)
• Finding out that a raffle has been held (usually for charity) and that I was not offered a chance to participate.
• Finding out too late that a coach trip to a site of interest has been arranged and that it is sold out.

At the end of the day like most things, it boils down to common sense. Customers like to feel included not excluded. Another way of putting it is that people are easily offended.

If you keep all your clients informed as to your forthcoming events schedule, either by putting up neat notices on the walls /windows or by telling them directly, they will be very appreciative of your thought and effort and your turn over will increase accordingly.

Outside Catering Considerations

It doesn’t matter how small your business premises are, you can always consider outside catering if you need to increase your turnover.

We have never specialized in outside catering, but over the years we have done the catering for several large auctions. The way we approached the project was to make between 100-150 Samosas, half would be vegetable filled and the other half meat filled. We would take a keg of beer, make a big bowl of punch/sangria and have 2l bottles of fizzy drinks to serve the children. We always took very good money at these events and would recommend the idea to other bar restaurant owners.

We also have friends who do weddings and parties for up-market clients. They provide a wide range of food and drink and they decorate the tables to a very high standard. This is a sector of the market where if you’re good, you can make a lot of money.

Good luck!