New Mover Final - Restaurant Catering Systems...As a free gift to you, we have reserved a FREE Copy of an audio CD from Michael Attias, a former operator that sold $1,004,559.50 worth

As a gift to you, Moving Targets has $100 reserved in your name just for trying their new residents pro-gram*. This is only available to owners of How To Turn New Movers Into New Money. Right now, copy this page, fill in the blanks and fax it back to Moving Targets at 615-831-1389 and they’ll handle all the details. For a little over a buck per new resident mailer, you can start replacing lost customers and add more long term, loyal customers. Please complete the following information: NAME: COMPANY: ADDRESS: CITY, STATE ZIP: TELPHONE #: FAX #: EMAIL: BEST TIME TO CALL:

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As a free gift to you, we have reserved a FREE Copy of an audio CD from Michael Attias, a former operator that sold $1,004,559.50 worth of full service, drop-off and box lunch ca-tering out of a 104 seat Nashville restaurant entitled: Catering Profit$: How To Quickly, Easily Explode Your Restaurant’s Profits! Catering is the only tool that “pays” you to advertise your restaurant. Adding or expanding a catering profit center requires no extra overhead and gives you an unfair profit making advantage over your competition. As little as a 10% increase in sales through catering can double your profits! Print out this page, complete it and fax it to 615-831-1389 or mail it to The Results Group, 1015 Edwin Warner Drive, Nashville, TN 37205, he’ll rush this CD out to you right away and reveal over $100,000 worth of ideas to get more catering business! NAME: COMPANY: ADDRESS: CITY, STATE ZIP: TELPHONE #: FAX #: EMAIL:

How To Automatically Turn New Movers Into New Money For Your Restaurant, Guaranteed! © 2005 Barbecue Evangelist Enterprises, Inc.dba The Results Group & dba www.ezRestaurantMarketing.com

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How To Turn New Movers Into New Money For Your Restaurant

©2004 www.ezRestaurantMarketing.com Page 1

What Business Are You Really In? My very first job was in the restaurant business – the Loft in Memphis, Tennessee. It was September of 1981, and I actually had to show up in a dress shirt and tie to interview for the dishwashing position. If it had not been for my “in” with a friend who was a busboy there, my application would have been lost in the thick stack. As an operator today, I long for those days of more applicants than positions. I lasted a week as a dishwasher before my lousy cleansing of pots and pans landed me a promotion to busboy. I’ve been moving my way up the restaurant ladder ever since. Luckily, because of my abilities, not my inabilities. During college I worked for a friend’s father at the ground floor of the Corky’s Bar-B-Q in Memphis, Tennessee. I just wanted to get out of school and get a “real job”. I’m sure you’ve heard similar words from your staff. In hind site working in a restaurant is a real job that pays real money and has done quite well by me. But it took getting out to discover it. After college I spent two years selling archive storage (that’s storing old boxes of records for companies). It was a difficult, unexciting selling experience. Most people were happy to have their records rot in a damp, musty basement or mini-storage. I was at a crossroad in my life. Just having bought a house and married to my sweetheart of three years, I desired a more lucrative opportunity. I considered selling chemicals and printing; businesses my father and father-in-law where in. Ultimately, the restaurant siren pulled me back in and I found myself back at Corky’s Bar-B-Q. But I had a game plan. I waited tables at night to pay my bills and worked in the kitchen during the day for free to learn the operation. Corky’s was franchising and I knew that I could get one of my customers to back me on one of the first franchises. It was around my 47th prospect and his wife that came in one day to my station for a barbecue fix. They pulled out an ad about franchising opportunities in the Nashville, Tennessee, market and by the end of their meal, I had found someone to back me. To this day, I consider the million dollar plus investment in that store my greatest tip. What was even more remarkable is that I had never managed a restaurant before, not to mention build one from scratch. My two restaurant jobs taught me a ton about great customer service, producing incredible food and focusing on a clean operation. But was there more?



Today in seminars, I ask participants to tell me what businesses they are in. The answers will not surprise you: restaurant, pizza, take-out, sub, deli, French, Italian, etc. What business are you in? You and I are only in one business: We’re In The Business Of Marketing Our Restaurants To Acquire and Keep Customers! No matter how clean your restrooms, friendly your hostesses or great your pasta, nothing happens unless something is sold. I learned this lesson the hard way. In the beginning, I trusted every short skirted, hot blonde ad rep. I bought tons of television, radio, magazine and newspaper ads. Unfortunately, they knew less than I did. If my sales did not change they’d advise, “You need to advertise longer. It takes time to build a brand.” I didn’t have time or the bankroll of Coca-Cola to wait that long or waste dollars reaching prospects across town that were never going to buy from me. It’s true that your customers live or work within three miles of your restaurant. Mass media advertising is what I call the “Chinese Buffet” syndrome. If you just want fried rice, why get the buffet. Buying a bowl of fried rice is cheaper. So is advertising and marketing to get new customers. You must target the ones within your prime target area. Through self-study and investing tens of thousands of dollars in trial and error marketing and advertising experiments, I’ve uncovered the secrets that level the playing field for the little guy like you and me. In How To Turn New Movers Into New Money For Your Restaurant I’ll share many of the secrets clients have paid me thousands to learn. You’ll walk away with a master marketer’s mindset. The skill you must have to thrive in any business you own. Ignore the lessons and you may peril regardless of how good your food is. The bankruptcy courts are littered with the bones of restaurants that served great food but knew not how to find a starving crowd to sell to.

Your Biggest Problem

It’s not the vendor that forgot your steaks, the late server or your clogged toilet. Your biggest, most costly problem is finding new customers eager to eat at your restaurant on a regular basis. Living on one time customers will put the final nail in your coffin. We all need a steady, predictable flow of new customers coming into our restaurants that we can convert into regulars. But why? Let’s look at some facts:



• Every year a percentage of your customers die: We have no control over the grim reaper.

• 16% of your customers move every year: We are a transient people. This country was founded by and has prospered because of people willing to move for a better life. Your customers are no different. They’ll move across the state or the country to better their lot in life.

• Every month some of your customers undergo a lifestyle change: Marriage, divorce, new kids, kids going to college, moving across town to upsize, moving across town to an apartment because of bankruptcy, retirement…as your customers’ lives change, so do there dining habits.

• Every week your customers are prey to your competitors: I could eat lunch every Friday in your place for ten months. Then it happens. I’m out of town for two weeks, sick the next and then a friend suggests we try a new place. In a flash, you can lose me.

Seventy percent of respondents to a Technomic’s survey cited “Gaining New Customers” as the most important concern in marketing their restaurants. The examples above give you a brief overview of how, whether you realize it or not, customers are leaving you. And the sad part is that your great food, memorable service and clean facility can’t help you a bit. You must find a cost effective, predictable and repeatable system to get new customers in your doors to replace the one’s you are losing to no fault of your own. Notice the emphasis on system. I’m amazed by the number of operators that wouldn’t dream of running without recipes but have that “deer in the headlights” look when questioned about their marketing systems. Marketing is the most under looked, profit producing system in your operation.

What Are Operators Like You Doing To Find New Customers & Replace Lost Ones?

There are many tricks, tools and techniques to find new customers. Let’s examine each one and decide whether they have a place in your marketing arsenal or are wasting your most valuable resources: your time and money. Word Of Mouth: One of my favorite weapons. As long as you’re doing a good to great job with your guests, you’ll pick up new customers through the power of word of mouth. The challenge is control and predictability. This strategy is rarely enough to replace your lost customers and grow your business. Don’t forsake it, but don’t rely on it solely.



Location, Location, Location: Some restaurants can survive solely on their locations. Mall food courts, arena operations or theme parks are a perfect example. I know from surveying our clients that about 16% of our new customers discover us by driving by our building. We pay a higher rent for that visibility. You may or may not have the luxury of a great location. Either way, a good location is not enough to keep a steady stream of new customers flowing for the average operator. Traditional Advertising: What mass media are you currently using or have you used in the past? Radio, TV, cable, billboard, magazine, newspaper, marriage mail, etc. The list is long and expensive. Let’s examine why you use those media? Is it to get your current customers to come back more often to spend more money? No. It is more cost effective to maintain a database of your customers and mail them on a regular basis. If you’re using expensive mass media to get regulars back in, you could be throwing money down a hole. If you’re relying on mass media just to find you new customers, you’re probably wasting your hard earned dollars as well. Why? Mass media is non-targeted for the most part. The idea is to reach a large number of prospects at a small cost per prospect with the hope of attracting the “needles in the haystack” that’ll give you a chance. This is often referred to as a shotgun approach: a very costly strategy. Most mass media restaurant advertisers promote their brand and hope that over time, new customers will come in and give them a try. This is a very expensive, long term proposition…if it works at all. Since it’s non-measurable, your ad rep can’t be held accountable for results. I expect every employee to perform and my advertising budget is expected to pay its way as well. And don’t forget my “Chinese Buffet” example. You pay for a lot of waste with mass media, and unless you operate multiple units in a market, your dollars are wasted. Better to focus on a highly targeted group close to your restaurant. What about couponing as a strategy? Newspapers, alternative papers and marriage mail are perfect vehicles for couponing. Marriage mail even lets you target within the three miles of your operation at a low cost. But, I can repeat word for word what your ad rep has probably said, “You need to run a coupon with a very strong offer, like a “Buy One Get One Free”. That’ll get new customers in the door. You’ll break even on the visit and if you “wow” them with your food and service, you’ll convert them to regulars.” The theory is sound, but not for mass media or poorly targeted media. The problem is those coupons are not printed in a vacuum. If you run that “Buy One, Get One Free”



coupon in every Friday’s Weekend Guide, you’ll pick up a few newbies. But you’ll also get last week’s new visitor looking to use the coupon again. No way to omit them from the list of recipients the next time you run. That’s the trade-off for reaching thousands of people inexpensively. That’s counterproductive if you ask me. It’s like creating a customer base of crack addicts. They’re waiting for their next “Buy One, Get One Free Fix”. I’ll go so far as to send a prospective customer a free, no-strings attached dinner, but I make sure it’s a one time offer positioned so they don’t expect to see it or get it again: unlike a coupon in a marriage mail piece or newspaper. I’ve had as high as a 35% redemption rate and the new customer did not expect that offer again. That truly is a good return on my investment. I’m happy to invest in a free meal as a sampling to get a new regular. Often times, they’ll bring a friend or two and you’ll break even on acquiring a new customer. Anytime you can break even and get a new customer, you’re doing well. Sampling is a strong marketing weapon. As a third grader, I sold the most chocolate covered almonds in my entire school. I bought a box ands gave each prospect one as a free sample. They loved the chocolate covered almonds and bought. Sampling can work for you too. The burden is off your prospect to risk their hard earned money on a trial visit to your restaurant. Deliver the goods and you’ll get a new regular. Finally, let’s look at the cost of mass media. Most of it is non-trackable, and if it were, you’d discover you’re spending a small fortune to get new customers. You could be investing $20, $50, $100 or maybe even $500 to get a new customer. That’s a very expensive proposition that’ll take you months or maybe years to recoup. What about those coupons? Same story, maybe worse. Factor in your regulars using them and not only are you spending a boatload to get new customers, but you’re losing money with your regular amateur diner’s club of coupon clippers.

The Solution For The Operator That Demands Results

Maybe you’re happy with what you’re doing. I met a restaurant owner at a seminar that was married to a newspaper ad rep. She hated my seminar, because what I was preaching was 180 degrees opposite of how she made her living. I’m betting that like the old me, you’re frustrated with playing the advertising and marketing game and not winning. Sort of like playing the slots in Vegas. You’ll occasionally win, but the odds are stacked in favor of the house.



I’m going to share a steady, predictable source of new customers that you can turn into regulars. This targeted group is very cost effective to reach and an efficient use of your marketing time and dollars. New movers are the perfect source of new, loyal customers that will become your new regulars. This targeted demographic will help you not only keep pace with the customers you’re losing, but will also help you grow your business. By having a system in place to get new movers into your restaurant and your marketing funnel, you build equity in your restaurant. One day, should you decide to sell your restaurant, a buyer will pay a premium once you show them you have a proven, cost-effective system to build sales. This is every bit as valuable as the high fees and royalties some restaurant owners pay to belong to a franchise. I love new movers because each and every month you have a new batch of these prospects to convert into loyal customers. As of this writing, we have an average of 200-250 new movers come into our zip code each and every month. Like the drip, drip, drip of a faucet, new movers are consistent. It might not sound glamorous, but it can be the ultimate in autopilot marketing. Let’s look at some reasons new movers are the best demographic to target:

• 18.5% of the U.S. population is classified as a new mover: This is great news for operators like you that realize this represents an untapped goldmine.

• 3!!! That represents the average number of merchants that even bother soliciting new movers in their trade area. That means you get to advertise and promote your restaurant and get new customers with little to no competition – impossible to do with mass media. With mass media you are competing with rivals and other businesses just to get a little attention, and the odds of getting new customers are slim.

• New Movers = New Habits: Think about the last time you moved, be it across town or across the country. You have to find a new dry cleaner, a new grocery store and new favorite restaurants to patronize. New movers will choose to do business and become regulars with restaurants. Will it be yours?

• New Movers represent a very loyal customer: When invited in for a meal, they’ll stay with you 210% longer than customers acquired from the Yellow Pages , coupon books or other sources.

• Cost Effective: Because you can get a list of new movers, which we’ll discuss later, you can make them new customers for a fraction of traditional advertising and marketing.

• 54% Of New Movers Households Have More Than 1 Adult: This means you get the spouse and possibly kids. Even more money for your restaurant.



• 11: That is the number of times the average new mover eats out each month. Capture your share of that and you’re ensured a thriving, successful business.

• Psychological Needs: Just as there are numerous reasons for a move, so are there opportunities. People move because of divorce, kids going off to college, kids being born, leaving the parent’s nest, newly widowed and the list goes on. These changes in lifestyle often times result in a psychological need to change: clothes, entertainment, social and eating habits. As one couple stops frequenting your restaurant to get acclaimed to parenthood, a newly married couple has just moved into your area looking for the perfect restaurant to patronize.

Experience has taught me that dollar for dollar, there is not a more cost effective strategy to reach 200-250 prospects primed to become a regular for our restaurants. The real value of converting new movers into new money for your restaurant is a simple three letter formula: LVC. That stands for Lifetime Value of a Customer. _______________ Average Transaction Value _______________ X #of Visits Per Year _______________ X # of Years of Expected Patronage _______________ = Lifetime Value Of A Customer To illustrate: If your average transaction, check average per table, is $20, and you multiply that by an average of 20 visits per year, multiplied by an average of 5 years of patronage, you come up with an average Lifetime Value of a Customer of $2000. ______20_______ Average Transaction Value ______20_______ X #of Visits Per Year ______5_______ X # of Years of Expected Patronage ____$2000_____ = Lifetime Value Of A Customer How much would you spend to get a customer that was worth $2000 to your business? You’ll need to plug in your own numbers to come up with your magic LVC number. And this calculation is very conservative. What if they cater with your company? What about the friends and family they’ll refer via word of mouth advertising. It’s truly wonderful to understand how a well oiled marketing machine works. It’s every bit as important as a system to crank out consistently good food.



How To Reach New Movers

Just like a pirate that needs a map to uncover buried treasure, you must have a map to find new movers. It is a very simple process once you’re given all the map pieces. The most important part of any new mover marketing system is having a list of qualified new movers. In marketing, the list, or the right prospects in this case, is key. Imagine you were going to open up a lemonade stand. What single advantage would you want? Location? The best lemonade? A recognized brand? Excellent employees? Which would you pick? Ok. Now it’s my turn. I want to have my lemonade stand located in the middle of people that have been wandering through the desert for two days without a drop of water. New movers are your thirsty, or should I say starving crowd so to speak. There are only three ways I know of to reach new movers:

Rent A Mailing List A mailing list broker can rent you a list of new movers in your zip code, town, state or across the entire country. You can even get them to choose only those new movers that live in houses versus apartments. Usually these lists are compiled through utility companies, courthouse records and the National Change of Address file through the U.S. Postal service. Some lists are better than others. A perfect list actually takes multiple lists and culls it down to the “perfect” list. This is not cost effective for most restaurants, so you must live with a little imperfection. You can rent the new movers list for a single use or unlimited use for an entire year. A list broker will require minimums, usually around $250 per list selected. If like me, you have a single operation, a single zip code might just represent 250 new mover names per month. A dollar per name can add up, though still a strong strategy. You then must hire a copywriter to design a mailing piece. You’ll want to hire someone that has a track record of results in direct marketing. Later on I’ll teach you the basics should you choose to do it yourself. You will also be responsible for coordinating the printing, folding, stuffing, addressing, stamping and mailing of your new mover’s letter or post card. For a single unit operator, it is cost prohibitive to hire a mailing house to coordinate the entire new mover’s mailing process each month. I’ve done it myself. It is manageable, but takes a commitment each month to get results.



Use A Welcome Wagon Type Company Welcome Wagon, and in many communities, knock-off companies, specialize in face to face visits to new movers in a community. You’ll pay around $???? per new mover visited. I’ve used services like this and have been unhappy with the results. First of all, your business’s offer or certificate is included with and is competing with 10, 20, maybe even 30 other merchants looking to reach new movers. Even if you are the only restaurant in the package, the rep doesn’t have enough time to sell your restaurant. You’ll have to take the chance that your offer gets their attention: far less likely. I liken it to a high school dance. The competition to dance with the cutest girl in school is stiff. You have the class president, captain of the football team and maybe the class “bad boy”. I like to operate without competition. I want to be the only guy at a dance at an all girl’s school. It is the proverbial one eyed man being king in the land of the blind. When I was a child, this type of service was more effective. Now more couples are both part of the workforce and the number of new movers actually home during the day is far lower. And remember, it’s the dual income couple that eats out more, orders more takeout and spends more in restaurants.

Use A Company That Turnkeys New Mover Mailings There are companies in the marketplace that specialize in every aspect of cost-effectively reaching new movers. This by far is what I’ve personally found to be the most profitable option for my restaurant. We have bought lists that claimed to be the best and handled our own new mover’s marketing and used services similar to Welcome Wagon. The results were less than stellar and frankly, I like a system that does it for me automatically. I don’t want to worry with coordinating the list rentals, printing and mailing. What if I have an emergency in my restaurant? What if I’m on vacation? I like automated systems that consistently get the job done without relying on me. We have found the greatest success with Moving Targets. Why Moving Targets? The simple answer is results. We’ve tested all the methods of reaching new movers and Moving Targets gets us the highest return measured by response rates and cost per customer. On an average monthly mailer, we get between 25%-35% of the new movers targeted to come into our restaurant. In direct mail circles a response rate of 1%-2% is considered great. Let me explain in further detail why Moving Targets gets results.



#1 – The List Not all new movers’ lists are created equally. Some companies offer/use lists compiled from deeds of trust, the document used to record home financing and purchases. Unfortunately they have no way of segregating home refinancing and you often market to someone that’s been in your trade area for years. Some companies use new utility activation, credit bureau address changes or the Postal Service’s NCOA, National Change Of Address database. Moving Targets purchases over 10,000,000 new mover names each month and uses a proprietary algorithm to merge/purge the list down to 1,500,000. That sounds like a lot of waste, but you end mailing to the cleanest, most responsive list of new movers available. Moving Targets also has the ability to segment your new movers’ mailing list by the following selects:

Home Owners vs. Apartment Dwellers Zip Code (You can mail a single zip code) Movers New Into Your Town vs. Movers That Just Moved Across

Town ????? What Else

#2 - A Proven New Movers’ Sales Letter Package Moving Targets hired one of the best recognized copywriters in the direct marketing industry, an industry that lives or dies by results – not gut reactions. This copywriter created a lead generation system for a mattress company that generates over 20,000 leads a month. Moving Targets invested the capital in getting this world class copywriter to design their proprietary new mover mailer. You could never afford to hire this grade of talent for your restaurant. I’m considered the best copywriter in restaurant marketing circles and I tried to beat his control letter. The best I could do was tie it. I know first hand it’s an excellent mailing piece that works. Next to the right mailing list, getting your sales letter opened, read and acted upon is the most important factor. Moving Targets has a proven formula that custom crafts your new mover’s letter to fit your restaurant. If you look at EXHIBIT 1, you’ll notice their envelope looks like a check is being sent to the new mover. Test after test proves a check or perceived check gets opened. Once open, a mailing piece must have an offer strong enough to get results. “FREE” is the most powerful word to get a prospect to respond. EXHIBIT 1 & 2 both use the word “FREE” at the top of the check-like certificate to get attention and action with either a FREE Dinner or a FREE Pizza offer.



EXHIBIT 1: Moving Targets Letter Addressed To New Mover The offer ranks second in importance next to the right mailing list. Your job is to get a new mover off of dead center to give you a try. That is the reason a free dinner or pizza work so well. Don’t even try pinching pennies and putting out a weak offer. You have on shot at getting the new movers in your area in the door and on their way to becoming regulars. A dollar off, ten percent or even a free dessert offer will cut your response rates by up to eighty percent. But isn’t a free dinner the same as running a coupon? A coupon in a mass media format gets repeated, or if not, the first time customer holds out until a new coupon is put into the market. Even though a free dinner to a new mover is a strong offer, there is a “reason why”. The Moving Targets piece clearly explains that it is because the recipient is new to the neighborhood. Once they’ve redeemed the free meal, they won’t expect one the next month. Your investment in giving away a free meal is as low as twenty-five cents on the dollar, and many new movers will bring full paying friends and family members to your restaurant to help offset the promotional costs. Since the mailing piece and certificate are addressed to a person, as opposed to “resident/occupant”, the response rates are higher. Do you notice the expiration date? An expiration date adds a sense of urgency to a direct mail piece. The clock is ticking to get the free meal. Moving Targets has tested various terms and has found three months gets the highest response. Too little time and the new mover is too busy settling in to take advantage of your offer. If you go past three months, the certificate tends to get lost, misplaced or forgotten.

Even though my restaurant has used Moving Targets successfully for over a year, just don’t take my word for it. Here’s what a few of Moving Target’s customers have to say about their program:



“I was very skeptical at first…I was very pleasantly surprised. Out of ninety to one hundred mailings per month, I was receiving fifty to sixty of the coupons back.” -John Barrow, Owner, Perko’s Café, Sonora, California “The 200 mailings we are sending out each month result in a solid 40 new customer visits per month, with the vast majority revisiting on a weekly or monthly basis.” -James Watson, General Manager, J.J. Boomer’s, Lowell, Massachusetts “We sent out an average of 270 letters per month, and received approximately 68 new customers per month. Most returned within the week for dinner.” -Marshall Bryer, CEO, Rossi’s Pizza & Sports Bar, San Marco, California This is just a small sample of the references Moving Targets has. I was personally impressed with the fact that they have over 100 live references with phone numbers on file. I have a free gift for you, but ask you wait until you finish this book. I have arranged for you to receive a $100 check as a rebate, after you’ve tried out $300 worth of new mover mailings courtesy of Jay Siff, owner of Moving Targets, plus they’ll waive the set up charge. You’ll need to fax them the certificate in the back of this book or call them and mention “Michael Attias” to get this special offer. What you’ll love about working with them in addition to what I’ve just mentioned is the fact that they have no minimums. You can mail just one letter per month. They also have no contracts. You can cancel their service anytime you feel it’s not working for you. Owning a restaurant, I’ve been burned quite a few times by not reading the fine print in contracts. I’m sure you know what I mean. You start up with a new vendor and he does great in the beginning. Down the road the service is poor or you no longer need what they provide and you’re stuck with a hefty bill to get out of your contract. Moving Targets impresses me by putting the burden on themselves each and every month to deliver the goods. That’s something you rarely see today.

How To Make Darn Sure Your New Movers Become Loyal, Long Term Customers

If showing up, as in getting new movers to show up in your restaurant, is half the battle, then you must be armed to win the other half of the battle. You have but one chance to make a good first impression and create loyal, long term customers. So let’s dissect what you and your staff will need to do.



Everyone Wants To Be Treated Like A Star

Have you ever been to a restaurant where you were treated special? We all crave a bit of attention. The first step in giving your new mover prospects that star treatment is communicating your expectations with your staff. Make sure you meet either in a group or one-on-one with your service staff and let them see, read and understand what you are doing with your new mover’s program. Show them the letter and certificate. Explain what the new mover will receive and how you’d like the sale rung up on your register and promoed off. Having personally implemented some marketing initiatives with the “Ready-Fire-Aim” approach, I know first hand how frustrating it is to staff. It is also embarrassing to your customers if your servers have that deer in the headlights look and have to hem and haw their way to find a manager for explanation. Knowing all about this will allow your servers to respond properly with phrases like:

• “Oh, I see you’re new to town. Where’d you move from? Oh I have an Aunt in Sarasota.”

• “I see you’re new to the neighborhood. Let me take a minute to go over the menu and show you what we’re known for.”

• “Welcome to the neighborhood. You’ll love it here. What types of hobbies do you have? Golf? The Legends is a great course just past Elm Street.”

You get the idea. I’d have your staff brainstorm and practice a few new movers’ welcome scripts. It is of utmost importance to train your staff to notify the owner or manager on duty when a new mover table is in their section, whether they are presented the offer at the beginning or the end of the meal. Some restaurant concepts require a manager visit each table and some don’t. I would make it mandatory for new mover tables. These prospective long term customers will feel like red carpet stars when you or your managers take a few minutes to introduce yourselves and welcome them in. Everyone likes a personal greeting and those few minutes chewing the fat could be the highest return of your investment of time.

Ask Them Back, And They’ll Come Back As simple as it sounds it’s true. Make sure you and your staff are trained to invite them back soon - with sincerity. If you sincerely care about them, they’ll reward you with loyalty. You could invite them back in general or for a special promotion like:

• “Come back and see us on Sunday for our Jazz Brunch.” • “Please come back and see us soon.”



• “You might want to bring your kids back on Thursday nights for Kid’s Night. We have a clown balloon artist and special prizes for the little ones.”

The more reasons you give your guests to come back, the more chances are that they will. Getting a guest back more frequently is infinitely easier than finding a new guest. Guest education should be a part of how you do business. Though it is another course in itself, you can contact my office at 615-831-1676 to get free information on systems we’ve developed to use your four walls to market your restaurant and get guests back in more frequently, or you can visit my website www.ezRestaurantMarketing.com for more information.

The Gold Is In The Name

I’m sure you’ve seen restaurants that have fish bowl type drawings. A small sign prompts guests to drop their business card in the fish bowl in exchange for a chance at a free lunch for two. What do most businesses do with those cards? It might surprise you to know that once a weekly winner is chosen, the other cards end up in the trash. What a big mistake. Your single largest, most valuable asset is your database of customers. With the proliferation of pc’s and software a fourth grader can operate, there is no reason not to have a database of your customers. A well kept customer database is like owning a gold mine. Anytime you’re short of cash, you can tap into your goldmine and strike gold. Your customers know you, like you and trust you. Communicating with them on a regular and ongoing basis ensures you are always top of mind. Here are a few profitable uses of a database:

• Birthday Clubs: Very few businesses take the time to wish their patrons a happy birthday. Mailing your customers a free meal certificate valid during their birth month builds loyalty and sales. Most people celebrate with friends and family and the certificate investment is made back and then some. Birthdays are the most celebrated dining out occasion. Some of my clients get as high as a 35% redemption rate or more.

• Kid’s Clubs: Kids dictate where families eat. To creatively borrow from Dr. Phil, “If the kids ain’t happy, then no one’s happy.” From special characters, birthday meals and free toys, kid’s clubs are a high return investment to get mom and dad in the door.

• Customer Newsletter: We send out a four page customer newsletter complete with articles about what’s happening in our restaurant and specials. We even add articles of interest with an employee spotlight, recipe corner and a short humorous editorial by me. This is a way to communicate all your restaurant



happenings and create a strong emotional bond with your guests. Everyone likes to do business with their friends. The more you share about yourself, staff and families, the more connected they become. And it’s extremely difficult for a friend to stop doing business with a friend.

• Special Offers & Promotions: Occasionally we’ll send out a single direct mail piece to our customer database to let them know about a special. We’ve sent Thanksgiving Cards in November, a sweepstakes type promotion and other creative direct mail pieces to get customers back in more often. I’ve also used direct mail to my customers to rollout new menu items. Offering a free dinner of a new item is less expensive than promoting the offer through mass media and enlists and trains a whole army of zealots, your customers, to spread the word about your new items to their friends and families.

• Anniversary Clubs: Same rules apply to anniversaries as they do to birthdays. You can offer anything from a free bottle of wine, a free meal, dessert or even pre-sell an anniversary package. A package might include a limo, five course dinner and tickets to a show or night at a swanky hotel.

How To Capture Names

If you choose to use a turnkey service like Moving Targets, the name has already been captured for you. The certificate the new mover redeems has their contact information preprinted. You’ll want your staff to verify spelling and try to capture, phone number, e-mail and birthday and anniversary information. You’ll also want to get the names and birthdays of the other family members. If you look at EXHIBIT 3, you’ll notice Moving Targets has preprinted a small survey on the back of their certificates. This is an ideal tool to get valuable feedback from your new mover guests.

EXHIBIT 3: Customer Survey For New Mover Certificate



I’ve uncovered many restaurant improvements from reading comments from customers. If you choose to go it alone with a new mover program, you will want to develop your own method to collect names for your database. You could design a special form that gets just the basic customer information. You might also marry a comment card with an area at the bottom to collect the data. Please don’t leave out this step. You have invested a lot of time, money and energy to get new movers into your restaurant. The real value is in the future value of those guests.

The Secret To Ensuring Many Years Of Patronage

We all lead lives of habit. My car always takes me to the same grocery store. When I need to get takeout for dinner, I drive to the same shopping center and have about three of my favorite standbys. I have used the same dry cleaners for over ten years and three changes in ownership. During those ten years, I have suffered through mislaundered shirts, lost orders and at times mediocre service. I’ve asked myself why I haven’t switched. Though I’ve been to the brink of temptation, the pain was not great enough to go through the hassle of finding another dry cleaner. Not to advocate mediocrity, but once a customer feels comfortable with you and has made you a “habit” in their lives, it takes a great deal of energy to change. Great food and service just strengthens the bond. I bet you’ve heard that it takes twenty-one days to form a new habit. I’ve developed a hybrid of that idea to get your new mover prospects turned into customers of habit at your restaurant. I’ve borrowed from some other businesses that have used this successfully. After a new mover redeems your offer and is entered in your database, I send them two other offers to create a habit. Each subsequent offer is not as strong as a free meal. The purpose is not to be taken advantage of but to offer a little bribe to get the habit pattern ingrained. Study EXHIBITS 4 & 5. I created a form letter that I can print on check paper from an office superstore. Once folded, it fits into a double window envelope and addressing is not required. This is an inexpensive way to look like the big boys without breaking the bank.



EXHIBIT 4: Second Step Mailing to Solidify Conversion of New Movers



EXHIBIT 5: Third Step Mailing to Solidify Conversion of New Movers

If you choose to start using Moving Targets, send me an e-mail to [email protected] and I’ll verify with Moving Targets and e-mail you back the file in Microsoft Publisher so you’ll have a template you can use for your second and third new mover mailings.



It will save you hours of layout or the hundred bucks or so a graphic artist would charge to recreate the templates. You want to resell a customer the way they were originally sold. Once they go to their mailbox and see what appears to be a check made out in their name, the envelope will get open and the offer will get redeemed. You will need to experiment with expiration dates and time that elapses between offers. Currently, we send them out a month a part.

How To Ensure The New Money Keeps Flowing

This book is one of over twenty-eight books, manuals, video and audio sets I have created over the last eight years. They are all based on a solid footing of emotional direct response principles and practices. Once I opened the gates to this type of marketing, my entire outlook on life and attitude towards achieving financial security changed. I feel like these skills allow me to possess the keys to unlocking “money on demand”. And frankly, the ability to understand targeted direct marketing and how to write compelling copy is worth all of the gold in Fort Knox. Many times me and my serious students have invested as little as a couple of hundred bucks and brought in tens of thousands of restaurant and catering dollars. I’ve also used my copywriting skill to raise $50,000 for a non-profit school from 500 letters and more than doubled the money raised from an annual appeal letter for another non-profit. I tell you this not to brag, but to challenge you to develop the most valuable skill you can possess: the ability to sell and create cash flow surges from the written word. When I was thirteen, my father declared bankruptcy. It was very difficult growing up with kids and going to dances with those that came from money. They had closets full of Izod and Polo shirts. I had one navy blue Izod that made the round to many functions: my sole possession that allowed me to fit in with the Joneses. Though I am not ashamed of my father and how hard he worked to get himself out from the bankruptcy (worked 3rd shift for a while making donuts in a grocery store), that event has left its mark on me and shaped me. I swore that I would do whatever it takes to not end up broke and put my kids in a position of feeling inferior. The lessons in this book and the other volumes I’ve written have allowed me to own and control the most valuable asset: the ability to sell my food, ideas, products and services through my mastery of direct marketing.

How To Automatically Turn New Movers Into New Money For Your Restaurant, Guaranteed!


As crippling as the Great Depression was to our country, there were people that actually thrived. Those people understood how to sell and got off their duff and sold more than enough to amass small fortunes. I wish you all the best from your restaurant and hope it supports you in the manner you deserve until you retire. But life has a way of throwing us curve balls. Through no fault of your own, you might find yourself restaurantless tomorrow. But the ability to sell and market is the ability to never have to worry about surprises. Please take the lessons in this book to heart and master this skill set. Many of my students have succeeded after their restaurant lives ended with the lessons I have shared. Mastery of sales and marketing is the only security you have for you and your family. Please send me a note and let me know how my brand of marketing has impacted you. I’d love to hear from you. Thanks for the privilege of helping you! Michael Attias The Results Group 1015 Edwin Warner Drive Nashville, TN 37205 615-831-1676 phone 615.831.1676 fax [email protected]

Documents

New Mover Final - Restaurant Catering Systems...As a free gift to you, we have reserved a FREE Copy of an audio CD from Michael Attias, a former operator that sold $1,004,559.50 worth