Image courtesy of kettlemoraine

Have you ever watched the TV show Numb3rs?  They are always able to solve the crime mathematically.  Don’t get me wrong here, there is no way I would or could claim to understand the math that they do on the show.  But, I do think there is something to be learned from this.

In any business, making a sale is about the number of people that see your store.  It’s not necessarily about how many actually come in the store, such as with a restaurant (everyone that comes in is going to buy), but how many see the store.   How many people does it take to come in or drive by before you make a sale?

Unlike online businesses, where the numbers are there for you to easily see, brick and mortar stores have a tougher time determining what these numbers are but they do exist.  Maybe it’s not important to know what those numbers are.  What is important is to determine what it takes to be seen, to be noticed, by more potential customers.  What it takes to get a higher percentage of the people passing by to come in.

In the real estate industry they would refer to it as curb appeal.  Realtors will tell you that it’s important to have good curb appeal to sell your house.  It is equally important to have good curb appeal for your store to be noticed by people passing by.

I have seen businesses that take great pride in what the inside of the store looks like but they do not seem to pay attention to what the outside looks like.  It’s the outside of the store that is going to be noticed first and it is the outside of the store that invites people to come in.

Look at the outside of your store from the perspective of someone passing by.  Does the store look like its well maintained?  Does your sign look good and in good working order?  Is the lawn (if you have any) in good shape and the yard landscaped nicely?  Does the outside give the same feel, the same impression, as the inside?

I think you get my point.  Take a look at the outside of your store to see what your potential customers are seeing.  If necessary, do some work to improve your curb appeal.  You may be surprised at the difference it will make.

How’s your curb appeal?

There are so many topics I want to explore that I am not sure where to begin.  It is very important for every business to explore different possibilities in order to keep their business fresh, keep it growing in popularity and in turn profitability.  Businesses need to always keep moving forward.  Don’t let your business stagnate just because you have been doing something for a long time.  Ask yourself why you do things the way you do them.  If the answer is because “that’s the way we have always done them” or “I don’t know, it’s just what we do”, then it’s time to evaluate what you are doing.  Neither of the above answers is an acceptable answer.  If you have evaluated doing things differently, tried doing them differently and still have found the old way is best, well that’s a better answer.   You just need to be sure that the old way is best because it really is best, not because the old way is easier than change.  It’s important to keep an open mind about change.  We need to listen to input from others and evaluate whether or not the ideas are plausible.  If they are, we should consider trying some of them.

Over the next couple of weeks I’d like to explore some of the many possibilities as it relates to restaurants, particularly small non-chain restaurants.  The reason I have chosen small non-chain restaurants is because they are the group of restaurants that have a harder time getting the word out about their business.  Advertising dollars are hard to come by and measuring the effectiveness of the advertising is, at best, difficult to do.  With that said however, all businesses can benefit from what we discussed today and what we will discuss going forward.  All businesses need to keep their business fresh, keep it growing in popularity and in profitability.

What are you doing to “keep it fresh”?