In July 1997 I decided on our trip to Myrtle Beach to propose to my now wife, Christy.  

I had a girlfriend, I had the ring, but now I needed to DELIVER the proposal.

There are two parts to this. The ACTUAL offer, what you’re giving them.  And the “ask”, how you plan on talking to them about said offer.

In my marriage proposal I had exactly that, the ring and asked for her hand in marriage.  But I also had the manner in which I did it on the beach.  

Let’s start with your actual OFFER!

This is really simple, give people an offer they’d feel stupid saying no too.  DON’T give them homework and don’t give them a coupon. 

Your job with this offer is REALLY SIMPLE.  You want to gain their contact information and the best way to do that is make it a no brainer.  This offer is not about making money on visit #1, it’s about gaining their info so you can market to them at a much higher level in the future.  And if you have their information, that’s pretty darn easy.  You are making this ask for visits 2 – 40, not the first visit.

Do not give them a coupon, PERIOD.

Do not give them homework, you know, “buy 2 entrees and a drink and get a half price appetizer.”

Here’s the formula to win the game of gaining customer data.

I like 4 offers on the front end:

Offer #1 = 100% Free item.

Offer #2 = 100% Free offer that drives a visit that might not normally happen.  Imagine you’re a lunch restaurant mainly and this is for dinner.  This is to drive an incremental visit. 

Offer #3 = 100% free item that can be added onto their visit that is going to happen, like a free appetizer or dessert

Offer #4 = Some sort of combo offer

BOGO variant.  I will say for offer #1 a BOGO can work, but here is the down side.  Let’s say you’re Ashley from my team, who’s married with no kids. If you give her a BOGO pizza you lose, she has no use for two pizzas and she never takes you up on the offer.  

As we discussed, your goal is to gain the customers data.  But your secondary goals are to drive sales where they may not exist.  Other day parts, other menu items, etc.  If you’ve ever heard my story about Larososa’s Pizza cookies then you know what I mean. They gave me a free cookie promo years ago and since then I’ve added HUNDREDS of $9 cookies to my order.  

Ok, so to wrap up.

NO OFFERS THAT SUCK!

P.S. This includes birthdays too, no one wants a damn coupon as a gift.