Day 27 – The Puzzle – Your Employees

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TODAYS puzzle piece is a the BIGGEST piece of the puzzle, YOUR PEOEPLE

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Back in January 2019 I met this young man at this building.

I was holding a restaurant marketing seminar for marketing agency owners in Cincinnati at Union Hall and he was one of the 51 in attendance.

I remember looking out at the room of mostly 40-50 year old men and thinking “is this kid lost. Did he scooter here, call security.”

And then I heard his story.

How he decided to bypass college to build his restaurant video and photography business. And how not too long after that he stumbled upon my book and online training and changed his company into a restaurant marketing agency.

When he saw the event we were having, he knew he had to come down for it, so he grabbed his cousin flew down from Philly.

Over the next 12 months I got to know him more and really see the talent he possessed.

My business coach Billy Gene had been on me to hire a personal videographer to document my journey and capture better content to market our company, you know the stuff I preach to all of you all 🙂

So in December of that year (maybe early January) I wrote a now hiring Facebook post with David in mind. I wrote it REALLY REALLY detailed thinking this kid would see it and jump all over it.

But he didn’t, and I was scratching my head. So after interviewing a few people and narrowing it down to one person I decided to give David a call and ask if he saw the post.

And in fact he did see the post, but the line about moving to NKY was a deal breaker. So after some discussion we determined he could travel with me every other week and edit in Philly, thus eliminating the only hurdle.

In January 2020 he tested the waters by filming me at an event I held in Jacksonville Florida, and as they say “the rest is history.”

When the pandemic hit in March of that year we never skipped a beat. We stuck to our plan, in fact we ramped it up. We were on the road 2-3 weeks every month, hopping from one plane to another.

And then in the Spring of 2021 when I told David, Luis and Doug that I was going to buy a Mercedes Sprinter van and wrap it so we could drive all over the US to start filming the ABR Roadshow from America’s Best Restaurants.

David didn’t hesitate and jumped in feet first.

What’s even more impressive is that David not only kept doing all of his duties as my videographer, but he also become the 1st videographer for ABR, edited the first episodes and then hired the team of editors that would end up editing the first 500 episodes. David also oversaw the production and branding.

All of this from a kid who went straight from high school to the big leagues.

At one point David was in charge of a team of 10, including his mom, who became an account manager in 2022.

Now it’s 2024 and he’s our marketing director and helping us shape what will become a $100 million company by 2030.

So now that I gave you the backstory of who he is, let me tell you how I feel about him.

He’s an absolute rockstar who never says no, never doubts the vision and is always ready to go at a moments notice. He’s one of the best people I’ve ever met and to have him on this journey with me means a lot.

He’s one of my WHY’S!

I’m doing what I’m doing to see him become a millionaire and look back on the many years together and smile.

Thank you David, I appreciate all that you’ve done, all that you’ll say yes to in the future and more than anything for being a great friend.

Day 26 – The Puzzle – Customers Emailing Rotting Away In Your Point Of Sale System

Take action today with the massive email list that’s sitting inside your restaurants Point Of Sale and your restaurants company email account.  

This week we are on the road visiting restaurant owners to talk about what they think they are doing right and what they are doing wrong.  Three owners in 48 hours told me they were not leveraging the emails currently sitting in their POS.  They acknowledged their fear of using it wrong and that’s whats stopping them from taking action.  In episode 589 of Restaurant Marketing Secrets I spend 15 minutes digging into the topic and dropping a few tips to make this easier.  

But I’ll say this, don’t wait!  Take action today.  You as a restaurant owner have a few levers you can pull every day to dryve sales and email marketing is one of them.  

Day 25 – The Puzzle – Traveling To Talk To You…Restaurant Owners, In Person

Day 1 is in the books of our road trip from Northern Kentucky to Las Vegas. 

We left NKY at 8am, stopped by a restaurant in Louisville Kentucky around 10am, then 2 more in St. Louis from  2pm-5pm Central time and finally a pizza joint at 9:30pm in Topeka Kansas. 

What a long and awesome day.  Talking to the owners and a few employees at these 4 restaurants was eye opening.  I heard a lot of things I already knew to be true, and also a few new twists.  The goal of this trip was to kill two birds with one stone. We had the 4th America’s Best Restaurants Roadshow van that needed to get delivered to the West Coast and I really wanted to get in front of more restaurant owners to find out what we can do better with our companies and the merger with Repeat Returns. I wanted to understand what owners need form the marketing side of things to get to their dream outcome and use that to help my team build the ultimate restaurant marketing platform that will dryve sales.  

Tomorrow we head from Topeka to Durango Colorado, stay tuned.

Day 23 – The Puzzle – Acquiring Catering Customers For Your Restaurant

For many of you, the missing piece in your restaurant is catering sales.  The text message is one I received this week from a client who’d not really done catering in prior years.  He had never focused marketing and sales efforts on it until he added that service onto his program with us.  

This blog isn’t about showcasing how awesome my team is (but they are), it’s about showing you a missing piece of your sales puzzle.  Catering can allow you to walk into the restaurant every day and already have a few thousand dollars in sales, it’s a gold mine.  But, it’s not as simple as turning on a fancy advertising campaign. 

Chris worked the leads exactly how he should.  They are LONG TERM relationships just waiting to be built, and he’s taking full advantage of that.  

Tomorrow we’ll dig into the marketing funnel behind this and compare a traditional print catering ad I saw this week to this highly technical digital marketing campaign built to reach customers where they live in 2024, THEIR PHONES!

Day 18 – The Puzzle

Who’s your squad?

Who’s your coach?

Who’s in your corner?

Who’s giving you advice?

But more importantly, WHO are you listening too?

In my daily podcast, Restaurant Marketing Secrets Episode 580, I tell a story of a restaurant owner asking for help and taking the advice he was given by 3 other owners with regards to making a Facebook post he’d hope would get some attention and go viral.

This got me thinking about the people and companies restaurant owners surround themselves with, or honestly DON’T!  You see, too many of you are trying to do this alone.  And then when you do reach a boiling point and reach out for your help you don’t stick with it.  You blame ROI and not seeing traction, yet you didn’t take the action and or do it long enough. 

All too often you’re not really looking for the solution you’re looking for an easy route, and that route DON’T EXIST.

Click above and go have a listen.

Day 17 – The Puzzle

You only get one body, take care of it and LISTEN to it!

As you know I do what I can to take care of myself, which is eating much better than most and working out 5-6 times per week.  

I strongly feel that if you’re not taking steps every day to grow your business and your body, then you’re taking days off the life of each.  Growth is the only option and when that comes to you body that is making yourself stronger and harder to kill, EVERY DAY!  

And that includes, LISTENING to it.  Last week ended with 4 solid days of working out for me, honestly, probably a tad too much.  On Monday as I’m in the office playing ping pong and making quick moves to get the ball (we have some solid pongers in our office), I felt a slight sting in my achilles.  

On Tuesday I felt it more and opted to take the day off and be smart in how I moved about that day.  The achilles is nothing to mess with and part of staying in shape and becoming stronger is being ABLE to do the exercises.  I also started icing and heating it that night too.  And then throughout the week I took it easy and didn’t push it.  On Saturday I was due to complete in a small CrossFit competition with some friends and didn’t want to miss it, but I also didn’t want to miss the next 6 months 🙂

So on Saturday I scaled the movements that could have issues and on the 3rd workout which had a lot of moves I should avoid I bowed out and let someone else sub for me.  And on Sunday, the day I do my 4.6 mile hill and stairs run every week I’ll take a week off, the first since August of 2023.  I’m totally bummed about that, but I know it’s the right thing to do to stay healthy.  

My friends, I hope you all choose to live a healthier life than you are now, but I also hope when you’re on that journey you can put you ego to the side and listen to your body.

Day 16 – The Puzzle

Massive Attention & Excitement

That’s what we aim to bring to independent restaurants ALL OF THE US O A!

This same email happens 100+ times per week, Google letting me know ABR is getting the spotlight for a local restaurant we are visiting. Traditional media LOVE what we are doing, because they know where consumers attention is in 2024…THEIR PHONE!

The hard work happening every day inside the 4-walls of these restaurants is insane and NO ONE is telling their stories, except America’s Best Restaurants.

In the past 3 years we’ve visited and filmed at over 1,300 restaurants, 50x what the biggest TV show on old school cable did.  Oh and by the way, our shows get 100X more local views than theirs 🙂

But the ABR Roadshow is just the tip of the iceberg.  IN 2025 we’ll roll out 5 new shows built for bigger platforms that will drive traffic to our online series the ABR Roadshow and then www.americasbestrestaurants.com.  BUT ULTIMATELY that traffic will end up in restaurants dining rooms as we drive massive sales through this media and marketing funnel.  

Y’all are only seeing a piece of what we’re building.  We will supplant the TV and online restaurant brands THAT YOU KNOW, like Yelp & Food Network, within 24 months as the DOMINATE brand for restaurant media and marketing.  

And we will have the Ultimate Restaurant Marketing Platform that drives sales!

Day 11 – The Puzzle

Now that we have started building your restaurant’s customer database for your best customers, it’s time to talk about the OTHERS!

But first, let’s talk about WHY.

There are 3 ways to grow your sales

1st – Get your best customers (AKA Frequent or Loyal ) to visit more often or spend more when they do visit (like buying an appetizer or dessert)

2nd – To find NEW customers

3rd – To bring back lost customers.

The importance of knowing exactly who your customers are is massively important.  In the blog 2 days ago I talked about creating messaging in your emails that talks to the customers based on WHO they are.

I commonly teach restaurants about not sending the same thing to every customer, they need a unique journey in your marketing.  

Now it’s time to develop a plan for customers who’ve never been to your restaurant, NEW customers and what I like to call the “sometimes” customers, you know the ones you haven’t seen in a while.

This is where an amazing offer comes into play, you have to have a HOOK to get the to raise their hand.

Let me tell you a great story about a recent case study we did with a client.

We have a client who owns a restaurant point of sale company and 4 restaurants.  We ran a customer acquisition campaign for him to showcase what our Acquisition Engine and Retention Rocket programs can do.  These 4 restaurants have been using Repeat Returns for many years and it works great for them.  But like all restaurants, there are LOST customers inside their database.  

At the conclusion of the test he noticed something major.  There are A LOT of customers who were already in his database but had not visited the restaurant, WHO we found through our Facebook Retention Rocket campaigns.  These are social media campaigns designed to get people to comment. Then once they comment we drive them to Facebook Messenger to engage them to gather their information.  He was amazed the number of LOST customers we found through this tactic, and especially the ones that walked into the restaurant within a week.  

Gaining the info from your FREQUENT customers is much easier than others, you get most of that information through your POS or your restaurants online ordering system.  

But new and lost customers aren’t coming going to be found that easily.  

For starters, new customers haven’t been given a good enough reason to raise their hand.   And lost customers, well, ARE LOST!  How awesome is it that Facebook campaign asking locals to tell us who’s going to win the “BIG GAME” that Sunday got customers who’d stopped coming to his restaurant two years ago, to not only comment, but come back for a meal.  

It’s what makes me smile, it’s GOLD!

But here’s another part of the equation.  By getting them to tell you how often the come to your restaurant, or the fact they never have, you now can have a different conversation with each one of those customers. 

New customers need to know your hours, directions and to get indoctrinated to your menu.  Lost customers need a hug and high five.  And when you know who they are, you can easily craft these messages in order to customize their experience with your marketing. 


Day 10 – The Puzzle

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“Where’s Austin”

 

Long story short, he’s at the TOP! 

 

But first, let’s talk about where this all started.

 

The date was April 15th, 2021 and I was in need of some help moving into our new offices and starting the remodel process.

 

I did what I always do in those instances, I made a post on Facebook asking for help.

 

A friend Casey tagged a guy from the gym named Austin.   Little did I know the important piece Austin would become in our company.

 

For two weeks Austin helped out in the office.  Moving desks, helping me demolish stuff and honestly, pretty much anything I asked of him. He was a beast, and when I say moving desks, maybe I should explain. The office came fully furnished and there were around 60 HEAVY wood desks, many of them L-Shaped.  There were many instances in which he moved the same desks, many times since I couldn’t make my mind up 🙂

 

Then about a month later he responded to another post I made looking for an assistant.  The decision was pretty easy, so Austin was now a full time employee. 

That was also the same month we set out on the road with the America’s Best Restaurants Roadshow.  The ABR Roadshow and America’s Best Restaurants was an idea I’d been working on for 4 years, and this time we were UPPING our game.  Instead of Matt Plapp filming on a cell phone, we were doing it RIGHT

I’d tasked our marketing director, David Schlotter, with helping me develop the show and put together our crew.  Unbeknownst to us, Austin was familiar with cameras and loved the idea of being a videographer.  So within a month I lost my assistant and America’s Best Restaurants gained it’s first full time employee (now that division has 28 just 3 years later).

So with that Austin was off and running, in fact he would end up being on the road for 2-3 weeks per month for 2 years filming at independent restaurants nationwide.  He was never sick, never missed a shoot and never complained.  He was what they call A COMPANY MAN!

During that time we created the saying “where’s Austin”.  It was a saying with multiple meanings.  It seemed like every time we were around Austin, in the office and on the road, he’d disappear.  And then later it morphed into “where’s Austin”, as in what city is he in now.  

So with that, to have some fun, we made shirts that said “where’s Austin”.  

Last week as I saw the shirt laying on my dresser I thought about his journey with me and the company.  And then I looked at the shirt and thought “he’s at the top baby!”   A guy who started off moving desks, is now helping run a multi million dollar media empire.  The saying “ride or die” was meant for him.  It gets me emotional to type this.  It’s so cool to see a guy start where he did and be where he is today.  But it’s even more humbling to know that he did that for me. 

On Wednesday April 10th I emailed myself to write the post titled “where’s Austin”, and then this happened.  

Today, at 2am I’m awake for some reason and my phone alert for our office alarm goes off.  I do the math, it’s 5am back home.  Who they hell is in the office that early I think, hoping it’s one of my peeps getting an early start 🙂

When I look at the cameras I see Austin, running through the building.  I’m thinking, shit, what’s wrong.  What’s he doing.  So I text him and find out that he’s in a hurry to catch a plane, no details.  

So of course I pry, and ask what’s up.  I’m thinking something happened on the road with one of our crews, but that wasn’t the case.  It turns out one of our vans was having maintenance done during the off week and Austin wanted to make sure it was ready for the crew Monday morning.  In fact he’s picking the van up and driving it MANY hours to get them closer to the first restaurant Monday.

WOW, are you kidding me. How did I get this fucking lucky!!!  How did I find this guy.  Damn I’m lucky.  

I always say the universe knows.  It knew that in my inbox was an email to write this blog about Austin, and it had to show me just how awesome he really was, as if I didn’t already know!

Thank you Austin, I’m glad we found you in 2021 and I’m even happier to know WHERE YOU ARE 🙂 

And my friends, that’s todays PUZZLE PIECE

 

Day 8 – The Puzzle

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There are 3 places to gain customer data with your badass offer.

1st & most important = In Store

2nd & almost as important = Your website

3rd & easiest, but least important = Social Media

 

In the 4th quarter of 2022 I decided to go work at one of our clients, Rapid Fired Pizza in Florence Kentucky.  WHY?  Because I wanted to understand a few things at a much deeper level.  One of those items was the fact that NO ONE ever opt into their program at the cash register, when buying.

How is it possible that the most important customer in your business, the one standing right in front of you handing you money, was the hardest to get to opt into the marketing programs. 

As I stood their folding pizza boxes next to the register I was confronted with the ugly truth…THE EMPLOYEES were bad at asking, if they asked at all.  Was this training, was this lack of “shits given” or were they just not good sales people.  The latter couldn’t be true, we’re not selling anything, it’s the opposite.  We’re GIVING THEM free stuff.

Then I saw this interaction

Employee –  “Hey, scan the QR code”

Customer – “Why”

Employee – “You get something”

Customer – “What”

Employee – “I’m not sure”

Customer – “No thanks, I’m good”

 

I’m not exaggerating, it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever watched.  As a professional sales person, marketing and business owner I was ashamed at what had just transpired.  

We had given the owner training instructions many months before on how to have the conversation. We had a digital guide and training on what they could say, what the offers were, test sequences for the employees to go through and catchy slogans to use.  

HOW did all of this fall on deaf ears, or did they just not get the training.

It was at this point in which I hopped in “do you mind if I cash out the next customer?”

Here was my interaction with the customer:

Me – “Yo, you didn’t get a dessert pizza, have you had the cinnapie before?”

Customer  (looks up at the menu in disbelief) – “No, I haven’t, looks delish”

Me – “It’s insane, you’ll love it.  And I want to make sure you get one next time, you cool if I give you a free one for your next visit?”

Customer (looking dumfounded) – “Uhh, yeah, I’d love that”

Me – “Cool, do me a favor.  Take out your phone. Scan this code.  It will open in Messenger.  Yep there it is, answer those 5 questions really quick.  FYI, we don’t spam you, we use your email and cell to send you a free perk like this from time to time.  Great, that’s all there is to it, you’ll get that free dessert pizza in a few hours along with a few other amazing offers”

Customer (SMILING ear to ear) – “ DUDE, thanks man. This is awesome.  I can’t wait.

The employee was blown away.  He was astounded.  They get what?  That’s what the QR code does?  WOW!

And with that one customer interaction, their in-store VIP Program opt-ins went through the roof.

The mistakes were apparent. The owner had failed to understand at a VERY DEEP level himself how the program worked.  He failed to OWN it and that trickled down hill to his managers and then to the employees.  There wasn’t any accountability and there wasn’t anyone monitoring the stats to see how often people joined.  

And I don’t want to hear how “this is hard.”  Your employees never wore masks before the pandemic.  Your employees wash their hands before they touch food. There’s ZERO reason this can’t get the same level of buy in, it just comes down to YOU doing your job as the leader of the restaurant.  

The good news is the digital opt-ins are much easier

1st – Your website, have a pop-up that’s in your face and to the point

2nd – Social media, have weekly catchy posts touting the program’s perks and ask people to click or comment to join. Plus, you should have paid ads running every day as well.  Look up my podcast Restaurant Marketing Secrets episode 568 to find out more about that. 

See you tomorrow…