Made the mistake of watching the news this morning while having breakfast.
Had just walked in the house from the gym and wanted to see the weather today (nice as usual) and also see how much press Apple was getting on their new iPhone (they’re getting a lot).
Also, was not surprised to see that a very well known Mexican chain was declaring bankruptcy.
“The owner of Mexican restaurant chains Chevys Fresh Mex, El Torito and Acapulco filed for bankruptcy Tuesday, pressured by years of slipping sales and the country’s economic malaise, executives said.”
The article goes on to say that they are seeing fewer diners and blamed their tough times on the economy and national recession.
NOW… at the same time — in the same economy, you have other restaurants and businesses doing extremely well.
With a 2 minute search I found these types of articles:
“Papa John’s continues to enjoy record profits”
“Dine Equity is also reporting an increase in sales this quarter.”
And two of our San Diego members continue to expand their restaurant chain (Surf Brothers Teriyaki) in spite of the “country’s economic malaise”.
It all comes down to whether or not you want to take responsibility or try and pin it on someone else.
If your business failed, guess who’s fault it is?
Nope, not the economy’s fault.
Nope, not Obama’s fault.
Nope, not Congress’ fault.
Nope, not your vendor’s fault.
It is your fault. And that’s OK.
Why? There is nothing wrong with that but you need to take ownership of the problem and then work hard to make things better.
Complaining doesn’t work.
One of my favorite questions is if you hear someone complaining about their business – whatever it is – is to ask them:
“Is there anyone in your industry who is doing WELL right now?”
Guess what, there ALWAYS is. I know a contractor coming to our Monthly Marketing Summits who had his best year EVER in 2009.
A contractor.
In San Diego.
In the midst of the recession.
In his own words:
“I want to thank Henry and GKIC-San Diego for opening my eyes to the power of proper marketing.
I’m a contractor and things have been TOUGH in California for us. For sure my business would be extinct if it was not for getting started with this local group and the things I’ve learned from them about marketing.
Thanks for everything Henry.”
– Clinton Halley, CRH Enterprises, Inc., Temecula, CA
The reason this article really struck me is that I dined at one of these restaurants very recently while at the Joe Polish “I Love Marketing” event in Phoenix with about 10 others.
The report card was not good and I’m not just sharing my own experience here but the collective experience of everyone who was at our table:
- The service was extremely slow and caused us to be late getting back to the event.
- The food did not taste very good and nobody was very happy with their meal.
- There was virtually nothing in the way of marketing to try and make things better or collect any of our contact information so they could compile a database. (Smart marketers know that you need to collect customer names to build up a database. This allows you to do promotions ‘on-demand’ for cash flow surges at will.)
- There were no upsells (no dessert offer, no drink offer, no appetizer offer).
- The bathroom wasn’t clean.
I could go on but you get the idea.
There are literally 100’s of things that they could have done to turn things around. Instead, they blame it on something or someone else instead of taking responsibility.
Now the good news is you have the power to fix any issue that you’ve gotten yourself in to.
Responsibility works both ways.
One of my favorite Dan Kennedy quotes says something like this:
“If you aren’t happy with what you’re making, then you need to take on more responsibility.”
Lot of truth in that statement.
Are you ready to take on more responsibility?
One way to do that is to join us for our Halloween Monthly Marketing Summit on Tuesday, October 18th.
Why not take the action right now to RSVP for yourself?
But go beyond that and take the responsibility for a friend that is ready to make their business even better.
http://timezonemarketing.com/gkic-san-diego/rsvp
I’ll do my part and have an incredible meeting lined up for you where you can walk out charged up, filled with good ideas and ready to take responsibility to see those ideas through to completion.
We’ll see you there.
Henry Evans
President, Timezone Marketing