So Many Missed Opportunities.

In the mid eighties I was part of a team in a Domino’s Pizza in upstate New York. On one occasion we decided to send a couple of team members to the yearly Ithaca Festival, which was taking place in town. We kept them supplied with pizza to give away by the slice and in all it cost us a couple of hundred dollars (far less than any advertising and much more effective). One person came over with his wife to see what the commotion was all about and was heard to say “Why didn’t we think of that?” as he left grumbling. Obviously a competitor who had missed an opportunity. We got considerable good will from it and at least our return in sales.

Later that same year  I was listening to the local college radio station who were trying to raise funds for those in need at Thanksgiving. I called up the station and made a pledge on air to raise enough funds give away twenty turkeys. When asked how I would do that, I replied that every day all of my staff would give a ‘Quarter’, which is about 25 pence. They held me to the challenge and sure enough we raised the money which was matched by our Franchisee Bruce Stark. (something I had not factored in.) In the end we had raised more money than all of the other contributors put together. A lot of people benefited and again our return of goodwill was greater than we had expected, which I can say with a clear conscience was never the aim of what we did.

Over the years as a restaurant manager I have always given back to the communities that I was part of. I never did this with any goal other than to say thank you. I gave to schools and student car washes. I gave when local community members came and asked for support for their projects and always the return was greater than my investment. It’s part of being in the community. It is an honest exchange of goodwill.

So many times I see opportunities missed today. Simple things like going into a DIY store and seeing the worst toilets ever. Surely this should be a showcase for the business not somewhere that you fear for your life in. It would only make sense that you would want your customers leaving inspired to improve their own loo not inspired to visit the A&E.

I recently saw a Tesco’s with what looked like a prison warden on the door half an hour before closing refusing to allow a little old lady to use a shopping trolley. Seemingly they only allowed shopping baskets at that time of the day. Not the best customer service I have ever witnessed. A better idea might have been to help the lady shop and help her with the loading of her car afterwards. Again both parties would have benefited. But alas the short sighted employee with little investment in the company and no understanding of the meaning of service failed and gained a feeling of ill will.

Opportunities are everywhere and are available to all should you be inspired.