3 Things @JonTaffer Taught Me About Marketing
Brits would be excused from not knowing who Jon Taffer is. I didn’t know until a week ago when he was a guest on Gary Vaynerchuk’s show, #AskGaryVee [Watch Here]. It was particularly exciting for me because I like to work with restaurants and bars here in London, and I feel I have more artillery now. Jon is famous in the States for being the guru of restaurant and bar branding and marketing, he’s resurrected 100’s of taverns and resuscitated 100’s of diners after a multi-decade long career playing every position possible in the bar and restaurant business. That’s the credibility done, now let’s get to the meat of the matter.
He said:
“Get their eyes and bodies first, and then you get their money”
He was talking about restaurant marketing. According to Jon, you catch their eye with an impressive exterior to draw them into the place, match that bravado with high quality food and service, and then you can have the audacious access to their wallets. While this applies specifically to the eatery industry, it rang true for me in a variety of ways. I have seen countless companies panic and try to figure out a formula to obtain more customers through rash decisions like discounts, drastic changes of service and pumping money into ad campaigns. This quote reminded me to remember the psychology of sales and that it is better to be tactful than hasty and wasteful. In any business, it is important to have a high-impact exterior matched with the ability to actually deliver on your promises and offer high quality products/ services once the customer is lured into buy. Get these basics right first and then think about the money, is what Taffer is talking about here.
He said:
‘Free’ is better than ‘Discount’. Customers get accustomed to and feel entitled to discounts but they appreciate and respect ‘Free’.
The psychology of ‘free’ and ‘discount’ is totally different. Discount cheapens the perception of the brand and the product and has a slight whiff of desperation about it. Furthermore, customers will feel entitled to a discount every time they come in and this can be problematic. People genuinely appreciate a freebie or an ‘on-the-house’ because it makes them feel special.
He said:
“Get a customer in 3 times and they are yours for life”
Jon makes the point that increasing repeat visits is more than or just as effective as acquiring new customers. Enticing a customer to visit your business 3 times is the key to having their long term custom, that’s how many encounters it takes to have a real client-customer relationship. The way in which he suggests to do this is rather tactical; he recommends keeping some trump cards hidden during the first two visits, but mention them as they leave. For example; a start up business comes to my company for a logo to be designed, we do the work and then as the invoice is being paid, we mention “oh by the way, if you ever need social media management/ strategy, we are brilliant at that”. This, in theory, ought to encourage a 2nd ‘visit’ from that client and then on the 2nd visit, we would do the same but with a different trump card such as copy writing, content marketing etc etc. I have tried to apply the advice to my own business here but it probably doesn’t translate as well as it does for a restaurant, a bar or a general brick and mortar business. Nevertheless, I found the notion that we should focus on getting repeat business from existing clients as well as generating new business, very interesting.
