Episode #54 – Mayhem at McDonalds, a Question about Website Design Color Choice, a Resource to Help You Manage Store Cards, and a BIG Marketing Lesson from Coca Cola.
May 6, 2009Episode #54 – “I Wear This Shirt When I’m a Grouch’” 
Websites and resources mentioned in the show:
The Promo Dashboard (Great New Resource to Help You Increase Profits Online)
‘Care About Color’ Report (Vital information for Your Business)
JustOneClubCard.com (combine all your store cards onto one)
NiftyClicks (discover the very latest web tools and resources)
Get a Private Telephone Consultation with me (to Help YOUR Business)
Buy This Week’s T-Shirt(from National Media Services)
Considering more people get struck by lightning than are catching swine flu, I’m thinking the frantic news reports are a little bit unnecessary, don’t you? There again, I’m guessing that governments are rejoicing at the chance to distract some attention from the economy!
I was at Chicago O’Hare airport the other day and as I was walking through the food court I glimpsed a hand made sign that made me look, then do a double take. I’ll show you the sign, and let you tell me what you think of the store manager who put it there.
Our question is all about what colors to use for a website design. Good question, because many people don’t think too much about it, they tend to opt simply for personal preference. If you want more on that topic, you can download a special report – there’s a link in the show notes below.
I don’t know about you but I have a lot of store loyalty cards and it’s a pain to carry them around with me, which is why I loved the nifty click resource that I discovered this week, courtesy of Adam Weiss, the podcaster. Let me know if it’s useful to you.
Finally, the BIG marketing lesson is from Coca Cola. They’ve implemented an intriguing twist on the ‘build-a-bear’ concept at their store in Disney’s EPCOT center in Orlando, Florida. Cool idea, and I want you to benefit from an important underlying principle.
Let me know (by posting a comment on this blog) your thoughts about the McDonalds sign.
Enjoy!
Regards,
May 6th, 2009 at 12:36 am
When I saw the pig on your shoulder I lmao!
That McDonalds manager should be fired! Boy, they just don’t get it, do they?!
James
May 6th, 2009 at 3:09 am
Hi Andrew, I too detest the penny pinching ideas like your McDonalds example.
The unexpected little bonuses are what get customers talking. I’m always on the look out for them.
Love your show, Marisa
May 6th, 2009 at 4:57 am
Andrew, great show as always! The condiment bit from McDonald’s shows just how not to be focused on the customer experience. Maybe the only bright side for charging for cups will be to spur people to bring their own and save a cup – thus helping the environment or something like that?
Maybe McDonald’s should connect with Coca-Cola’s build a cup company and offer the choice to buy your re-usable cup and when you bring it to McD’s you can get a free refill on your drink. Now THAT would be really creative marketing, right?
Keep up the great work! Suzanne
May 6th, 2009 at 5:58 am
It amazes me when I hear of companies shooting themselves in the foot. You are correct that it is the employees who can asks the customer how many? The saving would stun us. And to think that McDonalds HQ is within mins of O’Hara.
Ray would roll over in his grave.
May 6th, 2009 at 7:15 am
I love your program and I know you give away tremendous information. So why the $7 charge for the report on colors? Aren’t you being just like the McDonalds Manager you complained about? You have sponsors, affiliates and your own programs you promote, so why especially in this economy are you trying to squeeze $7 out of your loyal followers? I must have recommended your site to 100 people and by giving this away it could have been 100 more. Do you really need the $7? Marketing is everything and everything is marketing….
May 6th, 2009 at 9:43 am
Hi James,
Do YOU give away everything in YOUR business?
There’s a number of reasons why there’s a $7 fee for the report.
Fundamentally, I believe there is a balance between giving stuff away and asking for a contribution.
I AM running a business not a charity, and I deserve to be paid for my skills, don’t you agree?!
This show is my way to give people a substantial taste of what I provide (for free), but I do need to make a living! The show sponsorship simply covers the costs of the show.
The information in the report is valuable. I’ve learned that when you give everything away it no longer has a high perceived value (people tend to dismiss it – plusyou go broke
I don’t see the correlation with McDonalds in any way. I’m giving you a BigMac and fries for free (the show) and you also believe you should have the dessert for free…?
With all due respect, my concern is that you don’t appear to see the value of investing $7 in your business!
Regards
Andrew
May 6th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Andrew, Great marketing info as usual. And I thought your comment about “not giving away everything” is a good analogy. Some people think that all reports should be free. Maybe you should have called the meaning of colors on your website an “Ultimate Revenue Enhancing Secrets That Anybody Could Use On Their Website”. Then I would have charged $19.95.
About the sign at that McDonalds; I would send it to McDonalds Corporate and let them handle it. And, yes, the manager needs to be reprimanded. Firing may be too harsh. Maybe he just doesn’t know how to market and he thought he was saving his employersome cash?
Always a pleasure to watch and listen to your TV Show.
Regards,
Hal
May 6th, 2009 at 4:14 pm
You are so right about the McDonald’s story. What was the manager thinking? And since MickeyD’s is such a format/by the book brand, I can’t imagine this was sanctioned by the franchise. Congratulations for calling them on it.
The bigger take-away for me was your point about the ‘cost of doing business’. We all face that issue and leaders/manager/owners need to think through the customer impact before making decisions like this one.
Enjoy all your episodes…great work!
Carol
May 6th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Have been watching your show since the beginning and always enjoy it. You are right about the McDonalds at the airport, it will do much more to hurt it’s national image than they will ever get in return for a few pennies for water or condiments.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
its about perception. Andrew is not a charity. neither is Mcdonalds. in fact i’m sure Mcdonalds gives more to charity than any of us. $7 for info colors? why not but you can probably find that info on the internet. speaking of fundamentals Andrew, why did the price of your webtv product double in price again??
May 6th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I for one would vote with my feet and find someplace else to eat at with a sign like the one that you had from McDonald’s.
Your time, effort and know how are worth more than $ 7.00. People do not want to invest in themselves that is there problem. Thank you Andrew for all that you do to help us to get more done and have more fun. Great job as always. That is why I keep coming back every week. We have been here from the first. Enjoyed every minute. Thank you again.
Dan and Deanna “Marketing Unscrambled”
May 7th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Andrew, I also have been watching your show since the beginning (episode 1) and always enjoy it. You are right about that McDonalds. It definitely hurts the overall image of the company, not just that individual store. I have seen a few other fast food restaurants that did this and like you it just made me think about how CHEEP that restaurant was.
Keep up the good work!
Phil
May 7th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Thanks for all your comments and opinions, keep ‘em coming!
Juan,
The price of the WebTV course went up for several reasons, and I know that it’s still a bargain for anyone that’s serious. And that’s the point as far as I’m concerned. Too many people purchase courses because they’re curious rather than serious.
It took me literally months of my time to put together the course, and I WANT people to use and benefit from it, not for it to collect dust on the shelf.
There are about a dozen people who have informed me that they now have WebTV shows as a direct result of implementing the course. That makes me happy, but they’re still in the minority.
Unfortunately, too many people look at the price as ‘cost’ rather than ‘investment’. If you’re serious about ANY business you HAVE to invest time and money. I layout a system where the return is more than 10 times the investment within 3 months of implementing the program. That seems like a good deal to me!
I hope that helps explain the rationale about pricing. Bottom line, the price was too low when I launched the course, and that needed to be rectified. Now it attracts serious rather than curious entrepreneurs.
Regards
Andrew
May 7th, 2009 at 10:02 am
People can vote with their feet and they can cast their ballot at another concession stand and vote for the $4 bottle of water.
People also need to put themselves in McDonald’s shoes. Maybe McDonald’s did give away free water and the other businesses complained. Maybe it is part of their lease agreement. For example, sometimes in these situations, McDonald’s cannot offer muffins on their menu if there is a muffin stand in the airport. You should gather more facts before making a decision.
Unfortunately, in a business situation where you have a captive audience (airports, stadiums, theaters, hotels, theme parks,etc.) some of the rules and ethics are different. Some businesses, cruise ships, don’t allow you to bring your own alcohol. Some sports venues don’t allow you bring in your own food and drink. What message does that say? These venues don’t even give you a choice. And while 75cents seems like nickel and diming, I’m sure some of you will say that’s it the perception that is the problem. So after you think about things in your perspective, look at it from theirs.Those are my thoughts.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:58 am
I love the old marketing come back, “if you are serious you will invest in yourself. It’s not an expense it’s an investment” Right out of Dan Kennedy play book. Make your client feel bad about not “investing” in themselves. I don’t know how your accounting works but $7 out is a expense on the books.
The $7 is insignificant, I’m sure I spend 10 times that everyday on one thing or another. But it must have struck a nerve with you to be so defensive about it. Yes, it’s your business do what you want. I’m not here to change your mind, just offer my opinion. And yes you do give away great material for free but a $7 quick sale feels cheap. My thoughts are give it away or charge $70 for it–now the lines are clear. It’s doesn’t look like your just trying to make a quick buck off a big list.
May 7th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I have to admit, I am not sure what James is complaining about, or why. Andrew has posted about 10 hours of entertaining video on here, and I can just imagine how much work that would have taken. If you were to buy his colors offering for $7, you’ve effectively just paid him 70 cents an hour. The product was relevant to the material at hand, and fairly softly sold in my opinion. I think Andrew has the right idea, and I wish him lots of success.
May 8th, 2009 at 7:39 am
Hi Mike, if you’re not sure what James is complaining about then I will tell you–for free. James is complaining about principles. Since you have seen Andrew’s 10 hours of shows and if you read some of his comments on the blog, Andrew talks a lot about principles.
I have made several comments on this blog and Andrew defends himself based on the principle of his point. Of course, in my opinion, some of the principles points he makes don’t make sense to me. He sometimes has a “yes but” factor. Ebay has terrible customer service. “Yes but” they are the biggest online marketplace in the world. Well that largest online marketplace just lost 18% of that business in the last quarter and Amazon’s went up 18%.
Andrew just defended his price for the Webtv show product of $900. The price was about $400 recently but the price doubled as his reasoning was “Too many people purchase courses because they’re curious rather than serious.” I can’t see many people spending $400 out of curiosity.
And maybe James has already purchased Andrew’s Microwave Marketing product. The product sells for $77 per month (Andrew is thinking of raising it to $97 per month). A $77 membership would cost $924 for the year. I’m curious to know (but won’t pay for it) what $924 worth of marketing tips looks like. I prefer to buy my books and learn that way. You can probably get about 30 marketing books for the same price. I don’t perceive that as good value. And why wouldn’t the color tip be included? I can write one in about 3 paragraphs.
Please Andrew, don’t think that some of us are trying to gang up on you (that’s the classic make critical points and then sympathize tactic right out of the playbook) . We know you you’re a business to make money.OK we get it. But like every other business, I think that you are making some big mistakes (don’t worry because you’re allowed). People believe in people, not products. That’s my marketing 101.
May 8th, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I thought long and hard about whether to respond to the direction that some comments have taken, and I believe that it would be helpful to make some clarifications for the benefit of everyone, so here goes…
I think some of the comments on this post prove that no matter what I do I won’t please everyone, and that has never even been my intention. Look, I provide marketing help and ideas for free for people who would like to benefit, there’s no strings attached whatsoever. There’s no forced opt-in required, no membership fee, no other hoops to jump through whatsoever. First off, I believe that’s very generous even if I do say so myself. Most businesses require some committment from you FIRST, before they’ll give anything in return. I try to put the emphasis the other way around so that I trust viewers first by giving them great value for free, without demanding something from them FIRST to gain access to that.
Then, if viewers use what they learn, benefit from it, and want more help, I offer other paid services, it’s as simple as that. No one is holding a gun to anyone’s head here!
James,
You sound cynical, like you’ve been burned by someone before, and you seem to view marketing as a bad word! I LOVE marketing, and I believe that persuading people to buy something that I KNOW can benefit them is a great thing, because when they DO benefit they are thrilled and delighted!
There’s a BIG, no make that HUGE difference between persuasion with a positive purpose, and manipulation with negative intent (through not providing value etc). You seem to have those two confused. What I offer is of enormous value to the right people who are open minded and willing to embrace it. No one can ever change my mind about that.
Having laid that foundation comment, in this instance I WAS truly sincere when I said “if you’re serious you’ll invest in yourself”. Yes, I’m well aware that that type of expression is used as a marketing line from time to time, but I happen to believe strongly that it’s true. I’ve seen the results to prove it, over and over again.
I’ll try and explain something that you probably don’t realize, and it may even surprise you. I receive about 20-30 emails each week from people who complain about not being able to make money online, and in every case it’s painfully apparent that they basically just expected to have a big wad of cash land in front of them on a silver platter. Life isn’t like that, obviously. Actually, maybe it’s not really obvious to these people.
By contrast, I also get lots of emails from people who are taking massive action to change their circumstances and build a solid business. They invest in appropriate ‘tools’, they don’t blame others when things don’t go well, they persist day after day, and they are consistent with implementing what they learn – they MAKE success happen. I’m happy to help people like that because I’ve been there. I love entrepreneurs.
——————————————–
Bob, you clearly have strong opinions and you have every right to voice them, however I have to tell you that your reasoning and assumptions about my motives and principles with product offers etc are incorrect this time, sorry. If you were right about your perceptions I’d freely acknowledge that, but in this instance I feel the need to clarify…
Firstly, you’d be VERY surprised how many people spend $400 (and more) out of curiosity. I accept that you don’t believe it, but it’s true, and most online marketers will back me up on this 100%. I believe the reason why this happens is partly because of the strong guarantee that I offer on my products – a no risk return policy. Sadly, people regularly order products with no intention of keeping them, in fact they PLAN to return them for a refund. They say things like “I don’t have the money”, “I just wanted to see whether it was something that I might do in the future”, “I don’t have the time” etc etc.
Your criticisim of Microwave Marketing is also unfair and unjustified because your critical comments betray the fact that YOU are simply ‘curious’ – in fact you used that very word.
Two weeks ago I offered EVERY viewer, anywhere in the world, the opportunity to order a copy of Microwave Marketing for free, no strings attached. No forced continuity, just a risk free, no obligation way to sample it. Why would I do that if I didn’t believe in the value it brings to people who take action?!
How many marketers do you know that give away one of their key products without any obligation whatsoever?
Your comments indicated that you don’t know what Microwave Marketing is, so l’ll briefly explain. It’s a ‘ready to go’ set of up to date marketing instructions each month, where the research has already been done, and the marketing methods pre-tested. It’s not theory, it’s not waffle. It’s not a book from a college professor spouting outdated theories about marketing. It’s a fact that MANY well known marketers are subscribers because there’s nothing else like it (there really isn’t). It’s a set of instructions that, when followed, bring more customers, more money, and more profit to ANY business (and I have literally hundreds of positive comments from customers as irrefutable proof).
Most subscribers tell me that they get at least a 10x return on investment – sometimes MUCH more than that. And really, that’s the bottom line as far as I’m concerned. By contrast, casual, curious readers, and those that don’t implement anything won’t get any return on investment, it’ll be a waste of money for them, and they’ll be very critical that 12 printed pages with a CD for $77 each month is a rip-off or words to that effect.
They just don’t ‘get it.’
Meanwhile, serious subscribers are laughing all the way to the bank, while the whiners and complainers continue to focus on the cost of the paper, ink and CD, AND make a lot of noise about how wrong it is!
They REALLY don’t get it.
Re eBay, we differ on our view of that company because frankly I, and many of my students still make a lot of money from eBay. Nothing you say can change my opinion about eBay. I totally understand that you’ve had bad experiences with eBay, and I agree with you that they have LOTS of things to improve in their business (did you even see episode #20 when I chewed eBay out?).
Actually, we’re both right about eBay, because we have both experienced completely different ‘realities’. Yours was negative, mine is mostly positive (especially the making money part).
Believe me, I welcome constrctive criticism from positive people who are intelligent, knowledgeable and have achieved success equal or greater to me. I dismiss other types of critisicm from negative people who know a lot less about a subject than I do. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but that’s a piece of advice I was given years ago that has served me well. If I HAD listened to people who are well meaning but lack the qualifications to be dispensing advice, I know that I’d be in a very different place right now.
Believe me, I know that I’m far from perfect in EVERY way. And just because I know and understand the importance of principles, marketing, customer service and so on, doesn’t mean that I’m able to implement everything I’d like to implement to a perfect degree. In a similar way, most husbands start out a marriage intending to be the perfect companion, never get close to that. Far from it! Intentions NEVER match up to reality. In the grand scheme of things, I try hard, accomplish a bit, and fail a lot.
At the end of the day, the ultimate test for ME is, is what I’m doing working? Yes, it is. My business is experiencing incredible growth. I hope yours is too, even though we apparently have different perceptions, objectives, outlooks, and methods.
Regards
Andrew
May 9th, 2009 at 6:44 am
Important information, very glad you posting this. I enjoy learning new things everyday so I like subscribing to blogs like yours. Charles
May 9th, 2009 at 8:11 am
“I welcome constrctive criticism from positive people who are intelligent, knowledgeable and have achieved success equal or greater to me”
That’s part of the problem Andrew. It’s the people below you that have not achieved success equal or greater to yourself that bother you.
May 9th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
My apologies. I have not seen all your episodes including #20 but I did see episode #12, which you forgot to mention ,where you also took some nice shots at Ebay.
I guess the turning point for me was in episode #38 starting at about the 3 minute mark. Upon answering a question about using Ebay as a marketing strategy, you answered the questioned by stating “They (Ebay) believe that their moving the business in the right direction, but I tend to disagree with that”. And after you blasted them you confess that “I love Ebay”. Your reasoning was because it was the worlds largest ecommerce site. If people want to sell product on a website heading in the wrong direction then go ahead.
Your also confusing my comments as negativity. I actually find my comments actually will benefit some of your viewers. You might not like my critique of your Microwave Marketing product (sorry, but I still don’t know what the meaning behind Microwave is. The only thing I can think of is an appliance), but besides finding info on the internet or even on You Tube, I’d rather buy several books instead. This will also allow me to learn sooner. I’m not sure what tips you have for the November issue or the July 2010 issue, but I’d rather know now. If people want to buy a monthly marketing program then go ahead.
And guess what. I love Ebay too! Why? Because Ebay forced me to start my own website otherwise I would have never started one. I was afraid that people will never find me but with a well designed website with strong keywords, people will find you. You will be back in control of your business. The benefits are obvious.
My advice to people is every business should have a website and don’t worry about Ebay. This will also avoid the “flying under the radar” strategy that you once suggested. I have learned so much about websites and I didn’t realize several things. I have kept my website plain and simple because if you look at the most successful websites (such as Google, Amazon, helpmybusiness.com, sellerdashboard.com), they all have the same characteristics. They have simple easy to read title fonts and their text is on a simple white background.
I also realized that your clientele is very different than your Ebay customer. You can actually sell your product or service for way more money than if listed on Ebay. The mentality of the web surfer is different than your Ebay surfer. Ebay does have that flea market mentally from buyers and sellers. There happens to be an Ebay seller (with a 98.9 feedback) from the same place as you (Sandy, Utah) who is selling Yanik Silvers products for under $10. The About Me page didn’t definitely say “My name is so and so” but my perception is that it is not you because you’re name wasn’t mentioned at all. It also noted “These deals may be ’scratch and dent’ items & may not include bonuses”. They seem like their using Ebay as a dumping ground for some products but that’s only my perception.
Also, with a website, you can also make money on ads and affiliate sales. This will create monthly residual income for work that you have already done and can be maintained with little effort. I know that you are involved in that seminar and that’s great. Your website probably generates about $1000 a month on ads alone and I hope it continues to grow.
Also, it’s sometimes hard for me to gauge the advice from someone who lives in one of Ebay customer support locations. With about 1000 Ebay employees in Salt Lake, it’s almost like listening to people in Detroit saying how great Chrysler is. I’m not saying that your dishonest but only trying to say that it’s hard to gauge.
I do hope that you and your viewers do make lots of money. Anything to stimulate the economy. I also think that any viewers who disagree with you actually helps your website traffic which also will increase your sales. Nobody wants to go to an Amway website only hear everybody say how great it is. Every good movie has a good guy and a bad guy.
I actually find my free comments (a value of $1000) to be positive and helpful. So, while you can make money on Ebay, here’s my suggestion for you’re next book “How To Make WAY MORE MONEY Than Selling on Ebay”.
May 9th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Bob,
I’m beginning to understand your reasoning, and with all due respect I encourage people to do the exact opposite of everything you suggested, for very sound reasons.
First, feel free to take advice from people who know less about a subject than you do. I don’t do that, and I make no apology for that, so we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one.
Second, whatever way you want to look at it, I know that eBay is CURRENTLY a great tool in the business owners toolbox because it attracts an enormous group of buyers. Remember, most of the unhappines is with SELLERS, not buyers. And MOST sellers aren’t astute business owners, sothey aren’t using eBay in the most profitable way – that’s exactly why I wrote ‘eBay Exposed’ and’7 Unconventional Ways…’
With that said, I strongly believe that eBay’s current management are heading in the wrong direction. They continue to alienate sellers, their customer service needs lots of improvements, and there’s a host of other issues that seem to be obvious to anyone that’s been around eBay for awhile. In the future, I see eBay being a lot LESS relevant in the marketplace than they are now. But for now, they still dominate e-commerce, that’s a fact.
So why would you suggest that someone ignore selling to the world’s largest group of customers, even if eBay sales are declining? Doesn’t make any sense to me. I’ll continue to sell on eBay, and encourage others to do so, until it doesn’t become profitable anymore. For now, it’s wildly profitable if you do it right, and I spent years figuring that out.
Building a website or selling on eBay isn’t a choice of which one to do. Every business owner should be doing both! A website is meaningless unless customers know it exists, and that’s where eBay comes in. Perhaps you should read an overview of my lead generation system for eBay, because you seem to think that I simply list products for sale like everyone else does. I use eBay mainly as an inexpensive way to generate traffic for websites, and it’s extremely profitable.
The fact that eBay’s customer service dept is based in Salt Lake is irrelevant because I don’t get any special treatment or favors. It might as well be located in Timbuktu! They don’t accept visitors, every eBay seller has to go through the online system or use the phone.
Your comments about eBay being a flea market are also wrong. Nielsen Net Ratings independent research revealed that ‘getting the lowest price’ was the second to last reason why people use eBay, out of a list of about 8 reasons. It was way down on the list. The number one reason cited as to why people use eBay is because of the wide availability of UNIQUE items. In other words, someone is interested in a subject, hobby, niche, business, industry etc, and they use eBay to see what is available within that realm.
My personal experience matches with the Nielsen research I just shared with you. I routinely sell items for MORE on eBay, than on other channels online and offline. If I sell items for a low price, it’s because I simply want NEW customers in my business – I know that longer term I will recoup that initial investment in the majority of cases. The point is, overall it’s a wise strategy. It’s an advanced concept that’s unknown to most business owners.
Now, I suspect that you’ve come to your conclusions about eBay because (a) you don’t realize that eBay is used by some people to acquire new customers (lead generation), or (b) you don’t realize that many sellers don’t know how to sell properly, so they often don’t get the price they want. No sane person wants to deliberately not make money!
Again, both of these aspects are covered in detail in my book ‘eBay Exposed!’
Most business owners don’t realize how useful eBay is because they’ve been misinformed. They don’t know how to go about it in the right way. Don’t confuse ME with the average eBay seller who is stumbling around in the dark trying to sell ‘flavor of the month’ products at a tiny markup, abandoning those customers, then repeating the process. That’s foolish. They are the same group of people who are complaining that eBay is a waste of time, that customer service sucks, that there’s this problem and that problem with it.
Again, they don’t get it.
They will probably never get it.
Regards
Andrew
May 9th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Hi,
how is the gotbiz.tv-project running, I love to see the result and videos !
greetings and great show as always
bernd
May 9th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
Hi Bernd,
GotBiz is coming along well. We’re hoping to do a soft launch in about 3 weeks, so I’ll let you know when that happens. It’s an exciting time, and we have some really great shows in the line-up.
Regards
Andrew
May 11th, 2009 at 7:14 am
Hello Andrew,
I have been watching your show for quite some time. I usually think your shirts are funny. I would really like to get my hands on the one said. “We have nothing to fear, but fear itself… and spiders.” And I also agree with most of your observations about what businesses are doing wrong,
The reason I’ve chosen this particular post to comment on is because it goes right to the core of what has absolutely been driving me crazy for decades. I have only seriously been studying marketing for a couple years now, but I have been aware of marketing. Almost my whole life, and I see business owners or managers make in one stupid mistake after another. The McDonald’s example that you gave is classic. And, sad to say, not unique to the one you found. I live in Pennsylvania. Here, several McDonald’s have taken to posting signs informing customers of their penny-pinching inconsiderate view of their own customers. Case in point…
During a fairly busy time of day (a lot of customers). A woman with a car full of children went through the drive through. Not surprisingly, her order include a lot of things. Once she was handed all of her stuff at the window. She looked through it and most of it was wrong. They were the right things, but they hadn’t done the modifications that she asked for. So she had to send back a shake for a different flavor, and some burgers to either have condiments removed or extra ones added that sort of thing. It’s a busy time, I understand it staffs grew up. This is the way it goes. What happened next, gives me nightmares to this very day. The staff (kids), flew into a panic, all these orders were coming in orders were piled up on the monitors the grill was behind in making burgers. And these people had to take time to correct this woman’s order. Since there were many people behind her in the drive-through lane. They asked her to park and wait, which she did. She waited patiently in her car for 15 minutes give or take. When a girl was finally sent out to take her corrected burgers and shakes to her, a few minutes went by after the girl returned. Then the woman herself walked into the store with her french fries, which were cold. So she went up to the counter explained that she was just waiting in her car for 15 minutes while they corrected these problems in the burgers. And these fries were cold, could she have some new fries? The response, “no”.
“Can I talk to a manager.” She asked. After another five minutes, a manager came forward. The manager looked at the woman and asked the woman to explain the entire event from the beginning. Even know the manager knew what went on, because the staff had been telling her. She gave this woman dirty looks. She practically accused her of trying to steal fries from the store. She said the boxes didn’t look full, were some of them eaten? The woman said, the kids might have taken one or two. The manager said those containers look half-empty. The woman said, that’s the way you gave them to us.(which they often did, they were very bad at filling the fry containers, but that’s a different rant)
To get to the end of the story, after this lovely banter, the final result was the woman left, her fries remained, the manager had won the battle, no fries would be snuck out of this store this day.
That woman never came back to that store again. I who had nothing to do with this story at all and only witnessed. Never went back to that store again. When someone mentions that particular location to me. I tell them the story and suggest that if they do not go there.
Obviously this particular story struck a chord with me. This particular McDonald’s has a history of putting up signs telling customers that they can’t have extra condiments without paying for them that they can have water without paying for a cop. And so on. The location of this store is such that the sleazier people in the area are the main customers. But that many of your customers are assholes, does not justify treating everybody badly. One of the things that I believe a business is responsible to do is shield their good customers from their bad customers. By putting up signs telling the customers to pay for water or a packet of ketchup or anything else that everyone in this country has come to expect for free as a minimum service or as a courtesy, if you will, is in the words of one of your other commentors shooting yourself in the foot. You don’t solve a business problem by pushing the responsibility of it onto your good customers. And that’s what these signs, and this stingy fry policy do. They seek to blame the customers for the company’ him a s inability to properly manage itself.
Now about your color report for seven dollars. I think the problem here is not that you wouldn’t give seven dollars of value. I have a lot of your stuff and I know. I personally have never seen you overcharge for anything. So I’m quite sure that your color report is worth more than seven dollars. I think the problem with it is how you presented it. Had you said, it just so happens I have a report about this very thing. “I explain in detail what each color means and how it impacts different types of businesses. And this applies not only to your web page, but to your logos, business cards. Sales receipts, the uniforms you wear her room, and lots and lots of stuff, etc.. The report covers all 12 of the major colors, and I had been thinking about charging $27 for it, but as a special favor to viewers of the show. You can get it for just seven dollars in the link below. And that’s under 60 cents a color!” And a Maybe those exact words aren’t perfect, but something a little bit more price cushioning. I believe would have set more people at ease about it.
You mentioned, the difference between something costing and something being an investment. I have been steadily gaining ground in this whole marketing thing for a while now and the breakthrough for me was in coming to the realization that anything that helps me make more money is not a cost at all. If I “spend” $100 on information that helps me make an extra hundred dollars or more, obviously I didn’t spend anything at all, in fact, I was actually paid to get that information. This is the way I look at, and since I’ve been looking at it this way. Amazing things are happening.
The reason for the horrible customer relations in my McDonald’s example is the same as the reason for the horrible customer relations in your McDonald’s example. People think of cost, as only money or product, and they completely forget the lifetime value of a customer. Yes on this particular day, this particular customer might cause your company get a few less cents, but next week. They may buy $10 worth of stuff. And again the week after that. And in a little while, they may come with a bunch of friends, and by a lot more stuff. And on and on for an indefinite period of time and an indefinite number of transactions. All of which make you a profit. The handful of fries that you save today could have cost you thousands of dollars. Almost nothing in business is ever profitable in the short term.
I was hoping to have all this lead to a wonderful conclusion, but I have rambled a bit too long I think. Great Show. Keep them coming. Oh!! And you ebay system is absolutely inspiring. I learned not only how to think about ebay in a much more profitable way, but also to apply that “out of the box” thinking to everything I ever look at anymore. So, thank you for that, and keep doing the great shows.
May 11th, 2009 at 7:21 am
PS- to my previous post…The correct action by the manager in my story, and If I HAD been the manager, would have been to have given her the new fries immediately, not ask to even see the ones she was complaining about,personally made sure they were the fresh ones, and apologized to her for the wait. And done this without asking her to explain the story again. Just let her know that we care and that she was inconvenienced and and we understand. How hard is that?
May 11th, 2009 at 7:24 pm
Thank you very much for taking the time to post this. Everyone should know about these things. I enjoy learning new things so I subscribe to blogs like yours. Frances
May 12th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Great story Dick, thanks for sharing that!
Andrew
May 13th, 2009 at 9:32 am
Hi Andrew,
Black background for a web site – oh no mine’s black !!
Well yes, we run a photogrpahy studio and we’ve designed the logo to be a square with black background and white text with one letter being magenta (highlight). We’ve got the web site black as there’s some text but it’s supposed to be about the images – photos, and with the background being black the images stand out more than if it was white. Why because your eye is attracted to the brightest thing – the white background so having a black background allows the images to standout and not compete with the bright white background.
Your thoughts please
May 13th, 2009 at 9:33 am
since the web site’s not display in my comment, here is it > http://www.ikonimages.com.au
Comments welcomed
Cheers.
May 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Kon,
In the world of blogs, it’s fairly well known that when you post a comment, your website will appear as a clickable link from your name, so bear that in mind in the future.
re your comments, I think the layout of your site looks fine. It’s mostly image based rather than full of text, so in this instance it works. A page of white on black is tough to read, that was the point I was making.
Regards
Andrew
May 13th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
Thanks Andrew, I appreciate you taking your time to write back to me.
Once I found your web site at about episode 40 odd I went back and watched all the episodes from #1 and have kept up with them since.
Brilliant!
Are you planning to tour Australia any time soon ?
Cheers.
May 14th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
What’s up with the flame war guys?
Andrew is giving principles for the benefit of MANY viewers/clients.
Stop focusing on the “exceptions” or at least understand that you can choose to ignore a principle if it doesn’t apply.
And if you have so many “exceptions” or you are in such a niche, then maybe you can NOT benefit from a show meant to benefit the masses.
Pay Andrew to consult for your niche, and if you don’t like him pay someone else. We are all here to make profit, but as my “Rich Dad” would say:
“You wanna play? You gotta Pay!”
Andrew if you’re ever in San Diego your Wax is on me, lol. (Well, I guess technically my Wax would be on you).
Whatev’s
May 15th, 2009 at 7:21 am
Thanks Jose, you’re a gentleman.
May 15th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Kon,
I may be over to Australia later this year. I was scheduled to speak at a Mal Emery event last year but the timing didn’t work out. I’d love to come over there, it’s one of the few places I’ve yet to visit.
I find that lots of people watch the past episodes like you (they’re accessible on the ‘past episodes’ tab at the top of the page).
Regards
Andrew