Tom Gray, owner of two Jet City Pizza pick-up and delivery restaurants in Redmond and Seattle, Wash., was looking for a way to help his restaurants reach their full potential. “Eventually I want to expand, but I don’t want to make the mistake of growing before I have fully developed the potential in my existing locations.
Gray already had a POS system that was supposed to run a birthday club and other promotions but found that it was too hard to track and took up too much of his time. Then he found an automated system that made the process much easier. “We now have our customers signing up on our website… Now it’s easy to track. Our Birthday Club is going well. Twice a month I get a report that tells us who should get a birthday postcard. We developed a bright and attractive postcard that has a pizza with birthday candles on it. The response has been good,” adds Gray.
The Birthday Club is just one of several successful programs being used by Gray. In order to increase business in January, which has typically been a slower month, Gray created a Bounce Back Coupon. During the month of December every customer was given a sealed envelope that contained a Bounce Back Coupon. If customers brought the envelopes back during January, they would get to open them and receive a discount on their purchases. Discounts ranged from 15 to 100 percent. “I was very pleased with the rate of return; it was much higher than other campaigns we have done in the past. We will certainly do that again in the future,” says Gray.
Gray has also implanted the Very Important Pizza Eater Club. His employees tape an invitation onto every pizza box, inviting customers to go to the company’s website and sign up to become members. As soon as they sign up, they will get a free cheese pizza and start receiving other valuable coupons. In addition, they will be able to continue to write checks after April 1 when the business won’t allow checks except from VIP members.
“Our goal is not to compete with all the other pizza restaurants in our area. Our pizza is gourmet and so we need to attract people who want a top-quality pizza. With the Pizza Marketing Group we are able to get that message out. I feel like we’re working better and smarter. By utilizing their creative ideas we don’t have to reinvent the wheel. This system helps you become an efficient marketer in a short amount of time,” says Gray.
Gray recalls, “One Saturday I had a question about the system and called their helpline. Their customer service department was able to contact someone in technical support at his home. He quickly called me back and answered my question. You just don’t get that kind of help every day.”
Gray is confident that he is on the right track to help their business reach full potential.
About The Author:
Since 1981 Ron Wilkinson, the Founder and President of the RestaurantMarketingGroup.org, has been helping restaurants increase their profits all across North America. Ron is a noted author and speaker on restaurant marketing with 52 years of experience in the restaurant industry. Contact Ron at (888)776-3484 or Ron@RestaurantMarketingGroup.org.
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