2010 Teleseminar Series

Could Your Business Use a Boost About Now?

For the past few years, it has been a springtime ritual -- marketing maven Joel Cohen and Bill Marvin, The Restaurant Doctor℠, have conducted a two-day sales-building workshop in a different spot around the country. We call it "March Marketing Madness" and it represents our latest thinking on how independent restaurants can grow and prosper.

Two years ago at this time, we were warning operators they were about to get hit by a perfect storm and advising them on what they should be doing to get ready for a severe economic shift. The handwriting was already on the wall ... but at that time, few people really believed it and fewer still had any idea of how bad it was really going to be. Now we know.

This year we understand that cash is tight and time is tighter, so instead of asking you to take another road trip, we've re-formatted the 2010 version of March Marketing Madness so we can bring it to YOU ... at a fraction of the normal tuition. Rather than two days in a faraway hotel meeting room, we have opted for a series of four 60-minute teleconferences -- no airport hassles or hotel expenses ... but more of those details in a minute.

The economic tsunami has fundamentally changed how people think ... in a way that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression. In other words, we are not likely to return to “the way things were.” When the economy finally recovers ... and it will ... the habits and values that people have adopted in the last year or so are likely to endure well into the future.

So what you are seeing now is not just a "rough patch" ... it is your new normal. The old ways of growing a business are obsolete. You can still be successful in this new world, but it will call for a different way of thinking and a fresh approach to building your business. (Your competitors don’t yet realize this, so you can gain a decisive edge in your market if you act before they catch on).

Here is what we have in mind for you this year:

Session #1 - Wednesday, February 10
Sales-Building 2010 - New Game, New Rules, New Opportunities
You can’t play to win if you don’t understand the game ... and the recession has shifted everything. In the new reality, what you thought you knew about sales-building no longer works like it used to. If you want to lay a solid foundation for a new decade of growth (Hint: you do!), you must start by understanding the new normal:

• The important difference between what you want and what you need.
• Why being the best isn’t enough and where you need to be focusing your energy.
• How to make more when people are spending less.
• Why no silver bullet can save you if you don’t start thinking in a new way.
• Why the things that drive people away are as important as those that draw them in.

• Why continued connection is more powerful than endless marketing hype.
• The power of being the mayor of your neighborhood.
• When ... and how ... to handle comps.
• A great source of new business that is off your competitor’s radar.
• How to connect with your guests inside the restaurant and in the neighborhood.

• What really makes people tick.
• Why hospitality can’t come from what you teach (but what and why you teach is important).
• How to bring out the innate hospitality in your staff.
• How to recognize and hire hospitable people.
• Low cost/no cost sales-building ideas your staff can easily implement.

• How to make a no-nonsense sales-building plan for your business.
• Ten easy-to-implement promotions that will WOW your guests.
• How to easily capture a target group that's worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• How to collect and segment databases for email and sms text messaging.
• Why the smartest way to capitalize on social media may just be not to do it.

That’s the program we envision. Now here are a few necessary administrative details:

So that's the deal. You will receive the teleconference phone number and access code along with any program notes the morning of each seminar. Mark your calendar and register now.