Are you losing money?
Worse, are you losing money and you don’t even know it?
As you know I just got back from a 24 hour stay in Charleston, SC to meet with one of my business advisors/coaches. The meeting was great and the lunch we went to at a Charleston Steak House was pretty close to perfect.
Everything else, well…. not so much
I decided to try a new hotel chain due its proximity to my meeting place. It was clean and the front desk person checking me in was pleasant but really focused on the process of checking me in.
Meh.
I got to my room, which was nice, had plenty of receptacles for my assorted electronic doo-dads, was well lit and smelled clean.
But something was missing.
It took me a minute, but I soon realized that there was no carpet in the room. It was a hard floor. Well that’s a first I thought.
In the morning, I went to make my coffee with the Keurig in my room, but noticed there was no cream. So I trudged downstairs to the coffee in the lobby and guess what?
No cream there either!
I asked the front desk attendant about it and she flatly stated that she told the General Manager a couple days ago, but that the delivery had not come in. I asked if anyone had thought about going to the local grocery store or Sam’s Club to buy some.
Nah! We can’t do that. (But do you know who I am?! I wanted to scream?) The sales prevention department alive and well!
I won’t be going to that hotel chain again. BTW It is Cambria Hotels.
But it doesn’t end there…
After our incredible steak lunch, I wanted to get a coffee.
We walked across the street to a donut shop to order coffee to go.
“I can give you a cup, but we don’t have any lids that fit” the barista mumbled.
“No thanks, I have to take it in a car and I don’t want to spill it” I replied.
“But I could fill it up half way and that way it won’t spill” she lamely tried again.
Umm… No. I am a slob and I want a lid.
Not only did the donut shop lose my sale, but the sale to my advisor.
TWO SALES GONE! Poof! that money is gone! (BTW, money goes where it is wanted, not where it is looked upon in disdain.)
The donut shop also lost ALL FUTURE sales to my advisor.
How many other guests walked out because they did not have lids?
Again, couldn’t someone have gone to a Sam’s Club and bought a few sleeves of cups and fitting lids to hold them over?
A bigger question is: Does the owner even know?
This IS happening in 98% of businesses around the world.
The biggest question is: DO YOU KNOW? Do you know if this is how operations run when you are not there. And if it happening when YOU are there, you should not be allowed to own a business. Period. End of story.
This IS what keeps most business owners up at night! They lie awake in bed, tossing and turning, worrying what their employees are doing (or not doing) when the owner is out of the business.
Notice, I said most, not all business owners.
There are a select few who sleep soundly every night, without worry…without tossing…without stomach ulcers.
If you are worried that this might be happening ion your business with either employees, vendors or anyone that can impact your business, we should have a quick chat.
If you are not worried, you should be. In which case we should have a quick chat to see if you should be worried.
You can schedule it here: Chat with Vance This free call could just dramatically increase your sales.
