A Good Effort

This week I attended one of my rituals of the summer, standing in line to buy peaches off the truck direct from the Georgia peach growers. The location was a restaurant parking lot. Since the restaurant where the truck had been stopping had closed, this year the truck parked for the first time at a different location. I arrived at the starting time, noon, and joined a line of over one hundred people. By the time I left, the line was as long as when I had arrived.

After standing in line for fifteen minutes, I a girl walked up to me and handed me a two-sided, full color 4 1/4 x 5 ½ piece about the restaurant. “What is this?” the lady in front of me asked.

“This is information about our restaurant,” the girl replied. “You might as well stop by for lunch before you leave.”

The lady turned to me and the person beside me. “Well, this is surprising. What a good idea!”

She was right. The piece that the girl handed out was a good idea and a good effort. Management at the restaurant was taking advantage of the over two hundred people in the parking lot to give them information about the restaurant. That was good.

While I applaud that effort, management could have gone from good to better to best with some thought. That would have yielded more profitable results.

If management had thought the situation through from the customer’s point of view, a pertinent question would have been asked. A good one would have been “What do customers standing in line want?” That would have revealed an important point: those in line for peaches were on a mission. They were focused on getting their peaches and taking them somewhere cool. They were very unlikely to sit down for a meal at that time.

However, the day was warm, and the sun reflecting off the blacktop made standing in line at noon even hotter. All of us were hot and thirsty. Looking at the situation from the customer’s point of view would have revealed how those in line would be feeling. Asking “What do customers standing in line need?” would have uncovered an opportunity. That would have lead to a better effort which would have been to sell water to those in line along with handing out the piece. That would have made a good impression on those standing in line and brought in more revenue for the restaurant that day. Water may have even saved the lady who collapsed from the heat and was taken away in an ambulance.

Thinking the situation through from the customer’s point of view could have lead management to the best effort. Considering that people in line wanted to get their peaches and leave would have brought the realization that they would not stop at the restaurant that day. That leads to the question, “How do you bring them back?”

One way to do that would have been to distribute a coupon or introductory special inviting people back another time during the next couple of weeks. Setting an end date on the coupon would use urgency and encourage them to return soon. That would spur more people to come back to the restaurant before they forgot about it.

The combination of tailoring the piece with an offer that had urgency, having water available to purchase, and distributing information about the restaurant would have been a best effort. That would have been reached through thought. Good efforts require action. Best efforts require thought.

Are you thinking through your marketing so that you achieve the best effort?