The other day some of my old running mates and I got together for one of our regular reunions. We always choose a different, relatively inexpensive, hotel that serves good meals and gives us a room to wax lyrical about the old days. There we can talk about how strong and fast we were as runners and how our achievements seem greater every time we meet.

Ah, memories with mates! How sweet they are! Nonetheless, memories are not the purpose of this epistle. Rather, it is to talk about the opportunities the hotel lost.

You see, that pub doesn’t enjoy the privilege of having poker machines which provide regular customers and huge income streams. It is the typical corner pub in a gentrified area that is undergoing renewal.

So it has to become a friendly corner pub for people who live and work in the area to visit regularly for a drink and reasonably inexpensive meals.

Now, it does do that very well. The meals are good, generous and reasonably priced but, when sixteen of us arrived, they missed out on a really golden opportunity. The opportunity to seize the day, or rather, seize the potential future business!

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The staff did a great job and made us feel welcome but really left it to us to control how much we spent. An opportunity lost to get us to increase our investment.

We were simply handed menus, then ordered and paid for what we wanted at the bar. It meant we only ordered a main course when, with an enthusiastic suggestion, they could have easily sold us an upsize of the meal, an entree or a dessert.

Whilst they were quick to pour a glass of beer or wine they didn’t offer us a wine list thus missing an opportunity to sell us bottles rather than glasses.

So, okay, they missed easy opportunities to increase the revenue but what am I moaning about?

Well, it was the opportunity to get us to come back.

They had us in a room by ourselves and could have easily asked us to drop a card with our name and email address into a barrel to win a bottle of wine.

When we left they could’ve easily given us a voucher for a freebie that would get us to come back.

When they asked for our email address they could also have got our birthday and maybe the date of our wedding anniversary to send us a reason to celebrate those events there. They might have found out who was the coordinator of our get together so they could offer some incentive to have our next catch up there rather than at some other venue.

They could’ve offered us a voucher to give to a friend or a voucher for us to use when we came back to dine with a friend.

The list of “could haves” goes on and on!

What a series of missed opportunities!

The publican obviously wanted to increase their business because everywhere I looked I saw computer generated signs offering specials for cheeseburgers on Saturdays and schnitzels on Wednesdays. But signs can’t tap you on the shoulder and have a chat or give you a reason to redeem an offer like people can.

But it’s amazing what they, and any business, can do if they remember to work hard on just three things. They are to make sure you take every opportunity get your customers to:

• spend more,
• come back
• and refer a friend.

It’s amazing what observance of those three rules can do for any business.

Maybe you should check out what you’re actually doing in yours, right now!