Cafe finds no price approach rings in the sales
Posted by admin on Jul 6, 2009
In an interesting approach to the age old question of value, a café in Ohio has come up with a strategy to thrive: the owner has done away with pricing and simply asks customers to pay what they feel is right. Sam Lippert says that business has increased so much he is looking to add staff to cope with the increased demand.
Looking at a menu with no prices on it could be an invitation to wholesale fraud but Lippert says that has really not been a problem. “Well, you know, they have to look me in the eye and say that that’s what they think is fair. And, you know, that’s a big incentive. When someone’s at the counter and you say, you get to pay what you think is fair, very few people are going to take advantage of that situation.”
Lippert came up with the system after talking with his girlfriend who is from Bulgaria. “She says it’s a common practice in certain cafes in Europe to allow the patrons to decide how much to pay for their meal.” What really underlies his motivation is giving people a way to treat themselves in the current challenging climate. “I’m trying to give people incentive to actually go out and eat or go out and get a cup of coffee, because they get to pay what they feel is fair.”
And how have sales been since he adopted the policy? “My sales and customer counts are up on a given day between 50 to 100 percent. And I’m starting to look at being able to bring some of my part-time people on full time and maybe being able to add a couple of new employees.”
Patagonia’s social responsibility and transparency leads to greater payoffs
Posted by admin on Jun 18, 2009
Patagonia’s corporate social responsibility report is unlike most companies. An interactive online experience called the “Footprint Chronicles,” allows customers to track their products social environmental impact from design, manufacturing and delivery.
By exposing its entire process to inspection the company exposes itself to criticism but also to ideas. It also helps the company dedicate resources efficiently.
“We used to believe that transportation had a huge mitigating negative factor and what we’ve discovered over time is that actually transportation represents just over 2% of the product’s total environmental footprint” says Rob Bondurant,VP Marketing and Communications.
“We spent years consolidating our supply chain only to find out we’ve ignored 98 % of the energy we were using,” Jill Durain, Director of Environmental Analysis.
In fact the biggest footprint is fibre production all the way through refining oil to polymer production. That understanding will shape how products are designed and produce a bigger payoff down the line.
It also produces a social benefit as the company builds engagement with its customers by increasing the transparency in its processes. Bondurant notes, “The more transparency we can offer the more customers will reward us with their wallets and the more change we can impact at the manufacturing level.”
Great feedback for early-stage ideas
Posted by admin on May 8, 2009
If you have a great idea for new product or service it really pays to get good advice from other people. But where are you going to get that advice? You could talk to family or friends but the best place to get unbiased advice is often from other entrepreneurs. The founder of the Ideablob.com Ami Kassar started an open mic night in Philadelphia to bring entrepreneurs together to share advice, stories and support. The events have now spread throughout the country.
“We create a forum where entrepreneurs can come and expose their idea with a group of strangers in the room and around the web,” says Kassar. In doing so the entrepreneurs expose themselves to other people who can give them input and perhaps a different way of thinking of their idea which makes it better. “It’s like a support group for early stage entrepreneurs.”
Recently a woman who lost her job selling Medical Devices came to blobLive to get feedback on her idea for starting a personal training service. She used the community to get advice and feedback and is now making three times what she made at her old job. And the best part is she’s following her passion for what you really wants to do.
The event is streamed live on the Internet and people watching on the web may also have an idea that they want to submit or a comment on someone’s idea. There usually is a lively discussion on twitter about the ideas with the discussions often getting into the top 10 discussions on twitter.
It’s free to participate online and if your idea a gets the most votes in the month you win a prize. Anyone can come to one bloblive for free then after that it’s either $10.00 a session or $20.00 for a monthly pass.
Renewable energy sources look to profit during downturn
Posted by admin on Apr 23, 2009
President Obama has promised that his new energy plan would help the environment and create jobs and opportunity. But are all these things really possible?
At the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference in California, 175 companies recently gathered to hear how environmental opportunities are helping them become more competitive. Scientific advances like algae that can create petroleum and strange looking trees that take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere are prompting some to call for even more government stimulus for green industries as a way to power the economy back to health.
“We believe that proves that being more green actually means being more profitable,” says Brain Camastral , Global President, Mars food. Their new candy plant powered by methane from the local dump is saving them over $500k per year.
Cracking down on carbon will create entirely new industries with products like fake trees that suck carbon out of the environment. Innovation in this field could contribute to the creation of a $1 trillion/year industry with thousands of spin-off opportunities for entrepreneurs.
Twitter optimism campaign
Posted by admin on Apr 20, 2009
Here is an interesting way to get out the message about Optimism and creativity – whenever you post to Twitter something about people doing interesting or creative things, use the tags #creativity or #optimism. [Or even #combinedoptimism (:>) ]
Maybe we can get more folks doing this and spread the message!
Are beauty products right for the recession?
Posted by admin on Apr 9, 2009
What career has sales people who can earn six figure salaries, work flexible hours and have the autonomy of working for themselves? Would you believe selling cosmetics for Mary Kay? In these recessionary times, Mary Kay is not only surviving, but its thriving.
According to the “Lipstick index” (a term coined by Leonard Lauder) , women don’t cut back on cosmetics even when they’re strapped for cash. And the message to the sales people at a recent Mary Kay conference, is that just because there is a recession doesn’t means Mary Kay salespeople have to suffer
“Have you heard anyone say, ‘I am going to cut back on my mascara?’ ” asks Jan Thetford, Sales Director and leader of the biggest selling Mary Kay team in Texas. And if 2008 is any indication, they didn’t as wholesale sales increased to $2.6BB.
Courtney Armstrong began selling Mary Kay 8 years ago, “At first my initial goal was just to make $50-100/week, but last year I made three times what I made working a full time job. I love helping women feel good about themselves.”
But the job is not all fun and no work. Courtney leads skin care classes with potential clients and after a couple of hours teaching them about the products, she gets a few hundred dollars in sales. There are also personal visits to clients’ workplaces to deliver orders and she will even have clients drop in to her home office to pickup their cosmetics. The payoff? She says that she doesn’t have to worry about losing her job even in a recession.
“Women will always find a way to by their cosmetics… and the result is that my sales have been great!” The net result is that she works about 35-40 hours a week giving her time to be a mom to her 3 children under 6 years old.
But even this model might not be for everyone. The way to move up in the company is to bring in more salespeople to work under you and make sure that they bring in the customers, and the sales. It suits certain kinds of personalities and people have to know themselves before deciding if this is the route they want to take.
But Courtney knows that for her situation, this was the right move at the right time. She has received many gifts from the company, most of them pink. “It’s nice to be recognized by a company that gives you that little bit extra to say ‘Thank you for working hard.’ ”
Everything old is (a) new opportunity
Posted by admin on Apr 2, 2009
An old pastime is getting new life in these times as the recession has given rise to do-it-yourselfers with the resurgence of knitting, quilting and fixing things as an alternative to buying new stuff. Part of the foundation for this (along with saving money) is a rejection of what marketers have been preaching for years as part of the “Producer Economy;” that you need to buy new things to replace older products.
“There is a generation of kids growing that didn’t know it wasn’t extraordinary cool to fix stuff and to build stuff,” says one contributor within a new generation of techno-artists called “Makers” who spurn consumerism and believe in the reuse and reinvention of everyday technologies.
“The maker movement is recognition of how rewarding it can be to make your own stuff.” Mark Frauenfelder, Editor-in-Chief, MAKE Magazine. One of the goals of the movement is to get manufacturers to stop selling dead end technology to make things that can be repaired fixed and reused.
“A great first step is to stop throwing stuff away,” “If you’re an amateur open it up and see if you can fix it.” Which is another way of thinking creatively about the things we consume and what’s important in everyday life.
Company provides way for fast-food restaurants to get an edge
Posted by admin on Mar 26, 2009
With creativity coming alive in sit down restaurants is there anything interesting with fast-food? Well Boston-based company Exit41 is providing the resources for fast-food restaurants to improve the take out and delivery experience for customers.
The company counts among its clients Wendy’s, Cara restaurants and has two main services. The first is an online ordering portal they provide on behalf of the restaurant and the second is a US-based call center that has processed over 17 million orders to date. CEO Joe Gagnon believes that having US-based call center employees allows them to better understand and address the food ordering process.
In a creative way to deal with the high volume of orders from the drive through lane, Wendy’s uses Exit41’s platform so that all the customer orders go from the speaker in the drive lane to their call center. The order is then injected back into the restaurant ordering system.
With the business just completing an $8.8MM investor round, financing growth is paramount. “It’s all about giving restaurants a growth opportunity,” says Gagnon. So to make sure Exit41 can cope with growth they foresee they are hiring more people in the US for their call centers and investing in their software, making it easier to use and more able to integrate into their customer’s systems.
In fact the company is even working on an iPhone application to allow customer to order when they are on the go! They are trying to make it easier for customers to order through many different channels and rethinking the entire customer attraction process on behalf of their clients.
Creativity in the restaurant business brings in the customers
Posted by admin on Mar 22, 2009
Was it just me or was the Keg restaurant more packed than usual last Saturday night? I mean there was a half hour wait when we got there and there were still people lined up out the door or standing by the comfy fireplace in the lobby waiting for their table. How is it that people say the economy is so bad that people aren’t going out for dinner for fear of breaking the budget yet some restaurants are busier than ever.
I guess it depends who you ask about the state of the restaurant business and how they are dealing with the current reality. It seems that restaurateurs who are being creative are getting rewarded with increased traffic and higher sales.
For example Scaramouche restaurant (a highly recommended spot with a gorgeous view of the city) is reporting a nearly 50% increase in the number of diners year over year. What accounts for the increase? Well it might likely be the adoption of the Lobsterlicious (and now the new Crustacean Celebration) prix fixe $55/person menu in January which drove in the crowds.
What is particularly inventive is that not only has the economic downturn lowered the cost of lobsters, but the restaurant is not using as many costly ingredients in its menu preparation, relying more on more labour-intensive preparation to keep the quality and flavours at the highest level.
But it is not just the creativity of the restaurant which is keeping the crowds coming in the door – it is that they’ve been around for long enough to cultivate a comfortable relationship with their customers. And perhaps this is what people want for these times and why it will likely stay busy at the Keg for some time.
Bus company bucks trend by investing in green technology
Posted by admin on Mar 20, 2009
What is expanding, hiring, innovative and green? Would you have guessed a bus company? Well according to both the US and Canadian governments, New Flyer Industries Inc. qualifies on all accounts.
As governments rush to implement the stimulus packages passed recently New Flyer is being held up as a poster child for the type of company that should be a great candidate to thrive and create all important jobs. The company’s work force of roughly 2,300 employees is located in both countries, largely concentrated in Winnipeg as well as St. Cloud and Crookston, Minn.
In the US where it is known as New Flyer of America, Vice-President Joe Biden yesterday hosted a town hall event at the company’s St. Cloud plant where he took questions on the government’s recovery plan. Vice-President Biden said that his office chose the company’s facility for the event, “because it’s a leader in transit innovation and low-emission, alternative-fuelled vehicles.”
“In 2008, New Flyer hired more than 90 people at its St. Cloud plant and has operated around the clock to fulfill a two-year backlog of orders,” a press release from Mr. Biden’s office said.
The company’s investments in environmentally-friendly technology seem to be paying off with a reported two-year backlog of orders. “We’re probably the healthiest vehicle manufacturer in North America today,” said Brian Tobin, a former Canadian industry minister.
