Articles

If you’ve been reading our newsletter for any length of time, you know that I’m the guy who’s “got a guy” for everything. You need a haircut? I got a guy. Need clothes? Got a guy. Looking for a car? Got a guy. Best sushi in Atlanta? Got your guy.

I get a lot of friendly joking about that, but that’s okay. I get asked for recommendations a lot. 

An interesting thing happened this past week that really made me think, and I want to share it with you.

It started about a year and a half ago. I found out about this sushi bar here in town, and heard it was pretty good. Tory and I are both sushi fans, so one day we went there for lunch, sat at the bar, and struck up a conversation with the sushi chef, Alvin.

Turns out, Alvin is a really great guy and an amazing sushi chef. Like, really amazing. He worked as a chef in South Beach for 19 years.

On top of that, he’s extremely personable, provides over the top customer service, and seems to never forget anything. We dragged Rod up there (he wasn’t a sushi guy at the time) and Alvin made him a ‘Trust Me Roll.’ As the name implies, you order it and trust him to make it. It’s never the same thing twice. Rod mentioned he doesn’t like cucumbers or mayo, and the next time we went, Alvin made him another – mentioning that he wouldn’t use mayo or cucumbers.

Over time, it’s come to the place where Alvin and I are friends on Facebook, and when he gets something really good in (like Bluefin tuna or Sea Urchin) he’ll text me pictures – and I come spend money. And I’m not the only one who has that kind of relationship with him. Sometimes the texts I get have 20 other people on copy.

There are three companies here in Peachtree City that are Japanese and who bring folks overseas here to work for extended periods of time. All three have had him cater large business functions for them and their employees eat there for lunch all the time.  This guy is good.

We also have an interesting ‘California crowd’ because Pinewood Studios is located a couple of miles to the east of the restaurant (they film all the Marvel movies) and just to the south of the restaurant is the main filming location for The Walking Dead. Both of those crowds visit Alvin twice per week for dinner.

The bottom line is that the place is a real hot spot, and it’s just a little hole-in-the-wall kind of place that is really easy to miss. 

Now, Alvin isn’t the owner – but I thought he was for a long time. I mean, he deeply cares for what he does, always greets me by name and asks about my family (by name), he has my cell phone number, texts me, Facebook friended me, and messaged me there, I mean who does that that isn’t in an ownership position?

He has an ENORMOUS following. It’s amazing. From Hollywood stars to much humbler folks, everyone seems to like Alvin and his sushi skills.

Here is where it gets interesting. Alvin is so good, that when he takes a day off for vacation, family emergency, or whatever, people will come in, see he’s not there, and walk out. Tory, Rod, and I have done it on several occasions – walk in, Alvin isn’t in today, walk out. And we aren’t alone, it happens a lot.

Well, there are two owners of this restaurant, and long story short, there was a little dust up over Alvin taking time off. The guy works literally all the time, but when he’s gone its crickets, and the owners don’t like it.

So there has been a little friction, but Alvin is a stand up guy and continues to work for several months. Then one of his good friends, a producer for The Walking Dead, asks Alvin if he wants to open his own place. After a lot of soul searching, Alvin decided to do it. He joined with a couple of investors, has left the restaurant where he was working, and will be opening his restaurant in a month or so. 

He hasn’t been ugly about his old restaurant, hasn’t bad-mouthed them or anything, but based on what I am seeing on Facebook – and the parking lot – business is WAY down. A lot of folks (myself included) have kept in touch, waiting for the new restaurant to open. 

Okay, so what’s the take away here? As Rod and I were driving by the empty parking lot (which we used to struggle to find a spot in) something became pretty clear.

The owners of the business had built no affinity whatsoever with us – but Alvin had. When Alvin left, we left too. This situation really highlights how important it is as a business owner that you build affinity with your customer base. Your customers need to know who you are, because people buy from people they know, like, and trust. If they don’t know you, they are susceptible to being lured away by employees who leave, other dealerships who build that relationship, or friends and families who may do business elsewhere. The number one reason people quit doing business with a company is feelings of apathy.

The sushi restaurant lost our business because they never built a relationship with us, so when the person who did do that left, so did we.

A motorcycle dealership can be the same way. I remember times where an “A” level tech left, and we lost customers because in their mind he was the only one that could work on their motorcycle. I also remember having to fire a Parts Manager, who then went to work at another dealership, and took some customers with him.

Same with Service Managers and Salespeople. Back then, we didn’t yet have the understanding of marketing best practices to minimize that effect – now we do.

By building affinity with your buying base, you will make them immune to other offers. This happens when you touch that buying base 52-104 times per year, making you the go to guy when its time to make purchases.

52-104 sounds like a lot of touches and a lot of work, but it’s really pretty easy to do, especially with the done for you programs that we have for you. The combination of Sharp Shooter campaigns and our Local Web Dominator packages builds that relationship with your buying base for you, allowing you to be much more in control of your business growth and less susceptible to outside influences.

If you haven’t yet been involved with either of these programs, it’s time. I encourage you not to wait any longer. We have the data to back up what I’m talking about and are happy to share it with you. 

One last thing, if you haven’t yet registered for our Fall Marketing Boot Camp, hurry and do so 

(www.PowersportsMarketing.com/boot-camp). Space will be limited, but we will be going over marketing best practices and sharing case studies that show how you can be more successful and profitable.