Three Monkeys – carrying on into the future. Unchanged
Righto, enough already!
You can all stop going into Three Monkeys and telling Ralph Stamos you are sorry to see the end of a West End institution and it is sad to see the old place close. Ralph is moving on but the Three Monkeys stays. Not only that, it stays the same.
Ralph’s brother will be working closely with the new owner Marie Hanson to ensure that the atmosphere of this local institution is carefully preserved.
Ralph called the Westender asking us to set the record straight. So many of you have been popping in to say good bye he felt a little like Mark Twain after reading his obituary in the New York Journal. Twain famously commented, “Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”
Ralph and the Three Monkeys are very much alive, as is The Westender. Thanks to all of you for letting Ralph know how much you appreciate the work he has put into building a local institution. Thanks too for reminding the local business community just how many of you are reading the paper, now in its twenty second year.
Food Connect has improved customer service through a better website
Local food distribution system, Food Connect, has entered 2014 with a bang and a new website and ordering system.
Happiness manager, Emma Kate Rose said “we did it because many of you gave us feedback about the limitations of our old ordering system. You wanted a system that would allow us to celebrate our food and farmers more meaningfully, and create a more dynamic and practical ordering experience for our customers.”
here are some major changes in the way that orders are placed and processed, which she hopes will make customer’s experience more enjoyable.
“It is different, and will keep us on our toes – in a good way!”
She said that many customers are asking if Food Connect’s business has changed
“No way! We are the same social enterprise operating with the same vision and the same business model to bring about a fairer food system. We just have a new ordering system integrated with our website (they used to be two separate systems) which we believe will help us to sell more of our fabulous farmers’ food.”
She said the aim is to spend less time on back-end administration and improve the company’s engagement with it’s customers. The entire aim of the compani is to give customers a greater connection to the farmers growing our food and the community we share it with.
Networker, guru and advocate for small business, Terri Cooper, was at West End’s Loft for the SW Chamber of Commerce, February breakfast. Westender caught up with her for a quick chat about the need for real advocacy on behalf of small business.
Yvette Adams is ICT Woman of the Year and guest speaker at breakfast on Wednesday
Terri’s next business breakfast is at Red Hill on Wednesday, 26thFebruary featuring ICT (Information Communications Technology) Woman of the Year for Australia, Yvette Adams. Yvette will share the Top 10 Social Media and Technology Trends for 2014 that you MUST be aware of.
Find out more about:
which social media networks you should be spending your time in building up
cloud computing
Time saving apps and programs
wearable technology
how the internet will run our lives
3D printing
Full details at http://www.terricooper.com.au/brisbane-breakfast.html
Terri is concerned that most business groups and political parties claim to support small business but end up listening to big business that has the money to lobby them.
Small business is the engine that drives innovation and that keeps the economy ticking over regardless of the macro economic circumstances. Governments spend billions of dollars trying to keep big business operating here instead of moving off shore only to see those billions, and the billions of dollars of profit those companies subsequently make, go to international investors and tax havens.
In the meantime, small business keeps producing the money that keeps the local economy going. Small business is also a member of the community, employs locals and nurtures the community in which it operates.
John Dwyer watches his favourite coup on set at the client’s
John Dwyer from the Institute of Wow lived up to his name at the South West Chamber of Commerce breakfast at West End’s Loft this month.
He spelt out the basic rules of marketing, which most of the audience agreed they already knew and then not so gently reminded us all that almost none of us followed them.
In a range of examples from print advertising, websites, vehicle signage and television advertisements he pointed out that most of us throw our promotional budgets away without really knowing what we are doing.
Of course, he is offering his expertise to address this on a commercial basis but we are all in business here and none of us mind being sold to when the product is worth finding out about.
With rolling events moving between West End’s Loft, The Brisbane Golf Club in Tennyson and Robertsons Gardens in Macgregor, South West Chamber of Commerce is getting around its footprint in style.
Next month’s breakfast on March 6th is just over a week away. To be held at the Brisbane Golf Club, the breakfast will feature Brett Chamberlain, author of $30,000 in 30 minutes. Be there to hear the 30 minute spiel worth one thousand dollars a minute.
Stunning customer service from Kwik Copy’s Adrian Davis has inspired this piece
Don’t forget the customer in your drive to do business smarter and more efficiently.
Companies struggling to remain profitable in tough times tend to retreat from “the customer is always right” to focus on new business and the 20% of customers who produce 80% of the profit. This is especially notable in large organisations that keep customers on the phone for up to 45 minutes and have their contact details buried three and four pages deep in the most obscure parts of their web-sites.
You can get away with that if your market share is protected (by monopoly, regulation or a unique product) but this arrogance is fatal if your customer can simply go elsewhere.
Yes, it is true that new customers are difficult to acquire and therefor deserve special attention.
Yes, it is also true that a small number of customers produce most of the profit and also deserve special treatment.
But, the other three quarters of your customers are also a major asset.
They are stake holders in your business.
They talk and bad news travels faster than good news.
You should be moving them up the chain by cross selling and up selling to them.
You should be converting them to ambassadors for your organisation by giving them marketing material they can use to promote your business to their friends.
This little homily customer service was inspired by a stunning example of customer service provided to Westender. I ordered a thousand business cards from our local Kwik Copy in Geet Street West End. Part of the reason I went back there was because of a special deal and good marketing. It was essentially a loss leader to get business in the door.
Because of a technical stuff up at my end, the final artwork had a fault that rendered the phone number and email microscopic. I let the company know that the cards were useless, the fault was mine and that I wanted another set made up. When I went to pick them up, there was no charge.
No fuss, no bother, no whining that I had stuffed up an already unprofitable job and made them lose money by doing it twice, simply a recognition that I needed support and they were providing a service.
Of course, every time anyone has asked me about printing since, I have sent them to Kwik Copy. I have become an advocate for their business, actively promoting them everywhere, including this article. I’ve gone out of my way to remember the owner Daniel’s name and refer people directly to him.
This is not an epiphany. I have always been an advocate of good customer service. As a sales manager I separate the account management from the sales function and give simple instructions to the two teams. If someone contacts us, stay with them until they buy something or their problem is solved. I do all of the pipeline management and work out who the most profitable customers are and set up special deals for them, but the key to turning any business around is landing the largest share of the business possible ad the start to that is to look after the customers who walk in the door.
As a salaried manager I have driven out to Brisbane Airport in the wee hours of the morning to nurse packages through customs and down to the Gold Coast late at night to deliver goods needed for the next morning: If the courier can’t get it there for you, then take it there yourself.
Customers remember when you go the extra mile for them and they talk.
Don’t let slick marketing gurus and ruthless analysts cause you to lose sight of that.
If you ask any long term successful business the secret to their success, the customer is always prominent in the answer.
Westender’s weekly business eNews has been rebranded as Business Voice.
Westender now produces two free weekly eNews letters for the two different groups actively following the affairs of 4101.
The Community newsletter now goes to a little over 7,000 subscribers every week.
The new weekly business newsletter, Business Voice, focuses on technology, finance, management and Chamber of Commerce News, announcements about regulation of business and the commercial environment in West End and profiles local businesses.
