If I were to examine my long list of clients over the last sixteen years, there would be a common thread that connects them all. I call it the A Factor.
It has nothing to do with education, looks, height or speech.
Whatever you believe to be the “thing” that’s holding you back, is not.
A few years ago I attended a speech by a gentleman who was born with some major birth defects. He had no arms and no legs. He was sentenced to a life in a wheel chair.
To hear him speak, you’d be ashamed of yourself for complaining about anything.
If this guy could figure out how to make a success of himself, what’s your excuse?
It all boils down to the A Factor; Taking Action!
I started marketing and selling my catering by leaving the restaurant for an hour or two in the afternoon between the lunch and dinner rush.
If I had waited until I had the resources to replace myself, catering sales would have never built.
It is so easy to get overwhelmed by everything staring you in the face. Where do I start? Should I do this or that? What if I forget something?
Take a deep breath. Relax.
Take a pad of paper and head to the nearest coffee house. Leave your cell phone in the car.
I know. It’s ok. If your restaurant burns down, there’s nothing you can do to help anyway. You can deal with the insurance company in an hour when you’re done.
You should Google the term “mind mapping”. It is a type of free flow brainstorming. Instead of putting things down in a linear fashion, you draw circles connected together.
For example: Draw a large circle in the middle of your sheet of paper and write “Increasing Catering Sales”.
From that circle, draw a line towards the top right and add another circle. Enter “Cookie Drops” in that circle.
Underneath the Cookie Drop circle, you can put the bullets associated with everything to be done:
- Find Cookie Packaging
- Identify Buildings To Target
- Assemble/Print Marketing Pieces
- Role Play
- Enter Qualified Prospects In CRM
- Follow Up Monthly With Qualified Prospects
You can have as many circles coming off your main circle as you desire: Top 100, Black Friday, 3 Step Lead Generation Postcard, 4 Walls Marketing, Catering Website, etc.
Even if you don’t have the resources to tackle them all, list them out.
What I like to then do is assign a dollar value to each circle. What do you think you can generate a year in catering sales from each area?
You now have a framework to evaluate the project to start with.
I like to take a project and break it into step by step components. This makes accomplishing the task more manageable. This way you also get to mark things off your list quickly.
The key is to schedule time each week to work “ON” your business, not “IN it as Michael Gerber discusses in The E Myth and to be consistent. It’s like getting in shape; you must work out weekly to get the body you want.
Now go plan some time to get the A Factor working for you.
Well That’s All For This Issue!
Michael Attias
Restaurant Catering Software
P.S. – If you need help growing catering sales, then please go to www.RestaurantCateringSoftware.com and download my free eBook: Cater or Die!
P.P.S. – I make a limited number of time slots available each week for a free Catering Strategy Session with me. (You also get a catering menu critique and free analysis of your website for “Catering Effectiveness). For complete details and to grab one of the limited spots, please go to:
http://www.restaurantcateringsoftware.com/catering-planning-strategy-session
P.P.S. – Anyone wishing to reprint my articles may do so. Please email me for the bi-line to use for proper author’s credits.
