Selected Archives
Selected stories 2011-2021
Jaime Puebla/The National
To learn more about RAK Ceramic's financial performance and read the entire article, go here:http://www.thenational.ae/business/industry-insights/finance/rak-ceramics-profits-more-than-double-after-shift-in-strategy
For those tabletop marketers planning to exhibit at the upcoming IHMRS Show in New York..or any other tradeshow for that matter..here's a refresher on our Rule #4 for improving your ROI in trade shows. The show is almost here, but there's still time to get more value for your money spent! Read and follow Rule #4! 4. Leads….Generate. Distribute. And – Follow Up. Do you do pre-show mailings? Do your salespeople make phone calls and personally invite their customers to your booth. Does your entire team work hard to insure that you get all the right customers – and potential customers – to your booth? Well…the time for that to happen is NOW. Develop a plan to insure you maximize booth attendance, confirm who is coming, and then be prepared for when they will arrive. If you can, confirm a day/time they will be at your booth so that you will be prepared. Hoping a target customer will come by your booth and stop is not a strategy. When those key potential customer contacts have visited your booth, and then distribute those leads to all the proper people in your organization – both headquarters level and regional level. Too often, we hear stories that the local personnel who make regular calls on a customer are never informed that they visited the company’s booth. Or, that the sales manager stuffed the customer’s business card into her pocket and never informed the local sales rep of the customer’s visit. AND….MAKE SURE YOU USE AN ELECTRONIC LEAD RETRIEVEAL SYSTEM. It’s amazing to us when we hear that people do not choose to use one of these. There’s simply too many ways for the critical customer follow up to “fall between the cracks” when you don’t have an electronic system to insure booth visitors get proper post-show attention. So…go ahead and stuff the business cards into your pocket….AFTER you scan their badges! Finally, have a follow-up plan to insure that 30, 60 , 90 days after the show you make sure your valuable leads have received literature, a sales call, or whatever other post-show follow up is necessary. Follow up. Follow up. Follow up. Studies show – and our own research within the hospitality tabletop category confirm it – that the majority of the leads generated never receive follow up. If you’re not going to follow up with people who visit your booth….why bother going? You've invested a lot of resource to attend and exhibit at this show. You want to make sure you get good value for your time, effort, and money. So, NOW, is the time to check those last-minute items that can often mean the difference between a good show....and, a GREAT show!
Recently, SalesandMarketingManagement.com published an article ”5 Ways to Differentiate Your Company During The Selling Process”. Adapting the SMM principles to the hospitality tabletop industry,TabletopJournal discusses these five principles and why they are important to tabletop suppliers….whether you are a manufacturer, manufacturer's rep, or a dealer. 1. Make proactive recommendations. When responding to a customer request for a quote on a new tabletop product, make recommendations beyond what the customer is requesting that you feel will benefit the restaurant operator in some way. Will it save money? Perhaps there’s a single piece that will take the place of two others? Or, maybe you can recommend a glassware piece or a serving piece that will better merchandise a particular menu item? You will often know of new products that will better meet the needs of a customer and can differentiate yourself and your company by making these helpful recommendations. So, think beyond the original customer's request for information. 2. Define your niche. Don’t let your company categorized with multiple other suppliers. Make sure that the customer knows that while many companies have glassware, you are THE specialist for craftbeer glasses, for instance. Or, if the customer is looking for showplates, make sure they understand that your selection of glass showplates is the widest range available and your large inventory allows quick re-supply. Make sure you tell the customer why working with your company and products is very different than others….not by disparaging your competition, but by showcasing your company's and your product's strengths. 3. Collect past data on sales performance. Let your customers know how you and your company have helped other similar restaurant operators solve similar problem. Be specific if you can. And, sometimes, even mentioning instances where your products weren’t a good solution can help you build credibility with potential new customers and further define you and your company. Just make sure that those instances were different than this particular customer’s. 4. Sell your culture.
Every company has a different culture. Make sure you articulate your company’s culture and why it aligns well with this potential customer’s company culture. Whether it is your company’s structure, it's flexibility, or simply the style in which you conduct your business….the SMM article is correct – often these “soft” issues are the true differentiators in the selling process. 5. Communicate benefits by audience. The benefits of buying your products or working with your company (versus competitors) will be different for the owner, the food & beverage director, the chef and for the accountant. Make sure you sell your company and product benefits to each of those constituencies. Often we simply sell one overall list of benefits and hope they fit all the various decision makers on the customer end. Make sure you tailor your presentations to the audience who is listening…and having input to the final decision. Decision-making in the food service/hospitality/catering industry is complex and often unique in each situation. Tabletop products often appear to be similar and therefore the decision-making process gets quickly to whose products are the cheapest. Only by differentiating your company and product strengths and showing how you company or product aligns best in solving the customer’s problem you can avoid the downward spiral “race to the bottom” of price. Differentiation in the hospitality tabletop selling process is key to adding value and showcasing your company and its product's true value to your customers. If you are interested in reading the SMM article - its a great read and we think you will enjoy it, you can read it in its entirety by going here: http://salesandmarketing.com/content/5-ways-differentiate-your-company-during-sales-process
The latest art collection cup series from illy is out and it’s simply beautiful! TabletopJournal has long admired the illy art collection for both its designs and its overall branding impact on the illy brand. Tabletop marketers would be wise to take a page from the illy branding manual. For this new signed and numbered, limited edition collection, illy has chosen the acclaimed, versatile Chinese artist Liu Wei, famous for his highly original artistic vision. His evocative and creative universe, reinterpreted for the illy Art Collection, seems to blend cup and saucer into a single dimension.
With voids and spaces defined by unconventional colors, rigid lines that soften and then seem to liquefy, vivid sunsets and dreamlike lights: Liu Wei’s surreal skylines breathe new life into espresso cups and saucers, transforming the daily coffee-drinking ritual into an experience of taste and original creativity.
Hannah Whitaker for The New York Times
Hannah Whitaker for The New York TimesWe always find articles like this that illustrate how involved - and important - the selection process is when it comes to choosing tabletop for your restaurant far more articulate than we often are. Fascinating stuff.
So, of course, Tabletop Matters! You can read the entire New York Times article by Max Chafkin by going here: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/20/magazine/remaking-tavern-on-the-green-one-fork-at-a-time.html?_r=1&
|
We support the
Shouldn't you?
Ment'or Inspiring Culinary Excellence Archives
November 2021
Categories
All
|