I hope the summer is a going great for you. Of course the next really big trading period is Christmas. Are you ready for it? Christmas can and should be an exceptional period for hotels, restaurants and gastro pubs. The team should be ready to deliver a wonderful experience and the tills ringing full to the brim.
No matter what time of year you are reading this, to be busy at Christmas, it needs to be planned.
There are 7 key areas that are needed to ensure Christmas is the best it can be for you and your business.
1. Make a Decision
Decide on a goal you want for this year. It could be 10% 20 % or 50% up on sales compared with last year. Decide on who you want to be your customers and who they should not be. Review past years’ customers and ask do I want them again. Each Restaurant Hotel and Gastro pub will have past customers who were a delight to serve and equally those that were a nightmare. You know the ones you said you would never allow in again. Review your financial information from the same period last year. That is what were the sales, Gross profit and bottom line. Sometimes even though we take in large revenues we lose money during our busy periods. Make sure you know what your cost base is and that its accurate before you set your pricing. Losing money can be as simple as not getting the cost base correct. Simple things like having too much staff on duty or not enough to deal with the level of business can and does cost us sales and profits.
2. Competitor Analysis
Review what your most successful competitors are doing or have done for Christmas. If they have nothing ready yet this is great news for you. Assess what you can learn from this and then decide on how you can do it better from a delivery point of view and a value for money point of view. Value by the way does not mean cheap. Whatever Christmas package is created needs to be perceived as value for money. That is a mix of the quality if the offering comprising of the quality of food, beverages, entertainment, atmosphere and the overall quality of the experience delivered.
3.Build it
Create your package (or packages) based on who you want to serve. What you can deliver. Ensure that whatever you put on for Christmas will deliver a great experience for your customers and a decent profit for your business.
It’s vital you price your package correct and have your maths done in advance. If you’re doing entertainment, make sure it’s already booked so you get your pick rather than whatever is left. Consider add on’s , that is what could you up sell to the package, drink deals and specials etc. or deluxe packages that have a little extra in them that adds to the standard package. This will increase you spend per cover before anyone even sits down.
4.Spread the word
Get the word out fast. If you have kept good records start calling your past customers to let them know what you are doing and that they are the first to hear about. Clients that have used this strategy have generated between 8-15 bookings alone form this ranging from 15 to 170 covers. Other clients left it a little late and heard far too many times “we have already booked “
Timing is important. Any time after 1st September is fine to get the word out. Be ready before this as many larger companies plan their party’s months in advance. If you’re not ready you won’t get the booking.
Once Halloween is over, full steam ahead on Christmas needs to be the order.
Make sure you use Facebook to your advantage. If you have a CRM (customer relationship management system) tailor a snappy email geared to drive booking. There is no shortage of options to drive sales for this or any other period. Use a mix of online and offline strategies (depending on who your customer is and who you want them to be) A simple Christmas table can be a great strategy to get instant bookings. This is where you set up a table in the Christmas style with your brochure prominently located for customers to take with them. Also, have a call back sheet there for people to register their interest so you can call them back.
5.Fill
Fill capacity- Make sure you know in advance exactly what you can take in and when you can take them in especially if you are doing several sittings. For Christmas, every single table and seat should be filled. Set up a system that you take deposits. When you have a deposit your cancellation ratio is much lower than when you don’t take deposits. Some clients even get paid in full before the party has commenced. I have worked with companies that did request deposits and companies that did not. You choose here. All I will say here is the no show ration with the ones that did not take deposits is much higher.
6.Right levels
When you have all the bookings in and you know your numbers in make sure you have the right number of staff to deliver a great experience. When you have too many staff on your profit is eroded but when it’s too few the service is slow and we miss out on many sales opportunities. The team should be well versed on what to do and when to do it. Include trainings on drink service and drink monitoring have specific team members designated to work on beverage Sales.
Have shortened wine menus on the tables and special boards with cocktails and winter drinks displayed in focal points around your venue. Offer tabs so organisers are more relaxed with capped spends. Keep organisers informed of when nearing the cap. Many will increase the cap. Make sure you have a card in advance for tabs. You won’t want to be chasing money after the event. I have seen far too many have to chase cheques after the event and some cases never getting paid. Ensure this does not happen to you. You have worked hard delivered a great experience, you deserve to be paid.
7.Follow up
Give a call back a few days after the event to get valuable feedback and have a special offer ready for them to return in January and February to start your year with more of a bang than a whimper.
You could also give a voucher of some kind that is redeemable in the new year when you are giving out receipts. Most will never call back their customers to find out did they enjoy their night. By doing this you will set yourself apart from the masses and many times you can get a booking then and there as a special occasion is on the horizon for your customer. By calling them you show that you value them and they matter to you. They feel more special when you go the extra mile. Don’t underestimate the value to you by doing this. Even when there has been a problem you at least can turn it around. Of course, you can’t turn around what you don’t know about and this can lead to future loss of business.
In conclusion
- Decide you want to do better than before.
- Review your coemption
- Build your packages
- Get the word out
- Keep driving until you are full and take deposits
- Deliver the experience
- Follow up to get feedback and drive more bookings with a new offer
If you want to learn more on how to be full for Christmas or you want your premises fuller more often all year round book a complimentary kick start session with us.
On this call, we will take roughly 15-20 minutes where you will leave a solid clear plan around the 12 month results you want to achieve and 3 key action items you need to complete to kick start control back into your life and business within the next 90 days.
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