Recently I’ve been talking to a lot of operators who are really struggling…

Today I realised that, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, these two groups thought entirely differently about one key factor…

They way they think about the customers in relation to the success or failure of their business.

• The successful guys ALWAYS think about what they can be doing to change their business so that it works better for their customers.
• The unsuccessful folk ALWAYS blame the customers for the problems they are having in their business.

I honestly can’t emphasise this enough. That is the big difference. In our most recent book this is something that we discuss at great length. The success or failure of your business is entirely dependent upon your ability to take total responsibility for that success.

If you find yourself complaining in any way about your customers you need to STOP and start thinking “Okay what can we do better to make people want to visit us?”

And then you need to think that thought every single day. Trust me - that is exactly what the very successful guys are doing, whether they consciously think it or not.

In our coffeeshopquestion survey (which if you haven’t filled it out yet - please DO!) the biggest issue so far is an inability to attract new customers. Therefore this will be a major part of our talk.

One of the key things that I found when managing and marketing my own F&B businesses was that it was very useful to steal ideas from other industries and to keep watching what other people are doing to creatively market to THEIR customers.

This very short video is a great example of some ideas that with just a little bit of tweaking you could apply very quickly into your coffee shop business AND possibly gain some PR as a result. They would certainly create talking points for your customers.

Hope to see you next week.

Johnnie Richardson

Like ‘em or loathe ‘em it’s impossible to ignore how effect Starbucks have been with their recent online strategy. Check out this video from last weeks online Mashable conference. If you can remove your “Starbucks-scepticism” there are some gems in here.

In essence it’s a relatively basic band playing a bit of a tired old ZZ Top song.

But the actions of one guy turns it into something that has now had 2.5 million views on Youtube!

Sometimes that’s all it takes. A decent underlying business and a HUGE chunk of passion about one area.

What can you do in YOUR business to stand out and gain the equivalent of 2.5 million Youtube viewers coming through your doors?

And don’t forget - if you own or operate a coffee shop we need your help.  We have a two minute (honestly!) survey that we need your help with.

http://www.thecoffeeshopquestion.com/

We look forward to seeing you at Caffe Culture

Johnnie Richardson

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/jun/06/bars-pubs-bust

We’ve talked about this many times and in many formats but it continues to be a great opportunity for coffee shops.  The reality is that the big three historical centres of a community are all disappearing:

1.  Churches - as a nation we really don’t go any more

2.  Local Pubs - closing at a rate of FOUR per day

3.  Post offices - again closing at a ferocious rate

These closures, coupled with an increasing geographical dispersion of family and friends, means that there are a heck of a lot of lonely people out there without any clear focal point in the community.

That, of course, is where you come in.  It is vital to work yourself into the local community and seize this opportunity before your competitors do so.

And don’t forget - if you own or operate a coffee shop we need your help.  We have a two minute (honestly!) survey that we need your help with.

http://www.thecoffeeshopquestion.com/

We look forward to seeing you at Caffe Culture

Johnnie Richardson

For those of you who didn’t make the list and perhaps think you should… I may well agree. These lists, while often very well put together, are clearly flawed. Very often the judges have commercial relationships with some of the winners and it’s almost impossible to cover all the great coffee shops out there with just a handful of judges. I know that if I was judging such a list I would struggle not to put many of my own clients on the list. So don’t lose heart if you’re not on the list and see what you can do to learn from them.

With that said there are a couple of ideas that I think may be of benefit to you from looking at these lists:

The Independent List

http://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/food-drink/the-50-best-coffee-shops-1903388.html

Time Out

http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/features/6361.html

The Guardian List

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/25/ten-best-coffee-shops-uk

As ever let me know your thoughts below.

For those of us in the UK (and clearly parts of the US too) this is truly shocking. But just look at how much coverage this has got him and how much of an immediate impact it has had on his sales.

Clearly I’m not proposing you try to give away guns with every coffee but there is a huge amount to learn from this. Just imagine how much of a talking point this must be in his local neighbourhood.

What can you do that is outrageous and will grab local headlines?

This is classic “Hustle” at its best as we talk about in the latest module in your “Free Recession Report”

And this is exactly the sort of thing that you need to do to make sure you thrive and survive during these tough times.

The difference and the “DESIRABILITY” between the two of them couldn’t be more marked.  For that reason I wanted to discuss these two businesses within the context of the “Desire and Trust” video that we have in our Recession Report.  If you haven’t seen this yet make sure you sign up at:

The Coffee Boys Recession Report Sign Up Page

Caffe Culture coming soon with new concepts from our new book … currently with the publishing editors (very fussy folk) and due for release hopefully next month.

Hugo.

Have to say Freddie’s “Aaaayy Ohh” (last 50 secs of the clip is one of my outstanding memories of the 80’s … The control that he has is staggering with such a large crowd - pure genius.

To be fair to Pret - They do do it. And that to me is the difference. So many of us talk about it, quite likely understand it and don’t execute. I love the Dalai Lama’s line “to know and not to do is not yet to know”.

And to be fair to The Hoff … who was first on after lunch .. he is doing it rather well. Loved his wine analogy and the realisation that espresso at £1.50 = an approx £37 bottle of wine in volume terms. How good would you expect and indeed demand a £37 bottle of wine to be ?

Our old friend GaryMac (not to be confused with GaryVee who GaryMac clearly could beeee) was really first class. A top notch review of the latest marketing material out there and very well thought out and articulately delivered … there is life in the old dog yet …

Next up a Cup presentation which was single walled, one colour, leaked and didn’t need a jacket as it was already struggling to keep temp with …. everybody actually. And the lid didn’t fit.

Well done to Jeffrey and the team … and another great central location.

Royally entertained by fabulous designer Mike Leahy (www.leahybrands.com) a good pal of the infamous James Healy who sadly is no longer with the coffee world and has transferred his significant talents tothe innovative cattle feed business clearly taking some lessons from his years of coffee marketing with him as he sells ‘a better feeding solution for cows, people and the world we live in’  Jaysus … now who does that remind you off ?

Finally a great dinner with The Welsh Coffee Wizard himself … who is going from strength to strength … Watch out Pret … Coffee #1 is coming your way. Spotty Dog was with him …. Haha.

Hugo.