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The 21 commonsense business development truths 11
outside of the norm . . . like an early lunch . . . then encourage your team to
be exible and to nd a way of making it happen. For example, the diner
mentioned above could have made an exception and made us the food rst
and generated the order afterwards, once its systems were up and running.
This may have been different for the staff, but it would certainly have been
more protable than saying no.
If you are an owner or a manager, empower your staff to use their initiative
to stop technology being an obstacle to doing business.
8. Quality and word-of-mouth count for
everything
A restaurant owner acquired new premises in a fantastic location. He spent a huge
sum tting it out with beautiful furnishings and décor and created a wonderfully com-
prehensive menu, which was appropriately themed and tastefully printed. Everything
was polished and brand spanking new, ready for the big launch. There had been lots
of promotion to get diners in during the opening few weeks and there was a real buzz
of expectation locally. Everything was perfect, except for just two things . . . the quality
of the food and the service.
Everyone who went there had a bad experience. Negative word of mouth was the
norm. Stories were told of inefcient service, long waits, items on the menu not
available, mistakes made over orders and nally food poisoning. As a business, the
restaurant did not last long.
Despite all the preparation and cosmetic attention to the décor and premises, ulti-
mately the poor quality of the product and service contributed to the demise of this
restaurant and indeed the owner’s business aspirations.
The moral of the story is simple. If you want to be successful you have to
be absolutely committed to quality. It isn’t enough to pay lip service to it. It
has to be of paramount importance. Forget business development activities
altogether if you have a lousy product or service.
One other point, don’t ever assume your quality is ne because few people
formally complain. Trust me, most people don’t communicate their dis-
satisfaction to the business. They simply don’t come back for more and
they tell lots of other people how bad you were . . . and then these people
tell others as well. The answer of course is to actively invite feedback. (See
Chapter 6, golden rule 2.)
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