What do bottomless coffee, a public love affair and a digital camera in the bathroom have in common? They are all examples of the type of low-cost strategies that Mike Said uses to step up sales.

Mike was the one who introduced the idea of bottomless coffee to a well-known South African franchise. “It’s not how much value you add, but how much value you are perceived to add,” he believes. It costs only a few cents to provide customers with top-ups, but coffee addicts feel like they’ve entered nirvana. “It may seem crazy for a coffee shop to give its coffee away, but while the customers are sitting at your tables, they see waiters carrying delicious plates of food past them. And those dishes are yours, not your competitor’s.”

Also, don’t underestimate the power of intrigue. While owning a restaurant in George, Mike started running a small ad in the classifieds, reading Would you like to meet me for dinner at Mike’s on Friday night 8pm? Dave And a week later, Thanks, Cindy, that was incredible. Shall we do the same this coming week-end? Mike’s again. It wasn’t long before he had customers asking him about the ‘affair’ and whether the couple was indeed in the restaurant that night.

It is crucial to adjust your marketing strategy to your market, though. The patrons of a coffee shop seek a very different experience from the clients of a plumber, for example. Few people know what their home’s plumbing actually looks like or are at home while the plumber is fixing it. It’s therefore often difficult for them to tell whether the amount of value added justifies the size of their bill. For these types of service providers Mike recommends documenting the work procedure with a digital camera and including a few photographs with the invoice.

And above all, Mike reminds all small businesses that customers happily hand over their money to those who can make them feel happy.

Tags: advertising, brand strategy, client satisfaction, marketing, Mike Said, sales

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