BEVINCO's Follow the Franchisee - Shannon Nauman

Day 418 – Year in Review: Confidentiality of Data

2011-03-21T09:18:00.000-07:00

I am likely stating the obvious with this post, but it is imperative that you always, always ensure any data or information remains confidential in regards to the bars you audit or even don’t audit. It is human nature for bar owners to ask you how others in the industry are doing. We are looked upon as consultants and we are always wanting to provide helpful information and add value to our service, but make sure any information you are providing is from industry resources, restaurant and bar associations or maybe consolidated BEVINCO data from your region, for example average losses or hot selling products etc. Refrain from discussing results from other clients, its confidential information between you and the client. If a bar owner asks how others are doing and you respectfully decline to speak about other establishments, they will understand, because they wouldn’t want you to be discussing their business either.

Day 404 – Year in Review: Portable Printing

2011-03-07T08:01:00.000-08:00

Unfortunately, I have not been able to ditch my printer, and is the only piece of equipment that does not fit into my portable office (roller bag). Some of my clients have wireless internet and some do not, some prefer a hard copy of the reports handed to them when I am done and some prefer the reports electronically via email, and some want both email and hard copies if the owner wants it emailed to their Blackberry if they are not always around but want the staff to see the report right away. Because of this I carry a small laser printer along with me so that I have the ability to print when needed. With technology these days portable printers are getting extremely small and are not that cumbersome to carry anymore, for now it might be worth the investment.

Day 392 – Year in Review: Professional Attire

2011-02-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

I believe it is extremely important to maintain a professional image at all times when completing your audits, even if it might be 5am and you don’t think the owner or staff will be there. You need to make sure that you look professional for when staff arrive, or the owner stops in to meet with you. You make the call on what the definition of professional attire is, whether it be khaki pants, or some form of dress pant and a collared golf shirt, looking professional will go along way with your clients. After all, in the beginning they are letting someone they likely don’t know (“you”) in their bar after-hours when they might not always be there, and looking professional is a big part of being professional. My staff and myself wear golf shirts with the BEVINCO logo and a casual dress pant. If things are getting a bit messy (usually weighing kegs), I also use a black apron to keep my attire clean. This also allows me to easily stop at potential clients or sales meetings without having to change or worry about my attire after I have a completed a couple of audits earlier that day.

Day 387 – Year in Review: Flash Light

2011-02-18T05:07:00.000-08:00

Yes, a very basic tool, but it comes in handy every audit. I found a small Mag-Lite works great when you are doing beer bottle counts in a cooler where shadows can make it difficult to complete the audit and the lighting is poor. Some stockrooms are very poorly lit, and in many bars the liquor is kept in a cupboard behind the bar with little or no lighting and a flashlight is a must. I have also had the pleasure of completing an audit in the dark during a power outage and a flashlight was a necessity. This is also where making sure your laptop is fully charged before you leave the office in the morning along with your hand held scanner and of course the rechargeable batteries that I talked about earlier. You just never know what you are going to come across when performing your audit.

Day 378 – Year in Review: Equipment

2011-02-09T05:29:00.000-08:00

A big part of getting started is purchasing all of the necessary equipment; laptop computer, bottle scale, barcode scanner, hand held scanner, keg scale and few small other miscellaneous items that will help you complete your audits. But don’t fear, the technical support group at BEVINCO Global Office does a lot of the ground work for you. They have gone through a lot of effort to research the best equipment for the job and to have performed a number of tests to make sure performance requirements are met and integration is simple. The equipment can be purchased through Global office or purchased on your own. There are some options to buy refurbished units on-line which can save you a few dollars if your start up budget is tight. Throughout the year I have tested various scales and computers that other franchisees have recommended and they all do the job without any issues. I have two simple recommendations regarding your auditing equipment; bring your equipment (except your keg scale) to the initial franchisee training because the on-site tech support will set up your equipment for you which is a big help. I did not....... and I ended up having some last minute phone calls on a Sunday with tech support to get me up and running. The other recommendation is rechargeable batteries! These scales eat up batteries quick after a week of use. The rechargeable batteries will last longer and it will save you a lot of money. Have a second set and you will never be at risk for having a dead scale.

Day 365 – 1 Year!

2011-01-27T04:44:00.000-08:00

Time flies when you are having fun (and working your butt off). The past year of developing a new BEVINCO franchise territory has been a rewarding adventure to the say the least. There have been many ups and downs over the year, and when I think about it sometimes I would experience highs and lows in a single day. Bringing on a new clients, working through challenges with clients and the day to day issues with running a business. In just a single year I have observed and experienced significant changes in the hospitality industry, the economy, new bar trends (every week students come up with a new shooter!) and bars coming and going with the changing times. During the year I have learned what marketing initiatives work and what don’t work as well, and how to make the necessary changes to move forward to continually grow the business. Over the next few weeks I will review specific areas or concepts that I have felt made a significant impact on my successes. Feel free to leave me comments or ask me questions about the first year starting a new BEVINCO franchise.

Day 364 – Ola!

2011-01-26T05:51:00.000-08:00

If you are thinking of starting a BEVINCO franchise and you are wondering how you can take a vacation longer than Sunday, there is a way. In the beginning it is more challenging of course, but an employee or two will make life a lot easier. Recently I was able to sneak away for some winter sunshine in the Caribbean without missing a beat. How? It takes some planning and working with your clients to ensure you are meeting their needs. Currently all of my audits fall between Monday and Thursday. To make sure the audits were still completed you can shift the late week audits earlier and double up some of the days, this will likely make a few long days by starting a few hours earlier. On the following week, the early week audits can be shifted later in the week which may double up some days and make them longer but you are then able to take time off in between weeks without missing an audit. This will obviously be easier if you have an employee to help you with the doubled up workload or allow them to complete the audit on their own. If your employee completes the audit for you, you may need to have email access on vacation to review audit results if need be to ensure the reports are completed as required. If you have clients that are scheduled bi-weekly, selecting the off week to take time off will also reduce your workload and making planning a little easier.

Day 362 – After Holiday Season Lull

2011-01-24T04:03:00.000-08:00

The holiday season is a busy time for bar and restaurants and it might not be the best time to approach bar owners with our service. January might be considered a bit of a lull time for the industry, but not for BEVINCO franchisees’. This is when bar owners will have a few more minutes to sit down with you to discuss our service and get ready for busier times with students back for the next semester, valentine’s day and some might even be thinking about summer patio season soon, so now is the time.

Day 356 – New Year, New Planning, New Budgets

2011-01-18T04:32:00.000-08:00

It’s January and bar owners are reviewing profits or lack thereof for the previous year. This is the time to get out there and make your presence known. Everyone makes new year’s resolutions, trying to improve on the year before, whether its losing weight or making more money, in January everyone is evaluating the year before and trying to figure out how to improve. Pick up the phone, send some emails, knock on doors or send out a new mail out, just make sure BEVINCO is considered when new fiscal plans are being developed.

Holiday Cheers to all!

2010-12-21T06:40:00.001-08:00

Day 317 – Is There a Minimum Sales Volume?

2010-12-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

My first answer is maybe. It really comes down to a cost benefit analysis. The industry average for losses is 20%, due to over pouring, theft etc. Just as an example, if you were to have sales of $1000 per week, the bar owner would experience losses of $200 per week (on average). If you charged $200 per audit each week and were able to eliminate the losses then the bar would break even, which might not be much of an advantage (however, we do provide several other value add services beyond reducing losses). So some would say that would be the minimum, however, if the bar has only 2 beers on tap, 4 brands of bottled beer and just rail liquor, then you can look at other pricing options to make the service more cost effective. Because the sales volume is low, the on-hand stock is low, you could likely audit every 2 weeks or maybe monthly. With such a small bar the audit price could also be lowered because your audit time will also be significantly lower. If the bar is on route to another client, this could also make it more financially viable for you. There will be instances where it just doesn’t make financial sense, but just some things to consider when prospecting for new clients.

Day 314 – Qualifying a Potential Bar

2010-12-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

A mistake that can easily be made is to pass over on an opportunity because you think the bar is not a good candidate for the BEVINCO service. Every bar as long as they sell liquor, wine or beer can be a good candidate. There are several criteria that can be used to qualify a bar: liquor sales and volume, demographics of the patrons and bar tenders, location, type of establishment and others just to name a few. But typically it is some combination of these criteria that qualify a bar as a good candidate for the BEVINCO service. A good start to qualifying the bar is to research them and understand their business, stop in and check it out, talk to the bartenders as a patron just to get an understanding of their business. I have long standing clients that have used BEVINCO for several years and I would have never thought they were a good candidate at first glance, but a closer look at their operation revealed otherwise. Don’t assume a bar isn’t a good fit until you have information to tell you otherwise.

Day 310 – Top 10 Target List

2010-12-03T11:35:00.000-08:00

With any business it is always good to generate a Top 10 target list. These 10 targets are usually the big fish in town, or in our case the hottest bars in your territory. They might be the biggest bar, the most popular, the “IT” spot, or have huge liquor volumes, or maybe simply have been a main stay in the city for last 20 years. My recommendation when starting out as a new BEVINCO franchisee is to generate this list, write them down, fold the paper, and promptly file it away in a drawer. You only get one shot, and when starting out you will make mistakes, from your sales pitch, to your pricing, and should you land the client, the last thing you want is have a “Top 10” client be used as a learning experience.

Day 302 – Providing Support to Bar Owners, beyond Counting Bottles

2010-11-25T09:39:00.000-08:00

Six months ago I spoke about the benefits of BEVINCO for a bar owner when they are going through a tax audit. Recently a client of mine was working through a PST (provincial sales tax) audit that are frequently experienced in the hospitality industry. A snag was encountered when the auditor asked for supporting documentation to back up the waste numbers being claimed. With little effort on my part I was able to provide the owner with weekly data from the past year showing sales vs. usage which was successfully used to support during the audit and make the whole audit process go smoothly. This is a great example on how we can provide great value above and beyond just reducing liquor and beer losses and also helps retain them as a long term client.

Day 299 – Using Facebook to Connect with Target Clients

2010-11-22T07:51:00.000-08:00

Social media is a new trend that connects many people of various demographics all over the world. Facebook in particular is a fantastic marketing tool and can be great for business owners to connect to their target audience. Many bar owners now have facebook fan pages which can provide you with helpful information for you to use when contacting them. Useful emails are sometimes listed on the info tab of the page, or take a look at the administrators of the page, the listed names are sometimes the people you want to connect with. Even better, sometimes the administrators identify themselves as owner, manager etc. Just another application of facebook to help you with connecting with a bar owner you have been feverishly been trying to connect with.

Check out a couple of our facebook pages http://www.facebook.com/BEVINCO and http://www.facebook.com/BEVINCO#!/pages/London-ON/Bevinco-of-South-Western-Ontario/103291619732415

Day 294 – Advertisement Development

2010-11-17T10:43:00.001-08:00

Another advantage of the BEVINCO franchise is the support of the marketing group from the global office. I discussed previously including owner directed advertisements in a sealed envelope with other marketing efforts. Personally I am not a graphic designer or proficient with graphic design software, however there are specialists at global office that can help you with designing a personalized advertisement to be used in your market saving you hours of time and costly visits to your local design studio.

Day 292 – Continuing Marketing Efforts

2010-11-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

Marketing is not just a onetime deal, you need to ensure your message is being received by your target market on a consistent basis. You can change your message or the means you use to deliver your message but you need to continually be in the face of your audience so that BEVINCO becomes as common to the bar owner as their local beer supplier that they use every week. In the past I have talked about the postcard mail out and email programs that BEVINCO Global Office (GO) has developed which are extremely effective, simple to implement and low cost, which is so beneficial especially when you are just starting up. However it can never hurt to add other techniques to your marketing efforts to compliment the email and postcard programs. One potential downfall of the postcards (or any direct mail piece) is the owner may not receive them if they are not the mail retrievers. I suspect if a bartender collects the mail, the postcard with the “Over Pouring Costs Money” message may not reach the owners desk. To avoid this I have sent advertisements in sealed envelopes addressed to the owner to increase the odds of the owner actually receiving the message. You obviously need the owners name to do this, however, infoCanada or infoUSA can be a big asset when developing your targeted lists.

Day 273 – Get Involved with Client and Prospect Events

2010-10-27T04:00:00.000-07:00

Networking is a necessity in any business, but the best networking is getting involved with events that are hosted by your clients and/or prospects. One of the challenges with networking events is making sure the group is the right group for your business. The handy man service owner from your local networking breakfast could know a bar owner, but if you went to an event where everyone attending was related to the hospitality industry your chances of success increase exponentially. Many bars and restaurants will host golf tournaments, fund raisers and special events to bring people in the industry together. These events are like gold for service providers like us and should be attended. How do you find out about these events? Make it a habit to browse your client and prospect web pages for event postings, or better yet become a member of their page and you will receive emails when events are posted. And yet again, facebook is a great way to learn about events. If a bar has a fan page, be sure to become a member so that you will be up to date on the newest events that you can attend and you will be sure to meet people that are in need of BEVINCO.

Day 268 - More than Just Liquor Control

2010-10-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

I have said many times before, it is a lot easier to keep a client happy than to find new client. A big part of the BEVINCO service is being a consultant to our clients. We live, breathe and experience a variety of bars, restaurants and night clubs every day, we are the experts. We provide methods and solutions to daily challenges that our clients experience so that their business remains successful. Obviously our focus is to ensure they maximize their profits by reducing their liquor losses, but we need to make sure they have all the tools they need to be at the forefront of a very competitive hospitality industry. These tools can be how to improve their lighting for the perfect atmosphere, introduce hot selling products, improved equipment or web links to new ideas and techniques. The key here is, bar owners need to focus on getting people in the door and providing them with the best experience possible, our job is to make their job easier and ensure they are have what they need to keep people coming back while remaining profitable. For example, this month is Halloween, so we provide bars with some links to creative, yet simple cocktail recipes for their big Halloween Party!

Day 258 – Patience vs. Persistence

2010-10-12T09:07:00.000-07:00

You need to have a fine balance between patience and persistence when pursuing new clients. The worst thing to do is make a new contact and never follow-up or make a return visit just to say hello and check on the status of their establishment. It is very common to come across an owner that is interested in our service and sees value in what we do, but the timing is just not right. They might be installing a new POS system, changing their menu or renovating, all of which are taking precedent over sitting down with you to discuss what we do and how we can increase their profits. So it is up to us to continue to follow up with them over time.........but not too often. How often is too often? It varies, each situation is different. You never want to come across as that guy who keeps coming in pestering to sell something. When you do stop in or make a follow up phone call, try and provide some value, maybe a link to an article that is related to the reason why you haven’t obtained a meeting yet (i.e New POS, renovations etc). If you find yourself to anxious and want to follow up every other day or week, then the real problem at hand is your pipeline is not full enough. If you have 10 contacts in the pipeline it is very easy to become overzealous and contact them too often. But if you have 80 contacts in the pipeline then you will naturally only have time to call a few of these leads each week and your frequency of contact will probably be spaced out to an appropriate length of time without being too annoying. So go work on getting 80 contacts in the pipeline!

Day 247 - New Bar Listings

2010-10-01T05:54:00.000-07:00

New bars and restaurants pop up all the time and sometimes it seems every week a new establishment opens or an old watering hole gets a facelift as a result of new ownership. This is a great opportunity to make contact and at the very least make a quick introduction. Two scenarios usually exist, the first being the new bar owner is very conscious about inventory control and ensuring profits are maximized. If this is the case then you want to make sure they are familiar with BEVINCO and the benefits we bring to the table while they are likely researching various methods and systems available on the market. The second scenario is the owner is swamped with all aspects of opening a new bar and inventory control is not on the top of the list. If this is the case then a simple introduction or a drop off of literature can go a long way. Once the owner gets the doors open and has a moment to breathe then they are more apt to meeting with you to discuss what we can do for them. In both scenarios it is very important to make contact with the owner early. A good way to do this is to frequently obtain an updated listing of liquor licenses being issued or changes to existing licenses. Check with your local liquor control board on how to obtain this list, it is key to getting the inside scoop on new bars and making sure BEVINCO is fresh in their mind.

Day 233 – Owner Objection #1

2010-09-07T06:22:00.001-07:00

Through any sales process there will always be objections, as a service provider (and if you want to make the sale) you need to ensure you have a response to every objection. The biggest objection I receive is “I don’t have a problem”. Well if bar owners didn’t ever have a problem BEVINCO wouldn’t have been around since 1987 with nearly 300 franchisees worldwide, however this isn’t the best rebuttal to use when this objection is heard. The best thing to do is not tell the owner they have a problem or insist they do (when 9 times out of 10 they do), but rather ask a number of directed questions that will get the owner thinking about their business and systems they may currently use which can lead to opportunities or scenarios where we can help just by using the information you gathered from the owner. Let the owner do the talking and all you have to do is listen for where an opportunity may exist. After this discussion if you haven’t won the owner over yet, I like to offer a trial period to them which would allow us to complete a few secret audits without the staff knowing. The secret audits will allow you to determine if there are any issues and gather the data to back up your discoveries which will go a long way to winning the owner over and retaining them as a long term client. Something else you may consider is having the owner participate for a few minutes during the audit and allow them to audit one particular brand, say Crown Royal, that way when they review the trial data they can refer to the brand they audited themselves to give them confidence in your data and ensure we aren’t “adjusting” any numbers in our favour just to make the sale.

Day 226 - The Power of Networking

2010-08-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

Don’t ever under estimate the power of networking with anyone from any walk of life through any means possible. It is amazing the types of contacts you can develop just by simply giving a 30 second elevator pitch to people in everyday conversations. You don’t necessarily have to network with people that work in the industry because it's “a small world” and I have made a number of great contacts over the past 6 months by simply talking to lots of people about what we do. A construction contractor just the other day gave me some great contacts from clients of his where he has completed recent renovations and my insurance agent through conversation gave me the heads up on an establishment that was discussing inventory control, which turned out to be a great qualified lead. In addition to making conversation with anyone you have a chance to talk to, social media forums are exploding and the power of facebook and Linkedin have been invaluable with building my network and getting the word out. Becoming a “friend” or “linking” to someone in the industry or having them be a follower on my BEVINCO of South Western Ontario fan page has also been spectacular as they too will be connected to many people that would be interested in our service.

Day 219 - Sales Update

2010-08-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update on my blog entry from last Monday regarding the 10%
Prospecting Schedule. Since then (a week and a half) I have met with or
spoke to 12 bar owners all purely on cold calls. From those 12, one new
client will be starting next week! So it doesn't quite fit the 10% rule,
but close. From the other 11 contacts, 1 owner has indicated they would
like to start the service in the fall as business picks up after a slow
summer, and two other meetings went well and have since scheduled a follow
up visit. I will keep you updated, but the 10% rule looks like it is
holding true so far. More to come on some of the obstacles and objections I
encounter during the sales push and how I overcome them.

Day 217 - Seasonal Clients, can we make it work?

2010-08-23T06:23:00.000-07:00

The answer is Yes, of course we can. The biggest challenge is timing, a seasonal client might only have a window of 2 months in which we need to get in and identify the challenges and implement corrective actions quickly. A seasonal client would typically be golf courses, beach bars and ski resorts which may or may not be relevant in all regions. The best opportunity would be where both summer and winter seasonal clients exist. For example you may be able to approach golf courses for spring and summer and fill the void in the late fall and winter with ski resorts, that way your schedule can remain full year round. In my territory, the core bars largely support the student population, and when the students leave in the summer the bars slow down and that is when we need to look at the beaches or golf course as I have previously discussed. But how do we make an impact and provide our clients with the service and solutions required in such a short time frame? Well increasing the frequency of the initial audits is the quickest approach. Instead of our typical weekly audits we can perform daily audits over the weekend during the busy days to get a handle of the issues immediately and start implementing solutions during the first week. As the shrinkage levels are decreased we can back the audit frequency down to weekend audits and gradually reduce to our typical weekly audits. The immediate concern would be of course the cost to implement such frequent audits, however in a seasonal venue business the revenues are typically higher per week than what an all year round establishment would see because of the nature of the business. This does require some creative pricing on our end to ensure the client still receives good value and allow us to still make a profit.

Day 215 - Sales Call Timing

2010-08-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Since I am embarking on my new goal of 5 new clients in the next 8 weeks I
thought I would quickly discuss the timing of the sales call which is
critical and can vary depending on the type of establishment you are
targeting. Some general guidelines that I will need to follow (which I had
learned rather quickly in the beginning) to be successful are:

1) Restaurant/Bar - if they serve lunch you don't want to stop in
during their lunch rush or even prior when they might be prepping for a big
rush, so between 2:30 and 4:30, after lunch and before dinner is best.

2) Pubs/Taverns - If they serve lunch treat them like any other
restaurant, however with a pub style bar their late afternoons can also be
very busy with the 3:00pm crowd who are just coming in after work. I find
just popping in you will be able to tell, if they are busy at 3:00pm try
back tomorrow at 2:00 or even 1:30, because if they have an afternoon-after
work clientele then their lunch might also be earlier or non-existent.

3) Nightclub/Bar - these are tougher to track down the owners as they
might not always be on-site and they are only open late at night on
weekends. My most success is to track down the owners office or daytime
contact info and set something up ahead of time if you can. But if not I
find Wednesday and Thursday late afternoons you might have a chance to track
someone down at the club while they are getting ready for the upcoming
weekend. Monday's are typically a no-go......especially if they are open on
Sunday nights.

4) And for almost any type of establishment, do NOT stop by on Friday
unless it has been previously scheduled. It's Friday, their busy, their
tired....it's Friday.

Day 208 - The 10% Prospecting Schedule

2010-08-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

To build on last week's blog post, 2 Bevinco senior partners (Chuck Deibel - Ohio and Ian Foster - California) have introduced or maybe re-introduced me to a prospecting schedule. The crux of the schedule is the more people you contact the more client you will get.....sounds obvious, and well it is. However, if you don't make a prospecting schedule for you to follow then it may be as obvious. In many fields of business (not all) you can use the 10% rule, that is 10% of all the targets you contact will turn into clients. If you want to have 10 clients then you have to contact 100 potential targets. That is a lot of work, but it has to be done to be successful. The schedule Chuck and Ian have proposed is to see 20 prospects (4/day) in the first week. If all goes well during the initial contact meetings you should be able to secure 2 new clients or at the very least 2 new hot leads to follow up on. In week two, you must contact another 18 new targets and follow up on the 2 hot leads from the week before. This process really should continue forever, but every week as you actually get new clients you will have to reduce the number of new targets you contact so that you have to complete the client workload. Over the next 6 to 8 weeks I will be trying to follow my new prospecting schedule to obtain 5 new clients and I will let everyone know how I am doing. To do this I must contact 50 new targets! Although it doesn't exactly follow Chuck and Ian's schedule, it's a bit of a hybrid because I have 6 existing clients. Wish me luck.

Day 205 - Bevinco Benefit #637

2010-08-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

I maybe blowing my own horn a bit here, but there are a number of benefits
to our service. One of the biggest benefits is the immense franchise
network of approximately 300 franchises worldwide! This benefits everyone
from our clients, other franchisees and of course me. Every time I have
come across a challenge whether it be with solving a client issue, new
marketing techniques or how to improve my own operations I have always been
able to receive a number of various insights from other franchisees across
the continent. During an audit as a new franchisee you come across new
challenges all the time and a quick call to the Senior Partner in my region
and beyond has allowed me to solve the problem and continue on without
skipping a beat. Recently Bevinco held their annual conference where all
franchisees from across the world gather and attend various seminars but
more importantly get to discuss challenges, solutions and new methods
regarding our businesses. Check out the Bevinco Head Office facebook page
for photos from our convention. www.facebook.com/BEVINCO

Day 204 - Emails and Spam

2010-08-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

To continue on yesterdays marketing theme using mail outs I thought I would quickly touch base on email. After all it is 2010 and everyone uses email, so this must be the best way to reach out to potential clients....well yes and no. There are lots of benefits to emails and also some issues. With email I have been able to reach out to over a hundred people almost immediately. The challenge has been getting the "best" email. It has been easy to get a bar email from their website but typically it is a general email account. In many cases the owner may or may not go through the emails but you just never know exactly who is reading the email or if it is being read at all (similar to mail outs). I have received a much better response if I have actually gotten the owner's personal email which is hard to get but it might escape the junk or spam email filters. Again, Bevinco head office has another great marketing program where you can supply a list of email addresses and a pre-developed informational newsletter is sent to the addressees. The benefit of this program is when the recipient opens the email and it gets logged, if they continue to click on the attached article in the email for more information that also gets logged. Every month I then receive a list of all the recipients that actually opened the email and a list of recipients that clicked on the article and read further........this list of recipients is obviously the targets you want to follow up on by phone or in person. Again, I think getting the personal email is key to success with this program.

Day 203 - Mail Outs. Do they still work in 2010?

2010-08-11T05:52:00.000-07:00

I have had a lot of questions into sales and marketing and just how do I get
new clients? Well there is no one single answer. The key is try multiple
different approaches to see what works best and then keep doing it over and
over again. To have a successful marketing campaign you need to beat your
targeted group over the head repeatedly so that Bevinco is the first thing
to come to mind if they think about looking into liquor/beer control.
However sales and marketing is very time consuming and can easily fall to
the way side, which has been a struggle of mine, how to service my existing
clients and continue marketing and selling. Well, Bevinco head office has a
great program that has allowed me to send monthly post cards to potential
new clients with a brief management tip and my contact information. All I
had to do was supply a mail out list and professionally developed post cards
with my contact information are sent out monthly with nothing else required
on my end. Initially I thought these cards could easily be tossed into the
garbage (and I am sure some do), however I have had several inquires
directly because of these cards. Even better, when I have just walked into
a bar and introduced myself I have had owners pull out the cards and ask if
I was the same guy.....so they are working and it is all happening in the
background taking a minimal amount of my time. Below is a sample of a
recent postcard that I've sent out... if you want to read this Bevinco Brief,
follow this link: http://www.bevinco.com/services/brief-5reasons

Day 201 – What Have I Been Up to?

2010-08-09T07:03:00.001-07:00

While the feedback and positive comments continue to flow in I will quickly let everyone know what I have been up to in the last 4 months that has kept me from the blog. Increasing the number of clients and the total number of audits has kept me busy in addition to employee scheduling all of which come along with the territory of running your own business. My territory is largely made up of bars and clubs that cater to the huge student population our city has. The problem is the students leave in the summer and the bar scene slows considerably. So it only made sense for me to follow the students......to the beach of course. I was able to bring on a new client that is located in the heart of one of our local beaches. Figuring out how to successfully complete the audit was one thing, but how do you keep your client satisfied and be able to provide them with methods and techniques to reduce their shrinkage is a big part of what we do. In this particular case it would be even tougher since the beach scene only lasts 2 months. In my upcoming blogs I will share with you some of the things we can do to reduce shrinkage for any of our clients and in particular how we can help over short periods of time.

Day 200 - Waiting for Feedback.......

2010-08-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

My last blog entry was on Day 95 and I am waiting for some feedback, comments or any sort of pulse from my large audience that I have gathered over the months......I can’t wait any longer as it is now day 200! I must step it up and continue to inspire those looking to embark on the Bevinco path. Does anyone have any questions or thoughts? You have had 105 days to give it some thought....let me know and I will respond.....just not as long this time. I will be back soon.

Day 95 – Tired Feet

2010-04-26T04:31:00.000-07:00

It has been a few weeks since my last entry, simply because it has been a busy time. I had brought on a new client which required a lot of time to get things in order and understand their systems but all is good now. For the most part though I have been hitting the streets and meeting with many bar owners every day trying to market BEVINCO in my area and build a relationship with the hospitality community in my territory rather than trying to jam the service down their throats. Over the past couple of weeks I have identified an interesting trend that may be significantly different than most other BEVINCO territories or it might be a sign of changing economics...... that is the bar owner is almost always present and in some cases working behind the bar. In the past 3 weeks I have gone into 23 different bars and the bar owner was present at 18 of them, that is 78%! Is this good or bad? Well I think there are positives and negatives. The negative of course is it may be harder to show the need for BEVINCO if they are there all of the time, especially if they are bartending. But even though they are there (for those not bartending themselves), they can’t watch every drink being poured, they can’t be there every minute they are open and if they are then they need a break and we can help give them that break by keeping tabs on their shrinkage and minimizing fears of theft or poor cost control. One of my existing clients is an owner managed and operated establishment and they love BEVINCO, so there is still a need regardless if the owner is present all day long. More to come!

Day 72 – Taxes? Can BEVINCO help?

2010-04-01T05:44:00.000-07:00

Taxes.....everyone hates them whether they are corporate taxes or personal taxes, but the less you pay the happier we are. In the past 2 months I have met many bar owners during sales meetings and at network events and I have received a significant number of questions regarding the taxation of complimentary drinks and spillage. Although, I don’t have an infinitive answer (still working on it), it is my belief that the BEVINCO service can have a huge advantage to bar owners when filing their taxes and/or when they are getting audited by the Canada Revenue Agency (similar to IRS for Americans). I currently have a client that specifically told me they don’t pay a lot of attention to the weekly audit numbers, but are happy to pay the weekly fees because of how useful our data was during a CRA tax audit. In Canada, bar owners have to pay 8% Provincial Sales tax on drinks sold, however; taxes don’t get paid on product spillage or theft. If a bar experiences a significant amount of spillage or theft the CRA may question these numbers and request taxation on a portion in disbelief of the numbers being reported. Where BEVINCO can help, is we can track the amount of spillage and theft of product for the entire year as a third party auditor which can reduce the scrutiny and pressure of the CRA and possibly save the bar owner thousands of dollars in taxes based on our data. Just another benefit of BEVINCO!

Day 70 - The First Audits

2010-03-29T10:11:00.001-07:00

In my last Blog entry I discussed the signing of my first new client, well 10 days later I have completed my first 2 audits with the client and I am surprised to say everything went rather smoothly. The first 15 minutes were a bit intense as the owner sat and watched as began weighing bottles (for the first time in a new client). I was able to complete the first baseline inventory in under 3 hours for a moderate size bar and didn’t come across any real hiccups. After completing the second audit no significant issues were identified and proofing of the report also went smoothly. I have a bit of work to do with the management to ensure I receive all of the necessary paperwork (invoices, sales etc) to fill in a few noticeable gaps, but all and all it was a success. The biggest shocker that you don’t really get to experience during the in-class training is data entry of the recipes. My new client has an extensive martini list with over 400 different recipes in total which required a significant amount of upfront work to get the client up and going the first audit. This really emphasizes the critical nature of qualifying prospects before signing them up as a client. If you think they are not a good fit as a long term client, you might be better to pass up on the short term opportunity.......which is tough to do when you are just starting out, but is a necessary evil in my opinion.

Day 60 - The First Sale

2010-03-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

After a few exhausting weeks of walking the streets of downtown, making cold calls and countless emails I was able to schedule a follow up meeting with a bar owner who I had met with previously and had already purchased a “system”. It became quite clear to the owner that the system had several limitations and was not going to be the solution. The system that monitors pouring did not monitor the stock room and the possibility of full bottles going out the door......but BEVINCO does! That fact alone and the thought of having a reliable third party performing the audits on a timely basis made BEVINCO the easy choice. Although I didn’t get the opportunity to really give my presentation, or use some of the approaches I observed in a new sales training video or the advice of my good friend Tom Hopkins (author of “Selling for Dummies”)......I look forward to my next opportunity where I can give them a shot.

Day 57 - Selling

2010-03-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Before I even started, and even still today (and probably in the many years to come) I know selling the BEVINCO service is going to be one of the largest challenges that I will have to face. The past 2 weeks I have focused my attention on contacting bar owners in my territory through any means possible. Have I been successful? Well it’s way too early to tell, I think in a year’s time I can ask myself that question again and I should have a better answer. I started to contact bars that I thought probably won’t need my service and use the experience as a learning one and hone my sales techniques......and I have made many mistakes already, but I already have a list of things not to say and a list of typical objections that I was not prepared to answer. I have used direct mail, email, cold calls and drop in to the bar approaches to contacting the owners. I have had some success with email, but stopping by the bar has been the best approach so far. However, asking to speak to the owner hasn’t got me very far, but if I already knew the bar owners name I was always able to get past the first line of defence (bartender). I was fortunate enough to know a local brewery representative for my territory who was able to provide me with a few contacts which has helped immensely. But just talking to the owner hasn’t been enough since you typically only get 30 seconds of their time. I have since changed my approach to once I meet them just try and set up an appointment for a later date to discuss the service and not try and sell in the 30 seconds that I have. I will have lots more to discuss on this topic in the weeks to come.

Day 51 – CRFA Trade Show

2010-03-13T14:52:00.001-08:00

For the past 10 plus years I have been working as an engineer consultant mostly in the manufacturing field....a bit of stretch from the hospitality industry. So what better way to dive into this new industry other than attending the Canadian Restaurant and Food Association trade shown in Toronto. I had no idea what to expect, but thought there was bound to be good information, competitors and networking opportunities. To my delight the show exhibited all three of these aspects and there was lots to see. Unfortunately I missed out on some of the great seminars being given on financials and profit saving ideas for restaurateurs. But I was able to see the myriad of indirect and direct competitors to BEVINCO and the “systems” to control liquor and beer that they offer. Reviewing these systems gave me great insight on how to hone my sales presentation to compare and combat against these types of competitors. Additionally I was able to make contact with other service providers such as restaurant start up consultants and marketing firms that could become great industry contacts in the future. Oh, and if you are ever looking for an unlimited free sampling of foods, deserts, new cocktails, shooters and beer....this is the trade show for you.

Day 50 – First Month End

2010-03-13T14:51:00.001-08:00

Time continues to fly by as I have just completed my first month as a new Bevinco Franchisee. So far so good, some success, and many challenges. However, as part of being a BEVINCO franchisee you are required to report your monthly audits to the BEVINCO Global Office and include their royalties and marketing fees. It’s a very simple process that needs to happen, log on to your computer, open the BEVINCO software and synchronize with the Global Office. While synchronizing you will see a table listing your clients and the number of audits that you completed for each client. If there are any problems, maybe an audit was not actually completed or you made a mistake you have the opportunity to correct your summary before synchronizing. Once you verify the information is correct a simple key stroke and you are synchronized and ready to go for the following month.....just don’t forget to send BEVINCO their piece of the pie.

Day 43 – First Sales Call

2010-03-02T06:07:00.001-08:00

After a little hounding of a bar owner (that I had connected with back in September when I was still considering to buy the franchise), finally agreed to meet with me, he informed me that they had already purchased an inventory system but was still willing to talk to me. Upon my arrival the owner delegated the meeting to his GM but everything still seemed to be ok. Although, the sales pitch I have practiced over a 100 times went straight out the window in the first 2 minutes. He was 100% on board with the Bevinco service, felt it was imperative that the inventory be audited. What was the hang up? They just spent thousands of dollars in December to buy a software and scale package and do it themselves. There experience over the past 2 months was that nobody had time to complete the audits, and if they did, generating a report to provide to the owners was weeks after the fact. So as a result they were ecstatic to have a third party come in and complete the audits for them. One issue remained.....they would bring me on board if they were able to return the system they had just bought. So now I wait for a few days to hear the outcome. If not, I will wait a few more weeks, hopefully they make no progress completing the audits themselves and I will offer my services again. Cross my fingers.

Day 36

2010-02-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

Finally the first blog entry as a new BEVINCO franchise owner in London Ontario. It has been a whirl wind experience since leaving the training course in Toronto. Since the in-class training I have a spent a week in the Greater Toronto area with George J (operates a Toronto territory) who gave me some real life bar experience over a 10 audit week that encompassed large night clubs to the small boutique restaurants. Just when I thought I figured everything out I returned home to start my own audits and sales activities which has been interesting to say the least. Fortunately I have 4 existing clients that were previously serviced from a prior franchisee many moons a go to help get things started. These 4 clients have consumed the majority of my time while getting up to speed with things and trying to overcome pricing issues, old systems in place and poor control of invoices and sales information and infrequent audit schedules, probably typical challenges that I will face with all of my clients.

From a sales and marketing point of view I have participated in the February Marketing Mail Out through the global office and have hit the streets of the downtown core in my territory. I had spent a bit of time over the past year making contact with bar owners and networking in the industry to get some feedback on BEVINCO before I had actually made the plunge to purchase the franchise. Now I am feverishly following up on all of the contacts I had made and trying to turn them into actual meetings to discuss the BEVINCO opportunity with them further. I have been able to setup a meeting with a bar owner who anxiously pursued the service in the fall but I wasn’t able to provide the service yet. He has since purchased a “system”, but is still interested in speaking with me. I also am fortunate to have the opportunity of bringing on board two clients that are part of a chain account within Bevinco which looks very promising.

More activities to come.....