How Your Present Customers Can Increase Your Business

Restaurant Marketing 101 includes the understanding that the customers you have at your tables right now are the ones who are your best salespeople to draw in more clientele.  Their experience at your restaurant is something that you can be assured will be shared with others, including their friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers they meet who might ask, “where’s a good place to eat around here.”  

That is why it is important when trying to grow yourrestaurant business to focus more on your present customers than the customers you don’t have.  When you do everything possible to listen to their feedback, ask for their suggestions, stay in constant contact with them, and get them on your mailing list or loyalty program, you will find that your restaurant grows exponentially through their word-of-mouth reference.

One way to do this is through social media.  With social media communication, not only will you have a direct link with your present customers for valuable feedback and for advertising promotions—you will also have an easy method at your disposal for asking them to pass on the word to others in their social network.  Applications like Facebook and Twitter have made it incredibly easy to invite others to “like” a page or to “re-tweet” a promotion.  Making it easy for your present customers to refer you to friends and family is as simple as setting up a Facebook or Twitter page for your restaurant and passing along promotions or discount coupons through it.  

Another easy way to use your present customers to increase your business is to set up a loyalty program in which present customers will receive discounts or free food items after multiple purchases.  Loyalty programs encourage your present customers to return more often, ensuring that your tables are full on days that might otherwise be slow.  These types of loyalty programs and incentives are easy to implement and the return on them often triples business from your current clients, who will then have incentive to return more often to the restaurant that they enjoy visiting already.