The Over-Caffeinated Entrepreneur with David J. Dunworth
When most people think of innovation, the thoughts of “new and improved” and “Wow, what a terrific idea,” and “It is about time,” immediately come to mind. These innovative accolades are welcome praise for all of the tremendous advances in technology, medicine, green technology and a host of other industries.
That’s all well and good if you are creating the cure for the next pandemic, or an app for the new Blackberry or Android Phone, or a better way to make the wind turbine spin faster.
►What good is technology when it comes to the cup cake business?
►Why would technology be important when trying to sell more office supplies?
►Is technology that important when opening or running a restaurant?
Anyone who is old enough to remember the television show Laugh-In will relate to the answer to all of these questions. You Bet Your Sweet Bippee It’s Important!
Technology needs to be utilized and inserted into business at every possible juncture and junction. That is what makes the mundane special, the average extraordinary.
The Opportunity for Technology in Innovation
Think of this; the food service industry has been relatively the same for more than 100 years, with the exception of computer systems, automated inventory, computerized scheduling and a few other “technological advances.” But the Maître d’ has been replaced by a minimum wage hostess, most restaurants no longer even take reservations, and the “casual” dining experience has dipped to an all new low. Back in its day, the Maître d’ knew every regular diner, and contacted them when he or she (almost exclusively he) didn’t see the regulars often enough. He would call each regular patron that hadn’t been in for a while in the afternoon, and let them know how much they have been missed, or that their favorite special or dessert was a feature item on the menu that evening. He would then invite them to partake of the evening’s fare, perhaps with some inducement such as half off, or free wine, or free dessert, or some other offering. Now restaurants rely on mass-market couponing, half off Tuesdays, or other so-called “specials.” Today there are more than 950,000 restaurants in the US, and the average seating capacity for dinner is roughly less than 40% of what full is. I didn’t make these statistics up; they come from the National Restaurant Association. The seat that sits empty tonight is lost forever, and can never be recaptured. That is a net loss of revenue forever. The server that didn’t earn tips on the empty seat on Monday cannot recapture it on Tuesday. The opportunity is gone forever. Simply put, lost opportunity cost equates to lost revenue through mismanagement, or at least through ignorance.
Or, what about the bakery business, or the whole foods grocery business. These outlets prepare so much fresh take away foods; bake so many loaves of bread or cakes, or other baked goods each day based on historical data. They utilize the “par system” of what occurred in the past to predict production for the present day. When the end of the day comes, they highly discount it, donate it or do a portion of both. What is left over at the end of the goods’ life cycle is discarded, losing marginal revenues forever. More lost opportunity cost.
Still yet, what about the slow moving goods at any retail store? Discounts are taken on merchandise that sits on the shelf for more than the “Stated Retail Period” and continue to be marked down until it either sells or is donated to a third world country, or some other form of disposal. I know of one of the Top Ten Retailers in the world that throws the merchandise away intentionally, under the premise of “non-competitive” advantage. That is plain stupid logic in my humble opinion.
My point is that there are technological applications that can eliminate the lost revenues, the ability to gain marginal revenues and improve customer satisfaction, without much expense at all. It is simple to do, yet hardly any corporate retailers or hospitality organizations are utilizing technology to solve these lost opportunities.
Check This Out
The airline industry relied on travel agents to sell their seats on airplanes, at one point exclusively. Then airlines formed their own reservations departments, with huge call centers in markets across the country. United Airlines, as an example, had three sites; Chicago, Detroit and Denver, each with more than 1000 seats operating around the clock. Along came the internet, and now travel agents are nearly extinct, the call centers shrunk to a handful of “service people” and the airplanes are full on nearly every flight. What happened? Technology is what happened. The opportunity to check flight availability; book tickets, and find last minute specials is in the hands of the consumers at their touch.
The Solution
Very simply put, there is an entire industry attacking this “Need” but one would not notice unless one is thinking outside of the box. The same “real time” sales methodology used in the airline industry can be used in the industries above, along with numerous others. The cell phone, especially the texting application within the cell phone, has become ubiquitous almost overnight. Why not establish a customer focused text-marketing program for providing real time marketing of empty seats, extra loaves and discount merchandise? It’s easy, affordable and can be self-managed or hired out.
Mobile marketing programs abound, yet they are hardly thought of, unless one is Tuned In. Today’s smart phone technology is great for text messaging, sending photos, taking photos, using GPS technology and a host of more than 100,000 Apps available. Short Message marketing is on the rise, and today’s entrepreneurs are missing the boat if they are not incorporating a program of this caliber!
It is facts that on average, 85% of text messages are read within three minutes of receipt.
How many companies can you immediately think of that have a comprehensive mobile marketing program in place?
For more information on this type of Innovation, please feel free to contact me at djdunworth@yahoo.com.
For more information, please visit David's TNNWC Bio.
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