Tag Archives: business

January 10, 2014 · 12:05 pm

Is All You Can Eat Bad Business?

Foodie Friday, and this week I had a number of food related items from which to choose.

SpiceMarket Buffet American food

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One thing I noticed this week kept popping into my brain, however, and so that will be our topic today.  This was the item:

Starting January 2, 2014, you’ll want to head to your local IHOP® restaurant because “All You Can Eat Pancakes,” a perennial favorite among guests, is back for a limited time.

I preface what I’m about to say with an acknowledgment that there are few things more obnoxious than a reformed anything ramble on about their former addiction.  Like many folks, mine was sugar and carbs.  With that disclaimer, I think we all know there is an epidemic of obesity in this country.  Each of those (quite tasty) IHOP pancakes is roughly 150 calories and 22 net grams of carbs.  That’s as many calories as a large York Peppermint Patty and as many carbs as two Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – the big ones.  As a once in a while indulgence, they’re a treat.  As an “all you can eat” incentive, they’re deadly.

Besides the ranting, I do have a business point to make.  IHOP isn’t alone in the food business in using the promise of low prices or vast quantities of food for the money to attract business.  I suppose this seems like a customer-centric way to market.  Dollar menus and all you can eat buffets are staples of our food culture.  However, while these promotions seem customer friendly, I would ask how friendly it is to kill off the customers sooner.  So much for average lifetime value!  How friendly is it to promote something that can lead to serious health issues?  It’s interesting to me that we forbid cigarette advertising and put warning labels on the packs but unlimited calories, carbs, and fat are all seen as virtuous offerings.

The food business isn’t the only one at fault in terms of promoting one thing and delivering another.  Anything that’s presented as all you can eat often has strings attached.  Take “unlimited” data plans.  Some wireless carriers won’t sell them any more.  I have one grandfathered in, although I know once I get to some point each month the speed gets cut back.  Some ISP’s throttle back speeds or charge more once certain limits are hit despite that usually being buried in the fine print.  Consumer centric?  I’ve seen ads for “unlimited” green’s fees for one price at golf courses only to find that a cart fee is due every round. False advertising?

I don’t think businesses need to “nanny” their customers.  If someone chooses to eat a lot of unhealthy food, so be it.  There is nutrition information on the walls of most quick service and family restaurants and I’ve never seen a line waiting to read it.  I’m not sure, however, that we ought to be in the business of encouraging it nor making it the center of our marketing.  I also think the marketing needs to be clear about what “unlimited” means.  What do you think?

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January 7, 2014 · 11:58 am

Stairway

TunesDay, and we’ll use the occasion to talk about a song that makes every “Best Rock Songs Of All Time” list.  It is, as Robert Plant says in the performance below, a song of hope:

That was from a 1973 performance of Stairway To Heaven.  I used this song while teaching poetry to a high school English class (the class and I made a deal – they’d learn all the correct terms with which to analyze poetry and pass a test on them; I’d only use rock lyrics for poetry study).  It’s a really interesting piece in terms of how the meter changes from anapestic (dah dah DAH) to dactylic (DAH dah dah) to iambic (dah DAH) to match the increasing pace and intensity of the song.  The music isn’t too shabby either!

There been a lot of debate over the years what it’s about.  I’m not a believer in the whole myth about a Satanic ritual song if you listen backwards.  I do, however, know that the stairway image comes from the Bible (Jacob’s Ladder – another oft used image in music) and much of the rest is kind of English pseudo-medievalism.  I don’t really read into it a lot except for two points I think are useful as we think about business.

The first is in the first lyric:

There’s a lady who’s sure all that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.
When she gets there she knows, if the stores are all closed
With a word she can get what she came for.

You can’t buy a stairway to heaven – it’s something that’s earned.  Plant’s being snarky but he makes an excellent point.  We often don’t understand the value of some things or people because we’re looking at the next shiny object.  We also underestimate the work involved in achieving success.  It’s not something that one can queue up and buy – like the stairway, it’s earned.

The next is probably the more important lesson:

Yes, there are two paths you can go by, but in the long run
There’s still time to change the road you’re on.

In other words, there comes a time when every business – and every business person – might need to stop, reassess, and change direction.  Conditions change, priorities change, and the people who are successful learn to change with them, modifying business models and career paths along the way.  That’s why, in my opinion, it’s a song of hope.  More importantly, it reminds us that business (and life) is a journey, and maybe that journey is every bit as important as the goal, which is where that stairway leads.

What do you think?

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January 6, 2014 · 10:56 am

No Success Without CES

The first big event of the new year is under way in Las Vegas.

Consumer Electronics Show

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’s the annual CES which used to stand for Consumer Electronics Show but I’m told that since the show has gone way beyond consumer electronics it’s just CES.  As the Wall Street Journal wrote the show

grew up around devices like television sets and stereos sold by distributors and retailers…but it has continually morphed to add new classes of products and companies that don’t fit the classic consumer-electronics description.

“Huge” doesn’t begin to describe it.  125,000 or more people attend and hour-long waits for cabs are common while reservations at most of the better Vegas restaurants are rare.  After a few days, your feet hurt from walking the more than 1.92 million net square feet of exhibit space as does your head from the non-stop loud environment.

I used to love to go despite the drawbacks.  It was at CES I saw my first e-reader and was shown the first “connected” TV in a hush-hush meeting with one of the TV manufacturers.  While both those things are common now, they were brand spanking new business opportunities at the time and got us thinking about how we could grow our business, that of our partners, and enrich our mutual customers’ lives.  The “next big things” this year are supposed to focus on wearable, drivable and mobile-controllable technologies.  We’ll see how that all plays out.

You might be wondering why I raise this.  After all, while you might have a passing interest in CES, for the most part you and your business might have nothing at all to do with curved TV screens or wired cars or toasters that can send you a text.  Fair enough.  CES was always a chance to think out of the box.  What possibilities opened up based on what I was seeing at the show?  My point is this:  the start of the new year is a perfect time to take a step out of the routine and take a look around.  Search out a show or a conference or a meeting of your industry that will let you see something new.  Use what you see to think big thoughts.  After all, much of what is at CES was someone’s pipe dream or maybe even “impossible” not very long ago.

Even though I’m not at the show this year, I’ll read the reports and maybe even watch some of the live streaming taking place.  You can’t spell “success” without using “ces”.  This inquiring mind wants to know more.  Yours?

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