Running a profitable restaurant today is like swimming upstream just to survive. Between thin margins, retaining staff, and fierce competition, it’s easy for restaurants to feel trapped struggling financially. But boosting your sales revenue and achieving long-term success isn’t impossible—with the right strategy tailored to your business. The restaurants excelling today have revitalized their sales approach through tactics like data mining, competitive branding, and customer experience optimization.
This is where I come in. I’m Kerrie Hoffman, a seasoned FocalPoint executive coach who works with restaurant owners in Brookfield, WI. For years, I’ve helped dozens of clients transform their sales strategy to drive dramatic and sustainable profit increases.
My proven coaching playbook provides the cutting-edge solutions you need to thrive. I combine hospitality expertise with data-driven decision making to take your establishment to the next level. If declining revenue or stagnant growth plagues your restaurant, I have the antidote.
Intrigued? Keep reading for my 10-step playbook to restaurant sales success.
Pinpoint Your Niche
In a crowded marketplace, you need differentiation. How do you stand out from other Brookfield dining options? Hyper-local ingredients? A funky, artsy vibe? To-die-for desserts? Get clear on your unique value proposition. Lead boldly with your identity and competitive edge.
Understand Your Customers Intimately
Truly optimizing sales requires knowing your guests on a granular level. In our coaching, we’ll run focus groups, surveys and even one-on-one interviews to uncover what matters most to them. Then we can tailor everything from menu options to seating layout and ambiance accordingly. These consumer insights are sales gold.
Set Goals and Monitor Metrics
Next, it’s time to set tangible sales goals and monitor key metrics over time like revenue, customer traffic, average check size and inventory costs. Tracking quantifiable data fosters accountability and allows us to make smart, data-driven decisions. We’ll review progress regularly and course-correct as needed.
Invest in Employee Education
An educated, motivated team trained in your offerings, hospitality principles and upselling techniques is invaluable. I’ll run illuminating workshops so staff can engage guests, provide 5-star service, and boost average checks. Equipped with greater knowledge, they become true brand ambassadors.
Evaluate Your Sales Process From A to Z
I take a 360-degree view, auditing your entire sales process from reservation systems to payment options and beyond. I’ll observe you in action, pinpoint friction points, and revamp procedures for smoother operations. Could your layout or inventory process be optimized? My outside eye sees opportunities you might overlook.
Craft Captivating Marketing Campaigns
Next, we’ll refine your marketing and outreach strategy. I’ll audit your current channels and campaigns, keeping what resonates and reworking what doesn’t. We’ll brainstorm creative promotions, forge strategic partnerships, optimize SEO and fine-tune your social media presence. The right messaging sells.
Uncovering Your Sales DNA
Your restaurant’s point-of-sale data holds the keys to transforming your profitability, if you know how to crack the code. As an executive coach, I specialize in helping owners extract and apply the sales intelligence buried in their POS numbers.
Together we’ll conduct a deep data dive to identify meaningful patterns. When are your peak earning hours? Do certain menu items have low turnover that indicate they should be removed? What customized promotions or events yield the biggest boosts in traffic and revenue? The insights are endless when you analyze the numbers strategically.
I’ll help you continuously track metrics over time, setting profit goals and gauging performance. With data guiding decisions, you’ll have confidence you’re making smart moves to optimize sales.
Cultivating Customer-Centric Offerings
Data mining offers part of the picture, but customer feedback provides the rest. I advocate surveying patrons directly through comment cards, online reviews, post-meal emails and more. Hearing first-hand what draws diners in, or what might be missing, is invaluable market research.
Synthesizing sales data with customer perspectives allows you to design experiences perfectly tailored for your audience. Their input could inspire everything from limited-time specials, to menu additions, to your overall ambiance and service approach. I’ll help you implement systems to continually solicit feedback for real-time improvements.
Maximizing Efficiency and Profitability
To complement data-driven insights, I advise a deep look at your operations, suppliers, costs and waste. Even minor adjustments to ingredients, inventory management or vendor relationships could yield notable cost savings that drop directly to your bottom line.
I bring an analytical approach to identifying opportunities to run a tighter ship. Comprehensive, long-term strategies like altering menu design for better profit margins combine with quick fixes like renegotiating supply terms. The goal is maximizing the balance between quality, efficiency and profitability.
Ongoing Collaboration for Growth
The work doesn’t stop once our coaching sessions conclude. I’m in this for the long haul, committed to collaborating with you as a trusted strategic partner. I’ll continue offering candid feedback, accountability, and an outside perspective to bring your sales goals to fruition.
Having guided countless restaurants through sales transformations, I know that sustaining growth requires vigilance. Markets shift, new challenges arise. Together we’ll tackle obstacles head-on as they come up. I’ll keep you focused on innovating and optimizing so your offerings stay top-of-mind.
Let’s have an open dialogue about what our ideal long-term partnership looks like. My goal is to see your restaurant not just survive but thrive for years to come. I want to help you fully realize your vision and potential. By working together, we can build something truly great.
