What annoys you, perturbs you, irritates you or otherwise bothers you? Are they everyday things or things that you notice and when you do – every time – you think ‘why doesn’t someone else notice this/fix this/I need to fix this‘?

Your doors are open - are you paying attention?

How often does this happen at restaurants and bars? You notice how you always get the table that wobbles (or maybe they all do) and you think – why hasn’t the manager/owner/proprietor done something to fix this?

How about: do they even know it’s an issue? Do they visit the tables to check on you where you can have face to face interaction and share this info – or do they seem to care and/or do they even really want to know your feedback. How many empty “We  Care/Want To Know What You Think” slips of paper have you filled out in your life to no avail?

So when you notice these things, it’s time for you to realize this is the exact same concept for marketing beer to women. It’s the things they notice, over and over and over again because they matter to them.

For example, do you have purse hooks under the bar top, in the bathroom and in others places where they’d be convenient for women? They can double as coat hooks and umbrella hooks too.

What about how chilly or warm the bathrooms may be? For women the temperature of the bathroom is important. I can think of two places immediately that I used to patronize whose bathrooms were like braving Antarctica. Good grief!! Pay attention and set it straight (and it’s so recklessly wasteful – which is another sent message).

Or how about the retail choices. Do you only have men’s shirts – if so do you only want to sell to men? Or worse yet Unisex. What is “Unisex”?? Women make 80% of all purchasing decisions and over 50% of the global population. If you’re a man, let me ask you: Do you shop in the women’s section at the store? Of course not. Then why do you expect the women you care about to shop in the men’s section? And don’t tell me because women still buy the shirts anyway. You’d eat rotten food on a deserted island too if it was your only choice.

Small detail? Absolutely not. Here’s the deal: They do have choices. And to make your stand up and out front you must notice and make changes to welcome them in.

These thing matter. Start paying attention and making corrections, you’ll see rewards pile up.

A purse hook takes 3 minutes to install correctly. Isn’t 3 minutes worth the investment for a happier customer?

Jim Sullivan has it dead on in his newsletter this month:

“Diminishing returns: When times get tough the first thing inept operators do is penalize the customer by cutting labor or training. If you’re “saving money” by not training and then seeing your sales shrink, remember that it’s not what you pay people, it’s what they cost you.”

Training your people - from the CEO to the floor sweeper (sometimes one and the same!) – is critical to the success of you and your consumer. When you don’t invest, you don’t get the return. And they certainly get way less than they want and what you (hopefully) want to deliver.

Train your people (you too)

Yes, some investments take longer, have a slower upward trajectory and take a while. Regardless, when you’re training, you’re moving forward. A long term investment is the one that will yield the best results.

The message you send as a company to your people and to your consumers is powerful. It tells them “we want to be successful through our people.” Not “we’re too stingy so the same old crappy service will be here for you indefinitely.”

If you were the consumer, which kind of place would you pick? Always remember to put your selves in consumer shoes when making impactful consumer decisions. You are not the consumer.

Start your training plan today. If you have one, reexamine it and refresh it for relevancy and accuracy and appropriateness. Bring in a fresh perspective to help by hiring a knowledgeable consultant, inviting other members of the industry you respect to review your program or help develop one, tapping into your professional industry organizations, and asking your consumers.

Consumer science is what we’re talking about, not rocket science. Frankly rocket science is way simpler – rockets don’t have opinions and thoughts. And consumer science is sitting right in front of you, waiting for engagement.

Consumers want to buy from engaged businesses - from their beer to their widgets to their socks. Give them a reason to patronize you and they’ll reward you over and over and over. Train your people.

Now, back to that training program review…

An enormous and humble THANKS to Alex, Danielle and the entire crew at Standing Stone Brewing Company for their hospitality, attention and good humor. They invited me to come to beautiful Ashland, OR last weekend on the trip to do some work together.

The crew, lead by Alex & Danielle, was very receptive, open, had great questions and in general it was a smashing success (ask them – they’re honest folks).

We covered:

1. The Customer Experience – customer service refresher & reinforcement; development of a Customer Service Committee (brilliant idea)

Sustainability wheel at Standing Stone

2. Beer – Women & Beer (educational beer dinner for female staffers and a few select guests only), Beer education for the whole company (FOH & BOH with a professional brew master as well), and a Beer Advisory Panel.

3. Long range planning

The facility is quite lovely, a comfortable size and has generous outside seating. Their sustainability practices are many and pride in what they do shows.

Are they perfect? No. Do they know that? Yes. That is exactly why Alex invited me in. To help the upward curve – to better serve the customer and in doing so, they better serve themselves.

The original Win -Win.

My stetson tips to Alex, Danielle, Diane, Rachel, Matt, Ashley, Michael, Anna, Javier, Carlos, Alberto, Erik, Adam, Alicia, Lindsey, Alison, Mike, Tim, Andy, Melza, Jeff, Ken, Rob, Karen, Don, Thomas, Meg, Sophie, and the rest. Hope to see you all again soon.

Here’s What Not To Do.