News from Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association

Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association Newsletter

(September 18, 2011 - September 24, 2011)

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As we should, we spend a good amount of time focusing on customer service. Training ourselves and our staff is crucial to a successful business.

Internal customer service is an equally important part of our job. How are you serving the other departments in your city?

Are you keeping your city administrator, finance director and council members informed? Are you submitting reports to the city clerk in a timely manner? It's important to help those we work with complete their jobs. Do not wait to be asked for information you know is needed by others within your organization.

Are you responsive to the needs of your employees? When they ask for something or make a suggestion, listen to them and react. They are trying to do their job. Give them what they need to be successful. And along the way, don't forget to acknowledge all that they do for you and the environment of your store.

Are you prepared for you salesmen when they arrive? Have you checked your inventory and compiled your order? Make better use of your time and theirs. Be attentive and respectful and expect the same from them. I try very hard to not take phone calls if I am with a salesman, as it irritates me when they answer their cell phone while I am placing an order. When this happens, the message I get, is that some other customer is more important than my business. Do not send that message to your internal customers.

Responsiveness, quality communication and teamwork lead to better morale!

Cathy Pletta

MMBA Director

2012 Bar Promotion Planning Guide: Start Now & See Success Next Year

Promotions

Planning a promotion is time-consuming, but the return on your investment is a crowded bar and ringing register.

To help you get a serious jump on this crucial work, Nightclub & Bar magazine assembled a 2012 Promotion Planning Guide, including a calendar of events and holidays around which you can build sales-sparking promos and some expert how-to advice.

Some holidays are well-known and important: The day before Thanksgiving, for instance, is one of the busiest bar days of the year, and you can always score sales on Super Bowl Sunday or St. Patrick's Day with the right specials. However, others are more kitschy, providing ample opportunities to pull patrons into your establishment for some unexpected fun.

The key is to plan ahead, and we don't mean a few days. Look through our 2012 Promotions Planning Calendar, then open your own calendar and mark a start date of when you'll begin developing your promotion for each event you want to capitalize on next year; figure four to six weeks in advance.

Don't miss out on the dollars that important sporting events, holidays and days that celebrate spirits, such as rum, bourbon and vodka, can bring into your bar.

With this calendar in hand and constant updates to the Promo Calendar on nightclub.com, you'll attract crowds almost every day of the year.

Click Here for the Calander and Planning Articles

Customer Service or Equal Opportunity Employer?

An MMBA member sent the following

TRUE STORY ....

Last week, I ran into Victoria's Secret, to purchase a bottle of perfume for a friend, and there was a 19 year old GUY working there........now my son

REALLY hates his job at the grocery store!

Profits Up in Isle