“Brains Over Bucks.”

By Jeff Slutsky and Marc Slutsky

If you want to get tons of customers to come to your business for the first time, try a "blow-out" event. The blow-out relies on a crazy price strategy. You lower the price so ridiculously low that customers can't afford to miss it. On the surface a blow-out may appear to be a money loser. The lead item at these events, in fact, will lose money but the goal is to get people in the front door.

Luby's Cafeteria in Tampa did a Street Fighter Customer Appreciation Day for its blow-out. The offer was half off everything for one day. A banjo player, a magician and balloon artist made the event festive and kept the guests entertained while they waited to be seated. The interior of the restaurant was decorated to reinforce the festive spirit.

Another key element was to make sure there was enough food to go around. This Street Fighter promotion is great because you will get many new people to try your business, however if you upset them by not having enough product, then the event loses its benefit. Management knew from experience that in a promotion like this, the guests will try the most expensive meals, so they stocked up on all the fish and meats.

Not only do you need to have enough product, you also need to make sure you have enough labor. Luby's decided this promotion was so important they had all the other Luby's general managers in the area there to lend a helping hand. This proved to be a great asset, because when the cafeteria was packed and everybody was under a great deal of pressure to perform, they had experienced staff.

The result of the event was dramatic. Sales tripled for the day and customer counts quadrupled. The important factor here is that sales were up for the month by 13% following the promotions. The manager guessed that at least half of the people coming to this event were new faces.

It's a good idea of offer a "bounce-back" certificate. This provides all those new customers an opportunity to get a great value on their next visit. Getting back again, preferably within the next 30 days, is important to creating a more loyal customer base. It also gives those customers an opportunity to see your operation under more normal circumstances.

Street Fighter Action Plan

1. Create a good reason to have a "blow-out" event for your business (i.e. customer appreciation, anniversary, grand opening or grand reopening, etc.) Give yourself enough lead-time to plan it right.
2. Take one of most popular items and price it ridiculously low (i.e. large pizza for $1.99; movie rental for 25¢; full service car wash for 99¢; hamburgers for 75¢; 25¢ a gallon gas; oil change for $3.99, etc.) .
3. Only discount the main item. All others are regular price.
4. Do for one day only and at one location only if you have multiple locations.
5. Load up on product and labor. Don't get caught short or this event will do more harm than good.
6. Create a bounce-back certificate to bring them back once again. The offer should be a normal discount or value-added.
7. Promote your event four to seven days out. Don't forget to invite your regular customers, too.

Back to Marketing Articles