Stay close to your customers
The baked sandwich idea was a slice of marketing creativity that came from a couple of basic business principles that Brandon has used to help pilot Domino’s over the past couple of years: know what your brand stands for and know what your customers expect. Once you figure out what field you’re playing on, then you can figure out new ways to keep customers coming back.
Brandon was able to increase his company’s presence among the lunchtime crowd because the company’s baked sandwiches are closely related to pizza, the product that customers have come to associate with the Domino’s name.
Years before, prior to Brandon’s involvement, Domino’s tried to enter the cold sandwich market. The venture wasn’t successful. The equipment and ingredients necessary to produce cold sandwiches is considerably different from what is needed to make pizza, meaning that outfitting Domino’s stores for cold sandwich production took a considerable capital investment at the store level.
On top of that, customers weren’t really looking to Domino’s for cold sandwiches. They didn’t associate Domino’s with cold food.
“Operationally, it was just a completely different set of muscles, a completely different model for us to incorporate into our mainstream business of taking hot food out of an oven, putting it in a [heat-retention] bag and delivering it to customers,” Brandon says.
Armed with that bit of company history, Brandon has made it a point to stay close to his company’s customers, even when the economy is surging and the competition for customers isn’t as fierce.
You should never assume what your customers want or how your customers perceive your company. Gut feelings are bad when it comes to reading customers. Research and data are the way to stay abreast of what your customers want and need.
“We really don’t make bets in terms of our own gut feelings or instincts,” Brandon says. “We always start out with consumer panel testing and do a lot of focus groups. If we feel like the response we’re getting is a positive one, we’ll ultimately go and do a market test, an environment where we’ll isolate two or three markets in the country and roll the product out so we can stress test it operationally. We’ll test our marketing, test our packaging, test our name positioning, our advertising, and make sure it all works the way we hope it would.
“If we get a good read from that test market experience, there is a good chance we’ll roll it out nationally and, in some cases, internationally.”
Because pizza delivery companies take phone and Internet orders, they have a built-in way to keep track of customers and their buying habits. But regardless of what industry you’re in, customer purchase data is worth tracking. If you take orders over the phone or Internet, the details of the calls are worth saving. Over time, you’ll gain an accurate picture of your strengths and weaknesses as a business.
“We have a very rich data warehouse that affords us the ability to access who our customers are today, who they were yesterday, where our new customers are coming from,” Brandon says. “Having that kind of data gives us the ability to go back and do research with those customers to find out important things, which can help you make good business decisions.”
Having a great product is the foundation for developing a repeat customer base. But in trying economic times, customer service becomes just as critical. You should never neglect customer service, but now is really the time to give your customers added incentive to do business with you and keep coming back.
“Every customer is precious,” Brandon says. “You have to earn every one, and every one is a new test of whether you’re going to perform to the expectations of your customers. Your marketing has to be very strong, and in this environment, in this economy, it really has to communicate the value benefits of your proposition. Consumers are looking for a deal, they’re looking for value — meaning a combination of quality, service and price that is attractive.
“This is not a time to feel like you can go out and extract higher prices from customers or cheapen your service or product. This is a time to value that customer relationship like never before. You have to work harder and be more diligent, because everything you earn is going to be earned the hard way. It’s not going to come because the industry is thriving and a rising tide lifts all boats. Success is going to come because you did enough that customers chose you over your competitors.”
