Chapter 3 Wednesday morning
They stood on the corner of Church Street and High Street, which was nominally the centre of their town, watching the early morning traffic perform a sadly-repetitive dance in tune with the changing colours of the traffic lights.
Zak had sent a peculiar text message the night before explaining there were some potential customers he wanted them to see, and that their meeting venue had changed to be this road junction.
“Do you know what better means for you now?” he asked as he drew close to them.
They nodded, and greeted him.
“Good, you can tell me while we walk,” and he set off at a brisk pace along Church Street.
Slater started. “Your first question was around why someone would see value in what my business does. There are numerous companies who make kitchens and many people who install them, but I know I’ve got a good eye and can design a kitchen that a house owner will fall in love with. I believe that my work could even win a regional design award as it’s much better than some of the previous winners I’ve seen. So, I would be the reason that people would want to pay more for my businessfor the awards that my designs win.”
“That’s ambitious and I like it. What about you Nick?” asked Zak.
“I’m very different,” started Nick hesitantly. “I don’t think I could win any awards, but I will be recognised for the speciality coffees we offer alongside our regular drinks. My self-roasted beans will be something that makes our coffee stand out. Also, my wife’s own recipes that will be our speciality cakes and dishes. The other thing will be the fact that our coffee shop is located a bit further away from the centre of town but close to two schools and the business areas. If I could build up more regular customers then these will be the reasons that my business will have greater value.”
“You roast your own beans?” asked Zak.
“Coffee has been my hobby for years,” said Nick.
“You should try his hazelnut-roasted coffee,” prompted Slater.
“I will,” answered Zak. “You say that you don’t think you could win awards. But don’t you realise when you get a regular customer, then they are awarding you with their customand paying you for it at the same time?”
“I’ve never thought about it that way,” replied Nick.
“That’s an informal award as opposed to Slater’s formal one. But both can be equally as valuable depending on how you use them,” said Zak. “What about the second question around making a better life for yourself?”
“Having a steady income is important of course, but the most important thing is flexibility in when we work. Because there’s my wife and daughter working with me, we would have the flexibility to take time off whenever we needed toor wanted toand still leave my daughter in charge. Whether it was doing something for the business, going on holiday, or even when one of us just wasn’t feeling well, it’s knowing that there are enough of us to cover the running of the business, and still have someone you can trust completely to be in charge. That means I’m not a slave to my business.” Nick’s head was nodding slowly and he had a slight smile on his face as he spoke about his ideal future.
“Not being a slave to your businessI like that. If you’re not careful that can easily happen,” commented Zak.
“For me,” continued Slater, “it’s about being able to outsource all the manufacturing and installation work so I can focus on the design work and meeting clients. I can do my designs and costings from anywherehome, office, even Uncle Nick’s café. And at any time too, as I have the flexibility to do my designs at night or at weekends, and to take time off during the week if I wanted to. Better is about being in full control of my work-life balance.”
“You both mentioned flexibility and that’s a key benefit of running a small business but it can be a curse too. Some people don’t know how to handle this flexibility. They either try to do too much and don’t focus on what they need to focus on, or they get bogged down in too much trivial detail.”
They paused while the traffic passed and then crossed the road. Slater noticed they were heading towards the carpark of the main supermarket in town.
“What about my final question of why you get out of bed in the morning?”
Slater started. “I love what I do. And your three questions helped me to understand thisso thanks for that,” she said nodding to Zak. “Knowing that when I have to design something very special for a client to fit within all the constraints they have of space, shape and budgetI really enjoy doing that. Even more so if I were to get some recognition for itlike an award or something.”
“For me, and my wife too, we’ve created a special café that we’ve fitted out and decorated in our own way. Actually it’s my wife’s waybut I like it a lot. Coffee & Company is a place we all look forward to going to each morning as the background music we play is the upbeat kind we both like. So we work as a family in a really nice place. And what’s good is that we get immediate compliments on what we serve. People tell us how much they liked this cake or that savoury dish. Even my special coffees get mentioned too. Someone actually asked if they could buy some of my home-roasted beans once. It makes you feel good to be complimented that way.”
They entered the supermarket car park, but didn’t seem to be heading towards the supermarket’s entrance.
“Now you’ve heard each other’s views, is there anything else that you’d like to include under the description of better?” prompted Zak.
There was a brief pause as they both considered this.
“I think that the fact we have the ability to try new things and to learn what does and doesn’t work for our business is interesting. Obviously, you’d only continue with the things that help establish your regular incomeand which you enjoy doing. That would make things better all round,” said Slater.
“Some people said I was mad to start my own business,” said Nick. “But I think that when you achieve success in whatever way you define that, then that’s something to be proud of. It’s a challenge that many others wouldn’t be willing to take on.”
“Nick used a good word theresuccess,” added Slater. “It’s how you define success. Being your own boss and having a steady income could be all the success that some people would wantand they may stop there. But if you want to do morethen you can do. I suppose there’s no upper limit to success, as it’s just how you define it in your own mind. If I can win an award then I’m being recognised for my successfor being special or different in some way. And there’s something else too…”
Slater paused while the thought formed in her mind.
“If you do create a success out of your business, then there’s another thing that you get. It’s a stronger, more-valuable business too. If you wanted to pass your business on to your daughter at some time in the future, Nick, then it would be in a more robust state as a starting point for her. Alternatively, if I wanted to sell my business, then it would be worth more over time. I suppose success accumulates. It only goes forward getting bigger.”
“Interesting insight,” replied Zak. “We’ll come back to that thought of accumulation again at some point. But for now, we’re here.”
Zak stopped walking. They were in the middle of the supermarket car park. The car park was about a third full, with most of these vehicles being parked closer to the entrance than where they were standing. Around them were a few trees protected by raised kerbs to prevent the parking cars from hitting them, a number of covered shelters where neat rows of shopping trolleys awaited their next turn of dutyand several hundred empty spaces for cars.
“I thought we were going to meet some customers,” she said.
“No,” corrected Zak, “I said that we were going to see some potential customers.”
“Where are they?”
“Tell me about the people you’ve seen on our walk here this morning,” Zak said.
“There were people in carsdrivers and passengersand people on the streets,” said Slater slightly confused.
“Parents walking children to school. Other people heading towards the railway station going to work in the city,” added Nick.
“Other people were already at work,” added Slater, “opening shops, driving buses and delivery trucks. But where are the potential customers we’re supposed to be seeing?” she asked.
“Do all those people you mentioned live in homes with kitchens?” asked Zak.
Slater paused, then answered. “Of course. Every one of them will have a kitchen of some kind in their home.”
“Do those people like to consume nice food and drinks?” asked Zak turning to Nick.
“I’m sure they do,” he replied.
“Then isn’t everyone one of them a potential customer?”
“I suppose they are,” answered Nick, hesitantly.
“No. They definitely are,” admonished Zak. “You’ve got to realise this, and you’ve got to make them realise this fact too. Some will be easier to convince than others, and you just need to focus on these initially. The none-customers you can convert into actual customers. There is never a shortage of potential customersit’s just that you haven’t converted them as yet. Once you understand this fact the rest is just a process that you need to follow.”
“It’s that easy?” asked Nick.
“How hard have you tried to convert them?” asked Zak.
“Probably not as much as I should,” he replied sheepishly.
“And that’s what you are going to understand,” replied Zak. “Your next exercise is to understand your customerand we’ll start with a simple question.”
He paused for effect.
“Which of these two things is the most important? Selling your product or service to a customer, or a customer buying your product or service from you?”
“Aren’t they the same thing?” asked Slater curiously.
“Absolutely not. Because you are a business, you are aiming to be selling all the timebut that doesn’t necessarily mean customers want to buy what you are selling. On the other hand, a customer may walk up to you wanting to buy something but you can’t help them because that’s not what you sell.” Zak paused, then continued. “The art of great business is to sell what customers want to buy.”
“Are you saying we’re not selling what customers want to buy?” asked Nick.
“Do you know precisely what your customers want?” asked Zak.
“I think so,” answered Slater.
“If you only think sothen you don’t know,” replied Zak. “That means you have to go and find out. Time for you two to do some customer research to find out what your customers actually want.”
“How do we do that?” asked Nick.
“There are many ways to do customer researchbut what you want to hear is called the voice of the customer. Understand their needs and listen closely to what they say,” replied Zak.
“Do we have to actually interview them to hear their voice?” asked Slater.
“That’s one good way. Or you can get them to do a survey where they write things down or tick boxes on a form. There are many ways to do surveys and you’re both computer savvy so you’ll be able to find information online regarding some interesting ways to achieve this.”
“Okay,” said Nick nervously, “how long should this take?”
“It will take as long as you let it takebut I want to see your results when we next meet on Monday. So you have three working days. One to think and prepare your material, and two to actually do it. This is called guerrilla testing. Short and sharp in nature but highly-valuable in the outputs it delivers.”
“Is there anything specific we want to get out of it,” asked Slater.
“Fresh insights on what your customers say they want to buy from you. Meet me at this exact spot on Monday morning at eight o’clock. I want to hear the voice of your customers,” he said, and walked off leaving them alone in the car park.