Customer experience - Rhythm

I don't know about you, but I love to dance. I love rhythm like a horse loves sugar cubes. If rhythm came in the form of sugar cubes I'd be popping rhythm-cubes like a horse if it had opposable thumbs (and a few fingers). 

It's no secret that humans are big into rhythm - not just musical rhythm, but the rhythm of life. The sun rises and falls - we wake and sleep. The seasons come and go. In London you'll often hear people say "Summer's finally here!" as if they've been waiting for it. They've been waiting because summer is amazing. It's the natural rhythm of the world.

So why have a business with no rhythm? 

Why go against nature - against what humans know?

In the UK people look to the future in summer knowing that winter is coming. They enjoy what time they have of summer, taking in as much sun as possible. Then when autumn comes, their resolve is even stronger to take in as much of the suns rays as possible, to get the most use out of their t-shirts and shorts. Then winter hits and people are dreaming of the summer again.

Ned Stark from
A Game of Thrones*

This is the mentality I'd want my customers to have when thinking about my business - although leaving winter out probably! To be thinking, "Wow! This is great! When can I have more?!"

You can see examples of seasonal marketing in lots of places, but once you've noticed, you see it lacking almost everywhere. The greatest example of this seasonal marketing is the pub quiz.

Every week on one day a pub has a quiz. People come for so many different reasons - some for the prize, others for an excuse to have a night out, to socialise, to meet people, to do something together. People think less of the price of the drinks because their perceived value is in the night itself, the great time they'll have. People are also feeling good so they'll think less of spending money too.

On a normal night in a pub, what is there except the drinks at the bar? Maybe a pool table? The point is that the reason to go to the pub on a night where there is no event boils down to need, not want. "I need a drink."  But on the night of the event, "I want to have fun!" People are far more willing to weigh up their needs compared to their wants. Someone might need a drink but not want to spend a lot of money, resulting in a drink bought from the cheapest retailer. 

Let's look at another example but still in catering. Ed's Diner, my favourite milk shake place in London, also has seasonal marketing. Monday night is cheap shake night. I know I can go whenever I want and get a milk shake, but if I'm near an Ed's on a Monday I'll definitely head down for one. Of course, there is an incentive in the pricing too - there's a little bit off the top - but I now know that Mondays = Ed's Diner shakes. If I'm out in London on Monday's, I will always recommend heading to Ed's for one of their milkshakes to my friends. 

They could have just sent me an e-voucher but I wouldn't wake up once every week and think "Shall I have an Ed's milkshake?" In actuality I'd be more aware of the finite nature of the voucher and maybe be afraid to even use it! Whilst vouchers are good for generating business and attracting new customers, they do nothing for repeat business, unless they're tailored to do that of course.

Using seasonal marketing in this way taps into the natural rhythm that all of your customers will have built into them. Tapping into that rhythm is a great way to keep a really good service offering seated in your customers minds.

So what could a shop offer? What could a taxi company offer? What extra value can you give to a customer one night a week, or often enough for them to remember it - so much so that they drop other plans to use your service?

A cleaning company - reduced cleaning rates 1 week a month or 1 day a week? A restaurant - open tables / network corner? There are so many possibilities available to you which could see the creation of a small club of valuable customers forming or see your companies name ploughing through the social media networks as being a great place to go if you find yourself in Croydon on a Thursday night, for example.

Harnessing that will furnish your business with so much value and customers will see it.

Now, please excuse me, I'm off to have a
milkshake now (literally).

* Ned Stark from A Game of Thrones' family moto is "Winter is coming." Well worth a read of the books if you have the time!

Croydon Dinner Club a mouth-watering success

It's been a long time since my last post, which is not through a lack of trying or will, I assure you. My last post was effectively on a sky pie - this crazy idea that people will just leave their houses and give up their evenings to come and eat somewhere with a load of people they don't know..

Yes, that's the glass half full version I realise and what better way to fill up that glass than by reporting what's going on?! It's really very exciting.


The first thing I had to do was take all that I'd learned from my previous networking events, take the best of those and leave the worst - so I had to create a twitter account. Knowing the guy who organises events is great if you get stuck or lost because you can just tweet or text them. But if you don't know them; maybe don't even know who they are if you've heard about the event through a 3rd party, it can be very difficult to find the information you need about the networking event. 


So to Twitter - providing a central point for news and updates which people can follow and interact with.

Croydon Dinner Club's first tweet

After my blog post it all got very busy. Lots of hits and a ground swelling of interest from some of my closer twitter friends (people I'd met through twitter at various times). The reaction was positive and exciting to say the least. 

Profiteroles made by the Gods - sampled at
Croydon Dinner Club.

A few re-tweets later and a follow count in the 20's and we had a very healthy total of 13 people turn up to the first night at an Indian restaurant. 


The month trickled on and I started seeking out people mentioning Croydon in their tweets and adding them or just chatting to them. The follow count gradually grew.

We then had the 2nd club which attracted 18 people and the 3rd which attracted the same number. People who'd only joined in the 2nd stayed on and came back to the 3rd.

Next week sees the 4th Croydon Dinner Club. Now with 170 followers and counting, made up of real Croydon local's and a few food based local businesses, the "club" is really heading somewhere. We will be heading to Galicia's Tapas bar in South Croydon. The gradual increase in interest is really great and a very encouraging sign for Croydon. People see others talking about Croydon Dinner Club, click on the profile and join up. The more people love it, the more people talk about it, the more people hear about it.

I'm looking forward to talking to the local press about the club in the next week so hopefully that will double the number of Croydon people aware of the dinners. With the introduction of the new Croydon Radio I'll be looking to get on there as well to speak about Croydons restaurants and the fabulous range of food we have on offer in Croydon.

Here's to the future!

Croydon Dinner Club blog
Croydon Dinner Club twitter