You want to open a business which will have a lot of customer traffic. It could be a restaurant, a hotel, a bar, or maybe an insurance office. Whatever it is, if there's going to be a lot of customers spending time at your business, then you need to hit all the marks to entice, surprise and please them beyond doubt. But how do you get to that point?
To open with a bang, here are a few things to keep in mind:
1 - What are your business objectives?
If you don't know what you want, your team won't know and certainly your customers won't know. If you want to be a bit of this and a bit of that, you won't be anything to anyone. So make sure you know everything from a business plan and research to the type of look and feel you are going for.
2 - What's your Name? What's your story?
Just like your name represents you, the name of your business represents what you are all about. You need to spend time getting it right. Going hand in hand with the name, is creating your brand – you need to know your story inside and out so you can communicate that to your customers. It's more than just a logo from a cheap graphic designer.
3 - Speak the right language to your design team.
It does take some skill to discuss your ideas with your design and implementation teams. The best way is to ask the design team exactly what it is they need to know from you. Then you can go away think about what it is you want. I wrote a little while about about questions to ask yourself and answer.
4 - Location, Location, Location.
It's true, your restaurant (or business) could live or die by being in the wrong spot. The premises could be in the wrong location or it could be the wrong size (too big can be as bad as too small). Get some input from people who know about this vital part of your business. On the other hand, if you are opening a franchise, then it will be easier to find a location as you will understand what that business needs.
5 - I needed it last week!
You can't rush good work. So give yourself plenty of time to find the right design team, and allow enough time for the design and implementation teams to do their work. If you are starting from scratch don't expect to go from no location to opening within 3 weeks. It takes months!!
6 - It's not going to be cheap.
It takes money to get a business off the ground. There is no way around it. If you have a great design, then you will need to know how much it is going to take to implement it. It's probably going to be more than you were hoping for.
7 - Don't have a launch party!
If you are new to the game, do you really want your first impression to be something less than remarkable? Do yourself a favour, work out all the kinks and THEN have a celebration event.
So what do you think? Did you make any mistakes when you started from scratch?
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