Want To Sell More Hot Dogs? The Key Is Consistency.

I feel like we’re missing the ship on this one Steve, and want to fix it now as we are becomingly rapidly popular here in the few short months we been dogging!

We need some of your savvy advice. We have 2 pretty good locations which we were originally invited to when we first started last summer. We frequent one more often than the other, and that is the training school for the Paul Mitchell hair salons.

The 2nd is in front of our local waste/recycling facility here which is actually my personal favorite activity wise because it’s on a dead end circle in a large industrial area with Kaiser Aluminum, Honeywell, etc.

We typically start at about 11am and occasionally run to about 3 or so, and an occasional weekend. There have been times when customers roll up around 10:30 or so which is about the time I throw the dogs in.

We’ve been struggling with pinning down our hours/days etc. Admittedly we are not consistent with our days at either location which I personally think might anger some of our frequent customers (who do not have the ability to check our location on Twitter or Facebook) as I feel a lot of them sorta count on us being there for the lunch hour and sometimes we’re not.

We definitely don’t want to ruin a good thing, but as we’re learning about living here in the Northwest (Washington), we’re sorta at the mercy of the weather unlike our former home in CA. We learned to always lug around our two matching red and white striped EZ-UPs which we’re sorta known for now.

Can you or our fellow vendors please give us some direction and feedback on days, hours of operation, etc. as we really want really nail this down Steve.

Thanks to you and everyone in advance!!

Matt and Sandi Wasteney-”Bubbadogz”
Spokane Valley, WA

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First of all – CONGRATULATIONS! I’m glad to hear that you have become so popular right off the bat.

You are already doing several things right.

1. You are branding your business by using the red and white pop up canopies. Anything that you can do which gives you a consistent look will help customers remember you. The unique canopies are a great visual cue that Bubbadogz is there and open for business.

2. Your locations sound great. That is one of the main parts of the equation and you have it nailed.

3. You are using social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to connect with your customers and let them know where they can find you. Nice!

Now let’s talk about your hours of operation.

One of the many awesome things about being a hot dogger is the large degree of freedom we have to work where and when we want. But this can come back to bite us if we’re not careful.

80 percent of your sales will come from 20 percent of your customers, either directly through purchases or indirectly through word of mouth advertising.

It takes a lot of effort and time to turn a casual customer into a regular, and even more to turn a regular into a raving fan that spreads the word about your hot dog stand far and wide.

The raving fans compose that 20 percent. They can make or break your business.

Now imagine that your raving fan is sitting at work. It’s 10:30 and all she can think about is chowing down on your delicious dogs at lunch time. Her mouth is watering. Her stomach is grumbling.

The clock ticks.

Finally – it’s lunch time. She grabs three of her friends and proudly says, “Come with me for lunch. You have GOT to taste the unbelievably good hot dogs that I discovered. Let’s go!”

They arrive at your location and…

There’s no one there. (Sound of crickets chirping)

“No way!”, she thinks. Not only is she disappointed, she’s embarrassed because she dragged her friends along.

How many times do you think that raving fan will come back? Maybe once more, and if you’re absent the second time she’ll be gone for good.

How much was her business worth? How much would her three friends have spent with you over the years if they had become regulars? How many people would they have told about your hot dogs?

There is an easy solution and it doesn’t involve keeping long hours or working seven days a week. That would suck.

Decide what hours you want to work at each location, make your schedule fit your needs, and then BE there. Consistently. Week after week.

This allows you to “train” your customers to be there when you are. No more wasted trips for the customer. No more disappointed regulars. No more lost fans.

The beauty is that is doesn’t matter if you want to work one day a week or five. As long as you are consistent every one will be happy.

Be sure to put your hours on your menu and fliers, and continue to update your customers on Twitter and Facebook, especially when bad weather forces you to stay home.

So set your hours to fit your lifestyle and then go live the dream!

-Steve

P.S. If you want to learn how to make money with your own hot dog cart business, either part time or full time, go to HotDogBiz101.com and I’ll teach you how to get started.