Rather than simply cataloging past behavior, spark passion and purpose by defining what both you and your employees want to achieve in a year. It all starts with creating a vision of success. If you put together a list of universal management frustrations—the areas where, despite our best systemic intentions, we consistently fall short—offering timely […]
Becoming what‘s known as a “third place” is a status that every community-oriented business should want to achieve. I first heard the idea of the third place in reading Ray Oldenburg’s book, The Great Good Place, originally published in 1989. Here is the key concept: As Oldenburg explains, the “first place is the home; the […]
At Zingerman’s, we are often asked, “How did you build this great group of people? How do you get people to care and have such a good time at work? Basically, they are asking what the secret of our culture is. And, of course, there is no secret; there are a thousand things to make […]
This may seem too simple to even mention, but I’m going to say it anyway: The work that we do in our merchandising makes a significant contribution—for better and for worse—on the quality of the service experience our customers get from us. As you know if you’ve read many of my other columns, a positive […]
EDITOR’S NOTE: In the first article in this series, A Guide to Planning Effective Promotions, we presented a guide to planning successful promotions. In Part 2, we talk about techniques that can make your promotions hum. Successful promotions should be fun, but they must also sell product. Here are a dozen techniques that can contribute […]
Organizing promotions is a less-than-glamorous subject. Good promotions are all about creativity combined with nuts-and-bolts stuff that “everyone already knows. But without good nuts and bolts, it’s tough to build the solid, successful businesses we all want to operate. We’ve been running promotions for so many years I sometimes take them for granted. Yet promotions […]
More people in the food world should write about what they do and sell. Writing has helped me contribute to the building of Zingerman’s. It’s also pushed me to learn more about what I do, while making me a better listener and a more sensitive taster. Getting Started I started writing more out of frustration […]
One day, as Becky Winkler was teaching the section of our ZingTrain MerchandiZing seminar that covers “Contrast, Composition, and Content, it suddenly struck me. Although the approach was created to address graphic design issues, it’s applicable to all the other “design work we do,” whether that’s designing a business, a product or anything else of […]
Editor’s Note: In Part One of a two-part series on how content, composition and contrast can help you sell product and build awareness, we look at the graphic design process and how it should be structured for maximum impact. You are probably familiar with this scenario. A person working the cheese counter runs up to […]
Any business would like to get more good press. A nice mention in the local newspaper, an enjoyable interview on a radio talk show, a quote in The New York Times or USA Today, a spot on a TV news piece about food—all generate positive exposure. Positive press is easier hoped for than actually accomplished. […]
We have thousands of products to promote at Zingerman’s. The better we merchandise them, the better sales will be. In my idealized world, we would have the time, money and people to merchandise all actively and equally. But that is not the reality of organizational life. Like most natural resources, those available for merchandising are—and […]
As we all know (and as I’ve covered in the last two articles in this series: Low-Cost Service Tips in High-Stress Times, and MORE Low-Cost Service Tips), great service is about getting the big and small things right. In this third installment of basic but useful service strategies that we put into practice at Zingerman’s, […]
