Here’s a great example of taking action:  Invite your customers in to your establishment.  And make it worth their while.

On Sunday evening, during the annual national advertising and commercial festival, I saw one ad…. an invitation from Denny’s to have a free breakfast this morning from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm local time, any where in the U.S.  Truthfully, I noticed it ,but did not give it a whole slice of brain time, until I saw the news this morning. 

How did it work?  Fantastic –  14 million hits on their website (that’s a lot of conversations), expectations where for as many as 2 million guests (thats a lot of face to face interactions) . http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hD-CjfIHSk86H_liOUaeDNr6M2SwD9648IL01.  USA today kept a live posting from various locations nation wide. http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/02/dennys-free-gra.html?loc=interstitialskip  Some places reported 30 minute waits and some much more.  Individual feedback on blogs seems positive and the stock was up 2% for the day.

So… does this pertain to you?  Absolutely… people need the goods and services we all sell, albeit at a slower pace than previously.  People buy on relationship… their relationship with your staff, with your facility, your policies, your procurement team, your suppliers and your strategic partners.  Relationships are built on an ongoing basis – one touch at a time.  Brand success is directly proportional to Relationship success.

Will one free meal change the fact that the restaurant segment is down sharply and make Denny’s the pick of the litter?  Likely no, but it has garnered them TV news time, blog time, ad space, web traffic and many opportunities at face to face relationship building.  Very efficient marketing, very good idea on how to get to their customer in a manner that makes so much sense for a restaurant…. use the food.

Get going, get moving… put some action into action.