Small Business Owners

#1
ButchPlz

ButchPlz

We do a little trollin'
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#1
I couldn't find a recent (or general) thread for business owners here, but I'd like to solicit some thoughts from other owners/folks and thought this would be a good place.

My wife and I recently bought a shop in our hometown from an owner that cut a lot of corners (some very disgusting) and did a lot of things flat-out wrong. The amount they wanted for the business was low, so we took over and have essentially flipped it like a house in the two months we've had it.

The challenge we're having is deciding how much change we want to subject existing customers to. In general, a huge percentage of those customers were barely profitable (one of the issues with the way the prior ownership ran things) but they are also very vocal (in very inappropriate places) about changes. Our split with the prior owner was less than amicable, as we caught her stealing from us, so I'm guessing some of that comes from her.

Still, we are trying to figure out the balance between dealing with those customers and truly pushing into different markets and are having a lot of issues that are at the very least irritating, but we want to keep from growing into bigger problems. Anyone else had issues like this?

Thanks!
 
#2
#2
ButchPlz said:
I couldn't find a recent (or general) thread for business owners here, but I'd like to solicit some thoughts from other owners/folks and thought this would be a good place.

My wife and I recently bought a shop in our hometown from an owner that cut a lot of corners (some very disgusting) and did a lot of things flat-out wrong. The amount they wanted for the business was low, so we took over and have essentially flipped it like a house in the two months we've had it.

The challenge we're having is deciding how much change we want to subject existing customers to. In general, a huge percentage of those customers were barely profitable (one of the issues with the way the prior ownership ran things) but they are also very vocal (in very inappropriate places) about changes. Our split with the prior owner was less than amicable, as we caught her stealing from us, so I'm guessing some of that comes from her.

Still, we are trying to figure out the balance between dealing with those customers and truly pushing into different markets and are having a lot of issues that are at the very least irritating, but we want to keep from growing into bigger problems. Anyone else had issues like this?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

What type of business?
 
#4
#4
Good luck OP. My wife and I own a merchant services portfolio ( I've been in the industry for almost 20 years). If you think you're getting screwed on your fees let me know. I control my pricing....and basically give it away to friends and family. I consider VN both. :)
 
#5
#5
Addition by subtraction is a thing. If you have low profit ornery accounts or customers, drop them. The time you get back in your day to find new customers or make the higher margin ones happy will help your bottom line. If changes run them off, that’s in your best interest in the long run.
 
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#6
#6
DancingOutlaw said:
Addition by subtraction is a thing. If you have low profit ornery accounts or customers, drop them. The time you get back in your day to find new customers or make the higher margin ones happy will help your bottom line. If changes run them off, that’s in your best interest in the long run.
Click to expand...

The logic and reason side of me gets it, the nastiness that's occasionally been directed at my wife makes the reason get lost.

We both know we're doing the right things, so I can keep leaning on that at least!
 
#7
#7
Boca Vol said:
Good luck OP. My wife and I own a merchant services portfolio ( I've been in the industry for almost 20 years). If you think you're getting screwed on your fees let me know. I control my pricing....and basically give it away to friends and family. I consider VN both. :)
Click to expand...

It's like having a child that only communicates in $$$.
 
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#8
#8
ButchPlz said:
I couldn't find a recent (or general) thread for business owners here, but I'd like to solicit some thoughts from other owners/folks and thought this would be a good place.

My wife and I recently bought a shop in our hometown from an owner that cut a lot of corners (some very disgusting) and did a lot of things flat-out wrong. The amount they wanted for the business was low, so we took over and have essentially flipped it like a house in the two months we've had it.

The challenge we're having is deciding how much change we want to subject existing customers to. In general, a huge percentage of those customers were barely profitable (one of the issues with the way the prior ownership ran things) but they are also very vocal (in very inappropriate places) about changes. Our split with the prior owner was less than amicable, as we caught her stealing from us, so I'm guessing some of that comes from her.

Still, we are trying to figure out the balance between dealing with those customers and truly pushing into different markets and are having a lot of issues that are at the very least irritating, but we want to keep from growing into bigger problems. Anyone else had issues like this?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
In business you cannot allow the negative few to dictate policies which are suitable to the positive many. If you're looking for balance between the old, low profit, vocal customers and expanding to new higher profit customers just take a day by day approach. When new are added and their revenue matches or exceeds revenue from old, then have a frank discussion about changing the arrangement with the old customers.
 
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#10
#10
McDad said:
In business you cannot allow the negative few to dictate policies which are suitable to the positive many. If you're looking for balance between the old, low profit, vocal customers and expanding to new higher profit customers just take a day by day approach. When new are added and their revenue matches or exceeds revenue from old, then have a frank discussion about changing the arrangement with the old customers.
Click to expand...
This.
 
#11
#11
ButchPlz said:
The logic and reason side of me gets it, the nastiness that's occasionally been directed at my wife makes the reason get lost.

We both know we're doing the right things, so I can keep leaning on that at least!
Click to expand...

A mentor of mine asked me this question once when I was dealing with a PITA customer used to dealing with the former owners. “Who’s kids are going to eat first, yours or theirs”.

Making business decisions got easier after that.
 
#12
#12
Just do what you do the best you can and let the rest take care of itself. You can't please all of your customers and many don't want to be pleased, they want something for free. Just make the best dang cakes/pies/bread you can, keep your prices reasonable, and the good customers will take care of the rest. If the old customers don't like the new ways, then they can either change or go someplace else. There will be others who like what you do and take the place of lost ones.
 
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#13
#13
What Dave said. You will always lose and win customers for different reasons. Be willing to adapt on thoughts from either side.

The cost is the biggest gripe you see on places like yelp with bakeries, no one wants to pay $5 for a cupcake. There is one cupcake place that I love around here, that I think sells them for $4, but if you buy 4 of them, it becomes $3 each, and then they also offer day old cupcakes at $1.50 since they don't repeat flavors daily.
 
#14
#14
volwindy said:
What Dave said. You will always lose and win customers for different reasons. Be willing to adapt on thoughts from either side.

The cost is the biggest gripe you see on places like yelp with bakeries, no one wants to pay $5 for a cupcake. There is one cupcake place that I love around here, that I think sells them for $4, but if you buy 4 of them, it becomes $3 each, and then they also offer day old cupcakes at $1.50 since they don't repeat flavors daily.
Click to expand...

We've kind of explored those things. We won't go above $4 on cost (maybe $4 even with taxes) but the neighborhood/clientele we're dealing with are extremely price insensitive. We obviously can't go too high, but rarely are we asked about bulk discounts (though we do give a 13th if someone buys a dozen).

The day old approach is interesting. We've been turning them into cake pops instead of selling them as cupcakes.
 
#15
#15
ButchPlz said:
We've kind of explored those things. We won't go above $4 on cost (maybe $4 even with taxes) but the neighborhood/clientele we're dealing with are extremely price insensitive. We obviously can't go too high, but rarely are we asked about bulk discounts (though we do give a 13th if someone buys a dozen).

The day old approach is interesting. We've been turning them into cake pops instead of selling them as cupcakes.
Click to expand...
the neighborhood/clientele we're dealing with are extremely price insensitive
Then raise prices
Or do you mean that they are well informed shoppers?

At any rate MANY people think if something is not expensive it is not good.
 
#16
#16
Go aeiou said:
the neighborhood/clientele we're dealing with are extremely price insensitive
Then raise prices
Or do you mean that they are well informed shoppers?

At any rate MANY people think if something is not expensive it is not good.
Click to expand...

A price increase is possibly upcoming, for sure. We are aiming for the boutique feel, so a higher (but not too high) price is expected. The new look of the shop matches the feel well.
 
#17
#17
ButchPlz said:
The logic and reason side of me gets it, the nastiness that's occasionally been directed at my wife makes the reason get lost.

We both know we're doing the right things, so I can keep leaning on that at least!
Click to expand...

I had this sign in both of my sandwich shops and pointed to it a few times.
20180709_135106.jpg
 
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#20
#20
DancingOutlaw said:
I wouldn’t want to eat in a sandwich shop that looked like the inside of some guy’s garage.
Click to expand...
You joke but the best hamburger I have ever had was from a window out of the front of someone's home kitchen in an incredibly industrial area of Callao, Peru.
 
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#21
#21
ButchPlz said:
We've kind of explored those things. We won't go above $4 on cost (maybe $4 even with taxes) but the neighborhood/clientele we're dealing with are extremely price insensitive. We obviously can't go too high, but rarely are we asked about bulk discounts (though we do give a 13th if someone buys a dozen).

The day old approach is interesting. We've been turning them into cake pops instead of selling them as cupcakes.
Click to expand...

If you have cupcakes that are loved, day old cupcakes will sell. I've bought day old from this shop and they taste no different. Something worth testing if the clientele has issues with the price increase.
 
#24
#24
Obligatory product shots!
 

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