Just like Laura, I’m a sucker for a coupon. My wife and I didn’t use our Entertainment Book, but we did find a coupon last week for a new Sushi restaurant in our town.

Did you see the movie Defending Your Life from the early 90s? Albert Brooks (the voice of Nemo’s father if 1993 means kindergarten to you) and Meryl Streep starred. Not a blockbuster but there were some fun moments. Like when Albert Brooks enters a Japanese restaurant and every employee in the place shouts a greeting—in Japanese—above ninety decibels. That’s how we were greeted as we walked through the door. Very fun. They had us.

The service? Excellent. The food? Even better.

The kicker is when we paid our bill. The cashier looks at our coupon, which gives us either 15% off our bill or a free plate with the purchase of five, and says, “In this case, the 15% will save you more money so we’ll ring it up that way.”

Think we’ll be back? Think we’ll tell other people about the place?

Marketing 101 says word of mouth, on average, affects 250 people. (That stat comes from the average attendance at a funeral or wedding, equating to your circle of influence.) So by the time I stop telling my fun Sushi restaurant story, I’ll have impacted 250 people, influencing them to go there.

And Laura will have impacted 250 people, telling them, “stay away.”

So Laura was right in her post. She just didn’t take it far enough. For $14, her restaurant lost her business, but it also lost out on as many as 250 other potential customers. Let’s see, 250 x $25 average bill = $6,250. Pretty pricey choice to get that extra $14.00 in their coffer.

Marketing, like life, is a ripple out proposition. What is your business rippling out?

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Related Post:
Marketplace Manners: Rules for Serving…and Being Served 

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