Bundle Up?

Most folks dislike change. In fact, change for the sake of change, alone, makes little sense. If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it…goes the saying. Without warrant or expectation of improvement, change is probably even best avoided, all together. However, often times, many may resist the evolution of things, thinking change isn’t warranted, or that they are already functioning in a peerless capacity, when indeed improvement is at hand. There it is, for the taking, and the only thing required is a willingness to try.

Consider telecommunications, for example. I grew up with a rotary-dial phone. It worked perfectly fine. No one was the wiser, not having any experience with a more efficient design. Then came the touch-tone. Holy smokes! How did we ever tolerate that horrible old design that took forever to dial? Then came the bag-phone mobile phone. 10 pounds of heavenly versatility, that, by today’s standards, is laughable! Now our mobile phones possess tremendous capability, again, by previous standards, and who knows what’s in store for the future. Clearly, not all change is bad.

Some of us have been Business Managers since before the advent of the menu. Adapting to menu usage, change that it was, clearly led to improvements in performance and compliance, for many. Its implementation wasn’t welcomed by all, although many of us, today, couldn’t function without one.

Some of us may have begun our careers as Business Managers with a store carrying a robust compliment of products. If so, we probably have never really shied away from presenting robust column architecture in our menus. If our production, both in terms of Per Retail Unit and Products Per Retail (PRU and PPR), is solid (not subject to inordinate chargebacks or poor survey feedback) and our efforts yield superlative numbers, we probably should remain status quo.

Others of us, however, may have started with a store (or even find ourselves currently working in one), with a limited suite of products. Or, perhaps, we work somewhere with a great product line-up but, somewhere along the way, we dipped our toe into the pool of short-term success, experimenting with shallow columns. Either way, we probably aren’t realizing the production results we otherwise could be. So, whether this is the camp you find yourself in, or the former, an alternative solution is at hand.

Previously, bundled products were often fairly limited in quality and, therefore, gained a poor reputation. After all, I’m sure there have been Service Writers who run for cover when they notice a certain Guest, heading their way, who has one of these contracts. “Where’s Charlie? I told him I was coming in to get my car looked at!” Let’s face it, not all product offerings in the industry are alike. We all know this, but the bundles of the past aren’t what we’re talking about, here. Now, some top-shelf companies have entered the fray and are offering excellent products for which no one would have to apologize!

Consider the following menu format…

MENU TEMPLATE

From which of these columns would you MOST like to effectively relay the value? From which column will your Guest likely gain the most benefit? From the production of which column would you gain the most benefit? Is it the same column that looks the most expensive (this is a very important question)? Are you, therefore, apprehensive about even presenting a menu with such a column? And, even if you did, would you have little expectation that you would, indeed, be effective at communicating its value?

If your answers are CHOICE, CHOICE, CHOICE, Yes, Yes, and Yes…you’ll definitely want to tune in, next month, when we review the presentation of this menu! Or… you could probably find an old rotary-dial phone at a flea-market, somewhere, and wax nostalgic…

Think about it.

Good luck and good selling!

For a printable version click here.