I was in a busy coffee shop yesterday, when I noticed that 25% of the tables were empty. The empty tables were all along one side of the shop, which was saturated with brilliant sunshine.
The sun, magnified through the shop’s 20 foot high glass windows, made those tables impossible to use because it was just too dazzlingly bright. People were walking into the shop, seeing the only available places were in direct sunlight and leaving again for the coffee shop along the road.
As I left, I spoke with the owner about this obvious problem. His response was typical of the way many small business owners think about investing in their businesses.
“Yeah, no one ever sits there when the sun comes out, but it’s just too expensive to fit blinds along that side of the shop.” I asked him how much he had been quoted for the blinds. “I haven’t actually looked for any quotes, but it’s got to be really expensive, those windows are 20 feet high!”
When is a cost not a cost?
Forgetting the huge additional electricity bills he’s going to have this summer, because of his air conditioning being needlessly overworked – what about the loss of trade? Even if his customer’s average spend is only £5 per hour, the 24 seats rendered unusable will be losing up to £120 an hour, each day between 11am and 3pm, when the sun is, as he calls it, “in the wrong position.” Ironically, his busiest period is between 12 noon and 2pm – when those seats would be filled with people on their lunch breaks!
I wonder how many times he will have to watch those 6 empty tables, before realising the difference between a cost and an investment?
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Hi Jim,
Nice one. The reason I place this comment is that I see similarities with small business owners from my country – I have to say I’m surprised – I thought that this kind of thinking doesn’t appear in countries that are much more evolved from any aspect are you looking. I thought that competitive economies would polish the business owners and force them to THINK.
Being indifferent to clients will lead you to money loss and maybe missing some great business opportunities.
Thanks for the article
Great post Jim.
It’s this kind of thinking that explains why so many small businesses use home-made or outdated websites.
They would rather look cheap than invest in a professional image. They see every investment as a cost. Its like a business form of natural selection.
I really liked this article. This just goes to show the difference in minds and how many business owners don’t think business minded, I come across many business owners myself who leave myself wondering how on earth they are operating a business in the first place.
Your outlook at the scenario is spot on Jim and if only the owner could take the same outlook, I am almost positive that this would prove an investment long term and would probably find the finance spent on blinds would pay for themselves in such a short matter of time anyway.
Thanks for sharing.
I enjoyed this post, Jim. Very clear and to the point. It gave me pause to consider if there are any areas of my business where I am blinded by the light! Perhaps he might consider sunglasses on the tables!
Jane
How could a business owner be so foolish as to not work with ACTUAL INFORMATION (a real quote) instead of their own assumption? Get the quote. Maybe it’s not as bad as he thinks. Good gracious, people.
A simple and brilliant illustration. Thanks for writing about it.
Great points Jim
What if the owner were to utilise the space in a cost effective manner to his advantage? Fix thin black or dark boards to the top half of these huge windows – advertising to the public through the glass on the outside and shielding the tables on the inside?
Just a thought.
I see this kind of stuff everyday!
I bet we could write a book with them all!
Lack of commercial awareness is rife in today’s business environment. Come to think of it, it isn’t even commercial awareness – it’s common sense but common sense is not common practice.
The problem with most business owners is that they are, as Michael Gerber puts it “A technician suffering from an entrepreneurial siezure”. The optician opens up a glasses and eye test business, the cook opens up a restaurant etc so they simply do not have the right mindset.
And they view any spend as a cost.
Sean McPheat
A superb analagy, which all of us can benefit from. Its about the best way to make money and get more market share not saving a small amount that’ll never make a difference.
Thanks Jim, for the informative and entertaining read.
The craziness is there may be a business in town that sells drapes, is looking to get more business, and may be willing to DONATE the drapes in the name of karma!
Jim, this is typical small time thinking. The owner will never realize how much money he could be making by putting in those blinds because he’ll always be thinking about how much it will cost him to put them up.
Before real growth is possible, we need to stop thinking about how much things cost and start thinking about how much growth potential they bring in.
Case in point: I was part owner of a health care business. Early on in the business I proposed to my partner that we bring in a manager. Yes, it would be costly, but that manager would allow the two of us to travel outside the area and open another branch. If we were constantly working in the business–instead of ON the business–we would never really grow.
I have since moved on from the business to focus on my marketing business. My partner still has just one location and still works 80 hours a week trying to do it all himself.
Jim, excellent post. Like a couple of the other comments on this post, I see this mentality all the time. Small business owners just get so focused on cost, they miss the bigger picture…the return!!
I was talking to a guy the other day about bookkeeping. He moaned how much time it took him and how he never felt he got it right. The solution (to get a professional bookkeeper in) would have cost him about a third of his hourly charge out rate and would have freed him from the worry, leaving him to earn what he was worth. However, he was too focused on the bookkeepers price to think about the value he would have got from employing her.
Thanks again Jim! It’s quite amazing how the restaurant owner doens’t look at things from your perspective!
I’ve been in that situation at times too – spending way too much time on a project doing it myself just to save a few bucks, refusing to outsource.
But once I’ve done outsourcing once, I realise how much more enjoyable (and profitable) business can be!
I wonder how many customers actually have complained to the owner about this problem. Judging from his response to you, you definitely weren’t the first to point it out. But there’s a difference between pointing out and complaining. Maybe if he got more of the latter he will be more compelled do do something.
Btw: Why is it that so many people these days don’t seem to appreciate the sun? We actually need many hours of sun everyday to produce sufficient Vitamin D! If it blinds you just put on your sunglasses…
Great observation, and I’m glad you brought that up with the owner. It is frustrating as a customer to go into a shop and feel like a “cat” trying to get some sun through the window.
User experience is everything, that’s not just a web 2.0 term!
The question for the business owner is not how much it costs to put blinds up, but how much it costs not to put blinds up. Penny wise and pound foolish!
I can relate this in personal terms to the work I do every day in terms of chiropractic. A lot of people I see balk at the cost of seeing a chiropractor, however know that it will do their health wonders but decide against utilising such a wonderful therapy because they do not see it as an investment in their health and that it will improve their quality of life. They are more happy to blow their money on a night drinking or the latest technological toy. To me, like the business owners decision, that is absolute insanity.
Jeremy,
You make some excellent points about how people view money differently, depending on what they are ‘investing’ or spending it on.
Also, on a personal note, as someone who has achieved stunning results with my chiropractor, (for a trapped / pinched nerve) I am very aware of the value of a chiropractor’s services.