Does anyone else find that choosing something to eat at a restaurant can be a challenge? Especially if it’s a restaurant you haven’t been to and especially if that restaurant is a foreign cuisine. Going to a Vietnamese restaurant recently in Sydney could have been one such experience for me but when I arrived I was blown away. Not just with how good the food was, but by the way they delivered their service. In fact, it was one little question that really got me thinking.

We arrived at the restaurant after a busy morning working with a client. There wasn’t anything special about the venue – it didn’t look fancy – but as we were walking to our seats I noticed how full the restaurant was (especially for a Saturday afternoon) and I remember wondering to myself, “why is this place so popular?” Then the waiter asked the question that really got me thinking… As we were seated, there were no menus, no fuss, no delay; just a simple question that can teach us so much about how to run a successful business. The lady simply asked “Chicken or Beef?”

One of the biggest problems businesses have when it comes to selling their products or services is simply trying to give clients too many options.

You might have thought, “If I offer something for everyone, then everyone will be able to shop with me” but they won’t. In fact it’s quite the opposite. If you give people too many options, too many different packages, too many different models, too many different dishes it simply becomes too difficult for the client to make a decision. I have no idea what I wanted to eat walking into a Vietnamese restaurant but I can tell you if I want Chicken or Beef. By providing only two options on the menu, I, along with all their other customers, were able to order and receive our food within the space of a minute. And the food was excellent! This restaurant isn’t the only business that understands limiting their product range, the same principle has worked wonders for Apple. I don’t know about you but I think there is something we can learn here. By limiting the number or products the restaurant was selling they were clearly able to:

1 – Increase Sales

Because it only took 1 minute for the food to come out it meant that they would be able to get more people through the door on any given day. This equals more sales. Also, the fast service and high standard of food had clearly paid off with the number of people eating at the restaurant. Think about your business and how you can take your services and products and package them in a way that they can be sold over and over again. Allowing you to focus on the quality of this one product or service and the system to deliver it will increase your sales.

2 – Increase Efficiency

Because they only cook one style of meal the waiters don’t need to make several trips to service you and the chief’s only need to master one dish (although I am sure they are great at others). This makes their staffing incredibly efficient. They would need less staff on at any given time and wouldn’t require high paid chief’s on site all the time as the meals are cooked before hand. If you can limit your service offering to only a few you will enable your business to become experts in delivering that product. With leaner systems you’ll become more efficient and in turn more profitable.

3 – Improved Customer Service

Because of how efficient the systems are it makes the service repeatable. Food was brought out nearly instantly and the staff had simple jobs to do with no stress. This makes for happy staff that treat the customers well. Instead of trying to be a jack-of-all-trades (and master of none), become a master of the key services you offer. You will have much less stress and you’ll deliver a product or service that WOWs your customers and crushes the competition.

So here’s the challenge for your business:

How can you get your business to a place where your service is as simple as asking your clients, “Would you like Chicken or Beef?” Ask yourself:

• Are you offering too many services in your business?
• Is it costing you sales, efficiency and service?

Maybe it’s time you simplified the way you do business and focused on the things you do really well. Maybe it’s time you said no to all the extra opportunities and focused on becoming the master of your chosen niche. We hope that you enjoyed our video, to know more about marketing tips and strategies check out our article 5 Killer CrossFit Marketing Strategies