So Big Sam Allardyce’s reign as England manager got off to a winning start.
I was lucky enough to watch the game over in Slovakia.
If I’m being totally truthfully Slovakia left a lot to be desired.
The service, or lack of it, was pretty bad. The police were among the surliest I’ve come across during my travels.
But the thing that really stood out for me was the way some businesses over there totally missed the trick when it came to benefitting from an influx of new customers.
We arrived on the Saturday afternoon and went into Bratislava for a few drinks.
England Fans having a beer before the game versus Slovakia
Now the arrival of thirsty England fans can bring about some problems but on the whole most fans were well behaved aside from a few inebriated idiots.
One bar we were in was charging five Euros for a pint of beer. Expensive but the owners were obviously capitalising on the surge in demand from English supporters.
Or were they? Around 300 fans were at the watering hole but only two people were working behind the bar. It was insane. We got pretty sick of queuing up pretty quickly and sought out another pub – as many others did.
The beer was cheap. Around £1.20 a pint – it wasn’t great quality but judging by the hordes of fans patronising the place they were obviously selling loads of it.
But here again was a problem from a business perspective. I was asking myself why they hadn’t hiked their prices up. Even charging £3 would have been acceptable to most fans.
If your business knows when a seasonal spike will happen then plan for it. I know a florist who usually employs three staff but come Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day she increases her team by adding EIGHT more part time staff to deal with demand.
Now I’m not encouraging profiteering, not at all, but am encouraging business owners to look at their planning.
After all you might be missing out on thousands of pounds which could have had been flowing into your coffers.
Thanks for reading.
Nik
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