A Cold, Cold Feeling

Although cold-calling prospective customers isn’t fun, it works. During the early stage of our catering business, I personally identified possible new clients and simply asked if they had ever used a caterer. One February morning I called a large local heating supply business. They wholesaled HVAC units, and I knew they hosted a lot of day-long classes for their customers and for their in-house sales staff.

Got lucky

The person who answered the phone also happened to be in charge of ordering catering for the office. She told me that I had called at the right time because they had two important meetings that week for 60 guests each and needed food. She further explained that they liked a certain menu and wanted the same thing each day since the daily guests would be different. One of the main items they requested was chicken salad. The conversation ended as I was told that we would be given a chance.

Let’s do it

I excitedly told my wife that we had gotten a new customer; we wanted to do everything possible to make a great impression. We had a killer recipe for chicken salad that we made with grilled chicken breasts and we couldn’t wait to get started.

We were ready

Even though this new customer had ordered a rather pedestrian level of food (we thought), we spent hours making it as upscale as possible. Everything was highly garnished and beautifully packaged. I delivered the order myself, went back to the kitchen, waited until sufficient time had passed, and called the customer to see what they thought.

Not what I wanted to hear

Here’s how the call went:

Me: Hi, Mrs. Johnson. Just calling to see how you guys liked your lunch today.

Her: Well, most of it was OK, but that chicken salad was a problem.

Me: Wow, we spent hours preparing it; what was the issue?

Her: I wanted chicken salad. You know, the kind with lots of mayonnaise. The kind that has cut up cooked chicken in it. We didn’t want any grilled nonsense.

Me: Well…

Her: You are bringing us food tomorrow. I’ll give you one more chance.

Plan B

I was upset, but I knew what to do. Our produce guy sold this boring chicken salad that was chicken + mayonnaise and not much else. We had rejected that product a number of times, but I figured if this customer wanted what we considered junk, junk they would get. We ordered 20 pounds, slopped it into a bowl, put a piece of parsley on it and off it went.

Guess what?

Here’s how the next day’s call went:

Me: Mrs. Johnson – Hi. How was your lunch today?

Her: Young man – that was exactly what I was looking for. It was great. Call me next week and we’ll set up more orders.

Moral of the story

Never try to force your personal tastes upon a customer. Always understand what they need and what they want, and give it to them regardless of what you personally think. I’ve mentioned this in previous posts, but when we had called upon Mike Roman to help us develop our initial corporate catering menu, the first thing he asked was, “you guys aren’t in love with food are you?” He sighed with relief when we told him we weren’t, and then said that we had a chance to succeed.

This is a great time of year to pursue new business. Summer is moving along and soon we will be thinking about the holidays. Watch for more true stories about that unique time of year. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention. That HVAC company became a top account for many, many years.

Michael Rosman is a member of the Catersource consulting team. If you would like information about him coming to your business to address your specific needs, please email Carl Sacks at [email protected]. His book, Lessons Learned From Our Mistakes – and other war stories from the catering battlefield is available through the Catersource store. You can visit Michael’s website at www.TheCorporateCaterer.com email [email protected].