“We follow the philosophy of focusing on a few items and serving them to the best of our ability.”
From the Five Guys Burgers and Fries website
Last Saturday afternoon, my friend Greg and I took a drive out to Ikea in Stoughton. I don’t mind telling you that I love that place. The way I look at it, what’s not to like about a warehouse filled with cool, colorful stuff that you can take home, assemble and sit on that very same day?
But it does work up an appetite. As we drove home, Greg pulled off the highway and into Five Guys Burgers and Fries. I love that place too, especially the name. I think it’s funny the way it rhymes, so every time I see one of their signs I can’t stop myself from saying the name out loud and really fast.
We went inside and, as usual, I was struck by the small number of choices on the menu. Five Guys serves hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs and two types of fries. There are lots of toppings to help customize your selection, but that’s it.
While digging into my jalapeno-covered burger, I started to think about how few companies operate like this. Most businesses, and the entrepreneurs who run them, try to do exactly the opposite.
If a customer asks for something that their business doesn’t offer, they try to figure out how to meet the request in an effort to keep the sale. That’s a nice sentiment, but, from an operational standpoint, each time they do this they are creating an exception to the way they work. And exceptions are where the costly mistakes happen.
Here’s an example. I recently started playing tennis again and needed some new tennis shoes. I wanted to shop locally, so I asked my tennis teacher, Tommy, where to go. He told me to check out his favorite little shop in Boston.
I went to the store and picked out the shoes I liked, but they didn’t have the color that I wanted in my size. Never fear! The person who was working that day said she would find out if the store could special order my shoes. She said that she’d give me a call in two days. (I think you know where this is going.)
What I didn’t know is that they usually don’t place special orders. The employee only offered to do it because she liked me and wanted to go the extra mile for a customer. What that meant was, instead of getting dropped into a predetermined special order process, I simply got dropped.
Here’s the disconnect. The woman in the tennis shop thought she was being extra nice by doing me a favor (which she was) and smart because she had a chance for a new customer (she did). But I didn’t want a favor; I wanted the easiest way to get my shoes before my next lesson.
In the end, after finally realizing that no call was coming, I bought my shoes elsewhere (and I had to wait an extra week to get them). Not a huge deal, but when you multiply it across many situations and many customers, it adds up to a lot of bad will and missed sales, both now and in the future.
Businesses are afraid to say no. They’re afraid of turning down business. They think it limits them and they’ve been led to believe that “the customer is always right.”
All good thoughts. But whether it’s hamburgers or tennis shoes or whatever it is you sell, a business needs quality control and finely tuned processes if it hopes to really take care of its customers.
Take a lesson from the Five Guys: If you can’t do it well, don’t do it at all.