The late Jim Camp who was a master negotiator always taught the importance of knowing your mission and purpose and being able to live in someone else’s shoes when in talks. He stressed the importance of building a vision as the opening quote shows here and the business lesson it can provide.

Avoid Prospects who demand unwarranted discounts as some sort of personal entitlement for them. It’s essential to differentiate between genuine requests and those who seek to undervalue your worth. Don’t let “Discount Zombies” haunt you.

As we become experts in what we do we can fall into a common trap. Treating prospects and customers as children because they are not a proficient in whatever niche we specialise. It can drive away lots of good customers…

In this last restaurant we see how an owner’s personal attitude can drive the culture and ultimate success or failure of his business. How the “brand”of his business is tied up in how he presents himself to his potential customers.

I’m in Greece this week and will highlight some observations I see from different F&Bs that have customer experience and underlying business value lessons for all types of businesses. In the second one we have the most successful restaurant on the strand. Every day lunch and dinner he has full tables. And it stems from providing consistent high quality experience from the passerby to the final bill payment. An experience that gives him a constant stream of repeat patrons and others referred by friends or the high reviews.

I’m in Greece this week and will highlight some observations I see from different F&Bs that have customer experience and underlying business value lessons for all types of businesses. In the first one, we have a nice owner and a nice clean place but it’s sabotaged by confused messaging of what it is and some very awful pictures and inaccurately paint a low quality vision of what to expect inside.