Various Business Observations 1

The Good Idea badly executed.....

Walking to work the other morning, I passed the cab depot on Douglas Street. A little lad was busy outside the shop and stuffed an A4 sheet of paper from his pile into my hand as I walked passed. I normally dont take pamphlets etc from people on the street but he seemed so eager and was about 10 so I took it. If it was an adult, I would have ignored them and walk on.

Now, the interesting thing about this is that they were actively targeting potential customers. They got people walking and more importantly, people walking on that street. The bad thing about this is that it was A4 size. I couldnt stuff it in my pocket, it was too big. I began to ponder this on the rest of the walk to work. Why didnt they include a business card stapled to the sheet? Why skip the sheet altogether and hand out wallet size cards?

The Good Idea Well Executed.....

Following on from Douglas Street, I hit South Terrace. There is a Leaving Certificate college here that specialise in beating the studies into dumb kids. I passed this for months without realising it was there. How did I spot it? It was the day of the leaving cert results and they had a MASSIVE banner with their name and congratulating their 2006 Leaving Cert Year. I thought this was clever! I havent seen a school do that before and if I knew someone in need of Leaving Cert beatings, I would remember that school.

The Good Idea Wasted By Incompetant Management.....

There is a beautiful new decking placed on the river outside the Clarrion Hotel. On this board-walk type decking there is a small coffee shop called The Coffee Pod. Its a nice little shop with plenty of sheltered outside seating and on a beautiful day you cant beat it. The food is a bit too wanky and fancy. So much so that they have actually ruined it but thats a different story.

The problem with the coffee pod is that is closes so damn early! Its done and shut at 5.30 EVERY day. Its also closed ALL DAY Sunday. Ludicrous! I have been there a few times on a beautiful day with letterally 50 people hanging around after work in the sun looking for a cold drink or maybe a coffee.  Doesnt matter. They close anyway. We were actually refused a coffee one day cause it was 5.31pm.

If I owned this place I'd shoot the fucking management. If it was my decision to close at 5.30pm when there is an abundance of customers I shoot my own fucking head off for being so stupid....