Are You Open for Customers?
The other night I was driving home from the grocery store and noticed two women walking up to a restaurant to find in frustration that it was closed—at 6:30 in the evening. I know that this little European sandwich shop closes at 4:30PM because I had done the very same thing as the two women.
The problem is that I am sure they we are not the only three people to have found this place closed when we wanted to eat there. How many others have walked up to that dark door to see the sign and shake their head in frustration? How many have gone back?
For a new business this is a risk. If the first experience someone has with your business is frustration you may be losing them for ever. None of their marketing materials indicate the hours of operation, just this sign on the front door. If the owners had published the hours in their newspaper ads, in their brochure, or on their menu that they have at the local bank, and this was occurring only to random walk up traffic, it might be less troublesome.
For a newer service or retail business to set hours based on some arbitrary notion either lifestyle or the hours you wish to work, you may be doing a serious long term disservice to yourself. Hire and train more staff to work later until you find out what hours you are actually busy. Measure your customer patterns and market to fill in the gaps. Don’t limit yourself based on you. Be open when the majority of your customers can come to you. Be at the service of your customers and reward them for walking up to your doors by being open to sell them what they came to buy.