On Barbecue...
Bruce Bjorkman is the director of sales and marketing for Dallas, Oregon-based MAK GRILLS, an award winning manufacturer of wood pellet smoker-grills. Bjorkman has been part of the wood pellet grill industry since 1991, and is considered to be one of the nation's leading experts in barbecuing, grilling and smoking. Bjorkman has just begun his eleventh year of hosting Cooking Outdoors With Mr. Barbecue, a weekly radio program heard on 15 radio stations through out the Northwest. His career path includes more than 30 years in advertising, marketing and media. He is also the author of The Great Barbecue Companion, published by Ten Speed Press, now part of Random House Publishing. You may email him at bruce@makgrills.com.
Come on, answer the phone!
I am writing this with a deep level of frustration. I just tried contacting a retailer by phone, and got an answering machine - at a retail business - during business hours! It wasn't the first time today, which is what compels me to bring this topic up again. What's truly unfortunate about this situation is, it's not isolated. It's a very frequent occurrence. It sends the wrong type of message to... Read More
Comments (3)How to make the slow time of year the best time for your business
I was having a discussion with a long-time barbecue retailer the other day. He was telling me that after 40 years in retail he was bored, un-motivated, maybe even depressed. It was January after all, one of his slowest retail months of the year. "There's nothing to do," he told me. "Are you kidding me?," I exclaimed. "There's plenty you can do right now to get ready for... Read More
Comments (1)Let's end the 'Barbecue Season'
Right now a large chunk of the United States sees the thermometer taking a nosedive. The number of sunny days can invariably be counted on one hand. Yet, in spite of the less-than-ideal weather conditions, you'll find passionate barbecuers like me bundled up in long underwear, my Elmer Fudd hat and jacket, out on the patio cooking on my grill. I am one of 56 percenters who, even when the weather i... Read More
Comments (1)Leaving money on the table
Still believe that the "barbecue season" is only six months long? You're leaving money on the table.I don't know what it will take to convince hearth and patio retailers that there is no longer any such thing as "the barbecue season." The fact is that passionate barbecuers and grillers are out in their backyards 12 months out of the year (Yes, even in the snow!), using their o... Read More
Comments (0)Phoning it in
I spend the majority of my life on the phone contacting prospective dealers. It's this activity that has become the impetus of this month's column. I am noticing what I consider to be a very disturbing trend occurring in business - not answering the phone. It boggles my mind how a retail business can expect to grow, attract new customers and put forward a positive impression when anyone calling th... Read More
Comments (1)How’s Your Yelp? What YOU need to know about on-line reviews
How's your YELP? The answer could either be helping or hindering your business. Yelp is an on-line review site which allows consumers to post reviews about local businesses. According to the company's website, it has more than 25 million local reviews written by "Yelpers" in 13 countries. "Yelpers" assign one to five stars to a business, based on their experience with that bus... Read More
Comments (2)How to sell more grills: don't be a twin!
I just finished talking with a retailer whom I thought might be a good grill dealer for us. I was still scratching my head over their comments to me, "We got out of the grill business a year ago, we just can't compete with the big box stores."That retailer is both right and wrong. Right in the fact that, no, the independent business cannot compete against a large, national retailer based... Read More
Comments (5)Thoughts on the barbecue lifestyle
Next to November and Thanksgiving, May is my favorite time of the year. It's National Barbecue Month. I was first introduced to this month long event back in the early 1990s when I met Donna Myers at a National Barbecue Association convention. To have a whole month dedicated to one of my passionate pursuits is glorious. Imagine, 31 days celebrating the joys, flavor and fun of barbecue.The first N... Read More
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