Selling strategies

Neil Dunning tells Ewan Turney how a sound marketing strategy helped the Duke on the Green in Parsons Green, London, become Young's Pub of the Year

How I got here

I have been here for almost 13 years now and we have had to move with the times. We are opposite the world-famous White Horse so we have always had to work hard. When I arrived the pub was sports orientated, but when Sky got too expensive we had to take it out and find another offer to replace that. The food business used to be mine as well - I paid a rent on the facilities - but Young's took that back.

I became a bit disillusioned as I wasn't hitting my bonuses and thought about a change in career. I had considered running a deli as it is a service industry. But I realised I was a natural-born licensee. People don't go to a deli to have fun, they go to buy focaccia bread. Luckily, Young's undertook a £½m refurbishment about 18 months ago and that gave me an extra spark. When I arrived the pub was taking £6,500 and we increased that to £12,500, but now we reach £35,000 a week.

My philosophy is simple - give the customers what they want, then they will generate other customers. It is a wave effect.

My privilege card scheme

One of the main ways we have increased trade was through setting up a good database. We now have 1,500 privilege card holders and 4,500 on our database. The system has really taken us to a new dimension.

1. Mail-outs: Once a month, we email

everyone in our database a newsletter. It includes news of any events and offers for the month. For example, this month you can get a free bloody Mary with brunch and you can get a free coffee on weekdays. You don't want to pester people or they will unsubscribe, so we stick to once a month.

2. Birthdays: We ask for date of birth so that a couple of days before we can send an email saying come and celebrate here and get a free bottle of champagne.

3. Occupation: As we take their occupation as well, when it nears Christmas I can look up the ones that are PAs. Then I can email them asking if they have organised a Christmas party yet. I will give them a bottle of Krug champagne - if that is what it takes - as it will be worth it from the booking. But then we have to get the quality of the food and service spot on as well. Christmas can be hit or miss at some venues, but not here.

4. Refer a friend: If you refer a friend, we write to them asking if they want the same benefits as you and in return you get a free drink.

My database benefits

1. Third-party investment: I have linked up with a few local businesses to offer our customers more. The problem with a newsletter is you can read it and discard it, but I want them to keep it. So, I asked a new gym that opened if they wanted to run a prize for a mountain bike through our mail-outs. We did another one for £165 in vouchers for a professional photo shoot. We did that around Mother's Day. If the draw is a month later, they keep my newsletter in their inbox. The first problem is luring customers in, the second problem is keeping them latched on.

2. Finding staff: I placed an ad on gumtree for staff and all I got back was people that didn't quite fit the bill. I had a problem, as to advertise in somewhere like the Evening Standard is very expensive. So, I have used my own database to recruit my staff. At the bottom of the mail-out they can click a button and upload their CV, which gets sent straight to me.

3. Improvements: I want to move towards an electronic credit card-type scheme where I can monitor when people come in and how much they spend, as at the moment my privilege card is just a piece of cardboard. That would help me streamline my database as well. It would also allow me to see if someone spent a lot; I could send them an email thanking them and inviting them for a free drink with me. They would tell everyone about it.

My staff

I want people who want to get up in the morning and come to work. I am a very enthusiastic person and I never thought I would be able to rub that off on my staff; but they are like that now as they work in a great place. They want to come to work. Just because you are working an eight-hour shift doesn't mean you can't have fun.

1. Mistakes: When you make a mistake all you want to do is hide it. But I don't let them do that. We make a big thing of it and you have to wear a silly wig. By publicising a mistake then everyone else can also learn from it. It's just a bit of fun.

2. Ideas: We have all just watched a film called Fish. It's about a group of fishmongers in Seattle and it's about having fun while working as a team. They work 14-hour days and come up with whacky ideas to make it fun, like throwing the fish from the back to the counter while everyone shouts out "haddock". They also use the fish to talk to the customers.

I have challenged our staff to come up with their own ideas. For example, we may have a silly bar-staff dance one night. The ideas have to come from the staff though, as they will be implementing them. We want to bring a fun element to working behind the bar.

3. Dice game: One idea I think we may try is that every so often if someone comes to the bar and orders a round, you can offer to pay for one drink but they have to win it. So, they roll a dice and if they get a six then we pay for one of the drinks. It would be great fun, people would come up to the bar more often and they would tell all their mates about it. It is about inspiring your staff to be able to pull it off.

My coffee campaign

I am trying to launch coffee here as a big

thing as we have an attractive location overlooking Parsons Green. The only places that do coffee nearby are the delis and that is only takeaway. There is also a Starbucks, but that is plastic coffee in cardboard cups, plus the shop itself is so insipid. So, where is my competition? It is quite a challenge changing people's perceptions of a pub doing something like coffee, but it is good business if you can get it. It's about a 96% GP margin. I will try it for three months to see if it works.

My plan for summer

Parsons Green is packed in the summer months and I want to make use of that. So I have had this idea of teaming up with Cobra, whose offices are just around the corner. What I want to do is produce a branded picnic blanket with them. We can do picnic hampers with four bottles of Cobra, two wraps and a free picnic rug. That way we get some branding over on the Green and it creates interest.

My Pub

Tenure: Young's managed

Turnover in 1994: £338,000 a year

Turnover now: £1.8m a year

GP wet: 73.5%

GP food: 71.5%

Staff: 30, 19 full-time

Wage budget: 22.8%

Wine sales: £9,000 a week

Awards: Young's Retail Managers of the Year 2007, Young's website marketing award 2007