Would increasing awareness of Pinot’s Palette raise class attendance, lead to more patronage, and boost profits.
I went out to survey costumers of Pinot’s Palette to examine if the general consciousness of the public was sufficient for business as it is or if increasing and improving upon advertising that is in already in place. Before developing the questionnaire, I spoke to the bartenders, hostess, owners, and the teacher. I was thrilled to discover how passionate they all were about what they do. They all had valid points of view when it came to what could improve attendance for the classes. We all came to the consensus that figuring out what could bring people in would help advance commerce. After interviewing the staff, I came up with some questions that I thought would help lay down a foundation for conducting some good old fashioned marketing research.
Originally I wanted to know what would make customers regulars by asking if they enjoyed the teaching style, the atmosphere (music, lighting, ambiance, etc.), what they like most or least about their experience, and if they thought the cost was reasonable for the services provided. Those open-ended questions didn’t seem fit the criteria for this endeavor. So I went for a more direct course of action and I asked if they consider themselves an artist or creative in any way to see if that is what attracts them to Pinot’s Palette. Only 30% said that they aren’t artistic. That’s a pretty good percentage of artsy costumers in an artistic setting. I considered that this is a fun idea for dating and I asked if the customers like trying new things on dates and only 2% said that they didn’t. I also wondered if it was the alcohol that brought in costumers, but I didn’t want to assume that they are alcoholics. So asking how many drinks they had was a less offensive way getting the intelligence I wanted. If they circled none, one or a couple they were there for the experience and not just the class; the total came out to be about 82%. If they were to answer “more than a few” or “I lost count”, then they were just in it to get drunk.
I asked the respondents how they discovered Pinot’s Palette and more than half found out through traditional and internet advertising. The others found out through friends who have visited, others by walking through the District at Green Valley Ranch, and 72% of those questioned would recommend a class to a friend. Customer satisfaction is usually a reason for there to be return customers or not. Seventy-percent of those who took the questionnaire were genuinely satisfied with services provided and would most likely come back for another class. According to 28% of those questioned there is always room for improvement and I asked if they would enjoy other art classes like drawing, sketching, collages, scrapbooking, pottery, etc. Ninety percent agreed that they might enjoy an alternative class. So through the course of this survey I discovered that awareness wasn’t exactly the problem with their current customers, but variety is what is keeping them from regular patronage.
