Make The Customer Come Back
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday April 6, 1999
This is the second in a two-part series on reviving rural communities and economies by Winsome Byrne.
"PEOPLE can buy a loaf of bread anywhere," says Mark Morrall, a fourth-generation baker in Bourke. "But it is the atmosphere and service that keep them coming back."
Morrall learnt a great deal about marketing from Tom O'Toole, a baker in Beechworth, Victoria, who has turned a struggling bakery into a huge success. Morrall heard about O'Toole from Peter Kenyon, director of the Centre for Small Town Development in Western Australia. Bourke Shire Council had brought in Kenyon to help its traders improve their businesses.
Morrall spent a week with O'Toole, learning the way he looks at things such as staff involvement and motivation.
"Tom gets the staff involved in the whole process, thinking for themselves, becoming more active," Morrall says. "The staff voice their ideas about ways of doing things better. And they feel more valued because their ideas are being worked into the business."
Morrall started implementing Kenyon's and O'Toole's ideas by putting seating and a cappuccino machine in his bakery, turning it into a bakery cafe.
Five years ago, Morrall had two counter and four production staff. He now has five or six counter staff and six or seven production people. He has also taken on two bakery/pastry cook apprentices, which has helped youth employment in the town.
"We emphasise customer service to our staff," he says. "We tell them they need to be doing everything to give the customer a good experience every time they come into the shop."
It might sound corny but it seems to work. Morrall says the town's trade has started to grow with the sealing of the final stretch of the Kidman Way, which starts in Jerilderie and goes through the western section of NSW, up through Cunnamulla in Queensland, through Charlesville and Longreach and further north.
In Queensland it becomes the Matilda Highway and, Morrall says, is now the quickest sealed route to the Top End.
Another town that expects to benefit from the Kidman Way is Cobar. It already has a successful tourism industry, with 77,000 visitors in 1996-97 putting $14 million into the old mining town, whose permanent population is only 5,500.
The general manager of Cobar Shire Council, Russell Pigg, believes tourism will only increase as a result of improvements in the Kidman Way. Cobar markets its tourism opportunities in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
Station owners offer not only accommodation but also four-wheel-drive tours and adventure holidays. There is also a growing interest in Aboriginal history.
"People are beginning to realise the potential in conserving this area," Pigg says. "And there is a spin-off not only to the individual properties offering these holidays but to the businesses in town."
The general manager of Bourke Council, Alan Valey, says an important move for the town had been the removal of grilles on shop windows in the main street. They were there because of a social problem in the town - largely caused by unemployment. But the grilles appeared threatening to shoppers - and particularly visitors.
They have since been replaced by roller shutters so that the town has a much more friendly feel.
That will be especially important when the Back o' Bourke Exhibition Centre opens. It will tell the history not only of Bourke but of the outback. The story will start 100 years before white settlement and include the influence of Aboriginal people on the outback. There will also be displays forecasting what life will be like 50 years hence.
The centre will be designed to accommodate displays that change every six to 12 months, so visitors will have a reason to return. Construction is set to begin next year, with the opening in January 2001.
Morrall, who is involved in the development of Back o' Bourke, says visitors to the town now often stay three nights. It is hoped that the centre will give them reason to stay for about five. Feedback please to: lapmedia@ozemail.com.au
© 1999 Sydney Morning Herald
