Jeremiah Ajayi
The CEO of Domino’s Pizza, Inc., Russell Weiner named his business as Domino’s, a worldwide American chain of pizza restaurants. The Domino’s Farms Office Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan serves as the corporate headquarters of the Delaware-domiciled company. Domino’s had about 15,000 locations as of 2018, with 5,649 of those being in the US, 1,500 in India, and 1,249 in the UK. Domino’s has locations across 5,701 cities and 83 countries. 2018 saw the induction of Domino’s Pizza into the Queensland Business Leaders Hall of Fame.
Domino’s is less one large firm than it is a unified group of small and medium-sized companies with strong corporate links; 95% of its locations are franchise-owned, and 90% of those franchisees began their careers there. For more than 50 years, they have shared a brand promise: to be the best pizza delivery service in the world, with orders delivered in 30 minutes or less. Domino’s prioritized speed and convenience over flavor.
Domino’s was aware that its pizza wasn’t the best, but it was more concerned with getting people their boxes than with the contents. When Domino’s came to terms with the fact that its pizza was terrible and made it known, everything changed for the better. Domino’s paid attention to the needs of its customers rather than just the bottom line. According to research, those customers’ tastes and values were evolving. Still, they didn’t want the flavor to be sacrificed for speed. When Domino’s was ready, the firm chose to do something incredibly unconventional since it saw this transition as permanent and inevitable. Domino’s took pride in which they had been and expressed that honestly, openly, and transparently. Even though they were despised, they insisted, “We listened to you, and we are aware, your taste buds will be satisfied by our chefs, who will also provide you with the best product available.
Some lessons were obvious for consumers and business owners to learn from what they do and how they handle their business in terms of customer service and the adverse consequences of the industry over the years. Here are five leadership skills to take away from Domino’s pizza industry.
- Take Risks.
A Business won’t succeed if a business owner does not respond to a crisis in the business with gradual, calculated moves, such as “Now with tastier sauce!” To think little is what that means. Taking a risk may be excellent provided everyone involved is fully dedicated and aware of the direction the business would want to go in.
- Pay attention to your customers.
For years, businesses have concealed themselves behind dead-end emails, inaccessible online support, and endless 000 numbers (“If you want to talk to a representative … good luck.”). Businesses have traditionally required customers to abide by their own rules and regulations, but thanks to social media, the customer voice has gained more weight and created opportunities for real two-way communication. Finding out what your company doesn’t know about them would help bring about drastic change.
- React to your clients.
Businesses must respond to what customers truly want and recognize what they’re talking about once they’ve made the decision to listen to them. Years of complaints about Domino’s pizza had been heard, but once the business decided to make the adjustment, it made sure it was specifically addressing the most common complaints. Today, it frequently responds to online critics and appreciation. This is a call to constantly respond to inquiries from customers in all businesses
- Listen and respond to your community.
We’re too quick to make judgments without considering, engaging with, or listening to our best assets: our people, even while we are listening to our customers. Ask them to be honest with you, give solutions to the issue, and have a share in the outcome without fear of repercussions. In its commercial, Domino’s demonstrated how it accomplished this by employing actual employees to describe what went wrong, how they felt about the criticism, and how they contributed to the implementation of change.
- Be open, honest, and truthful to be “progressive.”
The most crucial thing is that we act honestly when we act drastically, whether it requires a crisis or just a moment of intense self-reflection. Communicate openly and honestly in reality. Even after a check, remain genuine. Instead, Domino’s went real and employed true radical transparency. It worked to inform the customers that the pizza was bad. Sales at Dominos increased by 14.5%.
The value of Dominos stock has doubled to a record level. If the company’s management hadn’t gotten in trucks to supply more pepperoni to the retailers around the Super Bowl, they would have run out of the product.
Domino’s is conscious of the consequence of breaking its commitments to the people it has built relationships with and the things it is unaware of. Everyone is continuously competing for customers, from microwave manufacturers to national chains like Papa John’s and Little Caesars to neighborhood pizzerias and beyond. Domino’s has to remain active on social media and continue to adapt by listening and creating its menu and services in order to stay ahead and preserve brand loyalty. Due to the removal of intermediaries and the replacement of the landline phone with its application, Domino’s is once again concentrating on online ordering and delivery.
