Thursday, September 11, 2014

The Dog Kennel Business in Atlanta

Once upon a time in Atlanta, the owner of a dog kennel wanted to make more money.  He wanted more customers, more people boarding their pets, more revenue.  Of course, he is in business to make money.

He notices one day that there seemed to be more black dogs than white dogs in his kennel.  He didn't count them.  He just remembered that he noticed one day on the webcam (that allows owners to see their dogs at the kennel while they are away) that there might be more black dogs than white dogs. He begins to wonder "Are the owners of the white dogs scared of the black dogs?"  "Are the dog owners hesitating to bring their white dogs in because there are too many black dogs?"  He had heard that black dogs are more aggressive than white dogs. They seem to bark more, bare their teeth a little more, they even seem to bark louder.  What if he is losing business because of the black dogs.  

So, he decides to ask his employees about this.  He asks the employees if there might not be too many black dogs in the kennel.  He wonders out loud if perhaps he needs to reach out to the owners of the white dogs just in case the white dogs might be afraid of the black dogs.  He even wonders if too many of his employees have black dogs (it so happens that he has 8 employees who all have dogs and there are 5 black dogs and 3 white dogs).   The owner has a white dog.  He likes his white dog.  His white dog behaves just fine.  He might be on to something.

So far, so good.  He also wonders:  "Should my marketing materials intentionally include more white dogs in the pictures to keep the owners with white dogs more at ease?"  "We seem to have enough black dogs in our kennels, right."

Then he noticed the music playing on the speakers in the kennel.  It was one of those rap, hip-hop songs.  His young employees always seemed to play that stuff.   So, he wondered, "What kind of music do our white dogs like?"  Surely, this would get more white dogs into the kennels.

He offhandedly states that he once went to a kennel in another part of the city and they didn't seem to have too many black dogs.  He seems to remember that there were plenty of white dogs running around.  No one seemed to complain that there were too many white dogs around.  The kennel seemed to be pretty full as he remembers it.    

He begins to extrapolate some more, "I saw an owner come in and buy a new collar, some fancy dog food, and a dog toy for his dog the other day.  If I remember correctly, he had a white dog.  I don't remember an owner of a black dog ever doing that.  I bet if  we get more owners of white dogs in here we might make more money on accessories and peripherals."  More white dogs, more sales. Black dogs, we lose money.  Enough with the black dogs.  

So, the owner decides to share this with some of his staff.  "What do you guys think?" he asks.  The employees look at each other in a confused fashion.  "Yes, of course, you must be right," one of them says.  Another says, "Yes, we need more customers, let's get some more white dogs in here."    

At that point the owner decides to put all this in an email to send to all his employees summarizing his findings........