Answers I have
received from proprietors around the country range from:
1.
“Not much, it’s the summer; you can’t get em to
bowl even if you give it away.”
2.
“I’m going to work my butt off to build
relationships with fundraising groups, companies, day cares, day camps and build
my ‘kids bowl free program’ so I can prepare for fall starting in June.”
3.
“I’ll try to build some short season leagues and
runs some price specials…like I have in the past, but I don’t expect much.”
4.
“Are you kidding? I’m closing 4 days a week.”
5.
“Going to work on my social media and get it up
to snuff so I’ll be better able to communicate with my various target
audiences.”
6.
“I guess the same as I have always done.”
If you identify
with any of these statements, I hope it is either #2 or #5. Any other statement
in the above is not very bold and in this day and age, you need to be bold, you
need to be wiser and you need to not have fear of failure.
I always used to
look at summer, and still do, as a time to experiment, to try new ideas, to go
after different targets with different products and to see if there were any
motivational buttons that I could tap into and at worse learn from.
Many years ago, I tried
a gift certificate program for Moms. Each Mom would get a $50 portrait gift certificate
to a Sears store for a family portrait/photo shoot by a professional
photographer.
The idea bombed…in
the summer.
But the feedback we got was
great so when October came, I rolled out a Christmas Portrait League, ready for
Christmas cards or gift giving.
Boom!! Home run.
The product and
target were right, but the timing was off.
So now I ask you
what are you going to do to increase sales this month?
What kinds of
programs can you try this summer to learn from and build more meaningful
programs in the fall?
Here are five ideas to get yo started thinking.:
1.
Maybe work on your social media and build your
brand. Build your brand by showing the culture of your center, the staff, the
owners, explain what your values are and how much you are involved with the community.
2.
Learn how to do split testing of offers where
one part of your list gets offer #1 and the second part of the list gets offer #2. Then test
the winning offer against a 3rd offer.
3.
Start one new short season league in mid June
either targeted to adult child or families
4.
Introduce one new twist to your cosmic bowling. Whether
it is a free pizza when 5 people show up (on ONE specific weekend) or a chance to
win a $50 gift card to Best Buy for anyone who comes to Cosmic Bowling on ONE specific
weekend. Send these emails out Thursday night for the Friday and Saturday night
sessions
5.
Host a FREE Company party event and invite
companies in to bowl for free after work, and then make sure you have a 4 to 8
week “league of their own” program ready to offer them. Maybe every other week.
…Or anything else you feel like. Just don’t sit
on your apathy all summer.
And besides, golf really isn't that much fun. As mark Twain once said, “Golf is an activity that’ spoils
a perfectly good walk in the park.”J
