Oh
sure, your center is clean and your employees smile (most of the time) and you
offer price specials (when business is slow) and combo meals too. Even your
parking lot is OK; the machines work and lane conditions are satisfactory.
Some
people complain about your pricing, especially your kid shoe rental price, (“Hey
Lady, they cost as much as the adult shoes, so I gotta charge as much”)…you mutter
under your breath. But, hey, they’ll get over it.
Many
people come back year after year to bowl in a league; more are leaving and your
league demographic is probably approaching a median age of 50. But these new fangled
short season leagues are starting to catch on, even though you only offer one
or two a year. L
The
kids and their parents find that your birthday parties are satisfactory, even
though you have too many rules, as you efficiently rotate them in and out of
your party rooms to maximize revenue on the lanes.
Your
seniors are OK with your facility, even though they know deep down; you really don’t
like giving them free coffee; and definitely not free donuts.
So
my question is, “But do your customers like you?” Would you be surprised if the answer was “No”
or “Not so much”…I mean after all you think you have done for them.
Here’s why they may not
like you.
1.
Have you taken up a charity and made it yours so everyone
sees what a good guy you are. You’re not doing the charity for lineage dollars
or even to make anew league out of the participants, but are doing it because
you really believe in it?
2.
Have you sponsored the local little league, high school
football team or some other sports venue in your town?
3.
Do people see you at soup kitchens, helping feed the homeless
and making collections for toys for tots at your center or collecting food for
the hungry?
4.
Are you one of the first to volunteer your facility or your
time when local situations call for it. Have
you thought about establishing a job fair at your center and inviting potential
employees and employers meet there?
5.
Do you take some presents to kids, during Christmas, at a
local hospital?
6.
Have you had a pet rescue event in your parking lot where
the local ASPCA could bring their animals and see if people would adopt them?
7.
Have you participated in the local parades (4th
of July, Labor Day or any other community function)?
8.
Do you belong to the local Chamber of Commerce or Knights
of Columbus or any other fraternal organizations that are meaningful to the
community? Yeah, yeah I’ve heard you say
the Chamber is useless. But as the old
saying goes: “You Get What You Give”.
It isn't the specific things that you do for the money that make people like you.
It’s
the specific things you do because you genuinely love doing it that makes
people like you
And
that can make all the difference.
