A recent article in The Daily Beast, an on line news source says,"the recession has consumers paying with debit cards instead of credit cards. This spring, Visa announced that spending on debit cards increased 4.1% while spending on credit cards sank 14.8%. And the Federal Reserve announced that revolving credit, primarily credit cards, plummeted $6.1 billion or 8% annually in July".
With more people using debit cards, it tips us off that people are no longer wiling to carry big balances on their cards, but would rather adopt "pay as you go" spending.
It could also be a reaction to high credit card fees that banks have been charging and now, once stung, consumers have moved to using debit cards with lower or no fees.
Is this an opportunity for all of us in the "discretionary income" business? I think so...but with caution. We have seen how consumers can sacrifice and save (savings rates are moving toward 6% - the highest in decades) and also curtail their discretionary spending. After all, its easy to decrease your spending when you don't have any money or credit to spend!
However; as bad as spending is today, the US Consumer will still spend as much as he did in 2005 and that was a good year!
But the debit card phenomenon lets customers pay with their plastic cash and therefore they receive no MONTHLY bill at the end of the billing cycle. if there is no pain at the end of the month and no bill to stop them next month, maybe slightly higher prices won't stop them either. After all haven't your costs increased?
As we move into the colder months, check your pricing. That Pizza Pins N Pop program that you have had at $49.95 forever - maybe by raising it to $54.95 with 4 weeks of $5 bounce backs, delivered via email and press releases to MOMS groups in the area, can generate increased cash flow. That $2.50 shoe rental? Can you get to $2.75? Or better yet; build it into your open play pricing and proclaim "NEVER PAY FOR SHOE RENTALS AGAIN."
How about the cosmic nights for $13.95 per person or $25.00 per hour? Can you move that to $14.95 and $27.50 an hour; introduced with a series of bounce backs to keep your regular customers coming back and as an offer for new customers.
The secret is and this is one of our FredQuarters Marketing rules: When you raise prices, create an offer that is so enticing that the increased price is tangential and just becomes absorbed into your "new normal".
Maybe they will even put it on their debit card.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
The Rude Customer...Handled
One of my followers sent me this and I wanted to pass it on to you. While I cannot verify the accuracy of this story, it should make those of us, who work with the customer every day, smile because even though the customer is not always right, he is still the customer.
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers - An award should go to the Westjet gate attendant in Kelowna , British Columbia some 12 months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was canceled after Westjet's 767s had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS".
The attendant replied, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out." The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?"
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: "May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please, " she began - her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, gritted his teeth and said, "F...You!" Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too."
For all Employees Who Work with Rude Customers - An award should go to the Westjet gate attendant in Kelowna , British Columbia some 12 months ago for being smart and funny, while making her point, when confronted with a passenger who probably deserved to fly as cargo.
A crowded flight was canceled after Westjet's 767s had been withdrawn from service. A single attendant was re-booking a long line of inconvenienced travelers. Suddenly an angry passenger pushed his way to the desk. He slapped his ticket down on the counter and said, "I HAVE to be on this flight and it HAS to be FIRST CLASS".
The attendant replied, "I'm sorry, sir. I'll be happy to try to help you, but I've got to help these people first, and I'm sure we'll be able to work something out." The passenger was unimpressed. He asked loudly, so that the passengers behind him could hear, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHO I AM?"
Without hesitating, the attendant smiled and grabbed her public address microphone: "May I have your attention please; may I have your attention please, " she began - her voice heard clearly throughout the terminal. "We have a passenger here at Gate 14 WHO DOES NOT KNOW WHO HE IS. If anyone can help him find his identity, please come to Gate 14."
With the folks behind him in line laughing hysterically, the man glared at the attendant, gritted his teeth and said, "F...You!" Without flinching, she smiled and said, (I love this bit) "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to get in line for that too."
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
The Hotel Lobby
it used to be, before there were social networks, that chatting and having a conversation with colleagues or friends occurred in a hotel lobby, usually over drinks and usually before or after dinner. It was a pleasant time when people let their hair down and discussed both business and personal issues. It was a time when opinions were given, facts offered and disputed, beliefs expressed and non verbal communications displayed.
Today the "informal communication" is a social network phenomenon. Twitter, Facebook, My Space, old fashioned email and even this blog are the "new media"; the new way we communicate.
While this new media is both powerful and pervasive, it lacks the so called non verbal communication cues we, as humans, find so helpful in understanding the message.
So here's the tip: when using this new media, make sure that your communication tells a story; that it become a conversation that speaks to one person, like "talking in a hotel lobby" to a friend or business acquaintance.
For those of you that have a facebook page or a twitter account or even a regular old email, before you put your flier up on your page, try to tell a story about your center, your offer, and your benefits.
Make it personal. Because communication is always personal and is always created by the receiver.
Then maybe, just maybe I will read it.
Today the "informal communication" is a social network phenomenon. Twitter, Facebook, My Space, old fashioned email and even this blog are the "new media"; the new way we communicate.
While this new media is both powerful and pervasive, it lacks the so called non verbal communication cues we, as humans, find so helpful in understanding the message.
So here's the tip: when using this new media, make sure that your communication tells a story; that it become a conversation that speaks to one person, like "talking in a hotel lobby" to a friend or business acquaintance.
For those of you that have a facebook page or a twitter account or even a regular old email, before you put your flier up on your page, try to tell a story about your center, your offer, and your benefits.
Make it personal. Because communication is always personal and is always created by the receiver.
Then maybe, just maybe I will read it.
Value Inspired
We have been packaging open play products now for quite some time. Whether it be pizza and bowling, burgers and bowling or chicken wings and bowling (anybody for wing it n' fling it?), our customers have found great value in the bowling and food experience we present to them.
To hitchhike on these ideas, we created simple league programs like Party Animals where every team gets a pizza and a pitcher of beer during league play. Pricing is done to create a great value with the idea that one beer leads to two and that one "smallish" pizza leads to more food over a two and one half hour experience. More often than not, this is exactly what happens.
However, with league play still in a bit of a free fall, creating league programs that are more value inspired will become the norm.
For example, offering league bowlers a 3 game experience and their first drink for $x is a value experience and one where many young adults 21 to 34 would find attractive. The drinks we include are well drinks and domestic bottles or drafts. You are NOT giving the drink away; it is not FREE; you can ring up the drink at retail price and the remainder is rung up as lineage. Maybe this is an October start for you on second shift or a first shift fill. Run with it if you like.
What would you name this program? How would you market it?
To hitchhike on these ideas, we created simple league programs like Party Animals where every team gets a pizza and a pitcher of beer during league play. Pricing is done to create a great value with the idea that one beer leads to two and that one "smallish" pizza leads to more food over a two and one half hour experience. More often than not, this is exactly what happens.
However, with league play still in a bit of a free fall, creating league programs that are more value inspired will become the norm.
For example, offering league bowlers a 3 game experience and their first drink for $x is a value experience and one where many young adults 21 to 34 would find attractive. The drinks we include are well drinks and domestic bottles or drafts. You are NOT giving the drink away; it is not FREE; you can ring up the drink at retail price and the remainder is rung up as lineage. Maybe this is an October start for you on second shift or a first shift fill. Run with it if you like.
What would you name this program? How would you market it?
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Strategy Vest
This internet stuff is pretty new to many of us.
Some of us have immersed ourselves in it. Others have given control to "the geeks, the gurus and the computer guys" We have taken to trust them to move us up on Google search; to build our sites; to send out the tweets; to update the face book pages and my space pages; to add coupons and to count clicks.
In many cases, we have turned our marketing efforts over to these new media manipulators, without considering the strategy behind the communications. Yes, these 21st century media mavericks know their stuff and they are no doubt good at what they do because people hire them. And they produce results; that is getting people to the site. Or getting people to surrender their email address and cell phone number.
New media is based upon the fact that you can track purchasing behavior and frequency and all the other good things about segmentation we can think of, but without the great offer and the emotional call to action, what are we doing?
In our quest for the magic pill,the miracle elixir, we continue to turn our future over to those who know less about our particular operation than we do. We rarely ask them to study our market or to define what our objectives should be or what we should expect. Why don't we demand this level of accountability?
The magic pill is only as good as the strategy behind it. The tactics must be based upon analytical, strategic conclusions garnered from empirical data. It is not about embedded images or invisible codes or anything else. All these machinations do is to get the prospect to your site more efficiently to see something that is not relevant to them. Duh!
But, if your offer sucks or is not on target, getting people to your web site is really counterproductive. After all, isn't that what "old media" used to do?
So before you hire Merlin to do "his internet thing", make sure your objectives and strategy are bullet proof. Now go put on your strategy vest.
Some of us have immersed ourselves in it. Others have given control to "the geeks, the gurus and the computer guys" We have taken to trust them to move us up on Google search; to build our sites; to send out the tweets; to update the face book pages and my space pages; to add coupons and to count clicks.
In many cases, we have turned our marketing efforts over to these new media manipulators, without considering the strategy behind the communications. Yes, these 21st century media mavericks know their stuff and they are no doubt good at what they do because people hire them. And they produce results; that is getting people to the site. Or getting people to surrender their email address and cell phone number.
New media is based upon the fact that you can track purchasing behavior and frequency and all the other good things about segmentation we can think of, but without the great offer and the emotional call to action, what are we doing?
In our quest for the magic pill,the miracle elixir, we continue to turn our future over to those who know less about our particular operation than we do. We rarely ask them to study our market or to define what our objectives should be or what we should expect. Why don't we demand this level of accountability?
The magic pill is only as good as the strategy behind it. The tactics must be based upon analytical, strategic conclusions garnered from empirical data. It is not about embedded images or invisible codes or anything else. All these machinations do is to get the prospect to your site more efficiently to see something that is not relevant to them. Duh!
But, if your offer sucks or is not on target, getting people to your web site is really counterproductive. After all, isn't that what "old media" used to do?
So before you hire Merlin to do "his internet thing", make sure your objectives and strategy are bullet proof. Now go put on your strategy vest.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Square One
Whenever you think you know it all, it’s probably time to go back to square one. What does it mean to go back to square one? Does it mean that everything up until that point has to be redone or can we take everything we have learned up to this point and move forward, only in a different direction?
I think we have to start over. The very thought process that brought us to this “NO Go decision” point assumed certain variables were in play. As the world turned and new events occurred to alter our perspective, these existing variables may still be the right ones, but the importance of each one may have changed, the weight we attach to each one may have changed and a new variable may be coming into play. Or maybe several new variables.
“What has changed”? That is the simple question. What variables will impact your business MORE (either negatively or positively) next week, next month, next year is the more complex question?.
But if you ask that question frequently enough, you will be able to find answers you cannot even imagine. And maybe some new opportunities
And that's a good thing.
I think we have to start over. The very thought process that brought us to this “NO Go decision” point assumed certain variables were in play. As the world turned and new events occurred to alter our perspective, these existing variables may still be the right ones, but the importance of each one may have changed, the weight we attach to each one may have changed and a new variable may be coming into play. Or maybe several new variables.
“What has changed”? That is the simple question. What variables will impact your business MORE (either negatively or positively) next week, next month, next year is the more complex question?.
But if you ask that question frequently enough, you will be able to find answers you cannot even imagine. And maybe some new opportunities
And that's a good thing.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Creativity
Same old, same old just doesn't sell anymore.
To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get your creative juices flowing.
Some tips may appeal to you more than others. My suggestion is to try them all. Even the ones you're not drawn to may still open some doors that wouldn't have opened any other way.
These tips will work whether you sell a product, a service or both.
1. Find the "second right answer." Roger von Oech talks about this in A Whack on the Side of the Head. Don't be content with the first good idea you come up with. Take the time to think of a second, or third or 50th idea. Quantity counts – the more ideas you have to choose from, the more likely you'll discover an excellent or even a brilliant one. Remember, Thomas Edison discovered thousands of ways a light bulb didn't work.
2. Change the question. If you change the question, you're probably going to get a different answer. You say you want to sell more games? What if you changed the question to how can you make more money? Well, there are other ways to make more money than to sell more games – maybe you invent new products that offer bonuses or rewards for performance and people pay for that. Hey, if you had www.bowlingrewards.com, you could reward people for strikes, spares, 3 6 9 games and a whole bunch of other competitive fun stuff. Now, you suddenly have new avenues to explore rather than just going down the same tired path.
3. Ask your product or service how it wants to be sold. Now we move into more intuitive techniques. OK, take a deep breath and say, "this is crazy, but who knows”? Take a few deep breaths or practice some relaxation techniques. Imagine your product or service in front of you. Now, ask it questions. I mean, if you were a game of bowling or an hour of bowling how would you like to be sold? Would you want to be wrapped up in a pretty box and get delivered to all the companies in town? Who do you want to be sold to? How do you want to be sold? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Who do you think you can help? Why do you want to help them?. Write down the question and answer. See what bubbles up onto the paper.
4. Paint a public relations campaign. No, not a press release with a paint by numbers image, but something that might get you remembered. I once sent one rose to 100 female HR directors to remind them that their employees would "love them" if they had a bowling party. Did pretty well too! What would a press release look like if you painted it? Or sculpted it? How would you paint FUN. What would the kids in the local school think about fun? Maybe you could sponsor a coloring contest and ask them to show what fun is in a bowling center or at a bowling birthday party. Take any part of your marketing that you are not happy with and turn it into a piece of art. By combining two dissimilar acts, you may discover your answer. Or you may not come up with anything at all, but just the act of "playing" and "creating" could break something loose. Hours or days later your idea may suddenly be staring you in your face!
5. Walk away from it. If nothing is working, then stop. You can literally walk away by taking a walk (or go for a run; it produces those good endorphins that make you feel better than two martinis), or just quit thinking about it. This is especially important if you find yourself getting frustrated or discouraged. Give your subconscious time to mull things over. The idea may just suddenly appear to you. Or, after a few days, try another exercise or two. That may be the catalyst you need.
The most important tip of all? Make sure you have a blast. Having fun is its own reward. But having fun that rings the cash register, ah that’s a whole other feeling. Being creative is not a struggle; it’s a process that will reward you with many opportunities. So Have Fun!
To make your marketing stand out, you need to get creative. Below are five tips designed to get your creative juices flowing.
Some tips may appeal to you more than others. My suggestion is to try them all. Even the ones you're not drawn to may still open some doors that wouldn't have opened any other way.
These tips will work whether you sell a product, a service or both.
1. Find the "second right answer." Roger von Oech talks about this in A Whack on the Side of the Head. Don't be content with the first good idea you come up with. Take the time to think of a second, or third or 50th idea. Quantity counts – the more ideas you have to choose from, the more likely you'll discover an excellent or even a brilliant one. Remember, Thomas Edison discovered thousands of ways a light bulb didn't work.
2. Change the question. If you change the question, you're probably going to get a different answer. You say you want to sell more games? What if you changed the question to how can you make more money? Well, there are other ways to make more money than to sell more games – maybe you invent new products that offer bonuses or rewards for performance and people pay for that. Hey, if you had www.bowlingrewards.com, you could reward people for strikes, spares, 3 6 9 games and a whole bunch of other competitive fun stuff. Now, you suddenly have new avenues to explore rather than just going down the same tired path.
3. Ask your product or service how it wants to be sold. Now we move into more intuitive techniques. OK, take a deep breath and say, "this is crazy, but who knows”? Take a few deep breaths or practice some relaxation techniques. Imagine your product or service in front of you. Now, ask it questions. I mean, if you were a game of bowling or an hour of bowling how would you like to be sold? Would you want to be wrapped up in a pretty box and get delivered to all the companies in town? Who do you want to be sold to? How do you want to be sold? What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? Who do you think you can help? Why do you want to help them?. Write down the question and answer. See what bubbles up onto the paper.
4. Paint a public relations campaign. No, not a press release with a paint by numbers image, but something that might get you remembered. I once sent one rose to 100 female HR directors to remind them that their employees would "love them" if they had a bowling party. Did pretty well too! What would a press release look like if you painted it? Or sculpted it? How would you paint FUN. What would the kids in the local school think about fun? Maybe you could sponsor a coloring contest and ask them to show what fun is in a bowling center or at a bowling birthday party. Take any part of your marketing that you are not happy with and turn it into a piece of art. By combining two dissimilar acts, you may discover your answer. Or you may not come up with anything at all, but just the act of "playing" and "creating" could break something loose. Hours or days later your idea may suddenly be staring you in your face!
5. Walk away from it. If nothing is working, then stop. You can literally walk away by taking a walk (or go for a run; it produces those good endorphins that make you feel better than two martinis), or just quit thinking about it. This is especially important if you find yourself getting frustrated or discouraged. Give your subconscious time to mull things over. The idea may just suddenly appear to you. Or, after a few days, try another exercise or two. That may be the catalyst you need.
The most important tip of all? Make sure you have a blast. Having fun is its own reward. But having fun that rings the cash register, ah that’s a whole other feeling. Being creative is not a struggle; it’s a process that will reward you with many opportunities. So Have Fun!
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