8 ways to Attract Exisiting Customers NOW!

Recent economic news has not been good.

Housing sales have slumped and housing prices are down; some of the steepest declines are in Arizona, Nevada and Florida.

Couple that report with the fact that the recent census report  indicates consumer spending, in April, slowed to a trickle.

Another report indicated that the US is getting older; the median age of America is now almost 38 years old. In addition, more people are choosing to rent, than buy.  In 1990 69% of Americans owned their own home, today that number is just 63%.

And if that isn't enough to get you thinking, consider the fact that just 48% of American households are married households and less than 25% are married households with children.

Not good news at all.

So what's a bowling proprietor to do?

First, recognize that it will be harder to pry discretionary dollars from the consumers hands, simply because there are fewer discretionary dollars out there (and more gasoline dollars in there) as well as a genuine anxiety about spending in any way shape or form.

In order to get the consumer to consider bowling as a GREAT VALUE, you need to make your offer a great value and then promote it, communicate it, and advertise it as hard as you possibly can to your best prospects.

And your best prospects are your EXISTING customers.


Some of the value specials to consider are:

1. One price food, bowling and beverage pricing.
2. Bounce backs to come back and visit you for yet another deal.
3. Short season 2 game leagues (8 to 10 weeks) for $8 or $10 bucks.
4. Gasoline incentives; buy the customer a gift card for $25 of gasoline when they spend $50with you or put $50 of bowling on their gift card for $25.
5. A short season league that gives them restaurant coupons for bowling each week. Check with the Kids Bowl Free people (wwwkidsbowlfree.com) who offer this incentive for $less than $5 per $25 gift certificate.
6. Target companies for indoor (no rain out) summer parties for less than $10 a person (bowling and shoes and a pizza per lane...minimum 4 on a lane.
7. Bring a friend to cosmic bowling and your friend bowls at half price.
8. Gear up for special events at the center; theme nights, rock bands, country and western bands, etc

C'mon, we have faced harder obstacles.

Now is the time to get creative and live out on the edge.

And observe OUR #1 marketing rule; "DON'T BE BORING."

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Surrender Vs. Control

Here is a way to experience Control versus Surrender. Clench your fist.

Make your hand so tight that nothing can slip through into your palm.

What would you do if I wanted to put $1,000 into the palm of your hand right now?

Would you keep your fist clenched or would you surrender your clenched hand to accept what I am offering?

Life works the same way.

When your mind is clenched,you cannot open yourself to the opportunities you deserve. Here is a quote from Lao Tzu - "He who grasps, loses." Remember it!

Surrender happens when you do what you can do in the moment, and let go of the things that are outside of your control.

Are You Really Different?

As summer unveils its landscape of green grass, sunny skies and the lure of vacation time, we know that our business cycle is turning down.

People just don't want to be indoors that much.

Thus, the market for bowling is diminished, sometimes by as much as 75%, as compared to our up cycle (December to April).

For those fewer consumers who want to bowl, we must have captivating offers that resonate with them; offers that make them say, "wow, that's for me".

But here's where the problem starts. In a rush to get whatever market share we can, we all too often rush to discount our price or promote programs with less value.

Often we give the product away just to build futures.
And that's OK...for a while.

But, the real question you have to answer; the question that is at the heart of every great marketing program is this:

"Why, out of all the ways to spend my money, my hard earned money, should I choose your bowling center as a place to spend my money vs. ALL of the options I have. Why? Give me one good reason."

If all you can come up with is better service, friendly people, more modern, cheaper prices, you might have a start; but NOT a finish.

Today's consumers want to feel like your business stands for something.

Are you a member of the community?

Do you tell people that your business gives back to the community?

Do you sponsor any special events in town?

Do you promote your center as the home of (i.e.); high school bowling, family fun and quality time, the happiest place in town, greatest cosmic show on earth, etc?

Now, while these are just examples, I am sure you can think of several answers to the thorny question I posed above.

If you don't clearly differentiate yourself from your competition, then all the information the customer has to make a buying decision on is price and he will therefore gravitate to the closest, lowest priced center.

And that is a recipe for declining lineage, revenue and profits.

Spend some sitting and staring time today thinking about it

Because your customer is thinking about it ...allot!

Send this to some of your proprietor friends and see what they think?



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9 Secrets to A Profitable Summer

Well, we have almost gotten through May, the trough in the bowling business and we are heading for June; also a bit of a trough, but in June the kids, teens and college students are out of school and its time to make a run at them.

If you haven't already planned some programs to attract these segments then now is the time to review some old programs and create new ones.

Here's a checklist of some programs from both a league and open play standpoint.

1. - Get your cosmic bowling program geared up and get to the high school and college students. Run one or two special events every month. For example a theme night (70's, 80's, etc as well as a band night). Give the band the $5 or $10 admission charge and you keep the food, beverage and bowling dollars.

2. - Consider a family cosmic hour, if you have the lane availability , between 5 and 9pm during the week or on a Sunday afternoon; offer great food specials also.

3. - We all have adult child programs, but do you have an 8 week program for $8 that includes a bowling ball. Set it up for early July so it ends just before labor day so you can flip these newly minted bowlers into a 10 or 12 week program, NOT a 35 week program.

4. - Unbundle your pizza pins n pop program and offer "Hours of Family Fun" for $39.95 to include 2 hours of bowling and shoe rental. Then create a "sub offer" of "super sizing your fun for just $15 and get a large cheese pizza and a pitcher of pop. This price of $54.95 should equal your existing PPP pricing. If not adjust this suggested pricing.

5. - Offer 5 or 6 week LTB lessons for kids under the age of 14 for just $19.95 to $29.95 total. Set it up so it ends before Labor day, then flip these kids into an 8 week HAB program for $8 per week and then again into a 10 or 12 week program after January.

6. - Make sure your Monday to Thursday late night specials have not only attractive pricing, but also utilize sweepstakes prizes, which you can get from local merchants,  as well as instant gratification prizes (win a 2 liter bottle of Pepsi for a redhead pin strike) or weekly gasoline cards ($25 of gasoline or add dollars to your rewards or gift cards).

7. - Daytime open play is always challenging and if you are not in the "Kids Bowl Free" program, you are missing out on a traffic driving, data base program that will carry you through the start of next season. Go to www.kidsbowlfree.com and sign up your center today!

8. - Don't forget to communicate to your day care centers, summer day camps and other kid's organizations for field trips, day outings, fund raisers and rainy days programs.

9. - And finally, make a run at all those companies and organizations that have had parties at your center during the season, why not invite them back for a half priced bowling party IF they sign an agreement with you for their annual Holiday party.

Summer is a hard time to market bowling, but with these tips, summer doesn't have to be a bummer. Call us at 212 867 2577 or email us at Fredkaplowitz@gmail.com for some great money saving and time saving tips to implement these programs.

7 Ways To Connect Locally With Your Customers (Part VII)

This is the final installment of our & part series on how to connect locally with your customers. You might want to print all 7 parts out and post them into your marketing planner as "low cost tools to use" to improve revenue.

Ask.com

How it works: Ask.com's sponsored advertising program is more like placing an ad in a newspaper than in a phone book.

Choose a title--"Buy bowling today!"--including a short description of what you are selling and a link to your Web site.

The best keywords go to the highest bidders. Ask.com also tracks the leads that come from its site, so you know what you're paying for.

Run your ad for as long as you like (turning it off and on at will) and change keywords on the fly--all in real time. Ask.com also syndicates the ads throughout other sites in its network.

For more information go to www.ask.com

Here's what it costs: The base for any ad is 5 cents per click.

The higher the demand for your selected keywords, the more you will pay per click. The network average is about 20 cents per click.

Good luck and good hunting.

7 Ways To Connect Locally With Your Customers (Part VI)

Here is Part VI of our 7 part series on "Connecting with your customers locally."

Yahoo Local

Here's how it works: Yahoo has three levels of advertising for small-business customers.

The lowest--a free listing service--includes up to five category data fields, product descriptions and company contact information.

Upgrade to the enhanced listing program where you get more editorial freedom, room for up to 10 photos, a link to coupons and special promotions and a tracker that counts the number of viewers who came to your site via Yahoo Local.

Pay still more for Yahoo Local's "featured listing," which guarantees placement on the first or second page of search results covering an even broader geographic range. For more information go to yahoo.com/local

What it costs: All three listing options are free for the first 30 days.

Enhanced listings costs $10 per month.

Featured listings start at $25 per month but can go up to $300 depending on the demand in your area.

7 Ways To Connect Locally With Your Customers (Part V)

Here is Part V of our seven (7) part series

Local.com

here's how it works: Local.com lists businesses by name, address and phone number.

It has syndication agreements with search engines like Google and Yahoo! and also partners with other directories like Superpages.com and Yelp to exchange information and customer reviews.

For a fee, companies can enhance their listings with more in-depth descriptions of products and services, as well as receive premium placement in Local.com's search function.

Local.com also confers with local Better Business Bureaus to ensure that businesses are in good standing. For more information go to www.local.com

Here's what it costs: Premium service runs between $50 and $200 per month, depending on the number of search categories and locations.

For instance, you might pay the base fee to appear in a search for "Bowling Center, Manhattan," but more for the broader "Entertainment, New York City."

Tomorrow;Part VI