Eleven "Must Ask" Questions To Ask Every Exhibitor

10 days from back surgery, I am finally starting to wake up and not immediately reach for 20mg of Oxycodone. This pain pill has worked miracles for me, in getting me past the daily pain of “post surgical healing.”

I’m one of the lucky ones. I recently read about all these poor folks who have become addicted to Oxycodone and fell into its seductive grip.  One guy, a high school star QB, who married the high school cheerleader and was destined to live the American dream ended up trying to rob a ‘Brinks truck” to get enough money for his habit.  

When authorities finally caught up to him, he was taking almost 100 pills a day – twenty times more than normal dosage.  Talk about “really having a hold on you.”

So today as I climb back in the saddle and get to work, I thank all of you for your support and best wishes an am grateful for your prayers, thoughts, friendships and business.

Today is also the beginning of Bowl Expo, the first one I have missed in 36 years and it feels weird to not be there; whether it be putting on a seminar, manning a booth or telling everyone about our Kids Bowl Free Program.  If you haven’t joined yet, please be sure to visit our booth.

All of you will be visiting the exhibit area and looking at new and different product ideas and hi tech stuff.  AS you look at the products for consideration, here are some questions you should be asking, not only of the vendor, but of yourself?

1.     Who will this product appeal to, segments?

2.    What benefit or what problem will this product solve for the segment it is targeting?

3.    Is this an important segment for me?

4.    Does my competition have any of these new products?

a.    What will their reaction be, if I buy it?

b.    Will they follow?

c.    Will they ignore?

5.    Will this product increase new customers or only appeal to “exiting bowler customer?

6.    Will this product enable me to build an entire marketing program around it or incorporate it into an existing product (team building exercises, birthdays, corporate, etc.)

7.    Does the product have any field history?

a.    If it does, can you give me a reference I can talk with?

8.    What are warranties, guaranties, etc?

9.    Is this the kind of program whereby I can get an exclusive in a particular geographical area?

10.  What are payment terms and conditions?

11.    What do you project as the potential return on investment?

Please add your own questions to this list and use a quantitative measurement here applicable

Have a Great Bowl Expo and please share some of the more exciting things you see out there.  Thanks

"I Shall Return."

In 1940, while stationed in the Philippines, President Roosevelt, upon learning of an imminent Japanese invasion, ordered General Douglas MacArthur and his troops, to leave the islands at once.  

Upon boarding the ship, he exclaimed, for all to hear, “I shall return.”  In late 1941, he and his troops did indeed return and drove the Japanese from the Philippines.

Far from being as legendary figure as the great general, I too am making a promise, “I shall return.”

It appears that my Docs have ordered me into the hospital for some spinal surgery which will result in fusing the L3 and L4 vertebrae together and then locking them into the L5.  

I have had this type of surgery, way back in 1992 and it held up pretty well, but time and jogging and spending too much time on airplanes and in cars has resulted in a need for this procedure.

As this surgery will be taking place tomorrow, I am sadly reporting that I will miss the BPAA convention in Las Vegas; the first one I will have missed since 1977 when I was just a young pup of a marketing guy at the National Bowling Council.  

So please bear with me as I recover.

I will do my very best to get some new ideas and thoughts out to you, but in the interim and if you should get nostalgic for some of my older posts, there are now 385 of them that can be accessed at www.fredkaplowitz.blogspot.com

I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your loyal readership and helping to grow the audience for “Fredquarters Marketing.” I sincerely hope that in some small way I have helped you, your business and have motivated, inspired and provoked some new ideas for you to implement.

So with God's blessings and a "little help from my friends and, in the words of General MacArthur, “I shall return.”

                           

Beware the Old School Ops Manager

The most important guy in any bowling organization used to be, and to some extent still is, the Operations VP/ Manager, etc. This person was responsible for two things: 

·         control costs

·         increase employee production

In his pursuit of controlling costs, this individual frequently “ruled” over marketing types by telling them what they could or couldn't do. Oh it wasn't meant to be that way, but it invariably turned out that way because all the Operations VP had to do was whisper in their owners ear, ‘Hey Boss, if we do this, it’ll cost a bazillion dollars and we have no idea if it will work."

That was enough to spook the timid boss into shooting down the idea and psychologically promoting the Ops Manager to "King of the World".

For a long time marketing guys were in fear of the Ops VP. He alone had ultimate veto power. It was the brave marketing guy who stood up to the Ops VP in front of the boss who sometimes survived.  

More often than not, he was viewed as a “loose cannon” and eventually he was replaced with someone who the Ops Manager could control.  Needless to say, these types of "replacement" marketing people were less inclined to offer up new ideas for fear of their jobs. Rather than study new marketing ideas, they studied history.

Today, these old school types of Ops Mangers still exist within the organization and they alone are responsible for holding the organization back from creative problem solving. Instead, the modern Ops Manager should have just three tasks:

·         Forcing decision making down at the lowest possible level so people closest to the customer and who eat, live and breathe customer interaction can make suggestions, recommendations and implement ideas without the Ops. Manger micro managing every decision.  The cost issue is pretty well computerized and most Ops Managers have sophisticated computer tools, ratios, and formulas at their disposals to quickly hone in on any cost problems as do center managers

·         Eliminating fear.  Fear from making suggestions; fear from trying new and different programs, processes and procedures; and fear from trying.

·         Hiring the best possible athlete for all positions and then immersing that individual in a rigorous training program that not only teaches skills and knowledge, but also is able to communicate the corporate culture that accepts and expects new ideas without fear of recrimination.

In smaller centers where the Ops Manager is usually the owner, the need to for the owner to see his job, in today’s market, as a three pronged fork; decision-making at the lowest level, elimination of fear and instituting a rigorous training program is mandatory.  No longer can it be,"Because I am the boss, that's why."

Unfortunately, far too many centers have the “boss” as the ONLY decision maker on large issues as well as the minutiae of the moment.  This is the ultimate growth killer and despite all of the creative programming you think you are implementing, you really are just spinning an old idea a few degrees to the left and then, when no one reminds the boss that it was the watered down version of the original idea that was implemented, the boss can the hide behind the tired and lame excuse of “See I told you it wouldn't work and look how much it cost.”  Only the Ops Manager is safe.  Everyone else is already under the bus.

So this is a warning to all of the “old school Ops people” out there, take heed, you are running your business as if it was 1975. 

Time to get into the 21^st century.

If you find yourself to be one of these people who are frequently saying, “we tried it, it doesn't work” or “we've always done it that way”, be careful because you have found the enemy and it is you!

For your sake. For your family’s sake. For your employees sake.

And most importantly for the customers’ sake.

Quantity vs. Quality

Everywhere I go, people are telling me how filled their in boxes are; how much email they get: how irate they are at the level of spam they get; how absolute strangers are asking them to be Facebook friends; and how much they are hating "Linked In – it reminds them of one big bulletin board for job searches.

Do you feel it too?  Do you feel that your inbox is overwhelmed and that the crap that does get trapped in spam is only half of what it should be?

So if you feel it and your customers feel it, what will you do about it?  

A few years ago when I started to write my blog, I chose people who I wanted to send information too and I called almost all of them to see if they would want my blog.  After two years or so, I only had about 12 to 15 opt outs…and that’s over two years!  

And if people wanted in, they usually called me. I didn't make it particularly easy. Because I only wanted people that would be part of my “tribe”, that liked and appreciated the information I distributed FREE.

Maybe you need to look more at the quality of the people you are adding to your list as opposed to just playing the numbers game. 

Perhaps instead of just asking for name, email, sex and age, we should ask questions, in this order qualify up front, get the names later.  

Understand this is diametrically opposed to what you have been trained to do for the last umpteen years, but with open rates at an all time low and people's complaints at an all time high, why not look for another alternative?

Hey I'm a marketing guy.  That's what I do.

1.     How interested would you be in joining a short season league?

a.    (1 to 5) with 5 being very interested and 1 being no interest at all

2.    Would you be interested in getting information about?

a.    Birthday parties                 1 to 5

b.    Company parties               1 to 5

c.    Fund raisers                      1 to 5 

d.    Open play specials            1 to 5

3.    If you answered somewhat interested (4) to two or more of the above, then please fill out this portion.  All information will be held confidential and we will NEVER sell or distribute this to a 3rd party. GUARANTEED.  Cross our heart and hope to die!!

a.    Name  ________________________________

b.    Email address  _______________________________

c.    Gender  M__________  F____________________

d.    Birth date   day___________  month____________  year__________

Now I know you won’t get quantities of people, but you will get people that are interested in your product and people who will appreciate the information you are distributing.

The real question is, why would you want all those disinterested people?  

Is it just so you can feel all warm and secure when you tell your colleagues that your data base is home to 22, 378 records? 

AT the end of the day, all that matters is how many sales you made and believe me, you will make more sales when you speak to more people who are REALLY interested in your product and LOOK FORWARD to getting your stuff

On a Sunny 95 Degree Saturday, What Are You Supposed To Do?

If you’re a bowling proprietor all you can do is wait for it to cool down atr night, then fire off an email about 630pm saying how blamed stinken' hot it was today and you deserve some cool fun in the summertime tonight.

Maybe even talk about the hottest days in your community for this date; what was the record high and record low.  Maybe research a human interest story about the heat; did someone do a good deed and rescue someone?

Did someone get their family to the local swimming hole and let them tell you how much they are enjoying it, but are planning to go bowling at your center tonight.

Maybe take your camera out and interview people about the heat. 

Send out an email and invite people to tell about their best or worst “hot day story.”

Then invite people in for your cosmic bowl and offer them a free pizza when they bring 4 or (5) people

Who knows?. You just might get some business.

Is Your Marketing Just Dust In The Wind?

We’re all our own little media companies now, aren’t we?

We don’t need no stinken TV, Radio, Billboard or Newspaper. We don’t have to pay to reach people.

Nah, amigo; we can do it for FREE.  And that’s always the right way to go, right?

We can send out coupons and price offers as many times as we want and when it doesn’t work we blame the tech stuff; we rarely ask to investigate it deeply.

We just look for a reason it failed such as:

ü  The tech kid we hired didn't send it out on time

ü  It’s the economy

ü  The offer was higher than my competitor

ü  It’s the economy

ü  The audience gets bombarded with stuff, only 10% opened it

ü  It’s the economy

Yet, we can print our own newspapers, create our own TV commercials and stream them via the net to our audience. We can make our own pod casts and send them to our audience to get them to listen to our message.  We can search engine optimize till we are blue in the face; we can Google + our friends and set up our sites, blogs and communications for mobile.  

And most of you have, but guess what? IT DIDN'T MAKE YOUR REGISTER RING.

We can even send out customized messages to micro segments, (very small niche markets. An example of this micro segment might be non athletic kids who are more into tech than sports to get them to bowl in a Hi Tech league only for kids who are into tech).

Yup, you’re your own little media company and perhaps you have been doing some or many of the above mentioned strategies.  Then why hasn't your business really, really improved. Maybe being your own media company isn’t enough.  Very clearly, IT IS NOT.

IT IS ABOUT THE MESSAGE.

Always has been and always will be.  It is about your brand (in the old days this was called “image”) and how it makes people feel. Do they get all nostalgic and feel happy when they think of your center and fondly remember the happy times they had there as a kid or is it merely dust in the wind? Perhaps the mention of your center conjures up nothing. No positive feelings. No negative feelings. Just apathy. Pure sucky apathy – he’s the toughest competitor you face

And that is the worst place to be.

Because getting people off of their apathy to do anything when they don’t know if it will make them feel good is a difficult task at best. Proprietors all over the country tell me how hard it is to get people to just open play bowl at 9pm, let alone league bowl.

My father would come from work at about 630, have a cup of coffee, eat dinner, shower, get his bowling duds on and go bowling at 9pm. Often he would come home at 1am or 2am feeling “happy.”  Not drunk or even close to it. He was just happy that he chose to spend his time at a place that made him feel glad all over.

And then this phenomenon disappeared.  "Hey what happened? Where did it go?", we proclaim.  Too late.  You missed the changing message.

Sure it was a different time. A different economy and a different demographic society, but the one clear and decipherable fact was that HE Liked It Enough and It Resonated With Him Enough That He Was OK With Bowling At 9pm.  

The brand of the bowling center (the experience) made him happy.

What message are you putting out there? What do people remember or think about when they hear your bowling center’s name or is merely dust in the wind that blows in one ear and out the other.

Message for today You have all the high tech tools you need to reach people; to build your brand identity and to tell stories about your business that makes a human connection

Or are you going to sit there tonight and just send me another freaking coupon for Cosmic Bowl?  

A Classic Customer Experience

While visiting my client today, one of the managers at one of the bowling centers in this chain told me a story about a customer that had  literally snapped my head around and had me exclaiming, “No way, no way, no way.”

Here is the story.

A woman and several children come in around 330pm or so on a weekday and ask about a special that starts at 7pm.  

The assistant manager very pleasantly told her that leagues will be forming soon and that the particular special she had in mind would not start until 7pm.

She seemed satisfied with that and said she would return. All very pleasant so far, right?

So she and her kids come back promptly at 7pm and she gets a lane, house balls, shoes and is ready to go.

Now here is where it gets good

When the group is finished bowling, it just so happens that the manager was behind the desk and he was preparing to cash the woman out, when she piped up and said…

“Ya know I was here at 330pm and because the special didn't start until 7pm, I had to take the kids out to eat and that cost me $30 bucks. I THINK YOU SHOULD TAKE THAT OFF MY BOWLING BILL!!”

The manager was totally unprepared for this, but after composing himself, said in a most professional way, 

"Madam, I understand how you feel, but it was your choice to take your group out to eat, not mine, so I really can’t take your food costs off of your bowling bill. I hope you understand.”

The woman paid the FULL bill and left.  I wonder if she will come back or if the center really wants her and her group back. 

What do you think?