Working ON The Business Vs. Working IN The Business

You’re like me, right? 

You own your own business; maybe even two or three. So you get up early to check on what happened last night? What was the business like? What problems or issues came up? Who called in sick? Did the money get to the bank?

Eventually you get so caught up IN the business that you have NO time to work ON the business.  Oh you still have time to BS, complain and maybe even moan and groan…and rush to sure up a program because its fallen off a bit.  Feel like a guy with too few thumbs and too many holes in your dike?

Sure you do.

That’s why I have decided that one Sunday a month; usually the second one cause I can get to look back on the previous month (as well as make sure that some external data I need is available) , I take a two or three hour time out.  (If you go to church on Sunday, then do this on Saturday.) 

During This Time Out I Review Five Key Areas:

1.   Sales

2.  Competition

3.  External Forces

4.  Test New Ideas

5.  Process

SALES: 

Can I spot any trends in my sales by program, by day, by time, by shift?  Has there been a change in food or beverage product sales? 

What’s different over the last month compared to last year same month, previous one or two months and by cycle?

Now the one piece of data you MUST have, to do this analysis is you must know the number of games bowled.  Too, too many of you do not track games.  You cannot, absolutely cannot understand your business today if you do not have that number. It is the “hub of all analysis. If you don’t have that number how can you measure your per line rate for open play, league play, food, beverage, shoes.

With this information you now have a global perspective of my sales as well as a macro view because you have drilled down pretty far to find out what is working and what isn’t working.

   

If you just have the dollars and you raised your price over last year, then your price increase could be hiding a lineage drop.  How would you know?

COMPETITION:

I like to get sales data for my metro area (city, town, etc) on entertainment and leisure dollars spent in the previous month.

You can Google this information or you can get it from the local chamber of commerce.  I like to see if more dollars were spent that month or less and if restaurants, movies etc reported more dollars or less dollars spent than the previous month or compared to the same month last year.

It may take you a little time to find this, but wouldn’t you like to know why your “entertainment business is off while other entertainment businesses are up?

I also like to visit other bowling centers. (I usually do this after my mid-morning bagel and coffee run).

I check what new things they are doing? What does their website look like; what new social media things have they done on Facebook, You Tube, Pinterest etc.

Is there anything they are doing that I can learn from?  Then I check out some of my proprietor friends who I know are good operators in other states and see what they are doing. 

More information yields more analysis which equals more new ideas or improvement on existing ideas.

TEST 1-2-3

Now I have  lots of new information; maybe when I look at my website home page I can use this information to test some new ideas; maybe put something new on my home page; get a new landing page; and test some new offers. 

PROCESS  

I try to pick one process that will hopefully move the sales needle; maybe its customer service.  I write down what I think are the 4 or 5 most frequently asked questions we get on a phone call and then draft a response for everyone to use when those types of calls come in. 

Frequent questions might be things like:

·         Do you have any specials?

·         Are there available lanes?

·         Can you give me information about birthday parties?

·         When does your cosmic bowling start?

·         Can you tell me about accompany party/group outing or family reunion program?

After writing down the answers I remind myself to meet with the staff and see if they have other questions that are more frequent than the ones I wrote down. We then go over the answers and agree that we will answer the questions according to the “script”.  I then tell the staff that I will have friends test the program by calling the center, not to catch them doing something bad, but to give them feedback on how to improve on future calls.

By the time I’m finished its football time and I can settle back in my recliner knowing that I have spent 3 or 4 solid hours working ON my business and not IN it.

It’s a great feeling.

All of these things are so important for your business to grow…so set aside a Sunday or Saturday once a month and “get ‘er done.”

Your Car Goes Where Your Eyes Go.

Years ago, when I got my first SAAB AERO, a more sports driven, higher HP, more torque, tighter suspension and Brembo brakes oriented 9-5, I was invited to a racing school in Roswell Georgia to learn how to master the new “AERO”.  

Considering that it was FREE, because of my purchase, it seemed like a cool thing to do for a weekend.  So off I went, with Marie by my side, to experience the world of high performance driving, even for a short 48 hours.

After some class room time, we were all excited to get out on the course and put our new skills to the test; to see who among us was a “race driver.”  Obviously none of us were quite ready to proclaim ourselves “high performance drivers; at least not to the Scandinavian driving crew that had been assembled as our instructors.  

As we crashed into cones, spun our cars out, failed the water test and ended up on the infield more often than not, it seemed that we had a lot to learn.  In fact so much to learn that we all realized that the best we could do was to improve our daily driving skills. At best.

By the end of the first day, I was in 11^th place out of 19 of us. At the cocktail hour that night, I strolled over to one of the instructors, introduced myself and asked him what I would need to do to improve.  Ah yes, “I have seen you drive and among other skills you need to improve, you have one MAJOR flaw that you need to overcome. “Yes, yes” I said excitedly, “what is it?”

“Do you understand that you car goes where your eyes go?"

So if you look at the car that you want to avoid in a crash, you will crash into it. If you look at the cones that you want to avoid in the slalom, you will hit them.  Look at where you want your car to go, not at what you want to avoid.”  With that said, he said good night and walked away.

All thru dinner and all that night, I thought about what he said, determined to try it the next day.

And try I did. 

This should be easy, I thought, all I have to do is look at where I want to go, not to where I want to avoid.  But a lifetime of driving habits aren't that easy to fix, but I kept at in my trial runs and about an hour before lunch, it was my turn to do the slalom. So far 14 people went ahead of me and the fastest time turned in was about 37 MPH. 

I slammed the accelerator and started looking at the spaces between the cones…and not the cones.  I felt more in control, more at ease, more flexible with my hands spinning the steering wheel and felt like I did better than my 35 MPH yesterday with 4 cones down. 

After this run, I did 41 MPH with no cones down and won the event.  Later that day, I improved in almost all of the school requirements and ended up finishing 5^th overall.

Now with the fall bowling season upon us, are you pointing your business at where you want to go or are you looking at what you are trying to avoid? 

Knock, Knock. Anyone Home?

* As the bowling industry slows down for its customary all star break (Bowl Expo into July 4^th), I notice that other sports are having much more troubling times. 

* Baseball is again wrapped up in yet another steroid scandal.

* Football is enveloped in more than 37 player arrests for everything from domestic. abuse to outright murder since the beginning of the year.

* And the great worldwide sport, “Soccer,” has had it share of soccer riots, attempted murders and 

downright scandals.  Yet people go.

 * Even Little League and junior soccer are not exempt from attempted felonies. 

         
* Basketball too has also had its share of player arrests. for domestic abuse, disorderly conduct and 

untold number of DWI's

Yet will people stop coming to see their games?  In some instances; because of poor team performance, probably yes, but as for player arrests and drug scandals, they will still come.  Maybe they are willing to forgive their athletes for some minor "boys will be boys" activities, but as the severity of the crimes increase, I believe that the forgiveness will levels will begin to DECREASE.

But have someone scratch your car in a bowling center lot, and not only will you be up in the manager’s face, you just won’t come to that center anymore.

I guess because its personal, that’s why.

So as a marketing guy, maybe we can do a switch here and show America what a great all American sport we have...while never ever mentioning ANYTHING about any other sport.  The timing would be perfect

Maybe we can place some pictures of our PBA stars in the center or on  local TV and have people get acquainted with the men and women who bowl professionally and rarely if ever get into anything more raucous than having a few extra beers after closing. 

Maybe we can provide  a schedule for proprietors to send out a series of emails, Facebook posts and Twitter posts.

Maybe we can show these athletes bowling in events that raise money for local communities and local charities or even national events and charities.

Why are we again on the sideline not taking advantage of a marketing opportunity that would reinforce to the Moms and Dads in America that we do have athletes that are good role models, that can be emulated and that the bowling center is an all American family place where they can feel happy and safe?

Hello, is there any one home in a position of authority who can get out in front of this and get some great publicity for a great all American sport?  

When America is now looking at “their hero athletes” in major sports and calling them “thugs and gangsters” are you telling me we don’t have the resources to create an all American in center poster campaign and local PR campaigns for proprietors to implement or maybe even for the PBA to initiate?

 Knock, knock. Anybody home?

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