Thank You Lew

Dear Fred

Great food for thought! I always love reading your blogs. Just wanted to comment on your last blog. I agree completely!!

 

Knowing a rain dance that worked would be a great thing. Cold weather sure isn't a bad thing but if these are the only things we have going for us, our industry is in trouble.

I know that most of the centers close to ours close on certain days or cut back their hours in the summer. A few even close for 3 months. The reasoning I hear most is that “Nobody wants to be inside in the summer”. 

I think we often use excuses, valid or not to explain why we aren't busy. At a staff meeting a few years ago I pointed out to my employees, managers and even my business partner the danger of looking for an easy way out when it comes to having slow periods of income.

1)       Summer – Nobody wants to bowl or even be inside during the summer

2)      August/September – People are getting and paying for their kids back to school.

3)      August/October/November/December/January and the first week of February – 

         Football

4)      When they aren't watching football its basketball, then baseball or even NASCAR. 

         Don’t let me get started about soccer.

5)      October – All those Halloween parties that weren't there 15 years ago are taking over.

6)      November – First we lose the Friday after Thanksgiving and now Thanksgiving due to

         early shopping.

7)      December – Everyone is shopping and nobody has extra money

8)      January – Everyone is paying off those Christmas bills they made

9)      February – Everyone is still broke from Christmas and now they are spending on 

         Valentines’ Day.

10)   March – The weather is getting nice. I sure do hope it rains this weekend

11)   April /May – Kids are all outside. We can’t get any business until dark, if then.

We all know that there is even more excuses than this but listing them all here would take too long and do nobody any good. As you can see there is always an excuse that can be used. 

Should we just except that sales will continue to dwindle and there is nothing to do about it except hope for rain? I think not, many of these things can be used as marketing opportunities if done right.

Pretty strange that even with all these challenges the movie industry has went from barely existing in the 1970’s to thriving, the restaurant industry has seen people go from eating at home 90% of the time to eating out 90% of the time and they now sell more game system than ever.

If you think everyone wants to be outside when the weather is nice just drive past a movie theater in the summer. Even on Mondays, Tuesday and Wednesdays they busy while most bowling centers close on those days.

We must set goals and come up with ideas on how to obtain them. Spend more time creating business than complaining about business. Take a positive approach with our customers, employees and ourselves rather than looking at just the bad.

We must set very high standards when it comes to customer service. When your staff does a good job let them know about, when they do an excellent job let everyone know about it and If they fall short address the issue and show them how to correct it.

Train and involve your staff in coming up with new ideas (Example: How can we be busy this Halloween season?) and big dividends will follow. Have employee meetings on a regular basis and make sure that you talk with and not at them. Make things fun for them and they will make things fun for your customers.

Market your business every month of the year, not just August and maybe springtime. Why not invite people to your center during the “busy” months too? 

Afraid of a waiting list? If you market your way to being too busy during the hours everyone wants to be there come up with off hour specials and events to drive them from prime-time weekend hours to late night, early morning or weekday business when you have lanes available.

The bowling business can be like a snowball rolling downhill. If we have more business than normal in the winter we will have more business than usual in the spring, more business in the spring than usual and you can have a better summer and of course a better summer equals a better fall. REPEAT-REPEAT-REPEAT.

The opposite can be true too. The worst thing we can do is cut marketing, hours, staffing, days of the week we are open. 

Would you drive to a restaurant if you didn't for sure if they would be open?  Why do we think our customers would drive to a bowling alley under the same circumstances?

Lewis Sims, Director of Fun and Co-Owner Operator

Dynasty Lanes 3105 St. Rt. 103 Willard Ohio 44890

A December to Remember

Just spent three days in San Antonio TX at the BPAA Bowling Summit.  It was probably one of the best ones I have gone to in many a year, mainly because lots of proprietors seemed happy. Many of them said they had great December business and almost all of them attributed it to cold weather and maybe even lower gas prices.

I know that weather is one of our best marketing tools, but unless we are Native Americans and perhaps mastered the centuries' old rain dance, we are out of luck.

So the question is how can we make very month a good month

Here are 7 "to dos" to help make your business grow in the other months!

1. Start a new league  8 to 12 weeks every month; concentrate on adult child program, learn to bowl/have a ball programs as well as new company leagues that could be every other week as well (remember when we used to do that?

2. OK, so you had  a bunch of holiday parties; why not continue the run and promote holiday parties every month with different themes like "cabin fever" parties, "spring fling" parties, "indoor summer picnics" and "fall back parties?"

3. Nice time of the year to do fund raisers on Sunday afternoons, Sunday nights and even mid week 2nd shift parties.  Fund raising doesn't stop; it goes on and on and what better venue than your bowling center.  Getting involved in the BVL fund and Wounded Warrior projects will make your center a hero in the community and people will stand up and thank you for helping America's heroes.

4. Reevaluate your second shift open play programs. You don't need five different promotions; who the hell remembers them anyway? certainly not your customers.  Become the home of the ONE or TWO specials that are really special!!

5. Put the pedal to the metal and accelerate your drive to get emails every day and especially on weekends.  Make sure to get age and gender data (so you can target your emails) as well as what they might be interested in such as: short season leagues, birthday parties, company parties. fund raisers, learn to bowl better programs or have a ball programs.

6. Structure your social media strategy so you have at least three emails and continuing Facebook posts about your center, its relationship to the community AND THEN talk about your offer and coupon

7. Offer an incentive to your cosmic bowlers by sending an email out to them and a Facebook post inviting them to come in THIS SATURDAY night only with 4 or more people and if they do they will get a FREE pizza. Stop complaining "about giving it away. If you charge $12.95 per person and you get 4 people for two hours, that's a bout $52 bucks and your cost at a real high end is $5, so you just got a 90% margin. don't do this every week, but do it as a surprise or offer other incentives for other cosmic nights. Remember the offer is only good for THAT Friday or Saturday night; its a one time deal.

I got a bunch more, but for now....enjoy :-)

New Boundaries

its a new year and a chance to start out with a clean sheet of paper.

But even if you start fresh, will you come to the creative process with preconceived ideas and boundaries that won't let you break through, but rather recycle the old.

Don't get me wrong, sometimes recycling the old and re branding the existing is a better strategy, especially if it is working, than doing something new.

But still, this is the beginning of the year when everything is new and a clean sheet of paper awaits, what are you waiting for?

An invitation?

You have one. It's called January 2015.

What will  you do?  Will you still color inside the imaginary lines that you created?

Maybe you need someone to make sure that you DO color outside the lines; that you do stretch yourself to find uncomfortable solutions that are not necessarily something in your repertoire?

We all need boundaries, but can you change the edges to look like something else.

That's what creative problem solving people do.

They make up their own boundaries, form their own edges and ignore the boundaries that are already there.

Where will your edges be this year?

What's So Good About Being Average?

Sometimes you get pushed, maybe even a bit intimidated to fit in;  to look like everyone else, to "dress for success, so to speak, even if its really not who you think you are.  Maybe you even get pushed to use the same tools, the same format, the same analytic mindset as your peers, but hey, what if there is another way?

They are the high school English teacher in love with his one dimensional interpretation of "Huckleberry Finn;"  it's  his way, as told to him by his teachers and his peers  Maybe its the book editor who has to subscribe to the strict rules of grammar without realizing the beauty in "other conversational grammar."

Or maybe it was your first or second job when you questioned something only to be told, "Hey bud, that's the way we do things around here and if you don't like it, find another job."

It didn't matter that you might have had a better way to get the job done that would have either saved the company money or even made them money.

They're all part of the "We know best school of management". From the productivity guru who looks to make everyone faster, not necessarily better;  to the social media guru who is driving your project with what worked in the past and is not willing to tell you his new secret formula for fear that you might fire him rather than embrace his new strategy.

After all, haven't I heard you say, "Where have you done that before? Did it work? Let me call the center?"

Maybe its a new idea and you're the first?  How does that fit?  "Nope, you say, "I don't want to be a pioneer. Pioneers get an arrow in the back and die. I want proof."  Sure you do, but when are you going to step up and do something different that just might give you a bigger reward.

The safest thing you can do is keep doing what you have been doing, to fit in. "Hey I'm just doing what everybody else does, right?"

The problem is everybody else is just average and we have an abundance of average.

Don't be different just to be different. Be different to be better

And have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year

The Giving Belief

I try not to get into politics in this blog or issues where emotions may tend to elevate to levels where this forum then  becomes a place for people to espouse their own biases and prejudices, but I am going to go out on a limb here.

Recent events in Ferguson, MO and in NYC where two African American men died, where two policemen were shot; where protests are a daily occurrence and where both sides chant slogans such as: "I cant breathe" to "What do we want? Dead cops!" clearly depict the negative polarized nature of certain aspects of our society.

So here's what I am suggesting you do in your community. Become a part of the dialogue.

Not by taking any one side, (because there is always validity in both sides) but by being a venue to raise money for a community project that benefits everyone.

Whether it be a new recreation facility, senior center or some other worthwhile cause, be the one who helps spearhead the project and make it known that your motivation is to bring the community together to achieve a common goal.

It is the goal that is important. It is the goal that you must feel passionate about so you can communicate that to the Mayor, City Councilman, Police chief, Village Elders or whomever is in a position of power to get your project off the ground.

Why would you listen to this advice without thinking that "I have enough to worry about, why get involved in this stuff?"

First, its always good advice to be involved in your community and become part of its fabric. Fact: people like doing business with people who give back to the community.

Second, caring is marketing. When you get involved with a contemporary issue that reaches every part of society, you tell your customers that you are modern, up to date, involved and also very much concerned about them as people and not just concerned about the pursuit of profit at all costs.

Third, you cannot be wrong if you work for a mutual goal that benefits both sides or better yet has the potential to benefit everyone.

And finally you will get a lot of media coverage if you TRULY believe in what you are doing. A word of caution though, DO NOT DO THIS FOR PR REASONS.  People are not stupid and will see through the "fakery."

Do this ONLY if you believe it; if you believe it will help the community and that you seek no economic reward for this effort.  In fact, you MUST want nothing more than a successful and beneficial project that you believe will demonstrate how people can work together for the common good.

Do it because you want people to be less angry and more giving and you want that spirit of giving to start at your center

Merry Christmas to All

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

There will no doubt be all kinds of marketing trends, ideas and suggested hints on how to capitalize on the changing environment for 2015. Among them will be social media trends, emerging technologies about mobile content as well as how to design the new Facebook ad for your prospects.

No doubt, I will blog about one or all of these topics and perhaps a few others as well, but for today I wanted to ask you a question?

What are you going to do the next two weeks other than working in the business to improve your business next year?

if you're probably saying, "Hey Fred, I expect to be so busy that I wont have a chance to pick my head up", then you're probably with the majority of small business owners this time of the year.  And I wouldn't blame you. No doubt our people in our bowling centers are saying the same thing...I hope.

And that's simply the reason why I am asking you to answer the question over the next two weeks or so. When you will have more customers; when you will be able to measure your delivery system under pressure; how your product works and, more importantly, what people like or don't like and even what they might like in the future, then you can really get deeper into the business when you are coasting, simply because you really have to focus.  And focus intensely.

It really is the most wonderful time of the year.

But what if you (and any member of your staff) came up with one topic, one idea or one new suggestion, every day, for the next 15 days, you would have 15 opportunities to examine, 10 to consider, 5 to really think hard about and one or two that you could work on that would eventually mean more $$$ for your business. Wouldn't that be cool?

I know you might find it difficult to do, but its like going for a walk. The best time to do it is when you don't want to.

Try it, it's just for two weeks...and, after-all, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.

It's Beginning to Feel A lot Like Christmas

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas for a lot of folks and that means more time with families and friends, more travel, more sleepovers, preparing dinners, going to dinners, more football games and TV watching, going to the movies and even going…bowling. YAY!

I know I have talked about this in the past, but it is during the next 4 weeks, that your business should see a lot of traffic.  

However, recent research has shown that these upcoming Fridays and Saturday days and nights are not as good as they once were simply because, for those people who are not celebrating at your bowling center, more people are having holiday parties at home or at other venues like restaurants, hotels and country clubs.

Your challenge is how to bring these people in either after their weekend party or during the week.

Here are two ideas to think about.

Become the “After Party” Place.  

Whole industries have grown out of this phenomenon. After the Sweet 16, the Bar Mitzvah, the Graduation Party, the Quintecera  party (hope I got that right) a whole other informal party takes place.

Here's a sample headline:  "After The Party, the Real Party Happens at Happy Lanes" 

So why not develop an after party package that includes light food snacks, beverages and of course great cosmic bowling, music, lights and your choice of your favorite music. 

Send this information to your 15 to 35 year olds.  

Price it between $9.95 and $19.95 – depending on what types and quantity of food you offer, demographics of the market and any competitive pressures. 

You will have to stay open later, even though your alcohol service goes down at 2am or so. Communicate it on your website, via Facebook and cross promo fliers in other noncompetitive retail outlets like, hair salons, nail salons, clothing stores, shoe stores and hardware stores. 

Offer a $X off admission to the after party, complements of your promotional partner.  If you live in an inexpensive radio, look at that as a medium to reach the 15 to 34 yr. old market…but do it quickly.

Become the “Family and Friends End of The Year Party Place”. 

Encourage families and friends to go bowling weekdays, weekend days any time from now thru the end of the year, but especially during the week between Christmas and January 4^th (schools go back in session January 5^th).  

Here's a sample headline: "Holiday Family and Friend Memories You Will Never Forget Start at Happy Lanes."

You can also turn this into a fund raiser and give $X back to the school as a way to raise money for their cause.

Create a simple 9 pin no tap bowling program, offer various food packages (maybe the same ones you have been offering for your company parties) or scale it back to just pizza, wings, hamburgers/ sliders etc. 

Price it on a per lane basis for two hours of bowling and shoe rental. Then offer the food as optional packages.  Every team gets a photo of their group that you frame in a semi-gloss cardboard frame suitable for autographing.  

Email promotions go to your KBF Moms or if you have a good relationship with schools, distribute your flier in schools. Local businesses – work places- YMCA’s, Libraries would also be good places to distribute information.

I know it’s a little late to get this going, but I know that if anyone can do it, my subscriber centers can get this together faster than anyone…by Friday at noon.  What do you think?