Tell a Good Story

Marketers are supposed to be good story tellers, but rarely do they use their acumen to tell a story to the customer. Instead they stand on the hoods of cars and scream, "best value, best price." This version is just one of the stories that marketers can tell, but it is rarely the most effective for the audience you are trying to target.

Think about the 21 to 34 year old single market. Or for that matter, the 13 to 20 yr old market. Is best price, best value the best story you can tell? Why not tell a story of people who bowled at the center. Maybe its the local football hero, basketball jock, scholarship winner, president of company X or a media personality?

Telling people about "look who is bowling with us" gives your center an aura of "coolness" and is yet another version of the stories you can tell.

Or you can tell the story of the fund raiser you ran and how it saved someone's life or at least was able to help support a specific cause. People like to know that the people they do business with, or are considering doing business with, have a sense of community and a sense of moral fortitude. Now isn't that a good story to tell, especially if one of your customers tell it.

This is the kind of stuff to put on your facebook page; to send to your fans or to email to people. No, it doesn't directly sell, but it sure as heck establishes credibility of your business as a "good place" to go. And that's something that is much harder to prove in print, radio or TV.

Now start, "once upon a time...."

10 Ways to Build Open Play Summer Business

So, there you are building summer leagues by talking to your existing winter bowlers. Maybe even talking to your open play bowlers? And calling last year's summer bowlers?

Good, good, good.

But have you developed an outside sales strategy to talk to companies, retail stores, day care centers, camps, YMCA's, Parks and Recs. as well as non profit groups and associations to develop business?

What could you sell them?
1. Special one time events, for either team building or company parties
2. Indoor picnics
3. Fund raisers
4. A "company" league of their own - 6 weeks, 6 weeks!
5. After work party package (2 hours of bowling, shoe rentals, pizza (or hamburgers,
chicken wings, or appetizers and beer or cocktails for up to 5 people for X$$$
6. Rainy days R Us programs for camps
7. Teen Nights
8. Field trips for day care centers
9. "Who gives a shift programs" (for those that quit work at midnight or 8am and are
hungry and thirsty...package it up!)
10. Family Reunions or Family Picnics

Go to your data base, your chamber of commerce and create offers to these people. Here are some ideas to get you started thinking.

1. Free party offers, buy two parties, get one free
2. Save $100 on your offcie Christmas party in December when you have a party at
Happy Lanes in July
3. Get $10 of FREE bowling for everyone who attends the next party. Valid on your
next visit
4. Bring 10 people bowling and 5 bowl free

But here is the real secret.
Analyze your market.
Which two of the ten potential products above can you and your staff do WELL?

Pick two to do well.
OK, OK, then pick One!

Apple I Pad and Bowling

Apple sold 300,000 I Pads over the past weekend. This neat little device lets you read books, play games, read newspapers, do computer work, surf the web, email, look up maps, store a calendar, take notes, place a you tube video, and watch movies. I am sure I left a few features out, but you get the idea. All this in a book size tablet that's about nine inches by 5 inches.

With this new high tech device, many people will be clamoring for it. In fact, your bowling center could give one away and reap the benefits of an increased data base, more lineage and hopefully more profit...especially as we push into the warmer months.

Set up an email campaign that offers an I Pad as 1st place prize to anybody who comes into the center and bowls during your cosmic bowling or weekday night bowling event. Entries must be completely filled out including email; employees and family members re not eligible and only 1 I Pad will be given out after 30 days. You can include other prizes as well like I Tunes gift cards for $25, $10 and $5.

Point is use your existing data base. If you can segment it against an under 35 audience all the better. Maybe even place a facebook ad (go back and re read my blog on how to set it up) You can do this for as little as $50 a day for a couple of days a week for 4 weeks. (use keywords like electronics, apple computers, I Pads, web, etc.

Yes the I Pad is $499, but that's a small price to pay to be the coolest bowling center in town. Just ask my daughter and her boyfriend. They're "20 somethings" and it was their brainstorm.

12 Skills A New Hire Must Have

If I was Mr. BPAA, I would make sure every proprietor, every manager, every assistant, every cook, every chef and bottle washer, every mechanic, every porter, every bartender and waitress knew enough about the Internet to be able to offer you suggestions and ideas on how to build your business or retain existing customers. I don't care what position they have. In this economic environment, it is every employee's responsibility to help build new business and help to retain exisitng customers. Every employee would be certified by the BPAA and would have to know how to:

1.Download music
2.Put up a video
3.Post a blog
4.Set up and use his facebook page
5.Edit a web page
6.Be fluent in Microsoft Word, Excel, and Power Point
7.Use Twitter to promote the owner’s business
8.Create a Facebook ad
9.Send text messages
10.Know how to use photo shop to edit pictures
11.Write a grammatically correct sentence
12. Give great customer service consistently

Imagine if you found someone like this, do you think teaching her bowling would be difficult. Heck No.

This "Millennium Generation" was born and built for microchips. Their need for connectivity and for getting answers when they want it is paramount. Being connected is not an option for them. It is a way of life. (“Thank You Google”). Anyone this age who does not have these skills must immediately take classes to get up to speed.

Just don’t hire them until they have completed and passed their course work!

So if you feel like you're barely hanging on to the caboose of the technology train, go back and take some classes. Just because your son or daughter knows this stuff cold doesn’t mean that you can sit on the sidelines and “let them do it.”

Its a brave new technological world out there.
Go get into the game.

What Got You Here

A friend of mine, in the car business, sent me this quote and I wanted to share it with you because it got me thinking. (You think you have had a tough year? How would you like to be in a business where sales volume from one year to the next falls from 16 million units to 10 million units? Ouch!)

In any case, “What Got You Here Won’t Get You to There”” said my friend. (I think it’s a book title, which I have not yet read, but I won’t tell him).

You know it. I know it.

Merging and emerging technologies have changed the way marketers research customers, develop products, and discover new ways to communicate these products. Many proprietors are keeping up with these technological changes.

Others are not.

What stops us? Maybe it is to avoid failure. After all, if we do something not worth criticizing, then we can be in our safety zone. Right?

But if you continue to do the status quo, you may never have a shot at the real feeling, and rewards, of success.

So go take some chances. Market a new product. Create a new open play program. Target a different market. Retrain your staff on “exceeding expectations.” Work a cosmic bowling shift and ask customers what would make it better. Experiment with some different food choices. Make a speech at the local Rotary Club.

Do you really think that if you failed at any of these things, you would be destitute?

Do you really think that one failure will be the end of you?

Do it because you know you should.

My 3 Secrets to Getting New Customers at Zero to Low Cost

Apple and AT&T have been joined at the hip since the iPhone’s introduction in 2007. U.S. customers who wanted the device had one choice of carrier. Apple needed to drop its exclusive with AT&T for a number of reasons:

• Verizon is AT&T’s serious competition in the U.S.
• Verizon was heavily courting companies like Motorola that were building phones using Google’s Android as the operating system.
• AT&T has developed a reputation — rightly or wrongly — for bad or limited connectivity for the i Phone.
• Apple can sell only so many i Phones in the US solely through AT&T. Eventually it reaches a market saturation point with the carrier.

From a strategy standpoint, Apple recognized that to grow it needed to expand its channel of distribution; how it gets its product to market and how it reaches new customers

For the proprietor, or any one who owns a business that is dependent upon customers visits as its business model, the need to expand its base is a never ending and expensive battle. So new ways to reach a new base must be reviewed.

Here are 3 Secrets to Getting New Customers at Zero to Low Cost

1. Be the builder of multiple relationships:
A "Facebook" strategy and a "Linkedin" strategy that targets your business friends, acquaintances and any other "business" friend you may have. Write to them under your company facebook page telling them what or how you are doing to market your business. Their feedback will broaden your market reach, give you information to make better decisions and get a level of involvement with your business that you never had. Benefits -95, Costs -$0. Thank them with "bowling offers."

2. Be the merchant of "freemiums":
Give information, ideas, and assistance to your business network(s) without asking for anything back. There will be time for asking when you build the level of trust that is needed. Here's an example. One of our clients wanted to expand the market for its fish n chips sandwich in a predominantly "burger and chicken" facility. What happened astonished them. They offered 20 free fish sandwiches and the next week they sold 30+ sandwiches. Not bad considering that they hadn't sold any for a month. Thank you Mr. Network.

3. Be the niche marketer:
Do you know how many ethnic newspapers, radio stations and web sites there are in your market and no one is marketing to these specific ethnic groups. In Texas, several of my clients had the opportunity to market on Hispanic stations (at extremely low rates). By creating a Hispanic facebook network, the proprietors became involved in the fabric of this community; building trust and establishing relationships. The result was more parties and special events.

Setting up your business "Facebook" page and "Linkedin" page is a snap. If you can't figure it out, ask your teenager or any teenager.

Just promise me one thing: Please don't use it as a billboard to constantly sell.

Pizza Pins N Pop

This open play family program has been around awhile. I first ran it in 1992 when I was the VP marketing at Bowling Corporation of America. Its two hours of bowling, shoe rental, a large pizza and a pitcher of pop (soda, soft drink, Coke, Pepsi or whatever beverage you are serving) for a set price; range is between $39.95 and $79.95.

Since then I have twisted it up and created a league program called party animal, pizza bowl, or even bowl n boogie (for all you Texans out there). We have even pitched it to corporate America and sent letters to the HR people or emails if we had them.

While we all want to send an email, remmber only about 20% to 25% of all emails get opened; less if you are sending to a corporate account. Snail mail still works. As do postcards. And they should be used in conjunction with your web site, facebook ads, and electronic press distribution.

We called the corporate program a two game "10 x 10 league." Summer is a good time to try this since you have more available inventory during first shift.

So here's the letter. Its simple, to the point and full of benefits about team building. Use it, modify it or create an email blast out of it. the only thing you will have to do is insert a good testimonial from a credible source!

Or put it in a box with a $10 gift certificate and then mail out 100 of them to HR people. Enclose a key chain or a refrigerator magnet. WHY? Well, "lumpy" mail gets opened three times more than plain old mail.

Know why? Because it appeals to "the cracker jacks" kid in all of us.

Your Letterhead

Building Teamwork Has Never Been Easier and More Fun

In today’s ever-changing business world, the one constant that drives top producing companies are people. Good people.

But sometimes good people get frustrated, discouraged and caught up in “putting out fires”

That’s when they need a morale boost and some team building fun.

And at (center name) we have developed just the thing to relive some stress and put the “Togetherness” back in the TEAM

It’s our newest “10 weeks for $10 bucks program”. It’s a chance for your people to get together for one night a week for 10 sessions and bowl, eat a pizza and enjoy some beverages. All for just $10 per person per week.

Bowling is a fun way to get your people together, to socialize and discuss some business issues in a “no stress” environment.” Best of all, almost any one can bowl. In fact last year more people Americans bowled (55 million) than played golf (25 million) and almost everyone can bowl.

“We had the best team building experience at (bowling center name). We have had
a tough year and over the course of the program I watched as our employees opened
up to each other and even talked some shop. Thanks, We will do this again”
Joe Employer. Any Company USA

To set up your own 10 x 10 bowling program, pleas e-mail me at ___________ and I will be happy to respond with some additional information and demonstrate how easy it is to set up.

Sincerely

Center name person
Email address

P.S. This program does not have to be paid for by the company either. Many of your employees would gladly get involved in it if you just communicated its availability.


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