I received several interesting comments from my readers, in the past few days, focusing on an element of Cosmic bowling I neglected to mention.
From Max Cook Pasco, WA, "a lot of centers all over the country do not have all the fixtures working. It's not a cosmic show without the lights. ALL lights have to be working or replaced. An investment of 1 or 2 new fixtures a month or every other month prevents a massive overhaul expense."
From CJ Fox out of Newton, IA, "Move your old lights around. Get some new LED lights which will save you gads of energy costs."
From a Bowling Proprietor in Madrid, Spain, "It is of the utmost importance that our cosmic show be first class ALL THE TIME. Customers simply won't tolerate broken fixtures or dirty setees. We must be perfect."
Now for today's topic: The Millenias.
Who is this group and how will they affect your business? For one there are 82 million Americans born between 1979 and 1999 (22 to 33 yr olds); the biggest generation since the Baby Boomers (72 million)
As consumers, they want mostly to have a company build a relationship with them rather than sell them.
Consider the kinds of emails, Facebook messages and tweets you send out to them.
If you're only sending "an offer" every time you communicate with them, you are turning them off. Big time.
Instead engage them in contests, give them information and tell them what other Millennials are saying about your center. Just don't sell; TELL A STORY!
As employees, they expect to be heard and to have their opinions listened to. Expect them to question authority and ask "why" very often.
According to Cathy O'Neill, senior vice president at career management company Lee, Hecht and Harrison in Woodcliff Lake, N.J, "The millennium generation has been brought up in the most child-centered generation ever. They've been programmed and nurtured. Their expectations are different. The millennial expects to be told how they're doing."
Give them plenty of feedback and plenty of constructive criticism, if that's what is needed.
More importantly, the Millenia worker wants a real life balance; wants flexibility in scheduling hours and finds it normal to text, scroll the Internet and talk on the phone with a friend or family member at the same time.
This tech savvy generation doesn't just want it all...rather, this generation wants it all on THEIR terms.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Monday, March 14, 2011
9 Secrets To Building Cosmic Bowling Lineage
Reports from around the country indicate that cosmic bowling has picked up as we get deeper into the season. Problem is that the season is about to slow down and as the weather gets nicer so will your cosmic bowling.
Here are 9 secrets I use to keep our cosmic moving:
1. Make sure that your cosmic bowling has at least someone who can act as a master of ceremony. If this person isn't on your staff, a local college may have acting, communications or speech majors looking for a little extra work.
2. Try to encourage staff,working that night, to dress up in funny hats, costumes or anything that the customer would see as "fun". Give out funny red noses to customers. just because!
3. Run a few different contests like crazy bowl, music trivia contest and red pin head pin or 3 6 9 strikes.
4. Conduct some 80's theme nights or 70's theme nights and give the customer pricing that is 70% or 80% of your price
5. Direct mail every week. send out 300 to 500 postcards every week to your 15 to 34 mailing list offering a $5 discount off your price. If you don't have a list, go buy a list of people in this age category in your zip codes who have shown some interest in sports, music or entertainment. Check www.Infousa.com
6. Send out emails every other Thursday (and Twitter) to tell your prime segment about upcoming cosmic events in your center. Build the fun on Facebook with questions about music and entertainment; and referencing that correct answers will win a prize at your center during Cosmic night.
7. About once a month, hire a local band. Give them the gate ($5 to $10 per person) You keep the bowling, food and beverage proceeds.
8. Set up Facebook ads and budget about $50 per day for at least one week to 10 days per month.
9. Look at your cable TV for great buys over the summer. Spots in good day parts can be had for less than $20 in most markets (MTV, Comedy, E, Cartoon, Spike, etc) advertise on Wednesday through Friday. minimum of 30 spots.
...And one more. Keep thinking of ways to make your cosmic more fun. Ask your staff. Ask your customers.
Party on!
Here are 9 secrets I use to keep our cosmic moving:
1. Make sure that your cosmic bowling has at least someone who can act as a master of ceremony. If this person isn't on your staff, a local college may have acting, communications or speech majors looking for a little extra work.
2. Try to encourage staff,working that night, to dress up in funny hats, costumes or anything that the customer would see as "fun". Give out funny red noses to customers. just because!
3. Run a few different contests like crazy bowl, music trivia contest and red pin head pin or 3 6 9 strikes.
4. Conduct some 80's theme nights or 70's theme nights and give the customer pricing that is 70% or 80% of your price
5. Direct mail every week. send out 300 to 500 postcards every week to your 15 to 34 mailing list offering a $5 discount off your price. If you don't have a list, go buy a list of people in this age category in your zip codes who have shown some interest in sports, music or entertainment. Check www.Infousa.com
6. Send out emails every other Thursday (and Twitter) to tell your prime segment about upcoming cosmic events in your center. Build the fun on Facebook with questions about music and entertainment; and referencing that correct answers will win a prize at your center during Cosmic night.
7. About once a month, hire a local band. Give them the gate ($5 to $10 per person) You keep the bowling, food and beverage proceeds.
8. Set up Facebook ads and budget about $50 per day for at least one week to 10 days per month.
9. Look at your cable TV for great buys over the summer. Spots in good day parts can be had for less than $20 in most markets (MTV, Comedy, E, Cartoon, Spike, etc) advertise on Wednesday through Friday. minimum of 30 spots.
...And one more. Keep thinking of ways to make your cosmic more fun. Ask your staff. Ask your customers.
Party on!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Mission Not Impossible
What does your center stand for?
Do you really have a mission statement?
If you really have a statement and it is more than just..."best service, cleaner center, best shot, fun atmosphere, blah, blah", then you might have a shot at standing for something.
Clients like Wally Hall and Mike Hall, in their 3 centers in Maryland, practice their mission statement; they even have it up on the wall of their centers in plain sight for customers to see.
Simply stated, their mission is "to make happy memories".
Now, if you think about that for a while that statement stands for something. And it creates a culture amongst employees to fulfill their mission with every customer interaction.
One other client I know has a mission statement that says "our mission is to make your day brighter." Cool. Every employee now understands what the center stands for and what they have to do.
What does you center stand for? Think about it. Get your employees to brainstorm and develop a mission statement that YOU and THEY really believe in and want to fulfill that every day.
Because if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything.
Do you really have a mission statement?
If you really have a statement and it is more than just..."best service, cleaner center, best shot, fun atmosphere, blah, blah", then you might have a shot at standing for something.
Clients like Wally Hall and Mike Hall, in their 3 centers in Maryland, practice their mission statement; they even have it up on the wall of their centers in plain sight for customers to see.
Simply stated, their mission is "to make happy memories".
Now, if you think about that for a while that statement stands for something. And it creates a culture amongst employees to fulfill their mission with every customer interaction.
One other client I know has a mission statement that says "our mission is to make your day brighter." Cool. Every employee now understands what the center stands for and what they have to do.
What does you center stand for? Think about it. Get your employees to brainstorm and develop a mission statement that YOU and THEY really believe in and want to fulfill that every day.
Because if you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Marketing Lesson 134: Sly and The Family Stone
The more I travel through Airports, the more I realize that each one has a pace, a vibration and a tempo all its own. There are differences in airport personnel, food shops, even the security people, we fondly call the " TSA search people", are different.
Sunday, 2pm in Denver and the airport is decidedly different than midweek. More business guys in blue jeans, more families, more seniors and more ladies in very casual, but still stylish apparel. But the airport services don't change. It's still the same old bar and grills, fast food joints and an occasional "theme" restaurant trying to be representative of the local market.
Surprisingly , most of the eateries are less than one quarter full; but I notice many people eating from brown paper bags they probably packed themselves.
Deductively, I reasoned that passengers probably packed their own food because:
it is less expensive
it is food they want.
it is healthier.
past experience has conditioned them to believe that airport food is "terrible."
No doubt it is all these variables have contributed to seemingly less patronage.
Now think about your center
If you change or add more family friendly food items on weekends, do you think you would generate more business? If you had a special Saturday night cosmic bowl menu., would you sell more food?
How about special weekend beverages; not just booze, but things like milk shakes, ice cream sundaes, root beer floats or even glasses of milk and chocolate milk?
If you already have these items, why not create a 1/3rd of a page quickie menu for the weekends and then distribute them from 9a to 6p all weekend long.
Do the same for after 9pm when a different market segments visits the center.
You just might get some more customers to pay attention get some interest, build some desire and get some action and buy your food or drink more frequently
Its marketing mantra # 134 from Sly and The Family Stone: "Different Strokes for Different Folks."
So what are you doing differently?
Sunday, 2pm in Denver and the airport is decidedly different than midweek. More business guys in blue jeans, more families, more seniors and more ladies in very casual, but still stylish apparel. But the airport services don't change. It's still the same old bar and grills, fast food joints and an occasional "theme" restaurant trying to be representative of the local market.
Surprisingly , most of the eateries are less than one quarter full; but I notice many people eating from brown paper bags they probably packed themselves.
Deductively, I reasoned that passengers probably packed their own food because:
it is less expensive
it is food they want.
it is healthier.
past experience has conditioned them to believe that airport food is "terrible."
No doubt it is all these variables have contributed to seemingly less patronage.
Now think about your center
If you change or add more family friendly food items on weekends, do you think you would generate more business? If you had a special Saturday night cosmic bowl menu., would you sell more food?
How about special weekend beverages; not just booze, but things like milk shakes, ice cream sundaes, root beer floats or even glasses of milk and chocolate milk?
If you already have these items, why not create a 1/3rd of a page quickie menu for the weekends and then distribute them from 9a to 6p all weekend long.
Do the same for after 9pm when a different market segments visits the center.
You just might get some more customers to pay attention get some interest, build some desire and get some action and buy your food or drink more frequently
Its marketing mantra # 134 from Sly and The Family Stone: "Different Strokes for Different Folks."
So what are you doing differently?
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Success Needs To Be Heard
So you go to your center on Saturday night and say to the manager or assistant manager; "how is everything going"? It's a common greeting, isn't it? You might even ask "what's going on"? or you might say, "how are we doing tonight"?
If the manager tells you, "oh pretty good, but we had a fight outside and a couple of guys got a little tipsy at the bar and they are still there; then all of a sudden, YOU have a problem to solve."
All of your energies go to the problem as your brain spins its file system to come up with a solution. You see, in our current "always connected world", the question that we asked is really; "tell me everything, tell me, tell me, tell me! And as entrepreneurs, we want to fix whatever problems we here about immediately. I mean right now!!
Celebrating any success comes later or sometimes not at all.
Life isn't always perfect and these problems/issues/challenges will happen all the time. So is that the answer you really want to hear?
Now, I'm not saying that you ignore these issues and make believe they aren't there or your manager decides not to tell you about them, but I am suggesting that you ask your management team to provide you with more positive answers first.
For example, your manager could have said; "We had all lanes going for cosmic bowling, food and beverage sales are great and the new menu items have really taken off. Even the beer special is great. And we have had a few issues in the bar with a couple of guys getting a bit tipsy, but it is all handled."
Now its up to you to jump on the positive message and make sure you can replicate the full house, the great f&b sales and the fun people are having next Saturday night.
Success needs to be heard. Every employee in the center needs to hear about it; needs to feel like "Yes, we won".
Share it. And then share it again!
Because the more successes you share with your employees, than the more successes you will have.
If the manager tells you, "oh pretty good, but we had a fight outside and a couple of guys got a little tipsy at the bar and they are still there; then all of a sudden, YOU have a problem to solve."
All of your energies go to the problem as your brain spins its file system to come up with a solution. You see, in our current "always connected world", the question that we asked is really; "tell me everything, tell me, tell me, tell me! And as entrepreneurs, we want to fix whatever problems we here about immediately. I mean right now!!
Celebrating any success comes later or sometimes not at all.
Life isn't always perfect and these problems/issues/challenges will happen all the time. So is that the answer you really want to hear?
Now, I'm not saying that you ignore these issues and make believe they aren't there or your manager decides not to tell you about them, but I am suggesting that you ask your management team to provide you with more positive answers first.
For example, your manager could have said; "We had all lanes going for cosmic bowling, food and beverage sales are great and the new menu items have really taken off. Even the beer special is great. And we have had a few issues in the bar with a couple of guys getting a bit tipsy, but it is all handled."
Now its up to you to jump on the positive message and make sure you can replicate the full house, the great f&b sales and the fun people are having next Saturday night.
Success needs to be heard. Every employee in the center needs to hear about it; needs to feel like "Yes, we won".
Share it. And then share it again!
Because the more successes you share with your employees, than the more successes you will have.
Monday, February 21, 2011
Eyeball 2 Eyeball Marketing Is Here
Recently, many of you have requested an easier way to get access to our consulting services and I wanted to let you know that we have instituted a consulting service called "Eyeball 2 Eyeball Marketing."
Very simply it is 21st century video meetings that can be scheduled as frequently as you want and for as many hours as you want over the Internet. You can do it from your office, home or even smart phone.
You can also have as many people in on the video conference as you want. Heck, we will even supply you with the web cam.
And it all happens over the magic of Skype. Skype is a message portal; a conference portal, and a phone portal. You can even use it to make FREE phone calls as well!!
Just think about it. No travel expenses. No extra hours. No long term contract. Just rock solid proven marketing programs that will make your cash registers ring...and you can get it in the comfort of your own office or home.
And the good news is, its a lot less expensive than going to a shrink, an attorney or an accountant!!
If you're interested, please call me at 516 359 4874 (cell)
On another note: yesterday I sent my blog to you about the importance of customer reviews and I hope you had a chance to read it.
However; the date on that blog should have been Sunday February 20th instead of Monday the 14th.
Hope that clarifies the situation since some of you called and asked why you received your blog 7 days later?!? Now you know...my apologies for the incorrect date
Very simply it is 21st century video meetings that can be scheduled as frequently as you want and for as many hours as you want over the Internet. You can do it from your office, home or even smart phone.
You can also have as many people in on the video conference as you want. Heck, we will even supply you with the web cam.
And it all happens over the magic of Skype. Skype is a message portal; a conference portal, and a phone portal. You can even use it to make FREE phone calls as well!!
Just think about it. No travel expenses. No extra hours. No long term contract. Just rock solid proven marketing programs that will make your cash registers ring...and you can get it in the comfort of your own office or home.
And the good news is, its a lot less expensive than going to a shrink, an attorney or an accountant!!
If you're interested, please call me at 516 359 4874 (cell)
On another note: yesterday I sent my blog to you about the importance of customer reviews and I hope you had a chance to read it.
However; the date on that blog should have been Sunday February 20th instead of Monday the 14th.
Hope that clarifies the situation since some of you called and asked why you received your blog 7 days later?!? Now you know...my apologies for the incorrect date
Sunday, February 20, 2011
The Importance of Customer Testimonials
If you were ever unsure of the power of word of mouth (WOM) consider these following facts:
• Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases.
• According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of the study’s respondents. (Nielsen, “Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”).
• Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions.
• When asked what sources of information they are “very likely” to consult before making a decision about their entertainment options, 62% named Web sites with user reviews as their top choice, even beating out a knowledgeable friend (59%).
• 11% of retailers reported a 20% or more overall increase in conversions as a result of adding reviews to their sites, 21% reported an 11% to 20% increase and 5% reported a 1% to 10% increase.
Need more reasons to put testimonials and consumer comments on your website?
Here's one more:
• By 2020, 84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing’s primary objective, and 82% agree that collaboration with customers will prevail over marketing.
• Recommendations from family and friends trump all other consumer touchpoints when it comes to influencing purchases.
• According to a global Nielsen survey of 26,486 Internet users in 47 markets, consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising among 78% of the study’s respondents. (Nielsen, “Word-of-Mouth the Most Powerful Selling Tool”).
• Online social network users were three times more likely to trust their peers’ opinions over advertising when making purchase decisions.
• When asked what sources of information they are “very likely” to consult before making a decision about their entertainment options, 62% named Web sites with user reviews as their top choice, even beating out a knowledgeable friend (59%).
• 11% of retailers reported a 20% or more overall increase in conversions as a result of adding reviews to their sites, 21% reported an 11% to 20% increase and 5% reported a 1% to 10% increase.
Need more reasons to put testimonials and consumer comments on your website?
Here's one more:
• By 2020, 84% of marketers agree that building customer trust will become marketing’s primary objective, and 82% agree that collaboration with customers will prevail over marketing.
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