Sleepy's Is Cool

“Cool” is a state of mind, a way of expressing oneself that shows confidence, style and to some degree a bit of glamour.

It is the stoic or unemotional response to the thorniest question; it is never letting the other guy see you sweat or run for cover.

It is being able to prevail in the most daunting situation and never get ruffled. It is being able to live by your values, your rules, not by someone else’s values and rules, and prosper.

More importantly, it is an attribute that many marketers covet to associate with their brand, especially if they are targeting those segments that value “cool” over anything else.

"Sleepy’s,” a sleepy old mattress company just rolled out a new TV campaign about “a good night’s sleep”, the obvious end result of a great mattress and what everybody wants, but instead of just showing the product and having people say what a great night sleep they got on a Sleepy’s mattress, they did something different.

They moved away from the mundane and expected and into the unexpected and showed people running, playing tennis, riding a bike, running for a plane and doing a bunch of ACTIVITIES, all the while talking about how getting a good night’s sleep on a Sleepy’s mattress makes everyday tasks effortless.  

The implied promise (fulfilled only by buying the product) is you will be more energetic, happier, productive and thus “cooler” if you buy a mattress ONLY from Sleepy’s.    

Brilliant.                                                                                                                                                       They will sell bunch of mattresses to NEW customers and bring existing customers back. The digital marketing dudes will now Facebook, email, Pinterest and you tube their list to mine for the best prospects, using the umbrella of the TV spot as the lynch pin that holds it all together.                                                          

Segway to bowling.                                                                                                                                           Where is your TV spot?  Or your four color magazine ad in the city paper or local magazine?  Did you know you can buy a local ad in many national publications and on their national on line sites?  (It’s called www.MNI.com). Where is your brand identity?

Where is your “cool?” 

Bad News From Washington State

Greg Olson, the Executive Director of Washington state and a long time respected friend for over 30 years reports the following sanctioned league bowler trends in his state:

·         2011-2012 Season:

            * Adult: 37,700

            * Youth: 3,281

·         2010-2011 Season:

            * Adult: 40,461

            * Youth: 3,533

·         2007-2008 Season:

            * Adult: 48,099

            * Youth: 5,023

He further continues to say, “A full 22% more adult bowlers quit participating in a sanctioned league program during the past 4 seasons and 35% of the kids quit! What a horrible trend that none of us, BPAA nor USBC seem to talk enough about.”

12,141 bowlers during the past 4 seasons have left.  According to Greg, “If every league member paid $12 per week to bowl in a league at your center, that decline represents $145,692 in lost revenue EVERY WEEK!

Or $4.66 million dollars in one 32 week league season!

That’s a lot of cabbage, not to mention money.

And what are we doing about it?

Introducing 8 for 8 leagues, hosting bowling tournaments in the streets of Reno and going to a lot of meetings.

Seems like there is a disconnect somewhere. Shouldn’t there be a plan to help subsidize proprietors to get out there and market their business?  How about sending every marketing guru we have out there to counsel proprietors. (I’d volunteer tomorrow!)

What about national advertising?  Or local advertising by proprietor groups. Or training people on outside sales? Or starting from a different point of view?

Or just doing something DIFFERENTLY?

WE HAVE BEEN ON A SLIPPERY SLOPE FOR 34 YEARS OF DECLINING LEAGUE LINEAGE and all we can do is go to meetings.  C'mon man!

I know people are trying and working very hard to reverse this trend. And I mean no disrespect to their efforts


But maybe we are working on the wrong things.  

IYADWYADYWAGWYAG:  You know what that means. You’ve been to my seminars.

But hey, that's just my point of view. What do you think?

Sorry for the rant. 

"Wow" is No Longer A Big Deal.

If you watched any part of the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, you might have seen some “over the top” performances by myriad actors, dancers, singers and certainly the lighting, sound effects, stage effects and creative people.

God knows what the Super bowl people will do for a half time show!  But, back to the Olympics.  I never thought I would see 20 or so Mary Poppins flying in.  Nor did I ever dream that the Queen of England, in a simulated format, would lend credence to jumping out of a helicopter to join in the festivities.

Entertainment is no longer measured by a simple “Wow” or even the teenage “Awesome dude”, or even the tried and true “Unbelievable” exclamation points.  No, new adjectives and adverbs will need to be brought forth.  What could we say about it that hasn’t been said before?

And that is exactly what the producers of these shows want us to say, “I’ve never seen this before….it was ___________.

And that’s where the word is needed.

So how can you translate this jaded global need for entertainment or an event that can’t even be described any more in your bowling center.  What products can you look at first that might give you the greatest payback at the least expense?

How about a birthday party for kids? Have you tried to put the entertainment in the party or is it two slices of pizza and a Pepsi, balloons and some hats?

How about some of these? Mascots, Magicians, Face Painters, Clowns, Hula Hoop specialists, Special lighting effects and Beatles music - “They Say It’s Your Birthday.”  Of course, this is built into the price.

My favorite is to schedule your parties at 3 different times on Saturday so you have three different shows.  Then have n MC say something like, “Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages welcome tot Tommy’s, Ashley’s Jose’s and Willie’s birthday parties.”  Have them go up and roll the first ball, then play the birthday song.  Give 'em a T shirt that says “BIG STAR” with a star on the shirt. And center name of course. You don't even have to say anything about birthday; that way they would wear your shirt more often than just on their birthday.

OK, the rest is up to you.  Just create entertainment that people will say, "I've never seen that before" because “Wow” is no longer a big deal.

Finding Your Voice Now

Been a bit under the weather; thus the blogging has slowed up, but jumping back into it.

To celebrate feeling better (and my good news from the Doc), a friend of ours invited us to a “fancy dinner”.  This place was reputed to be in the top 5 or 10 restaurants in the city.  Given that there are over 17,000 places to eat in Manhattan alone, I figured this place will be good.

 

And it was good. Very, very  good. But it just missed that something.

I soon realized that the staff was concentrating, fussing and fawning over all the beautiful and well known people, all those so called high profile types who made this restaurant “famous”,  (at least for the fifteen minutes of fame that Andy Warhol claimed we were all entitled).

Unfortunately, the restaurant’s purported “obsession” with quality was clearly coming in second, a close second, but nevertheless…second.   And that was enough for me to decide, then and there, to not go back.

What happens to institutions, businesses, and entertainment centers when they finally achieve that magical spot of being #1 in the hearts and minds of people and in the hearts, minds and wallets of its stakeholders and customers?  Does the obsession with quality stop?  


Does the need to develop, test, invent, create, dance, play, write and change just slow down?  Is it really like an athlete who just gets a little older and a little slower?  Or does something get lost once we are at the top'?  Does it eventually become "not losing" the mantle of excellence; or "not losing" our place; or "not losing" our voice?  

Maybe that happens more frequently than we think. But there are so many great places, restaurants, sports teams, clubs, and theatres that have been so good for so long that you just have to ask the question...

How do you get a repeat or a three-peat?  How do you stay on top and not “exit” the heights?  I think you have to continually and obsessively reinvent the voice that got you to the show. Not necessarily change the tune, but perhaps the words. 

The old rockers like Chuck Berry, The Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, they all developed their unique sound, stuck to it and stayed on top a long, long time until the musical tastes of the country changed… BUT they still were able to build a new following and they were able to develop new fans along the way.

Because they never forgot their roots.

They sang many of the new songs with their own interpretation and were applauded and rewarded for their talent by a whole new group of the population that never really listened to them before. (Listen to Otis Redding sing “Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones and your ears will tingle).

Find the new music and listen to it. Interpret it as authentically and honestly as you can.  Sing it for them.  And your new followers will find you.

First Is First

I want to be first.

Not first runner up.

Just first.

 

In whatever I do. It makes me feel good. It makes me feel like I achieved something.  It makes me feel, especially in a team environment that we worked together, pulled together and achieved together.  Maybe that’s why I play team basketball and solo jog.  It satisfies the team and the individual needs I have.

Maybe you want to feel the same way. 

Being first to introduce that new successful league concept

Being first to come in “up” in fall bowlers.

Being first to have your team achieve your fall goals for lineage and revenue.

It’s a great feeling, isn’t it?

What are you doing to make sure you feel the feeling every day?

Here’s a quick check list.    

1.     Your weekend or one day traffic driver to get your league bowlers and dropouts back?

2.    The telemarketing schedule to EVERYONE that bowled last year?

3.    The outside sales blitz?

4.    The team incentive for hitting the goals?

5.    Sent out your direct mail to dropouts, open play bowlers with short season league offerings for late September and early October

6.    The update for your website

7.    Your Facebook communication schedule with articles and stories about NEW short season programs and traditional league

8.    The email grids with specific offerings going to specific targets?

9.    Call backs to companies for building “a league of their own”

10.  Niche leagues for niche markets (car wars, teachers, restaurants, etc, etc)?

11.   Trained everyone in house how to match a specific league offering against a family, a couple, a teenager, an adult and a child, a senior group, a company party or fund raiser party?

12.  Fliers on the settees and distributed fliers to businesses in the area?

To feel the feeling of achievement you got to work at it… ‘Cause “it doesn’t come easy.”  And that’s why feeling #1 feels so good!

All You Need Is Love

You’re customers can’t love your bowling center if you don’t love them.   

Ask yourself that question the next time you put all those restrictions on your free game card or expiration dates on gift certificates.

Ask yourself that question when you won’t let someone finish their game in time bowling when they’re in the 7^th frame.

Ask yourself that question when you still ask the customer to leave their street shoes with you when you give them rental shoes.

Ask yourself that question when you cut back on the quality of your hamburger meat and raise your price.

Ask yourself that question when you don’t remodel your center or put down new lanes and can’t understand why your business is off.

Ask yourself that question when you post signs all over the center that say “Not responsible for damage to bowling balls.”

Ask yourself that question when your customer service person “hates” the music that is played during cosmic bowling.

Ask yourself that question when the customer service person hollers at the excited seven years olds at a birthday party because two of them are on the lane at the same time.

Maybe all you need is love.

Ground Zero

How many customers would a business have if it didn’t know how many customers it had in the past or didn’t have an inkling of how many customers its competition had?

What if you started from ground zero and just invented the game/sport of bowling?  And what if you woke up in the middle of the night and developed the concept of “league bowling?”

How many customers would buy your new league bowling product?

What would be the first thing you would do to sell the New Never Seen Before League Bowling Product?

What would be the second, third, fourth, fifth thing you would do and so on until you had a step by step plan?

What if you approached your fall league bowling program that way?

The results would be far different because you would have NO preconceived notions, NO “we tried that it doesn’t work” stuff, NO “people won’t want that” comments either and NO worries about failure because you are starting at Ground Zero.

What would you do?