Database or Mailing List?

I know that lots of you have moved towards a database where you can send out emails promoting your open play specials, special events and league programs.  But while only 13% or less of your database opens anything you send, you still keep on sending.  Why?

Many of you don't have gender or age variables in your database so if you're one of these folks, know that you're cosmic bowling mailing could be going to a 49 yr old Mom whose kids are out of the house and your offer to her is irrelevant.  Or the offer you sent to her about bringing her kids to your Halloween party; yup also irrelevant.  And then you sent her a "Rocking Thanksgiving Eve" cosmic promotion; equally as irrelevant. and guess what? She finally opts out, because you are, in her mind, sending her spam...and lots of it!!

As a side bar, even if you ONLY send her relevant offers, she will probably opt out any way.  Email cannot and should not be used as a substitute for direct mail.  If you are only using it to sell, sell, sell, you are driving away potential customers.  Go ahead and check it.    How many people have opted out of your email list in the past year. If you don't know how to check this, go to "Google Analytics" and follow the instructions.  You might be surprised...and not in a good way.  Please, use the social media tools you have to be social...not just to "selly, sell"

So the first thing you need to do is get birth dates. why not send out an email asking your audience to complete a small survey and in exchange you will send them a coupon worth $10 of free bowling (if they spend $20 or more. Ask them their gender and birthday month and year.  Then ask them what other activities they do in their spare time.

No, you won't get 100% completion, but you will get a start. NOW if you make this survey a part of every email you send out, you will start to get more and more and pretty soon you will have segments by age and gender to which you can send RELEVANT COMMUNICATIONS that more closely align to their predispositions and preferences.

The secret here is this in order to have a database you need to have data besides an email and an address.  Google has made billions on learning your preferences and selling these to advertisers to send you RELEVANT communications pertaining to what you bought in the past.

While you may not have the software horsepower to be that sophisticated, you can keep asking questions, keep collecting information and over time have a much clearer picture of WHO your customer is for a specific product that you
are selling.

Here are some examples of the kinds of information, over and above gender and birth date, you might want to collect?

1. Are you interested in receiving information about birthday parties?  Yes___
2. Are you interested in receiving information about company parties and group outings? Yes____
3. Are you interested in receiving information about short season bowling programs? Yes______
4. How frequently do you think you would go bowling, over the course of a year, if you knew you could get a 15% discount every time you went?   none___  one ____ two___  three____ four____ five to seven____ 8 to 10___  11 or more_____
5. What is your favorite food you would like to eat while bowling?  ________________
6. What is your favorite beverage to drink while bowling?  ______________________

People love to tell you what they think and if you publish this information back to them, you will be involving them in your business, thus creating some loyalty resulting in more visits and more answers to your questions.

Information is power. Go be powerful.

The Stereotype Lives

I was reviewing a client’s web site and checking some of the reviews on Yahoo and yelp, when I ran into this quote describing the client’s center, which stopped me dead in my tracks: “Pretty much like any other bowling alley. Food drink etc. Just something to do on a rainy day.”

What was so surprising was the fact that this client had just spent about $750,000 renovating his center and bringing it up to and above standard, yet here was a consumer saying that it was like the other centers in the area and bowling was just something to do on a rainy day; in other words, no big deal one way or the other.

Of all the quotes I have read, this one seemed to be more disturbing than others.

One, to this consumer, bowling was pretty much generic with no real differentiating variables between one center and the next, at least not in this statement. 

And second, bowling was an indoor activity that was to be played only when the weather FORCED you inside.

If this quote is an example of what people really think about bowling and the bowling centers in the area, then we have a very serious problem and the problem is called “stereotyping.”

Stereotyping comes about because customers cannot see a difference between us and our competition. That is a direct result of "lack of product differentiation" in the customers' minds.  And they come to their conclusion rightly; we have done a poor job of sharpening our own saw. 

We make no attempt to separate ourselves from other centers.  Other than the price between our center and Jimmy Bob’s bowling alley down the street, well, thats all the customer hears and therefore the only difference he sees is price...and that confuses him even further.  

If its the same product in the consumer's mind, why are there different prices at each place? Why are there different prices at different times and why is it thats where we have come to...a one bullet price strategy.

This is our challenge. To learn how to build our individual center's brand so it stands for something that can't be eroded by a competitor's pricing strategy  so the consumer knows what it means and HOW it benefits her either by solving a problem or making her happier.

Brand building isn't for the faint of heart. You have to know what you are doing.  You have to have a plan and you have to execute flawlessly.

What ever happened to that brand called "My Space?"  Oh its still there, but bad brand promotion has led to this once popular site just about tanking.  

Time to sharpen your saw.

“One New Essential Business Strategy You Must Have”.

I heard Payton Manning, the Quarterback for the Denver Broncos being interviewed the other day by a reporter who asked what he attributed to his success.  His response was …”just be as consistent as possible."

But what he didn't say was that in order to be consistent, you have to also be constant, and constantly always trying to improve, especially if you are planning to be aggressively marketing your business.

that occur seasonally.  All of a sudden the smell of fireplace wood makes us feel a certain way, while brisk mornings and Sunday Football create other feelings that we dont necessarily feel in the summer.   As we begin to move into yet another seasonal change, these consumer likes and dislikes (almost like a seasonal mood swing) very often give reason and rationale to building your business with new customers relatively inexpensively.  When this is built and and becomes an on going marketing activity for your center, you will find this to be very profitable.

And If you think about the holiday season, most consumer studies attribute these "mass mood changes to such factors as climate, religion, thanksgiving, newness, hope, charity. Good will to men and all that…a merry glow for all. A feeling of optimism

And while the past few years have been difficult for many people, the richest 5% got a whole lot richer. That's about 11 million adults over the age of 18.  This is your target; a much more sophisticated segment and can smell BS in a heartbeat. 

They dont want fluff; rather being honest about what you offer and having their interest in mind is equally as important as a good value is to them...if not more so.

They are NOT looking for cheap, they want to buy and expect nothing less than your business exceeding their expectations. If you cannot deliver this kind of experience, then this blog was a waste of your time. Sorry about that.

If there are fewer customers, I want

·         the customer that has more discretionary income.

·         the customer who has more potential for referrals and for repeat sales in other categories such as adult child and couples programs

·         the customer who lives in higher end  neighborhoods will be the first segment I would test various offers…or high earner households.

My second segment, in order of preference would be the corporate customer.  In order to be as efficient as possible, I would then look at what type of company or business categories exist and ask, “Are there variables in these segments that are so unique as to be maximized to the seller’s (that’s us) advantage.

I would probably test a very upscale invitation vs. a premium in a box (or lumpy mail)to the business contact and then follow up with phone calls, just as soon as they open your email and get a fax about 15 minutes later.  I might even drop off a bowling pin, if the spirit moves me

Real simple, Here’s the summary.

Plan for big ticket buyers?  Make sure you absolutely know what the “big ticket buyer thinks she is REALLY Buying. Close the sale and make a friend with these customers.  Send them thank you notes, special invitations for events. Donate to their charities.  Go to their dinners.  You will have customers for life.

And what’s that worth to you?

Imagine if you added 5 new customers like that every year? Customers who would spend far, far more than a typical customer  per special event, holiday, fund raiser or company meeting.

Its just a little more effort on your behalf and I would be happy to demonstrate that for you.
Please give me a jingle if i can answer any questions about this...absolutely FREE

Fred

The Beauty of Asking

If you listen to enough people who own businesses, they will eventually tell you that the reason their business is bad is because of the weather, the economy, their suppliers, Wal-Mart, the new guy in town, competitors’ lower prices, neighborhood changing and...Did I leave anything out?

I’m never one to believe that you cannot stimulate demand for your product or service regardless of the aforementioned ‘excuses.” when you have a product that 68 million people use, I gotta believe that I can be a rainmaker.

Someplace in my imagination, combined with my experience, learned knowledge, I know  there is a way to create product.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about “gimmicks or magic bullets.” Instead I’m going to look for a product idea that will be attractive to my EXISTING customers. a product that offers a “UNIQUE” value at a time when my customers might have a greater propensity to buy it.

That’s the only way to make product that people want, to make product without excuses.

You don’t see Apple or Google making excuses or even Facebook when their stock tanked last year. They just got their best people together, defined the problems, brainstormed some alternatives and went and did something.

And the critical test whether a product will be successful is not whether you or your employees like it; or it’s easy to do in center.

No the critical test is whether your customers like it. So here’s a tip on how you can almost guarantee success.

Ask them. Ask the people in your target audience if they would buy what you are thinking of selling

Go ahead, ask. It won’t hurt.

Do You Like "Average?"

Ever since you were a kid, people probably told you how to fit in, how to dress alike and how to use the same tools to fit whatever job, profession or career that you were involved.

It might have been the High School English teacher who said there was only ONE way to construct a sentence or to tell you that “rules were rules” and must be followed.  Too bad Norman Mailer, and Jack Kerouac, as well as several other famous author types never got that message; we would have been deprived of some powerful fiction.

Maybe it was your first boss or senior “peer” who told you "NOT to make waves" and espoused “that’s the way we do things around here” so “go along to get along.”

It was all about maintaining the status quo or to "show" that the department was trying to be more productive, to get faster and more efficient; rarely was it ever about getting better and doing things smarter.

It seemed like the safest thing to do was just try to fit in, (you found that out at your first meeting when you made a suggestion that everybody in the room knew was a great idea, but waited for the Boss to agree.  When he saw that he wasn't the guy to suggest it, he put it down and said, “Fred, after you are here a little while I am sure you will gain the experience to make more appropriate suggestions, but thank you anyway.”  

And that was the end of your creativity.  You were basically told to assume NO responsibility for your actions and make NO suggestions.  Just be like everyone else.

“Damnit, just be average", they would say without saying.

We have enough of average. We have enough of people doing just enough to get by. We have a surplus of employees who are afraid to speak up, to suggest any ideas, to challenge conventional wisdom and to do better. We run our centers, all too often, like a fiefdom. We are all knowing, thus we are the smartest guy in the room so who are we to listen to a lowly desk person (who only happens to greet and speak to our customers almost every day.

Now if you have these types of employees I have bad news and good news for you.

One,  the bad news is that YOU created the problem by scaring the hell out of your employees for instilling fear in them that if they spoke up and challenged ‘the average” they would get fired.

Two, the good news is YOU are the only one who can fix it.  Encourage your people not to be different just to be different.  

Encourage then to be different to be better.

What do you think?

The Internet Has Changed Nothing

Has it really changed your business, brought you new league bowlers and increased the frequency of open play bowling from 2.2 visits annually to 2.2 visits PLUS.

Ah, I don’t think so. All it has done for many proprietors is give them a little less expensive way to communicate to existing customers.

In reality, if you take away the internet, you still have to plan, develop strategies, tactics, timetables, budgets and assign and delegate tasks to you, your wife, your kids, your employees and the dog to get stuff done...and monitor and modify. You still need to make sales calls; to develop special events, bring  fund raisers and community activities into the center that will generate "top of mind awareness" and bring your brand into a better sphere of activity.

You see the internet and all the social media platforms from Facebook to Pinterest to Twitter to Instagram to good old email; they are all mere tools to communicate your marketing objectives.

In fact the activity of social media is a key strategy with its own set of tactics, timing, and follow up.

Without the strategy and tactics and bolt on implementation, you are not going to move thee revenue needle because you sent out ONE email blast about Cosmic bowling this weekend. 

Was the email part of a bigger strategy?  Was it part of a total campaign that integrated Facebook, direct mail, in center selling, old media (TV or radio) and your blog with emails? Was it relevant to the target that you sent it to or did 78 yr old Bert who bowls in your senior league on Tuesday get one too? L

Here is s the bottom line. You still have to do the marketing; still have to test offers against various segments; still have to train and retrain your staff every day and continually build the marketing and service culture; still have to “do something weird” now and then to break on through to the other side.  

I have heard you say that you get a million emails, see a bazillion TV commercials and hear hundreds of radio spots and maybe read newspapers either on line or in print and can’t remember one of them.

So now YOU expect one little Email to make your Cosmic bowling great.

As Chris Carter says on Monday Night Football, “C’mon Man!” 

Check It or Forget It

Several interesting marketing items to report.  

Basically about customer service. OH, do you NOT separate the two and think that these two elements are two sides of the same coin?  I hope you do. Because you can market the best, the most innovative, the most unique program, but if no one cares about the delivery of the product at the center level, guess what?  You lose a customer that you worked so hard to get.  And that would be a shame.

Last week, some jackass hijacked, hacked, cracked and smacked my email.  I thought that was an easy fix. HA!  He had also cracked jacked and smacked my Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Linked-In account.  In fact some 2000 people on my blog list, Facebook list and twitter list were affected.  If I haven’t apologized to you, please accept my apologies now.

It literally took me the better part of half a day to fix this stuff.  But before I took it on, I decided to give all these high tech companies a shot to test their customer service skills.

Here’s what I found out:

1.   They all suck, with the exception of one which I will tell you about.

2.  It is virtually impossible to find a phone number to call; a friend turned me onto a website about phone numbers for these companies so I was able to access them.

3.  Minimum hold times for any of them were one half hour plus; I left after a half hour.

4.  God forbid if you accidentally turn your phone off or another call comes in and you lose the tech call; you re toast and have to start ALL over.

5.  You are guaranteed to be asked your name, account number, password, social security number, first born’s weight at birth and your second grade teacher’s middle name.

6.  You will eventually be transferred to someone from India, Pakistan, China or some other country where the accents create a bit of a listening problem; at least for me.

7.  These folks will try as hard as possible to solve your problem, but ultimately you end up with “the high tech supervisor” who also tries to take care of it and in half the cases is successful.

8.  Rest assured that after it is fixed, another problem unrelated to the first will occur or a pop up will appear asking you if you want to buy “PC Protection.

9.  The only company that got back to me in a reasonable time was “Carbonite” that discovered my “in the cloud account” and was able to restore it in less than 5 minutes as well as send me a confirmation email

10.  The machines always win and you and the tech folks are mere pawns when the winds of tech turmoil blow.  I am still out of business about sending my blog out to a different list on a different server that refuses to accept my new password.

 

With that being said, I implore you to check your customer service policies.  Here is a story I heard that a proprietor bragged to me about. Seems that a woman and three children came in at 4pm to take advantage of a special that started at 6pm. 

The desk person refused to honor the woman’s request even though there was NOT one lane running.  And the proprietor told me that the desk person did the right thing!!.  I flipped out and told him that the woman will now go home; knowing she and her family will never come back, and no doubt told at least 14 other people about the “dumb” desk clerk.

Now I’m not saying this happens at your center, but with the season getting under way, this might be a good time to check your customer service and retrain your people.

A wise proprietor friend of mine, Wally Hall, said, “The successful business is one that offers a unique service or product.  Your unique service or product is  YOUR customer service.

Check it or forget it.