New Years Eve

This is my favorite New Years Eve Wish lists.  My friend Jon Gordon passes this on to me every year and wanted to share them with you.

1. Stay Positive. You can listen to the cynics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can know that with faith and an optimistic attitude all things are possible.
2. When you wake up in the morning complete the following statement: My purpose is_______________________.
3. Take a morning walk of gratitude. It will create a fertile mind ready for success.
4. Instead of being disappointed about where you are think optimistically about where you are going.
5. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.
6. Transform adversity into success by deciding that change is not your enemy but your friend. In the challenge discover the opportunity.
7. Make a difference in the lives of others.  Make this your year of GIVING
8. Believe that everything happens for a reason and expect good things to come out of challenging experiences.
9. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
10. Mentor someone and be mentored by someone.
11. Live with the 3 E's. Energy, Enthusiasm, Empathy.
12. Remember there’s no substitute for hard work.
13. Zoom Focus. Each day when you wake up in the morning ask: “What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?” Then tune out all the distractions and focus on these actions.
14. Instead of complaining focus on solutions. It’s the key to innovation.
15. Read more books than you did in 2012.
16. Learn from mistakes and let them teach you to make positive changes.
17. Focus on “Get to” vs “Have to.” Each day focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Life is a gift not an obligation.
18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements: I am thankful for __________________.  Today I accomplished________________________________.
19. Smile and laugh more. They are natural anti-depressants.
20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride thru life; make the most of it and enjoy!!

And last but not least:

Best Wishes To Our Friends and Family and Families of Our Friends For                                    A Happy, Healthy                                              and Prosperous New Year!

Why You MUST get a Better Customer in 2013

Frequently, I have written about the need to get better customers; by “better customers”, I simply mean not that they are better people, but the fact that they have more discretionary income to spend on leisure and entertainment.  This observation was made via many on site visits to location based entertainment facilities (LBE), whether they are bowling centers, FEC’s or merely birthday party venues.

So yesterday, while wrapping up some end of the year stuff, I came across some information from Randy White, CEO of White Hutchinson, (a world class entertainment consulting company),  To my glee, and to support my “marketer’s eye for observation, analysis and conclusions; there are actually empirical studies that have been undertaken and published.

Here are some observations from these studies:

·         In 2002, the highest 20% of income households ($95,000+ incomes) accounted for 44% of all Location Based Entertainment spending. It grew to almost half (48%) in 2011. However, household LBE spending has declined for all income groups with the highest ($95K+ income) group showing the least decline. Overall, the average American household spent 18% less on location-based entertainment in 2011 than 2002.

 

Declines were not caused by the Great Recession, but rather are a long term trend.

·         The overall participation at location-based leisure venues declined by 17% between 2003 and 2011. What this strongly suggests is that the decline in household entertainment spending is mainly attributable to declines in attendance, not per capita spending on visits. The greatest attendance declines have been with the lower socioeconomic households.

·         Middle income households, those earning between $35,000 and $90,000 spend approximately $358 per household annually.  Approximately 35% of these dollars are spent gambling) the number could be higher due to bias about reporting gambling losses.  (if they spent it all on bowling, that's about two or three annual visits)

So what does this mean to you?

·         These higher income groups who are spending more money on entertainment have higher expectations, not just from a facility standpoint, but from a food and beverage perspective. They also view entertainment as a chance to socialize more with family and friends.  Perhaps it is time to look at that boutique set up to attract this higher demographic.

·         While lower income and middle income households are spending less, and this is a long term trend – not just attributable to the Great Recession of 08 – the bowling operator will have to continue to restructure pricing, take a hard look at the center’s amenities and long term capital needs to attract the “better customer” since many of these lower and middle income people have moved their dollars to gambling and stay at home activities like video games, Netflix and TV, etc…and with the exception of “low price offers” are spending less on bowling.

Something to think about for 2013. 

I sincerely hope it’s a great one for you, your family and your business!

The Gifts of The Season Just For You

Christmas Eve 2012: "...and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St Nicholas would soon be there."

I love this poem by Clement Moore that was written in 1823 and is probably more responsible for our views of Santa Claus than anything else. I think it speaks to the hope that not only little children have, but adults as well, when it comes to  Santa Claus and, magically, getting presents.

I think we carry that hope through our our lives and, somehow no matter how bad things get or what happens today, tomorrow is a whole new day, and with it, the promise of gifts and presents.

So as you get ready to have an abbreviated business day today or whether you are closed tomorrow or open in the afternoon, pass along the joys of the season to your employees, customers, friends and family by giving them some special gifts.

Give them the gifts of:

• Good health by encouraging exercise, nutrition and healthy lifestyles - you can post this kind of stuff on your website and build stronger relationships with your customers or tweet your family and friends about everybody trying to stay as healthy as possible.
• Staying positive even in some rough times; to not reflect on the "shoulda, woulda" stuff that just drags you down but to seek solutions, seek answers and never never give up.
• Being the friend you would want to have and being the person that your friend comes to in all kinds of weather; whom you share the good times and bad times.
• Being the "Boss" that "Ebeneezer Scrooge" becomes after the sees the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future
• The opportunity to be creative; to find new solutions to old problems, new problems and even problems that haven't happened yet, but may very well in the future. Encourage new ideas and reward people for that.  Kill the urge to say things like "we tried that and it didn't work", "that's a crazy idea, wont work."  and my all time favorite, "Are You nuts."?
• Understanding and wanting to help people; of realizing that its not about customer service but about exceeding customer expectations; about getting some happiness because they turned a frown into a smile and a tear into laughter

"..and so I am offering you this Christmas wish or kids from 1 to 92, although its been said many times many ways, Merry Christmas to you."

Here's our holiday video from us to you:  http://fiverr.com/d/z5hcusfx205?b=1&utm_

Fred's Marketing Rule of Repetiton

Do you expect ONE email to bring you hundreds of new customers for whatever event it is your promoting?

Really?
Heck, ONE doesn't even buy you one awareness note!!!

Fred's Marketing Rule of Repetition states: "You must build familiarity then credibility and, then when you send your offer, it becomes meaningful."

Please remember while you may think about bowling every waking minute, your prospect probably doesn't even have you on his radar screen or on the top of his consciousness. (That's our fault as an industry for letting YOU down).

Here are some other things you are up against:

• Your prospect are bombarded with many other offers.  Maybe bombarded is to soft; how about "Atomically Bombarded"?

• Your prospects have not yet made a decision in your favor.  Some prospects need more time to make a decision, thus the longer they procrastinate the less your offer stays with them.

• The timing of your offer may be bad for a particular prospect.  You offered this great deal on Saturday days, but this prospect works this month on Saturdays. Next month she is off.  Will you send it again?

And that's my morning marketing rant...for today :)

Marketing Lesson #109 From The Newspaper Guy

 Over the past several weeks I have received little notes, slipped under my front door, from the newspaper delivery person, the postman, the gardener type person and a few others whose names I do not know.  No doubt, many of you have had this same experience.

All of them were happy to wish me a merry Christmas, happy holiday and happy new year and SIGN THEIR NAME to a card that encouraged me to say thank you for “their service” this holiday season.  Translation: “give me money because I serve you all year”

In this “content marketing effort”, all of these service providers delivered a non commercial message with the intention of strengthening our relationship which they hoped would lead to a value exchange (send a check for Christmas).

The problem comes down to this; these guys missed the whole relationship building process.  I mean the whole thing!! There’s no introduction, cultivation or progression of a relationship with content moving things along.  None, just “give me money.”

Maybe if these guys would have sent me some information every couple of months or sent me jokes or inspirational quotes, I would have had a feeling that they were at least TRYING to build a relationship.  Maybe if they would have done that, I would send them more than I am planning to send.

Maybe you do the same thing.  Take this holiday season for instance.  Did you start your big “ASK” in October or so – having not communicated with these corporate types since last October?  This eleventh hour effort is easy to spot.  It’s a BIG ASK out of the blue – not built upon a series of communications LEADING UP to the BIG ASK.  Maybe that's why you didn't get as many sales as you could have IF you had worked on that relationship all year.

So the next time you need a sale, think about these three elements. Heck, cut this out and put it over your desk.  

1.     Start sharing information well before you need the sale  to happen; if you need the sales in December, start talking to the prospect in May or June.

2.  Repeat your effort multiple times. 

• One Contact Does Not = One Sale. 
• One Contact Does Not Even = One Awareness!!!”

3.    Stay with the program. Never stop communicating. Never stop building and nurturing relationships.

As the Beatles used to say about relationships, “It Don’t Come Easy.”  If it did, it wouldn't be worth much and neither party would get much out of it.

Job # 1

There comes a time, at least once a day, when you have to make a decision about growing your business -yes every day you need to be thinking about growing your business –hey that’s YOUR job#1 – and when you need to, you make a decision based upon some set of logic that you have been practicing over the years.

But what I have found, in my travels, is that many people make a decision because the core premise and solution they thought of APPEALS DIRECTLY TO THEM. They can identify with it; relate to it, like it and therefore they buy into it

Makes sense, right?  NOT!!

What make sense is: “Does it resonate with the target audience you are trying to get to buy your product or to buy your product again?

The next time you need to make a big decision or even a less important decision, try this methodology; it’s called the scientific method and stated very simply it tests your hypothesis; that is the solution you think will fix your problem.

With social media, it’s easy to do that. 

You can send different offers to your target audience. For example, one part of your 18 to 34 audience could get an offer like “free pizza offer when you bring 4 people with you to cosmic bowl this Saturday night only.”  To another group of  your 18 to 34’s, they would get an offer like “bring 5 people  to Cosmic bowl and pay for four people; this Saturday night only.  

Now whichever offer brings in the most coupons; that’s the hypothesis that worked and therefore you have a valid conclusion.

Now all you have to do is think of another hypothesis to test against the one that won.

Hey, that’s your job # 1…building the business, growing the asset, making more dollars and giving something back to your community, right?

Moral of the story:  "To be the best- Always do  the test"

Internet Speak

Don't you hate it when you send someone a really long message, like maybe two paragraphs and they respond with "K?"


Aren't you sick and tired of Internet speak? When did before become "b4." I thought we speak English,  not bingo!!  And twitter is the worst offender.

Sometimes I read tweets from athletes, movie stars, and other so called famous types. Good God, where did they learn this shorthand?

When did "Imwitcha" become shorthand for "I am with you?"

Finally, why is the world so crazy that losing your phone is more traumatic than losing your virginity?  Because in today's world it is.  Last time I lost my phone I felt totally vulnerable, naked and afraid.  It was a terrible feeling.

Yes, the world has changed and so has the way we communicate.  Perhaps we have to learn a whole new Internet language, or worse learn how, to communicate like a 15 year old in order to be heard. Well if that is the case, then so be it!

Recently, a client in the southern part of the USA asked me to develop some emails for him. Writing is pretty easy for me; it's a small talent I possess and since I couldn't make it in the NBA, I thought to develop this skill, instead of my post move.

Instead of writing just a quick email blast answering what, who when and how much, I took the approach of telling stories about the holiday season, about the history of the holiday, when it started and what the symbols mean. I also threw in some funny stories as well as some dramatic stories.

The client wasn't expecting this but as he began reading them I saw that "I got him". He was REALLY interested to read it to the end and to the bowling offer.  More importantly, his wife loved them as did his staff and a few bowlers he showed them to.

Two actions resulted from this approach. 
1. More people came in with the coupon for the offer
2. He got a lot more activity to his site an d had people responding and telling stories as well

So here's my message tonight:
If you don't want people to turn off your emails or face book messages; tell a brief story that provides relevant information to emphasize your message.  Then invite comments and stories back.  You will be amazed how many people have something they want to tell the world.

And remember, you never really know how sharp your teeth are until you bite your tongue.

P.S.  I may not blog for a few days since I have a medical procedure to deal with, but hopefully will be back to it by Saturday and by then I should have lots of good stuff that my wired brain has picked up.

As we say in the new  world "CU"