The New Busy

What the hell is this thing called the “New Busy?"

I looked at my day yesterday and realized that I only physically spoke to six or seven people, but instead communicated in “the New Busy” way. I received, sent and participated in:
* 147 emails, (not counting spamola!)
* 32 text messages
* 16 facebook messages
* 2 “go to meetings” meetings

And a partridge in a pear tree!

During this time, I reviewed several different ads, approved postcards, bought some traditional media, modified and then signed off on several Cycle 1 marketing plans, created a Facebook page for a client, published an ad on Facebook, developed several August open play and corporate offers, established my email grids for the month, worked with a brand new client on setting up a league meeting agenda, and created a Craig’s List advertisement.

This was in addition to sending out a request for proposal and participating in a local BPA conference call.

Oh yeah, it started at breakfast (8:15am) and ran thru lunch and finished before dinner (about 8:30pm). We eat late in these parts.

And yet, I didn’t feel like I did enough. I didn’t feel “the burn” like I used to feel when I really worked the phones, pounded out information, typed it, faxed it and followed up on it via phone.

I even liked sending out mail; addressing the envelope, stamping it, sealing it in my very own company envelope and walking it to the mailbox on my way out the door. There was something that was so damn gratifying about that at the end of the day.

Now the “New Busy” is working “smarter” via all of the aforementioned electronic miracles at our disposal. It’s about adding people to your Facebook page, building your lists, adding content, creating relevant offers, and all the while…being more efficient. Oh yes, there’s that silly Twitter thing to deal with too.

Yes, I get more done. Even my friends are amazed at my efficiency and precision type scheduling. In fact, I have demonstrated and taught my clients how to ring every millisecond out of a minute, out of an hour and eventually out of a day.

But with all this efficiency, why do I feel so much less connected rather than more connected, even with my smart phone tethered to my waist 24/7 mad my laptop never more than 2 feet from my sight.

Do you feel this way too? Do you think our employees feel that way after receiving our emails and texts? What about our customers? We do send them a FEW emails these days, don’t we!?

Unfortunately less than 15% of our customers are even bothering to open our information; information they said they wanted when they “opted in?” Due to the “do not call laws”, we can’t even call them on the phone any more and speak to them; we would probably only get their answering machine anyway.

And that’s too bad.

But I am going to call soime of them anyway and just ask them how they are doing; how’s the family and if they are having a good summer; just to hear their voice at the other end of my smart phone and feel connected.

Maybe the old ATT commercial was right all along.
Maybe it is time to “reach out and touch someone”…again
Maybe they would like that.

I know I will.

Yin and Yang

My Grandmother used to say, as many of your Grandmothers might have said, "your greatest strength is your greatest weakness." I really never paid it much attention, but as I got older I realized what she meant.

Time and time again, I would meet people who were well organized, buttoned up and great detail people. In fact, their attention to detail was almost fanatical. And we all know the devil is in the details.

But as great a strength as this was, they often bogged projects down to the point of strangulation. Nothing moved. So attuned were they to the details and getting it "perfect" that they frequently missed or barely made important deadlines; deadlines that could have, and sometimes did, cost them many dollars.

If your greatest strength is in teaching and coaching employees, your greatest weakness may be that while you are coaching and training, you may not be allowing the employee enough time to learn to "just do it" and, therefore, do his/her job.

If your greatest strength is "the numbers" of the business, you may be so immersed in the numbers that you are paying less attention to the kind of customer service your people are delivering. And its the level of service that ALWAYS makes the numbers happen.


On the flip side you may be keenly aware of your weaknesses, but not so aware of your strengths. Look for the weaknesses to give you clues about your strengths and then focus on those...all the while understanding the flip side.

Its the Yin and the Yang.

As a sidebar...

I hope many of you saw the Today Show this morning. Our little company, Kids Bowl Free, in which I am a partner , was mentioned and people were encouraged to sign up for it. That's MILLIONS of eyeballs that heard about bowling on a Friday morning. Maybe it rattled their cage to get out and visit your center tonight.

By the way, if you haven't signed up for this amazing program, it's not too late. Over 1,000 centers are in in it and more than 1,250,000 kids are loving it.

Please go to www.kidsbowlfree.com and check it out.

A Sign of The Times

As the economic news rolled in last week, consumers seem to reflect a certain tightening up of their spending. Some analysts are even calling for a "double dip recession." Additionally, this tightening up may also indicate that further public stimulus money is not forthcoming.

The New York Times observes that several retailers are essentially devising their own stimulus measures—promotions and deals that they're hoping will spur customer spending.

Sam's Club is facilitating loans of up to $25,000 for its shoppers; Target is offering 5 percent off to people with a Target credit card; Toys "R" Us has created a holiday-savings fund; and Office Depot and Staples are giving products away.

"A lot of the government programs have come to an end," says one analyst, "so retailers are taking it upon themselves to do everything they can to get the consumer to spend, even opening up their own wallets to give money back to the consumer."

Sam's Club does not expect to make much money off of its loans, but hopes that they contribute to a general spending thaw.


What are you doing to stimulate consumer spending in your bowling center or FEC?

Red Eye From Vegas

Thursday Night, 11:40am

Waiting for red eye flight back to NYC from Bowl Expo show in Las Vegas where we introduced our new Eyeball 2 Eyeball marketing program to hundreds of bowling proprietors.

It's a new service that lets me stay home and my client (you) get our professional services without having to pick me up at the airport, pay for my hotel or my dinner at Applebees. A video conference consulting program that connects us visually (and aurally) for an hour or two or three. Buy an hour for $188 or 2 hours for $350. Think of it this way.

It's probably cheaper than your attorney or accountant and I guarantee to make you money...just like I have for hundreds of proprietors all over the globe.

No long term contracts; just buy what you want. OK, that's the end of my "commercial." I will be putting more information up on my website.

If you want more details, just call me; here's my cell# (516 359 4874).

Many proprietors, at this bowl expo, were bemoaning their open play lineage for June. Some reported business down 20%; others 30%. Still others, even worse. What happened?

I think there are several factors...

1. The long wintry weather extended our league seasons, thus creating some bowler fatigue. Not as many winter bowlers wanted to bowl in the summer

2. Surely economic conditions have not helped and a lot of people are jsut feeling "not in the mood."

3. Moreover, economic news of falling consumer confidence, rising joblessness rates, stock markets declining, people may feel like they can't "afford" to spend extra income.

4. June is filled with the ending of school, getting kids ready for camps, family outings, especially if the weather is great, and a time to stay outdoors.

So now you ave heard all of the excuses.

But here's what I think really happened.

1. We didn't prepare well enough for this economic downturn. Oh sure many proprietors cut prices, but I saw very few people adding value to their offers such as:
* Free pizza when you bowl
* Free family bowling when each member pays a $6 entry fee
* Live music tonight during Cosmic bowling\
* Mystery score nights where customers can win $100 if they hit the score

2. Who is making sales calls? In the last 45 days, how many people went out and did a sales blitz, where you hit 100 stores, businesses, and organizations; attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting or sent letters, emails or postcards inviting companies in for parties?

3. Who has developed a fundraiser campaign (in April) to hit all of the fund raising organizations, hospitals, schools and fraternal groups for events in June?

Or maybe we just didn't work as hard or as smart as we could and thought that less expensive pricing would bring people in?

Because if one thing June has proven, it is that price cutting, alone, is NOT always the solution.

But that's just my opinion? What's yours?

What Do Customers Really Want?

The goal of a company is to have customer service that is not just the best, but legendary.
-Sam Walton

It’s a question we should always ask and yet we often find so difficult to answer. How an organization handles this question (and the answers) will determine its ultimate success. If you consistently offer your customers what they want (at a price they feel is fair), you’ll have all the customers you can handle.

In 2009, Stiritz Group surveyed several thousand people across the country on “what do customers really want”?

Here are the results of that Service Survey. The results are in ranked order from most popular response to least popular.

"What Do Customers Really Want?"

1. Listen to me.
2. Know more than I do (about your product or service).
3. Be easy to work with.
4. Help me get what I came for.
5. Smile.
6. Tell me your name.
7. Acknowledge my presence.
8. Don’t treat me like I’m an interruption.
9. Show me you care.
10. Don’t waste my time.
11. Be honest.
12. Offer alternatives if you don’t have what I want.
13. High quality and low prices.
14. Don’t try to sell me. Just help me.
15. Do what you say you’re going to do.
16. Keep me informed.

According to Stiritz, “This survey is based on real answers from real people so we think it can be useful for many organizations as they work to improve their customer service. This list of 16 customer wishes seems basic and intuitive. Yet we don’t believe most organizations are delivering these things to all their customers all the time. If they were, this list would have been much shorter.”

This list is your gold-plated ticket to increase customer loyalty.

So, if you’re not delivering on these 16 “service wishes”, maybe your competitor is?

Is Anybody Listening?

Organizations of all sizes are scaling back their marketing budgets due to declined revenues in a recessionary period. This is especially true for traditional media which saw a 67% decrease in 2009 ad spending*.

What has since transpired is a shift to less expensive marketing solutions such as email, search and social media. The shift in ad dollars from traditional media to online and social media has inevitably created a unique opportunity for advertisers. Traditional media, radio in particular, have a lot of unsold inventory available.

Most radio stations run an average of 15 ad units per hour which means there are around 1.8 million ad units per day and 657 million ad units per year. On average, 5-15% of that inventory goes unsold annually. That is a lot of unsold inventory! And a majority of the inventory is prime airtime. If radio stations cannot monetize their unsold inventory, they will lose that potential ad revenue and most stations cannot afford that option.

They are desperately looking for last minute advertisers, even if they have to sell their inventory for significantly reduced rates.

And even though ad dollars overall are slipping, the radio audience hasn't gone anywhere. In fact, the audience is holding strong - up 3% from 2007-2009.** Advertisers have the ability to capitalize on this trend and ultimately are in a win/win position.

With access to prime unsold inventory available at reduced rates (which means greater reach without spending more ad dollars), advertisers can reach and engage the highly coveted, loyal radio audience...who are still listening.

Somebody IS listening!

Who Are You and What Do You Do?

1. The only tools you have are persuasion and experience. Use them judiciously. You are in control if you THINK you are. This is especially true of managing employees and managing the marketing process.

2. Constantly think about how to improve your customer’s experience. Carry a pencil and paper with you at all times. You never know when an idea will hit you and the “spirit” moves you. "What did you do today to increase your company's revenue?", is a sign I keep in my office.

3. Spend time at your business, especially on Friday and Saturday nights. See what open play bowlers are doing and how they "buy” your product. See the customers. Talk to them. Speak to the desk people, the mechanic, the porter and the waitress. They are closer to the customer and can provide qualified feedback to you.

4. Visit other businesses in the area. What are the restaurants, health clubs, night clubs and bars doing to attract and retain customers?

5. If you find yourself just trying to “get through” the day, stop! Challenge your self to not just get through, but to get through with the mind set that you can make a difference in the results of your business…if you want to.

6. To determine if your marketing recommendation is the best it can be; ALWAYS perform this mini exercise:

* What is the specific problem - be VERY specific - you are trying to solve or
opportunity you are trying to maximize?
*How many different recommendations could solve this problem?
* Why is the recommendation YOU chose, the BEST one?
* Will your target segment be 'wowed" by the offer?
* Is it ethical?
* Does it represent a good value?
* Is it easy to communicate?

* Would you or your spouse or kids/teens buy it and what pleasure would it increase or what pain would it reduce?