May 2012 Blog Posts (10)

“Everybody wants a deal!” is what I have heard for years.  Well, I would argue that statement after being on the road working in many different markets with many different types of centers in the past 90 days.  My experiences have shown me the opposite.  Here is a list of points I am finding:

1.  40% of customers aren’t coming in looking for a deal. 
2. The majority of customers that patronize your center don’t have a clue how much it’s going to cost them to…

Sometimes we do work that gets noticed and other times we do work that

doesn’t get noticed.



  Sometimes it is merely dust in the wind.



The essence of our work, it’s very soul if you will, is to do work that is

relevant to the people we serve in our market.



Doesn't matter how many hours we put in.



Doesn’t matter how many promotions we have tried.



Doesn’t matter how many seminars we have attended.



Doesn’t matter how many superstar…

After a great weekend of sun and fun on the East Coast, the weatherman has

now promised 4 or 5 days of rain and then some more sun...on the weekend!

Great if you like to do stuff outdoors, but not so great if you’re a

bowling proprietor or an FEC Operator.



Since we can’t fight the weather, why not do something different?

Remember "different is good."



    Invite people to bowl in your parking lot during the day. Maybe even

    roller skate in your parking…

I have spent some time this week working with clients via my "eyeball to

eyeball service"  It's either a phone conference or Skype meeting for an

hour or two per week and its working pretty well.  That's not the point of

this blog. Selling you something never has been.  The point is: everywhere

I turn, new clients are telling me, emailing me, Skyping me that their open

play, to be blunt, "just sucks" and in fact "there is no predictability to

it."  In some instances,…

Marketing practice forces us to create labels; to classify people into what

we commonly call "segments." Segments have been defined either

demographically (population, households, age, income, marital status,

occupation, housing, etc.)  or psychographically (lifestyle to include

shopping habits, travel and vacations, car purchases, financial

investments, leisure activities, etc.)



Sometimes we get creative and come up with a "value analysis" that takes

all…

Invited by Frank Zhao of Longmarch Bowling, Jerry Norris, a USBC Silver Level Coach, is now coaching in Longmarch Bowling Centers in China. 

From May 10 to June 3, 2012, and July 4 to July 14, 2012, Jerry will be coaching in Longmarch Bowling Center Shanghai Minhang;

From June 4 to July 3, 2012, Jerry will be coaching in Longmarch Bowling Center Chengdu Xinchengshi.

This is part of Longmarch's effort to promote bowling in China.

For more information, please…

A very wise Joe Schumacker once told me-and displayed it very

graphically-that over the years regardless of the region of the country,

“May is The Ditch”. Its when bowling really tanks.  Since then, some people

have reminded me that June isn’t that much better.



“Great” I say, “what are you doing about it?"



More often than not, center operators do several things:



   1.    Cut operating hours

   2.    Scale back on any advertising

   3.    Reduce…

Free Publicity is the cheapest way to build awareness of your center.  But

the right publicity can generate leads, and build credibility as a source

of information that can be trusted. And we all know how important trust is

these days.



The secret to success is to be sure you're telling a story that's worth

printing.

The best publicity draws on one of a handful of tried-and-true themes.

Newsworthy stories have something that hits you as a reader and that…

It might seem like a simple concept, but people are more likely to do

something if you specifically ask them.  Add the words, "please re tweet"

to the end of your tweets.  Include "Like us" on "Facebook" on your

Facebook page, and add things like "Please comment below" to the bottom of

your blog posts. Seems pretty simple, but so few of the Facebook posts I

get or tweets have these simple instructions.



Moreover, the flyers that I see in centers have very little…