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November 2010 Blog Posts (18)

Can Price Cutting Increase Profits?

Editor's Note. Please forgive the columnar formatting below.

Few business owners realize the powerful leverage that lower prices can

have on their profits. To get a feel for it, consider this hypothetical

example.

You own a bowling center and you normally sell bowling at $3.00 per game

and shoe rentals for $3.00 per pair. On a transaction of two games and shoe

rentals, your revenue is $9.00 per game.

After calculating your fixed costs and variable costs,… Continue

Added by fred kaplowitz on November 29, 2010 at 4:01pm — No Comments

Being "thankful" about bowling on this Thanksgiving Day...

Happy Thanksgiving!

My first job was at Broadway Bowl in downtown Oakland, California, in 1968. I was a teenager, an avid Beatles fan, a very good baseball player, not such a good bowler and, somehow, I was comfortably oblivious to the social revolution taking place around me (the Peace movement, the Vietnam war, Flower Power, Free love, Drugs, the Black Panthers, Civil unrest, etc.).

I had a happy childhood. I loved going to school (weird, I…

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Added by Paul Kreins on November 25, 2010 at 9:59am — 1 Comment

Need A New Idea?

Sure you need a new idea, but if I gave it to you what would you do with

it? Would you say, "Just cant get to it", "Don't have enough time", "Can't

get my people to do it?" Maybe.

And then when it doesn't happen or happens half a***d, would you say, "we

tried it, it didn't work." But would you ask why it didn't work?

What didn't work? The idea? The effort? The communication? The timing?

Doesn't matter. It's easier to blame the idea. Poor, pitiful idea. It… Continue

Added by fred kaplowitz on November 23, 2010 at 11:20am — No Comments

Bailouts, bankruptcy, foreclosures, unemployment.

The news just doesn't seem to get better. In fact, it seems that it is

getting worse. But even among the dozens of proprietors we see each month,

these are a those that are going against the trend and actually showing

increases.

What are they doing that you may not be doing?

Here are some examples:

"I have had a salesman out in Fort Worth since July. Today we got Citi

Insurance group with 70 women to bowl at 1PM and pizza and soda, they… Continue

Added by fred kaplowitz on November 23, 2010 at 11:19am — 1 Comment

Vision, Mission, Value

We updated our "Vision, Mission and UVP page yesterday and it has me feeling very focused on who I want to serve and why.

Thanks for the review...…

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Added by Christopher Swanson on November 17, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Chutzpah

Click on 'View Fred Kaplowitz's Blog' to see all my posts.… Continue

Added by fred kaplowitz on November 17, 2010 at 5:22am — No Comments

RE: Undercover Boss - Lucky Strike's Steven Foster

Just watched a stream from CBS.com of Undercover Boss featuring Lucky Strike's Steven Foster and was really moved.

Not sure what hit me so hard...his mother passing (a shared pain - I lost mine a few years ago when she was 58). Or maybe I saw the determination etched in his face from building a business. I have had to reconsider my performance for all past employers now that I own a business and see the imposing responsibility that awaits all… Continue

Added by Christopher Swanson on November 16, 2010 at 9:00pm — No Comments

Waynesboro, VA...Small center, big results

12 lane center Wayne Lanes (Waynesboro, VA) reports that in the fist 15 days of their Merchant Coupon program (www.mcp.bmamkt.com) they received over 75 coupons, many of which far exceeded the $10 per visit average that the program typically produces.

Owner Shawn Lavender said "We've been… Continue

Added by Christopher Swanson on November 15, 2010 at 9:30pm — No Comments

What's Next?

Click on 'View Fred Kaplowitz's Blog' to see all my posts.

As much as we talk about training employees, hiring employees and getting better employees, it…

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Added by fred kaplowitz on November 15, 2010 at 11:04am — No Comments

Company Party booked from coupon

Merchant Coupons can be seen seen 24,000 times PER DAY (1000 daily visitors at 24 merchant partners) for 90+ days and are a great place to promote Birthday Party packages and Company Outings.

Classic Lanes (Rochester Hills, MI) recently received a phone call to book a 26 person Company Party from a local university. The… Continue

Added by Christopher Swanson on November 10, 2010 at 8:00pm — No Comments

988 new bowlers visits, $8 avg sale, birthday sales, 54 phone calls

Northern Lanes (Sanford, MI) reports that in the past 60 days they have received...988 Merchant Coupon (www.mcp.bmamkt.com) visits with an average sale of $8 each...2 birthday party sales from the 10% OFF offer...and… Continue

Added by Christopher Swanson on November 10, 2010 at 7:30pm — No Comments

Taking It to the Streets

Click on 'View Fred Kaplowitz's blog' to see all my posts.…

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Added by fred kaplowitz on November 10, 2010 at 10:21am — 4 Comments

What Do You Say? Part 4

Click on 'All Blog Posts,' then search using 'David Spiegel' to see all my posts.

The Casual Bowler…

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Added by David Spiegel on November 8, 2010 at 10:05am — No Comments

1st 30 days = 217 New Bowler visits, 3 birthday Party Sales

Emerson Lanes (Parkersburg, WV) reports that in the first 30 days of their latest Merchant Coupon Program (www.mcp.bmamkt.com) they have received 217 coupons from New Bowlers. On average, coupon users each spend $10 on shoe

rental, paid games and food/bev.

Plus, the center booked 3 Birthday Parties in the first 30 days from the coupon's "10%… Continue

Added by Christopher Swanson on November 6, 2010 at 10:00am — No Comments

Getting to the Change

Click on 'View Fred Kaplowitz's blog' to see all my posts.

I received a lot of feedback on my blogs about advertising campaigns and new technology, and…

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Added by fred kaplowitz on November 4, 2010 at 10:41am — No Comments

First Bowling Lesson With Coach Ray

Ray was in our Royal Pin office this afternoon before his bowling lesson at Woodland. So we decided to have my first lesson when I got off work today.

Again, I went to the bowling center front counter and got my rented shoes. Then walked the concourse to pick out my house balls. This time I moved up to a 10 and 12 lb. I went bowling with a friend last week and decided 8 is way too light if I want to knock any pins down.

Ray was finishing his first lesson with Billy, an…

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Added by Stacey R. Davis on November 1, 2010 at 8:00pm — 1 Comment