Newsletter - 2011 11
November 2011
Business Success
Brought to You By BMA Marketing
PERSONAL PARAGRAPH
Survey - is your center's Email Marketing Service subscription expense a waste?
Chris Swanson, Owner
Founded by Ray Tuttle
Is your Email Marketing service monthly subscription (Constant Contact, iContact, Vertical Response, Mail Chimp, etc.) often going unused?
My experience with email marketing agrees with the marketinggurus...ongoing email messages (like this newsletter) increase business from existing customers. So, we all must find a way to get our email marketing done each month.
I subscribe to hundreds of bowling center email lists but only receive regular email marketing from a small number of centers. I suspect our industry needs more automatic marketing (like our no-cost Data Entry and Email Coupon services) to move marketing tasks away from center staff.
Take a 1 question poll (and view all of the results) to share your Email Marketing Service experience... click here
MARKETING
How to Deliver the Perfect Speech
BMA Marketing
Wolcott CT 06716
(800) 603-3985
Outside Sales Promote...
- Company Outings
- New Bowler Visits
- Birthday Sales
Quick Quiz
Each month I’ll give you a new question. Just reply to this email for the answer.
What color is an octopus's blood?
Why Not Pass Me On?
If you've enjoyed this newsletter and found its information useful, please pass it to another business owner or a co-worker.
Worth Reading
Selections from the best articles seen online this month.
So you've got to give a speech. Well, to be effective, make sure you plan, prepare and practice. Following are some tips for crafting and delivering an effective, engaging speech. To begin with, make sure the topic is one you know and care about. Have a clear purpose, a theme or main message, and a desired outcome in mind.
Lay out the structure of your speech to the audience. Veteran speechwriters advise:
- Tell 'em what you're going to tell 'em;
- Tell it to 'em; and
- Tell 'em what you told 'em.
Reiterate your main message frequently and stick to the structure you lay out.
Organize the body of your presentation into three main points. Even if you plan to cover a range of different ideas in your speech, try to group them into three main points that all tie back to your main message.
Use stories and anecdotes to illustrate your three points. Stories are usually more memorable than raw facts and data, plus, when delivered in a conversational style, they help form a bond between you and your audience. Include only the most powerful facts and supporting data that help drive home your main message and your three main points.
Reading from a script is a big audience turnoff. Use cue cards with key points written on them to jog your memory.
Make eye contact and speak to everyone in the room. Avoid looking up, down or straight-ahead or focusing on a single person or group. Instead, involve the entire audience by making eye contact with different people in the room at different stages of your speech. One technique is to make eye contact with a different person each time you present a different thought.
A moderate amount of movement and natural hand gestures help keep people engaged. Too much movement, however, signals nervousness and distracts the audience. Avoid pacing or rocking back and forth. Project confidence by standing up straight. If you are standing behind a podium, step to the side at an appropriate time in your speech. This shows the audience you are not "hiding" behind the podium. Don't put your hands in your pockets.
Appropriate facial expressions can help you connect with the audience. If you say something funny, then smile. If you are discussing something serious, show a look of concern or empathy. Avoid looking either stone-faced or overemotional.
Vary your tone of voice and your speed. Use pacing and tone to emphasize the speech's structure and your key points. Pause for important ideas so the audience can absorb what you are saying and think about your words. Don't rush and don't try to speak over laughter or applause.
The most important thing you can do to improve your speech delivery is to practice. Become completely comfortable with your subject. Know your content. Practice your transitions. Plan out your timing. Rehearse the speech alone in front of a mirror, in front of friends and family, and in front of a video camera. Practice until you sound natural and feel relaxed and confident while delivering your speech.
HUMAN RESOURCES
How to Benefit When Hiring Experienced Workers
Marketing Lessons from Old Spice
The Old Spice Guy campaign is one of the most popular viral ad campaigns in history. Marketing agency Wieden & Kennedy, which dreamed up the Old Spice Guy, reveals its keys to success. They include focusing on short, snappy videos; pumping out plenty of content; keeping fans involved and engaged; and going big with marketing.
Five Signs It's Time to Change Your Prices
How do you know when your pricing is too high or too low? If your pricing is out of sync with your competitors, if you rely too much on sales and promotions, or if your business is attracting bargain-hunters, these are signs your pricing is wrong. First-time entrepreneurs often feel they must undercut competitors to win business. But good pricing is fair, reasonable and reflects the value of the product or service you provide.
BOOK REVIEW
Zero to One Million, by Ryan Allis
It's never a bad thing to hear about business success from someone who runs a successful business! You might not want to do what they have done, but at least you know that they have walked the walk.
Ryan Allis built a successful Internet business. This book tells his story and then pulls out some essential strategies for building your own company.
Much of the book is aimed at people who have not yet started a business. There's an interesting discussion on whether to go after outside investment or to bootstrap your business, and whether to create an enterprise you can sell for a lot of money or a "lifestyle" business that isn't worth many millions but gives you a comfortable living and a life under your own control.
For those already in business, there's useful information on marketing, product creation and team building - stories based on personal experience but with near-universal relevance.
Wisdom
Quotes by...John D. Rockefeller
"Every right implies a responsibility; Every opportunity, an obligation, Every possession, a duty."
"A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship."
"Don't blame the marketing department. The buck stops with the chief executive."
"I'd rather earn 1% off 100 people's efforts than 100% off my own efforts."
"Good leadership consists of showing average people how to do the work of superior people."
"I believe in the dignity of labor, whether with head or hand; that the world owes no man a living but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living."
"I can think of nothing less pleasurable than a life devoted to pleasure."
"I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money's sake."
Business veterans in the 45+ age bracket were hardest hit by the recession. Veteran employees with high salaries and benefits were first to be dismissed by corporations interested in cutting costs. However, an older workforce is a valuable asset if managed properly. A more experienced generation of workers brings cumulated experience, a strong work ethic and a greater sense of loyalty than today's "get what I can while I can" generation.
They're also invested in your company, since many in the higher end of the age bracket have had to postpone retirement due to financial setbacks that come with a recession.
Add to this an increase in responsibilities such as a mortgage, kids' college tuition and an interest in maintaining a more comfortable lifestyle, and it's easy to see why this workforce presents itself as far more reliable in the long run.
Some applicants will be routed toward new fields that will require supervisors to clearly communicate needs and expectations.
Since increased competition has driven down earnings, older employees may be forced to accept pay cuts - which can be a source of resentment, especially if their supervisors are younger than them. Offset this by offering measurable incentives and rewards.
Employers should also offer more autonomy and a "free-range" work environment, since a more mature team rarely needs over-the-shoulder monitoring.
In fact, managers can benefit from older workers' experience and utilize that asset by offering veteran colleagues roles as submanagers or mentors to younger and more inexperienced team members.
PERFORMANCE
Surprise! You Can Get More Done When You Nap
It might surprise you to know that taking a catnap during the day is actually a good idea. Daytime rest has been shown to improve health, mood, efficiency and even job satisfaction. Sleep experts say that naps are not just physically restorative, but also good for perception, motor skills, information retention, reaction time and alertness.
There is plenty of medical evidence to back up these assertions.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, confirmed that napping can improve the brain's ability to retain information, especially after sleep deprivation.
A study done at the University of Haifa in Israel showed that naps helped accelerate long-term memory consolidation.
James Maas, a sleep expert and social psychologist, who coined the term "power nap," points out that napping has long-term benefits too.
Regular napping can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, including stroke and heart attacks.
The best time for a catnap is between 1 and 3 p.m., or about eight hours after waking. Often at this time, the body feels drowsy and craves a rest.
The ideal length for a workplace nap is about 15 to 30 minutes. If longer, you may fall into a deeper stage of sleep and wake up feeling loopy.
Also, longer naps can make it difficult to fall asleep at night.
Employers are realizing that sleep is an important pillar of workplace well-being and productivity.
Exhaustion, overwork and stress can lead to negligent mistakes, low morale and high absenteeism.
Some progressive organizations, such as Google, even provide napping pods and renewal rooms for employees.
FINANCE
Why Bookkeeping Can Help Your Business Thrive
The bookkeeping process for a small business gets about as much respect as the children's table at a big family reunion. You know it's there, but coordinating the details isn't too important.
The excitement in business is conducting sales, creating marketing campaigns, implementing new technology, improving efficiencies, and expanding with new products or services. But bookkeeping is crucial. Business managers who give bookkeeping the attention it deserves are more likely to succeed in both good times and not-so-good economic environments.
Before assigning your bookkeeping process, evaluate the situation for your business. Maybe you or someone on your staff can handle the bookkeeping along with other tasks. But don't stick just anyone with the assignment. Select a person with bookkeeping ability.
If you're just getting started or you conduct business as an independent contractor, you might want to do the bookkeeping yourself. Take the responsibility seriously. Read a book or take a course on bookkeeping for nonaccountants. Then get a CPA to periodically check your work.
If you don't understand double-entry bookkeeping and can't determine whether to debit or credit an account, stay away from the bookkeeping and hire a professional.
Accurate bookkeeping gives clarity to your financial situation, allows for better planning, helps you avoid cash-flow problems, improves your ability to borrow or raise capital, and facilitates audit-proof tax preparation.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
A Bowling web site offer I want to share with you
A lot of my client centers use the BPAA Web design and hosting service and are very happy with the results and low cost... $199 template setup, then $15 / mo hosting. You can then login and enter your center name, address, phone, hours, etc. Easy as using email. Or you can have the BPAA Web Team load your new site with your center info for $199.
The BPAA Web Services group is offering a limited special...they will set up your site template for free (normally $199), and also waive the $15 a month hosting fee for the rest of 2011. So, starting in Jan 2012 the only cost is the $15 a month hosting.. More info...
Congrats to the BMA client centers and future customers who just switched their sites to the BPAA Web Services solution...
- Sunshine Bowl (Deland, FL) ...new site
- Ross Cottom Lanes (Harrisburg, IL) ...new site
- Katahdin Pins 'N Cues (Millinocket, ME) ...new site
INDUSTRY UPDATE
New Bowler Marketing Results
We are grateful for the opportunity to fill lanes in our client centers...
More results reported by our client centers... Click here
RESOURCES
BMA's Industry Partners and Resources
Contact our Industry Partners for immediate solutions. Also, when you select BMA to assist with filling lanes, you'll receive an exclusive email from us containing gifts and special offers from our partners...
BowlingIndustry.com - an online magazine + social networking community for bowling center owners, operators and professionals in the business of bowling.
BowlingMarketing.com - a complete bowling center marketing system that contains a ready to run Marketing Plan loaded with proven programs, timelines and task dates, customized material and weekly conference calls to drive and manage the process.
BowlingRewards.com - The Bowling Rewards program is a revolution in open play/league marketing and includes comprehensive database building features with electronic gift, cash back rewards and fundraising inside a single card.
BPAAWebServices.com - features rich web sites designed for bowling centers at a very reasonable cost. BMA is not affiliated with the BPAA, but our client centers tell us they are happy with their BPAA web site, so we are glad to pass along solutions that work. We like the killer features... email list manager, online party reservation system, easy to update on your own or have BPAA web masters update for a small fee...and more.
Partywirks.com - convert your website visitors into buyers by offering online scheduling and buying capability.
