Newsletter - 2012 06
June 2012
Business Success
Brought to You By BMA Marketing
BREAKING NEWS
How to improve party sales and call quality
I keep hearing really great birthday party sales calls from Steve at Clintonville Lanes in Clintonville WI and got permission to share some of the calls.
Clintonville Lanes is part of Gary Hilbert's 5 center chain that uses BMA's Merchant Coupons to fill lanes with thousands of new bowlers and generate more Birthday Parties.
An included feature in our coupon campaigns is that we can place a tracking phone number on the coupon. It connects to the center, so it's transparent to the caller and center staff. The tracking number measures how many calls the coupon campaign generates.
Even better, it records (100% legal) every call and sends a weekly Call Report to center management who can listen to any call in 1 click. Management can confirm their marketing is generating leads and sales, plus confirm which staff are closing sales and providing great service, or identify who needs more training.
Here's a video with one of the calls... click here
MARKETING
Online Networking Can Help Your Business Grow
Online business networking sites can be terrific sources of ideas and support for business owners, executives, entrepreneurs and job seekers. There are any number of business networking sites to choose from; many of them are targeted toward small and medium enterprises (SMEs), while others focus on startups or specific business niches. Here are a few to consider:
LinkedIn is the world's largest online professional network, with more than 150 million members. The site's blog covers wide-ranging business topics and is especially useful for companies that do business globally.
BizSugar is an online blogging community and content-sharing site dedicated to the exchange of ideas and trends of interest to small-business owners.
BraveHeart Women is an inspirational site where women can make connections and access resources on everything from personal development to money management.
Talkbiznow is a comprehensive interactive business networking site providing business services and opportunities for collaboration.
StartupNation offers practical business advice to people who want to start or grow their businesses.
In order to get the most out of online business networking sites, don't spread yourself too thin; it's best to select one or two that most closely match your own needs. Spend time looking at what they offer, and visit forums. Once you've found the right one, use the resources and get to know other people on the site. It's what networking is all about.
MANAGEMENT
Business Is a Science, but Business Success Is an Art
Chris Swanson, Owner
BMA Marketing
Wolcott CT 06716
(800) 603-3985
Outside Sales Promote...
- Company Outings
- New Bowler Visits
- Birthday Sales
Auto Email Marketing...
- Promotes your birthday parties 3 times
- Includes Holiday and seasonal campaigns
- Done-for-you on-demand emails as requested
Why Not Pass Me On?
If you've enjoyed this newsletter and found its information useful, please forward it to another business owner or a co-worker.
Worth Reading
Selections from the best articles seen online this month.
A Simple Question That Can Make or Break Your Business
Do you know what "yelpers" think about your company? No question, "yelping," or "word-of-mouth", can make or break your business. So gauge your customer loyalty by asking customers how likely they are to recommend your business to others. The feedback is valuable for all aspects of your business, including marketing, customer service and product development. Janine Popick recommends you survey customers regularly to identify strengths and weaknesses, address issues, and assess trends over time.
5 Reasons You Need to Meet in Person
Technology allows people to communicate quickly and efficiently, but personal, face-to-face connections still matter. In F2F meetings, you can make an impression with your style and presentation: establish trust and build relationships by exchanging small talk, and read body language. Personal interactions also mean you can listen for nonverbal cues.
LINKS YOU CAN USE
This Month: First Aid for Your PC
Most computers have trouble at some point, usually a virus or crash. For non-techies, the options seem limited and repair services are often overpriced. Luckily there are some free, user-friendly tools that may solve your problems, saving you time, headaches and money.
This is a popular anti-virus scanner with a comprehensive virus database that picks up the majority of malware or spyware that may be infecting your computer. Use it in conjunction with a free antivirus platform such asAVG.
This program scans many areas of your system for common problems; it can fix problems with your registry and hard drive and automatically optimize your system settings. It also has a built-in virus scanner and disk defragmenter.
Wisdom
Quotes on...Attitude
Being assertive does not mean attacking or ignoring others' feelings. It means that you are willing to hold up for yourself fairly - without attacking others.
Albert Ellis, Michael Abrams, Lidia Dengelegi
Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.
William James
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
Herm Albright
No matter what industry or business you're in, starting up a new company is as much an art as a science.Business templates have their foundation in science, starting with a business plan that forces business owners to develop a methodical and calculable approach for their new endeavor.Business plans offer a valuable timeline and goals.
Market research needs to be conducted, the competition needs to be studied, and business owners need to check assets and investments to ensure a balanced budget.
Logic and emotion
All this leads to a road map, crafted by science and shying away from on-the-fly, emotional decisions that could contribute to business failure.
While you should treat your new business as a science in establishing it, you need to fuse it with art if you want it to succeed.
Art may not have been important as recently as five years ago, but with the rise of the social web and its emphasis on social interaction, art has become critical to branding, recognition and, ultimately, sales.
Consumers now don't just want to do business; they want to engage, feel part of a bigger story.
Quoted recently at Entrepreneur.com, Stanford and UC Berkeley Professor Steve Blank extends the argument for art one step further by adding that "illogical ideas are how society achieves progress."
Citing Virgin Group's Richard Branson and the late Steve Jobs, Blank argues the ideas that initially seemed the craziest are the ones that have proven most successful.
So while business is a science, business success is most definitely an art.
TECHNOLOGY
Social, Mobile and Cloud Technology Perfect for Small Businesses
One key trend involves the increasing use of social media. About half of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) currently use social media, and those that take a structured, strategic approach are seeing meaningful positive results. New social media tools that are easier to use, better integrated and more affordable are becoming available, including crowd-sourced pricing and video commerce.
Another hot trend is the burgeoning demand for cloud-based solutions. The case for cloud computing is compelling: affordability, efficiency, speed, functionality and collaboration capabilities. Most SMEs don't have the staffing or expertise needed for in-house IT and are turning to cloud solutions for services ranging from marketing automation to analytics and virtualization.
The demand for mobile business applications is also helping accelerate the adoption of cloud technology, as companies seek to offload management of mobile applications to cloud solutions providers. Mobile use of collaboration apps is now mainstream, and apps for mobile payments, field service and customer information management are becoming increasingly popular.
Another notable tech trend is the shift from disparate solutions for voice and data communications, customer relationship management, social media, and online collaboration to integrated offerings, which are generally less costly, easier to manage and simpler to use.
It's a brave new world for tech-savvy business owners.
ENTREPRENEURS
Succeed in Business With Positive Psychology
In our consumer-oriented, work-obsessed society, happiness has become defined by how much we have.
We've been trained to believe we'll be happier if we have more, and we believe we can have more by being more successful.
But success isn't a magic pill; it has to be earned. Based on the current model, success is earned by hard work, so our current business/life formula is to work harder to be happier.
However, despite all our hard work, most businesses aren't successful at the level that guarantees happiness.
Of course there are exceptions. For some time, Internet technology has been the proven way to reach the pinnacle of success, and many companies have done just that.
Apple, Facebook and Twitter - to name just a few - are poster companies for success. And they did this by escaping what Shawn Achor, founder of Good Think Inc., describes as the "cult of the average."
Today's scientists and researchers all reach for the average and essentially define normal based on that. But according to Achor, if we study the average, we remain average. He suggests the new goal should be to reset average by pushing it ever higher.
To do this in the workplace, we have to incorporate positive psychology, which doesn't focus on negatives, like competition and office politics, but rather on positives, like cooperation and support. This breeds business success through increased intelligence, accuracy, work product quality, resilience, creativity and energy, while lessening burnout and turnover.
And if we're very positive, happiness, too, may be ours.
INDUSTRY UPDATE
New Merchant Coupon Client Centers
We are grateful for the new opportunities to fill lanes at...
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.
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.
Max Cook / Stardust Marketing - Over 45 years experience in recreation and entertainment facility operations. Multi-unit responsibility for the past 20 years. Experience in employee relations, contract negotiation, grievance handling, and conflict resolution. Development and execution of business plan and budget responsibilities. Strong marketing background with a proven track record of execution.
Partywirks.com - convert your website visitors into buyers by offering online scheduling and buying capability.
