Controversy

I had a pretty animated conversation with a friend recently about the topic of sales and marketing.  He made the case that all the MBA studies suggest that “sales” is a subset of marketing.

I don’t have an MBA and I don’t agree.  I think sales and marketing are distinguishably different from one another.  Marketing is an indirect attempt at selling.  I personally think it’s easier than selling and respectfully recognize that there are a whole lot of marketing managers who might disagree.  Selling is a direct action where individuals ask others to buy their stuff. The direct act of asking for the order can be, and is often, met with rejection.  Rejection is hard even for those with very thick skin.

Can marketing support sales?  Sure.  Can a good sales person create business without marketing?  You bet.  Can a sales person spend a lot of time participating in marketing efforts only to miss sales opportunities because they were indirect in their contact with a potential buyer?  Yes-Yes-Yes!

So what’s the answer?  I’m certain I do not have ALL of the answers.  I do believe when you spend millions of dollars opening a beautiful new facility that it makes perfect sense to have professional marketing materials that support the things you sell.

I also believe you must participate in a social media marketing effort; and that your social media must be managed with equal professionalism on a daily basis.  Marketing through social media gives us the opportunity to connect with our customers every day.  I’ll take it one step further to say that social media may be the first form of an indirect marketing effort turning into a direct contact or conversation with a customer because of the engagement between you and the customer, and the customer’s engagement with one another about your facility.

Finally, I feel that creating a well-trained inside and outside sales team devoted to the direct effort of selling your facility is THE single most important thing you can do to perform significantly better than you performed in the past.  If you want to be the leader in your industry, you must run a great operation AND create a strong sales team.  Gone are the days of “build it and they will come”… they may come once but competition is great.  Our attention spans are short.  You must market and sell your facility on a daily basis.

EVERYONE in you facility participates in the direct effort of selling you product or not. I walked into a bowling center in west Texas last week.  After waiting patiently for a couple of team members to quit talking to each other, I asked if I could get some information about booking a birthday party.  The young woman at the desk said nothing but turned her back to me to get an unprofessional copy from a notebook.  The “flyer” (and I use that term loosely) was tucked away from the eye of the customer.  It seemed like I was interrupting her in order to get the information.  Note: There was nothing going on in the center.  Not one lane of bowling was happening. The sales associate said NOTHING to me about booking an event.  No questions about the birthday person.  No information at all, she just handed me the sheet.

I then asked if she had any details about booking a group event.  Her short reply was, “The manager handles anything like that.”  This was a random stop. Though it’s not a random event.

Are your people product experts?  You can’t possibly know all the sales you are losing because you don’t have a system for selling in place.  I think you have to be ready ALL of the time to perform the direct act of selling if you intend to succeed at the highest level.

Wow, it sounds like I’m preaching this week…the business is out there.

How much of it are you getting to the bottom line?  How do your sales and marketing systems stand up to the competition?  Where are you spending your time and money when it comes to growing sales? Let us know in the comments section below!

 

 

Trading Panic for Peace

It occurred to me this morning that there is always a choice about how to feel and react to any situation.

On the way to the airport American Airlines called. When  the automated voicemail starts with, “I’m sorry,” you know your flight has been cancelled. Sure enough my 10:40 am flight to San Francisco was cancelled.

I waited a couple of minutes.  My son had ran into the store on our way. With my frequent flyer status they usually call me; and I just catch the next flight out.

Not so lucky this morning.  They did not call quickly enough so I called them. There was a flight at 9:15 am so if I had been my normal neurotic self, arriving at the airport a full two hours ahead of time then I would have been pulling into the airport with plenty of time to spare.

No such luck initially. I got a call while I was on the phone with an agent and they were trying to confirm me on the 9:40 pm.  That was a no go.  We have a reception at the BPAA Bowling Summit @ 6 pm.  It looked like I was going to have to fly another carrier.  Panic began to rear its ugly head.  Not only would I not have my first class seat, I’d probably wind up in a middle seat.  Then I will have to rush to the show floor after hoping my luggage and car work out OK.

Oh I can feel the panic mount.

And then, for a moment I chose peace  … I decide Jordan and I will have brunch at Blue Mesa and I’ll have him drop me off at the airport to hang out at the admirals club.

There’s not much I can do about the situation and I don’t really want to give all my energy over to panic and stress. It was awesome.  The work that I chose to do involves travel. With travel comes some of these moments. I have a choice and the reality is there are all kinds of options. Some are better than others and in the whole scheme of things this is just another day at work.

And then, just as they were getting ready to confirm the other flight the automated system called in and said my flight was departing at 9:55 am.  I can make that flight if I hurry! Now my peace is replaced with a little panic.

The agent made a note in my record that I was on the way. I drove somewhat fast but realized getting stopped would make me late so I split the difference between how fast I wanted to drive and the actual speed limit.

My son was a bit annoyed because as a normal person he can see that we were going to make it with time to spare. I have the added concerns of, “Will they let me check the bags … Is it really ok for me to zip in at 9:05 for a flight that was originally scheduled for 9:15?”  “Can I get through TSA in time?”  I know it’s snotty, but, “Will I get my 1st class seat?”

And the answers –  all the answers –  were yes. It all worked out just fine. The lady at ticketing wouldn’t give me seat.  But I did not stress too bad. Maybe I did a little, but I did not panic and this was one of those situations that can get me every time.

I can’t say how I managed with little to no panic this morning. Maybe it’s age or experience. I’d like to think that there’s a little wisdom and peace at work in my life.  I know for sure that I’m not the mellowing type but I am a good learner.

The point is:  There are a lot of things that can rile us up and hardly anything is worth the energy it costs.

Holy cow!!! There’s a ton of turbulence on this flight today

See you next week- I hope. 🙂

Wise Advice

I’d like to introduce you to a friend and fan of ours!  This proprietor is wise, interested in learning, and often sends follow-up to our newsletters and training.  It is my intent to begin to share some of his wise advice so I think it is appropriate to introduce you to:

 

“Adwiser – The Proprietor”

 

This week’s note from our friend Adwiser was very timely.  I think the beginning of the year is a perfect time to revisit your plan, your vision, and the mission of how to accomplish all that you want to accomplish in the New Year!  As an entrepreneur it’s so easy to get distracted from the mission at hand as you chase every shiny ball that bounces your way.  Even if you don’t own the business I would suggest that you own your part of the business and that distractions can be the order of the day.

When it comes to sales, it’s very easy to move off the direct selling path on to marketing.  Marketing is about materials and getting the word out about what’s going on in your center.  It is not the same as selling.  The plan for sales is different or should be different than marketing.  When you market no one directly tells you no.  Marketing is an indirect act of selling.  Sales require you to directly ask buyers to purchase your stuff. 

Having a solid plan for the business or your part of the business is your key to success.  Stay focused.  You’ll know if you are winning or not and then and only then do you change course.  My friend Adwiser gives a few simple rules below as to how to stay the course:

A.    Affirmation’s

 

  1. STICK TO WHAT YOU DO BEST.
  2. Have ONE field and the harvest will sustain you. Have MANY fields and you may get consumed by insects and Eat Dirt.  (Could Adwiser be a farmer?)
  3. Perfect and improve YOUR skills every day. (Practice and learn everyday)

 

B.     Criteria for Decision Making

 1. WRITE UP A CRITERIA (have one)

  • Have you thought about how you make decisions?
  • Do you know what it takes for you to say yes?
  • Are there deal breakers for you with regard to decision making?

2. As with all worthwhile endeavors—Learn and be strong enough to make changes in your criteria when you discover a better choice or recognize that some choices are not sound.

3. Hoping, Wishing, and Crossing your Fingers are NOT strong CRITERIA for making decisions.

4. Strong GUT FEELINGS, INSTINCTS, and EXPERIENCE provide a better foundation and history for deciding how to best make decisions.

(When asked, a seasoned CEO’s reply about how she learned about how to have good judgment was a simple two word answer:  Bad Judgment)

C. Examples of useful CRITERIA-Think of the criteria as the (IT) of the decision…

1. WILL it CONTRIBUTE to our Business Model, and strengthen our operational and financial position?

2. What will it cost in terms of alternate opportunities, cash, and other resources?

3. Will it contribute to MAKING MY LIFE BETTER? This is the ROL or Return on Life investment in time, energy, & talent.

4. Can it help me spend more time with my spouse, children, friends, and other meaningful relationships which are really the measure of our value at the end of our lives?

ADWISER

Ask Great Questions

Have you ever had a dining experience where you were left at the table for way too long without service? Or been out shopping, and unable to purchase the item you wanted because you could not find the right size, and there was no one around to help? These are common experiences, especially around the holiday season when restaurants and store have been busier than normal. If there are any subpar service experiences in your recent past I encourage you to remember them now, and think about how it could be better this year.

What we know at TrainerTainment is that selling is all about being available to serve your customers. The number one key to success in sales is finding out what the guest needs and giving them just that. Sounds simple? It certainly can be! The first step to closing the deal is asking good questions.

Lets take the example of going out to dinner. Food service is a pretty easy sell over all right? I mean come on your hungry, you go to a restaurant, and you order food. It is unlikely that a person would sit down at a restaurant unsure if they wanted to make a purchase or not.  So we know that the food will sell itself, but what about the service. Where does the server really make their cut from the experience?

Gratuity is the take home for anyone working in a service-based business. In the example of food service, the server will see the quality of their service reflected from the tip they receive. This holds true for the Family Entertainment Industry as well. The amount of repeat business you have shows gratitude from your customers, and getting people back in your doors is dependent on the quality of service provided during each experience.  Today there are many activities for families to choose from, and quality service can help your center stand apart from the rest.

When you go to a restaurant your server will take your drink and food orders, and if they deliver the right order in a timely fashion you will be satisfied with the service provided. In this scenario we all expect quality service, and it is easy to know what questions to ask about dinner. When it comes to party or group event planning though the conversation becomes a bit more complicated. How can you structure the right questions from your employees to find out the needs of the guest?

As part of the Sales Shopper Program we train our clients on a successful selling method that is built around providing quality service. We train our clients to ask great questions that connect with the caller, qualify their needs, and close the sell. Finding out the needs of the guest makes it easy to achieve success. This is easily accomplished when the purchase is tangible – like buying food or clothing. Selling an experience, like a birthday party or group event, can take a little more skill. So, let the Sales Shopper team help design the perfect sales script for your center in 2012!

~ Amanda Standlee

Resolve To Make More Money This Year

If you are looking for a New Year’s resolution this week that’s sure to make your business more money, then take the following quote to heart. Resolve to “pull” more information from your customers rather than to “push” your specials on them.

“Social media done right is continuous brand engagement which is a careful mixture of content, quality, and volume. Spewing out spam (Shamelessly promoting yours or others products without offering significant value) whether on Twitter, LinkedIn or on a blog is not likely to be very effective for you.”

I found this post on LinkedIn.  A guy named Tom Anderson, who is actually a LinkedIn connection of a connection of mine, wrote it.  He responded to a post put out by someone who I do know.  While I’m not sure who Tom Anderson is, I liked what he had to say – in particular I liked how he said it.

We, TrainerTainment, were lucky enough in 2011 to recruit Brooke Ballard a real leader, and cutting edge researcher and thinker of Social Media.  During the last 10 months Brooke has talked a lot about engagement and relationship building with your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms.

The thing that keeps coming back to us from our customer is “Show Me the Money!”  I think that’s a great command by you our reader. And so, I’ll pass that back to you. Can you give us specific examples marketing efforts that have given you a specific return on your money?

To me, marketing is more art than science. You have to do a lot of it. The great thing with social media is that you can market every day at a price that is affordable.  Did you resolve this year to dedicate 3%-7% of your revenue to marketing?  I did.  In today’s economy, the only businesses that will win will be those that invest in consistent sales and marketing.  They won’t visit your center or use your product unless you are top of mind.  There are too many distractions, competitors, and this economy is too shaky for you to depend on customer memory.

Finally, and I’ll stop preaching and pass this week’s message on to Brooke and let her tell one of our success stories with Social Media (She actually helped book holiday events through Twitter communication).

You’ve got to add a dedicated focus on sales, and excellent execution to your marketing resolutions.  I’ll talk more about those topics in the coming weeks.

Happy New Year!

~ Beth

We’ve been working with Shenaniganz for over six months now. By having daily conversations on Facebook and Twitter, we’ve really been able to get in touch with our community. We know that “likes” and followers aren’t enough to fuel social media in a monetary sense, so we work hard to look for ways to start conversing with or fans and followers.

When someone checks in – we say welcome and hello. If someone mentions they had a great time at our facility, we tell them thank you and remind them of our upcoming specials. It’s never contrived and ALWAYS sincere.

After working diligently on Twitter for several months, we started to see more and more people mention Shenaniganz. Each time, we’d thank them and try and spark a little conversation; “Glad you had a great time bowling! Did you know we have a contest to win 365 days of free bowling?! Check it out: (insert link here).”

One day, a mommy blogger mentioned Shenaniganz, and as always, we used it as a catalyst to start a conversation. The conversation, which took place over several days, produced two Holiday party leads (her husband’s company and her sister-in-law’s company), a mommy blogger group following us on Facebook and Twitter (of course they all ran to our Facebook page to like us and enter that free bowling contest for their kids!), and countless sign ups for our newsletter (the lure of our “12 Days of Giveaways” for the Holidays was just too exciting for these moms to pass up). This mommy group often shares or retweets our information out to numerous Dallas moms – an act that is priceless in the FEC world.

Of course, true (and good) conversation is an art, and had we thrust our deals in this mommy’s face we probably wouldn’t have gotten the same results. But we cultured the relationship, we showed that we cared, and we offered to help – which is what social media is truly meant to do.

If you want to make money using social media like Shenaniganz, stop focusing on the “media” in social media and start focusing on the SOCIAL. Yes, Facebook, Twitter, and other social sites are great advertising platforms. But as with any great thing, the more you work it, the more it will work for you – and ROI, or ROC (return on conversation) as we like to call it, takes dedicated, consistent, and thoughtful hard work!

~ Brooke

Pin It on Pinterest