To own The TrainerTainment Company Party Play Book!

I am so excited to show you our brand new product that we are releasing next week. If you haven’t signed up for our next webinar, I hope you’ll Sign Up Today. One lucky attendee will win the first copy of this great new comprehensive tool. I’ll show you all the great party planning ideas and sales tools that are included in this comprehensive guide. We plan to have a very interactive dialogue about how to make sure you book as many company parties as you possibly can this fall!

NOW back to my “Be First” title. This year has included a lot of firsts for me personally. Being first is all about winning or at least stepping out front to try something new. Repelling, zip lining, going to Costa Rica, paying the last child’s college bill, winning Biggest Loser at my gym, and working with many of you for the first time have all been exciting firsts for me this year.

I encourage you to look at some of your first time experiences of the year. As you gear up for the last 4 months of 2010, the end of a decade (seems like we were just talking about y2k yesterday), I encourage you to seek first time opportunities that you may not have considered in past years. Look at the people you would like to do business with and call them. Invite them into your center, and express your desire to do business with them. All they can tell you is, "No," and heck – that’s where you are today.

Read on for more Firsts.

I want to use the newsletter this week to make a couple of exciting announcements. At TrainerTainment^®, we are committed to delivering training that helps the companies we serve get more money to the bottom line. One of the ways we do that is through free webinars. We produce those webinars live, and you can participate and view them during that time. After that free webcast, we store those training sessions in our webinar library that can be viewed and shared with your team members 24/7 when you sign up for Xpress Training^TM.

This week’s newsletter includes our webinar schedule for the rest of the year. We invite you to put these dates on your calendar and join us for this great series.

September Webinar, Tuesday, 9/14/2010 (11:30 a.m. CDT) – Want to Know More?

Attend this webinar and win a brand new FREE TrainerTainment^® product. We are very excited to release the new COMPANY PARTY PLAYBOOK! You can be the first to see this great new tool. Join us live when we use the webinar venue as the format to roll out this new product. One lucky webinar attendee will win the 1^st copy of this complete guide to building great company products and selling them all the time to everyone!

October Webinar, Thursday, 10/14/2010 (11:30 a.m. CDT) – Make the Most of Your Holiday Season

From parties to stocking stuffers, the holidays give you a way to bring new business into your center all season long. Attend this webinar if you want to learn the top 10 ways to get people to spend more money at your family entertainment center this year!

November/December–End of Year Strategic Planning Webinar Series

The new year is a time to wipe the slate clean. Will you be in position to sell more than ever before? Participate in this 4–part series and know that you will begin 2011 planning to have the best year of sales that you’ve ever had! This series is a step–by–step process that is more than simple resolutions or goal setting. Join other FEC sales managers, GMs, owners, and front line team members. Together, we’ll create a strategic plan that is sure to blow the doors off of any sales goal you may have had in the past!

Continue Reading to Find the Complete End of Year Lineup!!

Meet Lexi. You might guess by looking at her picture that she’s bright and probably does a great job answering the phone. I met Lexi first by phone and email. She works for one of the centers that we serve, and about 10 months ago, she was required to implement our birthday sales qualification process. The way our program works is that we provide remote coaching and a script to anyone who answers the phone. The goal is, with a “sales process” in place, we can take the incoming birthday inquiry and turn it into a sale 9 times out of 10. We have shoppers that call to book birthday parties and then send immediate feedback to the center that rates the quality of the call.

In the beginning, when Lexi was shopped, she made sure to follow back up with us when and if she didn’t score 112% (there are bonus points). I spent time encouraging and coaching Lexi. She was doing a good job and getting good scores, but I felt like she might be missing the point. I admired the fact that she wanted to get a perfect score every time, but the real goal was to use the system in order to book more parties.

Last week I got to visit with Lexi in person, and I was so motivated I had to share her comments with you, and how she has helped her facility to increase birthday revenue by 49% this year.

Read on and see how they did it!

Communication, connection, and conversation. That’s the big buzz, and if we can’t get good at it, then in many ways, we are going to be disconnected from our customers because we have chosen not to communicate with them.

I am in no way, shape, or form a social media whiz or a marketing guru, but I can share with you the "must haves" that I think have helped my business succeed, as well as the things that I think a family entertainment center must embrace in order to have a credible presence in the marketplace today.

The "Must Haves":

1. You must have a web site that doesn’t look like your brother–in–law created it in his spare time. Here is a partial list of the things that drive me crazy as a consumer and as a training company. When we go to a web site to check out a client, here are the common things that I see that scream, “They don’t know what they are doing!”

   Read the rest of the article for the facts

I participated in the Bowling Centers Association of Michigan’s show last week. It was absolutely amazing. They had record attendance. I was invited to present our class that focuses on providing GREAT promotions year round. This seminar is a lot of fun, and the group as a whole shared amazing promotional ideas. I was so impressed with the Michigan board that put the show on and the bowling center owners that seem so committed to growing their businesses in the great state of Michigan despite the economy. You couldn’t miss the energy that surrounded the event. BPAA Executive Director, Steve Johnson, even commented on how well done and exciting the event was.

I think they are passionate about what they are doing in the state of Michigan. I’ve always thought a lot of Roger Philipi, and it was neat on the night of the banquet and awards to watch every single recipient honestly give recognition to others as they received the attention they deserved. It was obvious to me that they are passionate about their association and that they “get it” that they are truly in service one to another!

We had good trade show time, and I was able to meet proprietors that I had not met before as well as other vendors. I love the opportunity to talk with other business owners. As a business owner myself, I feel like we all experience many of the same joys and challenges of ownership. I am particularly motivated when I meet someone who loves what they do. My friend, CEO of Bowling Music Network, Jim Juniper, is an extraordinary business owner from whom I’ve learned a lot. He introduced me to Abid Skeikh, who is the owner of a sock company. Expert Hosiery, LLC.

Read the rest of this entry »

I hope you enjoyed last week’s article about Jimmy, a true Customer Service Superstar. This week, in Part 2, I’m so excited to tell you about one of my favorite companies on the planet. If you’ve ever seen one of my seminars, particularly on the subject of customer service, you’ve no doubt heard me mention this company. I’m a true-blue fan of Starbucks.

How do I love thee, Starbucks? Let me count the ways:

1. The environment. I love the paint colors they use at Starbucks. I love the overstuffed chairs and coffee tables, along with desks and chairs so that students and businesspeople can hang out and get their work done. I’ve moved my mobile office (a/k/a laptop) to Starbucks on many occasions just to get a change of scenery and foster creativity. I love the music they play and that they give you access to free music downloads and free wi-fi. They’re just cool that way.
2. The commitment. I love that Starbucks is committed to their communities and the environment. Did you know that when you buy their Ethos water, you’re helping to provide clean water to people around the globe who wouldn’t otherwise have it? Kind of makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?
3. The consistency. I know that every time I order my iced grande soy no-whip mocha that it will be made the same way. The barista is going to take a grande-sized clear plastic cup, put in 4 pumps of chocolate, 2 shots of espresso, and fill it to the bottom line with soy milk. Then the barista will stir it up before adding ice and a lid. They’ll serve it to me with a straw, a smile, and a greeting that will brighten my day. And if, for some reason, they are out of the shorter green straws, they will take the longer, brown straw and cut it off for me so that it’s the length of the green straw. Yes, I’ve asked them to do that several times, and they don’t mind at all. I don’t know what it is about the longer straw, but it just doesn’t work for me!
4. The people. All of this wouldn’t matter if Starbucks didn’t hire the greatest people. And that leads me to a couple of stories about Customer Service Superstars.

Read the rest of this entry »

We just got back from Bowl Expo. What a great week. It was good to see so many of you and frustrating that the week wasn’t longer so that we could spend more time with you all.

This week is filled with follow up. If you stopped by the booth, we’ll be calling you to follow up with a 20–minute FREE consultation. I will work with you and/or your team personally to address any specific sales, party, training, guest service, or leadership needs. If you didn’t stop by, then you are not on our call list, but please know that throughout the summer, I’ll be offering this 20–minute free consultation session to anyone that asks. All you need to do is call 817.886.4840 to set up a time.

I’ll keep the newsletter short and to the point today. Our real training focus this week is on how to hire the best outside sales person. I invite you to attend a mock interview WEBINAR on Thursday at 11:30 AM CST. This webinar will include a handout with the best interview questions to review with a potential outside sales candidate. Click here to sign up now.

I have found that, many times, sales candidates are great at selling themselves and not so good at selling your Family Entertainment Center. I believe that the interview questions that we’ve put together help to identify the best candidate for the job. I hope you’ll join us on Thursday. All attendees will receive the interview questions, and we’ll add these questions to the resources that anyone can grab if you are a member of Xpress Training.

I hope you had a fantastic 4th of July. It’s such a wonderful holiday – albeit very HOT here in Texas. I find that this holiday is the best opportunity to specifically take the time to reflect on why it is good to be an American. I thought of you all and because our readership is large I believe that there are many of you who have served our country or who have sons, daughters, spouses, or other family members that serve us all today. Thank you all so much for your sacrifice and commitment to our freedom. It means everything to me that your willingness to serve and put your family at risk makes it possible for my family and me to work and live free in the greatest country in the world.

We always appreciate your input and would enjoy discussing any problems or questions you might have on Outside Sales.