I saw this sign in a restaurant the other day. It cracked me up and got me to thinking. You may call me hokey with this week’s newsletter but I had the coolest customer service experience this weekend with (if you can believe it) the PHONE Company.

I try to NEVER call the phone company. The frustration is more than I can stand. My experience has been that I don’t get to speak to anyone who lives close to Texas!

I don’t know about you, but I have a difficult time believing that someone around the world can really help me solve my problem here at home. I respect the job that all customer care centers are trying to do, but it irritates me, so I hope that I never have a problem.

Unfortunately, I did the dumbest thing. I pay my home phone bill online. I love online banking. However, I have an inactive account for an old phone number in my bill pay list; and I paid that account in February rather than the active account. So when I received my bill that is due in March, it showed that I was late. I almost paid double just to avoid calling the customer service line. I did call, and much to my surprise, I reached someone that sounded like they live on this side of the pond! She listened to my goof and assured me that we could get it taken care of. True to form, she couldn’t take care of it herself but she could wave the $6.00 fee that was assessed as a late charge. She took the initiative and asked me the question as to whether or not there was a charge. COOL! I love initiative. She explained that she needed to send me to a different department that could resolve the issue completely. It appears that they have a lost payment department at the phone company. Who knew?

This lady was also someone that speaks my language as her first language. This is my lucky day! Remember, this is a mistake that I made. She acted as if it was not a problem at all. She even gave me an example of how she had made a similar mistake herself. It happens. I had the proof from my bank that the payment had been sent so she asked me to fax that over. I also found a way to make a claim at the bank, so I did that and sent it to her as well.

I’m only a couple of days from the call but I have confidence that the problem will be resolved. It struck me that I probably was on the phone as long as I normally am in this type of situation. But my frustration level was – well, I wasn’t frustrated at all. I felt supported and like the people on the other end of the line really cared about fixing my problem.

So here’s the hokey part. I raised my children in the 80’s and 90’s. Do you remember Care Bears? I do, and I immediately got the sense that we should give Care Bear awards when our staff gives great guest service! I told you it was hokey. I’m going to take it one step further and give you an acronym for CARE.

• C – Communicate (Be there. Talk to your guest. Listen.)
• A – Assure (Give assurance that you can take care of them.)
• R – Resolve (Get to a point of resolution. There’s always a way to make things right.)
• E – Enthusiasm (Do it with your own level of enthusiasm. It matters to a guest that they matter to you.)

Have you had a surprising great guest service moment in the last 2 weeks? Feel free to share it here!

1. Someone wants to buy something.
2. A want or need requires fulfillment.
3. An emotional connection is made between the buyer and the seller.

A great salesperson is someone who is committed to helping others. That person is not interested in pitching their product because they want to sell you something. They are interested in finding out how and if their product can make a difference in the buyer’s life. The first method of selling is self–centered and less effective. Daniel Goleman, author of Social Intelligence: The New Science of Human Relationships, describes that inward , self–centered pitch approach as something that makes your world contract and limits your opportunity to connect with others. That lack of connection makes it difficult to sell anything. Conversely, when you are customer–centered, your world and opportunities naturally expand. This isn’t anything you have to learn. It’s comes with caring about others and helping them with their buying needs.

At the highest level of sales, whether you sell a Pepsi or a BMW, the emotion between the buyer and the seller can make all the difference. When people are buying an event at your center, you better believe the emotional impact of that purchase is right at the top of the buyer’s mind whether they know it or not. No one wants an event to flop. Whether it is a company party, a reunion, a birthday, or a bachelor’s party, the event planning buyer has a lot at stake. As the event planning seller, you have the responsibility to help your buyer feel completely comfortable and excited about the prospect of having their event at your center. You can do that with these 5 simple rules.

1. Have confidence in your product. You must be a product expert in order to exude this type of confidence.
2. Qualify (Click here to download the SALES TOOLS Section of Training the Front Line guide FREE)
•   “Mr. or Mrs. Customer, please tell me more about your event. If you could picture it perfect what would it look like?”
•   “Tell me a little more about your group. Is it families, all men or women, or a mix of adults only?”
•   “Depending on the time of day, we have several food options. Were you planning to provide food, or are you mostly interested in fun?”
•   “Were you wanting to come on the weekened or a weekday? Daytime or evening?”
3. Assure. With enough information in the qualifying segment of the conversation with your event planner prospect, you now know what to offer or pitch. If you had started selling before now, you may or may not have provided the best information to plan the best event possible for this guest.
   •   ““Ms. Customer, I think I have enough information so that we can plan the best experience for your group. I want to make it easy for you to decide to have your special group event at our center.” When you use a word like special, you convey as a sales person, that you understand the emotion of this purchase.
4. Present and review the agreement with the confidence that you have met this customer’s needs because you understood the goals of the group event up front.
5. Get the deposit and celebrate the excellent decision this customer has made by booking their event in your center.

I sincerely believe that good salespeople really care about the people who buy their products and have a belief that their product can do something for the buyer. It’s good to be sold on what you are selling, but it’s better to be sold on what the buyer wants to buy! Do you know what your product does for others? I’d be interested in learning the ways that you know your product helps others. Please use the blog as a forum to sell us, you, and your customers on why they should be having their next group event at your center!

If you would like additional information about this topic feel free to join us tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. for our free webinar – Handling the Group Sales Call.

BELIEVE IT! We have the opportunity to see so many entertainment facilities across this great country and even around the world once in a while. This week, in addition to being part of the greatest snow storm in the history of the Northeast, I got to work with an amazing team at a place called Laserdome in Lancaster, PA.

Believe me when I tell you that you can’t imagine what they have going on in this quaint little town. Laserdome, as its name suggests, has a terrific lasertag facility featuring Lasertron equipment. They also have this cool dome that is the home for a product they sell called Laser Concert.I did not know what a Laser Concert was. When owner, Karl Ross, explained the product, it sounded pretty neat. But when I saw it, I was completely blown away! Thus the title for our newsletter this week. Do you have something in your center that has that – “YOU GOTTA SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT” – quality? I believe this is a strong marketing message.

Laser Concert, in simple terms, is a theater in the dome with music and a laser light show that is cooler than anything I’ve ever seen! This 30 minute experience has groups of music that the customer can choose from. Everything from good ol’ rock and roll, a Christian music set, Pink Floyd, to pre–teen bop featuring of course – Hannah Montana. The light show is professionally created by the Laserdome staff, who are all at least 18 years old and above, in that they implement a policy of hiring only 18 and up. The laser show creator is creative and takes a great deal of pride in the show – and it shows!

Our work with this team was to help implement a new birthday party program. We had the great fortune to Audition all of their existing staff to help determine which team members would be best suited for this new Party Pro role! When we are onsite, our goal is to always deliver new ways of doing business so the facility experiences the model and is able to then duplicate our efforts. We subscribe to Steven Covey’s “teach a man/person to fish” rather than just giving them the fish…that way they can eat for a lifetime, not just for a single meal. We worked with the sales team to help in their efforts to close more parties. And finally we trained those new Party Pros to provide that service–minded memorable experience with their new party packages!

I’m so glad I got to go to Lancaster (snow storm and all). I don’t think I could have fully appreciated this little diamond out here in Pennsylvania. I’m obsessed now with what we have at TrainerTainment that might make our customers say – “YOU GOTTA SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!” What do you have at your center that would send your guests out into the world exclaiming, “YOU GOTTA SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!”? Please share your WOW factor here!

Cold calling can be one of the most difficult things when it comes to sales. I think that I’m a “Rock Star” sales woman, but honestly, if I had to spend the entire day cold calling, it might not be as easy to love what I do. In a way, it’s like gambling for me. I love it when I win and hate it when I loose. It seems like cold calling can feel more like a losing proposition . . I believe you must knock on a lot more doors to get a “yes” when you compare cold calls to warm leads.

With that said, I ran on to a great article about the 5 biggest mistakes made in 2009 when it comes to cold calling. I found the article in a group that I follow on Linked–In. Gina Birge, a Blaire Group Analyst, penned the article. The following details my interpretation of the article as it relates to cold calling for the family entertainment business.

1. Inability to manage objections. When it comes to selling, it is necessary to know why your customer may object to your product. However, knowing is not enough. If you are new, you may not know what the common objections are. Work with a manager. Ask customers what would keep them from purchasing your products. Ask your friends. Then rehearse your refutation. I have found that most of the time, when a customer has an objection, those objections usually fall into the following categories:
   • They don’t have enough information. Usually this is a direct result of a salesperson who hasn’t asked enough questions to help the customer know how he or she can solve their problem or meet a need.
   • You are not speaking to the right person (the decision maker). The objection is disguised in verbiage like, “Let me get back to you. I need to talk more with my boss.”
   • They are afraid of something–price, time, or that the experience won’t be good enough. It is OK to say, “Mr. Customer, I sense that I haven’t answered all of your questions or that you may have some concerns about having your event at our facility. I’d like to take care of any of those issues today.”

   One of my favorite qualifying and objection–overcoming statements comes from Tom Searcy of Whale Hunting. He says to simply ask the customer, “When you’ve held this type of event in the past, what was your experience?” Any fears that this potential customer may have will come to the surface, and now you are in the best position to know how to calm those fears and win the guest over because you know what the objection really is!

2. Voicemail mistakes. Statistics show that there is less than a 1% call back rate when voicemails are left. Many times sellers just hang up or they leave messages that really give the receiver no good reason to call back.
3. Product Vomit. Seriously – Ms. Birge did not make this reference in her article. This is definitely my own interpretation. What often happens with a cold call is that a salesperson reaches the intended target and makes a fast desperate pitch in order to get the information to the potential buyer. So, a cold call, whether in person or on the phone, might sound like this: “Hello Mr. Customer, this is Beth from TTT Fun Center. I’d like to tell you all about our new team building program. Everyone is doing it. It’s called Play Therapy and your team will really benefit from coming out to our place and playing together. (take a short breath here). It’s awesome! We split your teams up so no one thinks there’s a hidden agenda, and then you’ll play video games, laser tag, and bowl. We’ll have prizes and awards and everyone will make up a team cheer. I am going to be in your area this afternoon and would like to drop off some information today. May I stop by around 2:15 or would 3:30 be better?” That’s product vomit. It’s a spill out of the features and benefits, and it’s too soon. A cold call as well a sales call requires more finesse.
4. The call is all about you and what you are trying to sell rather than finding out what the customer needs and selling them that. I recently read a great article about successful companies who play together. Wouldn’t it be great to take or send this article to your cold call prospect as a helpful piece of information that supports your option of having a great place to play? Now the call is all about them and how your product can make their world better and you’ve based it on what someone else has said! Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!
5. Giving the cold callee an easy out. If you begin the conversation with statements like:
   • “Is this a good time?”
   • “Do you have a minute?”
   • “Are you free to talk now?”

   Then you are sure to get the cold shoulder from your cold call prospect. It’s just too easy for this person to say no. All yes/no questions need to be eliminated from every sales person’s vocabulary.

If you would like more information about how to handle these objections, watch our webinar schedule at www.trainertainment.net. We produce interactive web sessions every two weeks and tackle issues like how to overcome objections, getting your foot in the door, how to handle the incoming call so you book the party every time, and many other sales, service, and leadership topics.

It is so much fun to communicate the stuff that rattles around in my head. It’s even MORE fun when someone uses that information and has success when they implement a program (more on that at the end of the article). We have a great customer story to share with you this week. I know you will enjoy understanding how someone just like you was able to implement this sales program. There is NO TIME like the 1^st quarter to establish how the rest of the year will play out for your business. Please join us next week for our webinar. We’ll be talking about how to best take advantage of the traffic in your center today, in order to grow the sales for tomorrow!

Last year, I published an idea for an All Star Sales Campaign in Replay Magazine (all of my Replay articles are archived and available to members of Xpress Training), as the Party Professor. Now is a great time to discuss this process again. Kyle Allison (of Allison’s Fun, and Andy Alligator’s) took this idea and created a hugely successful sales campaign during the last quarter of 2009. I know you will enjoy understanding how someone just like you was able to implement this sales program.

In case you missed the article, GAME ON!, in Replay, it is reprinted here.

Now is the time to party. Many groups have been very cautious over the last 12 months to do so. I’m no economist, but I do think confidence in finances is beginning to return.

The theme for party development at your center should be celebration. We are approaching the most celebrated time of year. Companies, churches, schools and groups of every kind will be getting together in the coming months. The holidays give us a terrific opportunity to have theme parties for the entire center. Fall festivals in October; Thanksgiving–themed programs in November; Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa in December; then New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, St. Paddy’s Day . . good grief, does it ever end? The time to focus on what you have to offer groups is right now.

With that thought in mind, I’ve realized that many people are challenged when it comes to going out and selling because they are terrified that they’ll fail. Much of the time, I find that they just don’t have a good way to keep score. More often than not, a sales person that has failed has simply failed to follow up because they don’t have good enough systems of tracking or keeping score of where they are in the sale.

Every lead has possibilities. A lead that says “no” or can’t be converted doesn’t have to be a failure; it simply belongs in the loss column for this game or inning, if you will. I was thinking about the best way to keep score, and with the World Series coming up, I considered baseball. I decided we could keep score by putting our sales opportunities in these categories:

• A hit is a good lead that requires follow up.
• A run is closed lead. We made the sale.
• An out is the hit that we can’t convert or the sale is lost.

The game is on, and everyone knows where they stand. If you combine the scoreboard idea with the top 10 plan of goal setting, then all you need to do is decide who you want to do business with, put them in the lineup, and let the games begin. The sky is the limit when you have strategy that helps you
get this focused.

Groups can also be easily classified into three categories:

• Youth-based groups that include schools, day cares, YMCA/YWCA, scouts, etc.
• Churches.
• Corporate.

If you focus on creating a top 10 list for each of these three groups, then you have a system for establishing the lineup of the game. Each lead has the potential to be the batter that is scored as a hit initially. When you make contact, set an appointment, find out if they have parties at all, then you have a hit. The lead stays on the scoreboard as you try to get them around the bases and score a run. The run is scored when you’ve booked a party. If they stall and you can’t get them to convert one way or another, you’ll have to decide if they’ve been left on base or, better yet, count it as an out and add a new group into the game. Outs don’t play in this game. Replace that lead with a new one. Keep 10 on your roster at all times.

What happens is that you get something done. One way or another, you know what the score is. I challenge you to put three big scoreboards up in your office today. One for youth, one for churches and one for companies. Give at least 10 lines for your batters and three additional columns so that you can keep score. I promise that the focus on playing the game and winning will take the pressure off those who feel as if selling is some horrible task that is reserved for their loudmouthed, plaid-jacketed uncle who talks too much at the Thanksgiving dinner table! Selling can be so much fun. Planning group events and helping them have a great experience at your center is even more fun.

Now, here’s the fun part! Kyle Allison’s hugely successful sales campaign, and the email he sent us, are listed below.

Beth,

Last year, you had a newsletter about a sales contest involving the baseball concept. Attached is the contest that I adapted from your info and implemented in the 4th quarter at our event planning company (we also did one at Andy’s, but the results are not in yet). It was a two–person team because one of the sales girls was brand new to the company.

The contest brought in $13,400 in new business by Dec 31st. Another $5,000 is still in negotiation.

Thanks for the fresh new ideas! Keep’em coming!

Kyle Allison
Allison’s Fun Incorporated – (405) 447–1118
Fax – (405) 447–8311

Big League Sales 4th Quarter 2009 Sales Contest Team Allison’s Fun Inc. – Monica & Sarah Game Details Every lead has possibilities…how can you make them a part of your winning team? You will start with 10 players/leads in each of your categories, and move them them around the bases as your game progresses. 1st Base: A good lead that requires follow up. 2nd Base: Lead shows strong interest and is inquiring about dates, packages, etc. 3rd Base: Proposal is sent to lead. Score: Event is contracted. Sales Categories: Organizations (Non-profits, schools, associations, etc.) OKC Corporate Tulsa Corporate Contest Goals: Goal: 2 new events $2,500+ & 1 new event $1,000+ For each goal met, you receive $100 cash. Book 3 events = $100, 6 events = $200, etc. Hints & Rules: Always keep 10 batters on your list. As soon as you have an out, get another player in its place. Batters must be new leads or clients who have not done an event in over a year. Batters cannot be incoming calls. The seller must have made the first call during the contest. Contest ends 12/31/09.

Congratulations, Kyle, on your team’s success. What a great plan!

Have you successfully executed one of Trainertainment’s plans? Do you have a great success story to share? Please leave your comments below.

We are working on a terrific new project for one of our customers to help all of their front line team members understand that they are sales people. Selling can be such a hard concept for the front line to understand. In the opening documentation of this newly developed piece, Pam Weatherford, our curriculum developer, grabbed a great quote from Starbucks and I thought it was worth sharing here

Howard Behar, former executive with Starbucks, published a book entitled, It’s Not About The Coffee. Well, if Starbucks isn’t about coffee, what in the world is it about? Howard makes it clear: Starbucks is not in the business of selling coffee to people. They’re in the people business selling coffee. Starbucks gets it—do you?

I saw a press release recently that featured a successful bowling tournament at Plano Superbowl in Plano, TX. This event is an excellent example of what it means to be in the people business. Bowling industry legend, Jamie Brooks, hosted an adult/youth doubles event that drew 173 teams from 4 states. This event was held to honor his daughter, Monica Brooks, who lost her life last October in a tragic car accident. I can’t say for sure that people participated because they wanted to support the meaning of the event. But I think that we can easily observe that parents and children took the opportunity to come together at a tournament in Plano, TX, because it meant something to participate. Click Here to read the Press Release.

What are the best ways to get to know your people and help your staff “get it”” that they are truly in the people business? From a TrainerTainment® point of view, we have always insisted that your staff is either “selling or un–selling” your product every day! How can we interact on a daily basis with the guest who chooses to come through our door? It’s the old Cheers concept – People want to go places “where everybody knows their name!” Can it be that simple?

I hope these ideas have been helpful. Please take a couple of minutes to share your greatest challenges in getting your staff to interact with your guests. If we are truly in the people business, that means that human contact and connection is critical. What are some of the best ways you know to connect with others?

As I travel the country, I see lots of terrific promotions. I try to pay attention because I think it is difficult to come up with that irresistible promo that guarantees people will flood your front door. Last year, the BEST promotion I saw came at the end of the year, and I can’t wait to tell you about it.

I interviewed the proprietor and have his permission to share his contact information and will do so at the end of the article. We had the privilege of working with this center last year, but I can’t take credit for this cool promotion. This brains behind the promotion go to Parker Coddington’s wife. Parker and his brothers own and operate Shenaniganz, a beautiful bowling–based Family Entertainment Center in Rockwall, TX. They have a terrific restaurant, laser tag, a sexy boutique bar/bowling lounge, a WOW game room, and indoor go karts.

I saw the promotion because I’m a VIP card holder and email subscriber of the center. If I have my days right, I received my first in a series of 12 emails from Shenaniganz on December the 14th and it was titled “On the 1st day of Christmas Shenaniganz gave to me . . ”. It included a FREE offer! No strings attached.(Click here to our blog and read my interview with Parker, the 12 offers, and the results of the promotion.)

The Interview

Beth: How did you come up with the idea?

Parker: It was my wife’s brain child. They were doing something similar at her job and had called it the 12 days of Christmas. We thought it might be a great way to build our database and to reward our VIP Club.

Beth: How many people do you have in your database?

Parker: Only 1300. That’s one of the big reasons we wanted to try this promotion. We believed that people would forward the email to their friends. They had to be members to take advantage of the 12 offers, so when they received the email, they immediately signed up.

Beth: Was there one promotion that worked better than another?

Parker: It seemed to gain momentum. Those that live close and could take advantage were coming almost daily. We had one guy tell us that he had been here 6 of the 7 days to take advantage of the daily promotion and had spent more money than he had planned to every time he came in. In answer to the BEST promotion-unbelievably, the 7–layer cheesecake wins. The great thing about that promotion is that those that redeemed the coupon ate lunch or dinner and then cashed in their daily offer.

Beth: Of the activities, which one seemed the most well received?

Parker: Free bowling (Day 8 with free shoes-weekday). By Day 8 everyone was into it.

Beth: How difficult was it to execute the program?

Parker: Not difficult at all. We had a meeting and decided the daily giveaways and then used the same email template for each day. We use a program called Fishbowl that is a lot like your Constant Contact. We scheduled delivery of each daily email all at one time and then let the promotion work for us. I did goof on the delivery time for Day 6 and began to receive emails early in the morning looking for the 6th day of Christmas. I knew then that we had done something right for our VIPs.

From my own personal point of view, I was very motivated by the campaign. I looked forward to each day’s email and was impressed more and more each day. Below is the 10th day email, and it looks exactly like each day before and after.

I asked Parker if they had people opt-out because the frequency was daily, and he said it was no more than normal. All in all, they felt like it increased their business, grew their data base, and was a great way to give back to their VIPs. If you would like to contact Parker you may do so at pcoddington@shenaniganz.com.

Here’s a complete list of the 12 day offers:

• Day One: Free hour shuffle board or billiards
• Day Two: Free cheese fry appetizer
• Day Three: 7–layer chocolate cake
• Day Four: Free go karts
• Day Five: Five dollar game card
• Day Six: Two rock wall climbs
• Day Seven: Free kitchen sink
• Day Eight: Free bowling game (including shoes)
• Day Nine: Free laser tag
• Day Ten: $10 game card
• Day Eleven: Free burger/
• Day Twelve: Unlimited lazer tag 5p-6p, or free 30 second dance lesson from Justin

Holding promotions brings people to your center. Email is a great, inexpensive way to target market. Join us for our webinar on Wednesday. January 13, 2010, as we discuss how to get people to volunteer to be part of your VIP club! Click Here to register today!

Do you have a “BEST PRACTICE” that you’ve had success with when it comes to getting people to give you their contact information? Please share that tactic here on the blog.

Happy New Year – Let’s make it the best one yet!

I recently exchanged a “linked–In” message (yes, I am on linked–in, facebook, and twitter) with an old friend and we laughed about the decade mark of the new–year. Wasn’t it just yesterday that we were worried about Y2K! I love this time of year. There’s a spirit of giving and a reflective sense of turning the page to a new chapter as we enter the new year. The new year brings new dreams and new goals. It’s a fresh start and I love that!

I hope you’ll accept my personal invitation to attend our webinar tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. CST, Wednesday, December 23rd, as we focus on how to set effective, measurable, goals so that we can WIN in 2010.(Click here to sign up now).

I’ll keep this part of your weekly newsletter short, but invite you to celebrate our year in review. We’ve had amazing opportunities this year and have worked with some wonderful clients. I’ll spend the rest of the newsletter to celebrate those successful projects. But before I close here, I know some of you don’t click through to get the whole story, and I did not want to let you go before I wish you the happiest of holidays. My hope is that you are surrounded by family, friends, and of course lots of guests in your facility!

Happy Holidays from the TrainerTainment team . .

Celebration of the Greatest Clients on Earth!

We started the year running as fast as we could. It was our privilege to work with two new Grand Opening projects that had a great impact on our first quarter. Xscape, in Indianapolis, IN, opened mid December 2008, and so much of our focus for their project ran into 2009. Xscape is an incredible pizza buffet located in a mall. With several party rooms and activities that range from indoor go–karts, mini–lane bowling, wonderfully themed mini–golf, and more, this location is the right place for any gathering from 2 to 102!

Laugh Out Loud, one of my favorite named facilities, is also a pizza buffet location in Lawton, Oklahoma. What a great group of owners these guys were to work with. We have an ongoing relationship with this location that has a pizza buffet, lots of games, mini–bowling, laser tag, and the best family entertainment in Lawton, Oklahoma.

Our most significant relationship is one that we hold very close, and have had the honor of working with their team since 2006. Food Service Management is the BEST management group that we know, and happens to allow us to pseudo sales manage their large chain of Gattis Pizza projects located in Texas, Kentucky, and Mississippi. We helped open two locations this year for this group, and continually push their growth of birthday and group sales for the entire team.

We were lucky enough to be brought into an incredibly themed indoor/outdoor project in Yuma AZ. We started working on this project after Fun Expo in 2008, and celebrated the grand opening of the Yuma Fun Factory in May of 2009. This adventure was amazing. We love our grand opening projects and feel like we’ve mastered the art of job fair, auditions, sales office set up, orientation, operations training, birthday launch, corporate party Outside–In^TM sales events, and more. However, Yuma Fun Factory gave us even more opportunity to leave the TrainerTainment mark on their location. J Brock, our VP of operations, spent four months on–site to help cement the training processes, bookkeeping, and operations of the center. It was a tremendous opportunity for both companies, and I’ll take this moment to publicly thank Aquilla, J’s wife, for sharing him for 16 weeks of this year.

Pinz is one of the most beautiful bowling based FEC’s in Oakdale, MN (Minneapolis/St. Paul area). We worked closely with Len Ghilani, a brilliant food and beverage project manager, and helped open this new location. Our services help provide locations’ job descriptions, product development, employee hand books, shopping services, guest service training, and more to insure that they get open with the enthusiasm and the training that is needed to give each guest that WOW experience that they desire.

Eric Linfors of Brunswick, brought us to a bowling based FEC project in Pooler GA called Frames N Games. This new center is run by bowling enthusiast Rick Danis, and they have a beautiful mix of entertainment offerings for families in the Savannah, GA area. It was great to have the opportunity to team up with a world class organization like Brunswick.

The Dadeland Mall in Miami, Florida, is home to a facility that we also helped with Grand Opening, OneStop FunDrop. Jeannette Albo was a joy to work with, and the facility is a great family oriented arcade location.

We also were fortunate to work with Palace Entertainment in California, specificaly with one of our favorite Sales & Marketing Directors, Janet Wilson-Irving, at Boomers, their Irving location. We partnered with Redemption Plus for a sales and birthday seminar. And continued to work with them on their birthday parties sales.

Throughout the year we’ve had the gift of working long term with other bowling based FEC locations, like Alley Cats in Arlington, TX, Fast Lane Bowl in Lowell, AR, Shenaniganz in Rockwall, TX.

Other bowling opportunities included teaching at Bowling Management School, guest speaking during Bowl Expo, and providing education for several state association meetings including, Ohio, Howard Baum’s July meeting in the Carolinas and GA, the Northern California’s Bowling Centers, West Coast Bowling Convention, the Texas and the Louisiana state meetings, and we never miss the Mid–South Trade Show in Tunica, MS.

This year we were invited to speak to the Blue Ribbon Bowling group in the Detroit, MI area, and enjoyed a full day of interaction with 10 different centers. We worked with a number of individual bowling proprietors this year, including Mandy Haws at Sooner Bowl in Norman, OK, Melanie Warmke of Holiday Lanes in Bossier City, LA, and of course my good friends the Schumackers in Davie FL. We are delighted to begin a partnership with the Schumackers this year, and I will officially become a proprietor.

And after 4 ½ years of me wishing the Bardon Bowling Centers group would hire us for something – my wish has come true! As I type this message here in Wisconsin, this cold December morning, I’m celebrating a great Sales Summit that we held with David’s leadership team. We are very excited to be working with this forward thinking proprietor, and look forward to an extended relationship.

Indoor inflatables are a big business and we participated in the Monkey Joe’s annual conference in early April. We were charged with providing them a training program that helps their franchisee maximized birthday revenue. From hiring, sales, and efficient operational systems, this project made us jump for joy! I still can’t make it over the first obstacle in the maze, but with a little less weight and a lot more practice, I think I can do it. We worked with the folks at the corporate level and helped open a new franchise location in Indiana.

We did a lot of work with the Roller Skating Association International this year and got to speak at the National convention as well as several section events. In my opinion, roller skating is the best kept secret in town. It’s inexpensive, and the lights and sound are nothing short of top notch. It’s exciting. It’s great exercise! I even skated myself this year and honestly it made me smile from the inside! The section events included many many centers and we spoke in Myrtle Beach, SC, Lewisville, TX, Kansas City, MO, Fort Wayne, IN, and California. The enthusiasm we receive from the rink owners is incredible. It was great fun to share new ideas and to learn more about the industry in general.

Bill Carlson hosts U–Profit which is an amazing event that Bill lets me participate in . . Talk about progressive entrepreneurs. The people that attend U–Profit are serious about making more money and making their businesses better. Bill is a dream to work with. His commitment to helping operators is genuine and it is my honor to work with him. We also co–hosted a Leadership Seminar in the DFW area in September, and look forward to working together again in 2010.

Jim Dvorak of United Skates of America let us work on a rockin’ new birthday party program with his organization; and through the grapevine I hear awesome reports of 35% + increase in some centers year over year in November! We launched their program in early October.

Late in the 3rd quarter, pizza buffet and “2009 FEC of the World winner”, iT’Z, hired us to ramp up their group and birthday sales. Dallas based, iT’Z has big box pizza buffets that are loaded with games and attractions; and have locations in Houston, TX, Albuquerque, NM, and Colorado Springs, CO.

Finally, I was invited to speak at the Dubai Entertainment Amusement &amp Leisure Show in Dubai, UAE. What an amazing adventure. It was so cool to see this unbelievable city, and to learn that no matter how someone dresses, families are families everywhere on earth. I’m on the roster to speak again in 2010 and can’t wait to go back. My topic in 2009 was centered around our Fun Training Serious Results training method for staff. It was incredible to understand that the owners and managers around the world have the same training issues as we do here at home. They bought every book and DVD that I took (I’m taking a bigger bag next year!)

I continue to write a column for Replay magazine called The Party Professor. If you aren’t taking that magazine, I encourage you to do so. You can also find archived copies of the Party Professor on our Xpress Training website (click here to sign up today). We worked closely with Fred Groh at Bowling Industry magazine and they published three articles throughout the year that included information from our Great Leader Series^TM training program. I love to write and I love it more when you take the time to interact and respond. We hosted a number of webinar events this year and our attendance continues to grow. Thank you to those of you that support and enjoy this program.

Thanks to the many new customers this year who bought our products at the trade show events we attended. Our new “Everything Birthdays” product was a huge hit. Rarely does a week go by that someone doesn’t call and say how much difference a scripted system for handling the birthday inquiry, or the host training has made in their party program! I love that.

As I close this review on a wonderful year (forgive me for any of you that I missed) there are two things that stand out in my mind when I think of the clients that we work with. Those two things are that these business owners are progressive and there is always a choice. The folks that choose to work with us do so because they believe we can help them make more money. There’s no other reason to sign up for our services or any other training companies’ service unless you know that there’s something in it for you.

Our commitment is that we are passionate and devoted to that effort of putting our customers in better position to make more money. We believe we have expertise in sales and training, and that the combination of those two will help you get more money to the bottom line.

Merry Christmas to you that celebrate Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone. If you’ve made it to the bottom of this lengthy email and have been one of our customers this year, I invite you to leave feedback on the blog about anything you’d like to see in the coming year or input on how we helped you this year. Happy new year and let’s WIN in 2010!

As the year draws to an end and the hustle of the holiday is upon us, I could not let the week go by without our weekly newsletter. I’ve missed my own deadline, so I’ll beg forgiveness up front for bad grammar and/or misspelling. Time goes so fast. Wasn’t it just yesterday that Y2K was the big scare?

In this spirit, I want to take the time to thank you for spending your energy to do what you do. I (we) at TrainerTainment am so grateful for the mission of recreation. What you do in your family entertainment venue means more than you can know. Families and friends have a place to laugh and play, and none of us does that enough. You are to be commended in this crazy economic time for staying the course and continuing to look for new, innovative ways to run a successful business.

Our mission has always been to help you with your sales effort. The relationships you have with your customer and your staff means the most when it comes to winning. As our company looks to 2010, we’ve adopted the mantra WIN IN 2010! You can borrow that for your team, too, if you would like. Next week’s webinar (the final one for 2009) is all about goal setting in the coming year. Please accept my personal invitation to participate–sign up now.

Jerry (my husband) and I completed our hairpin curvy travel of the Pacific coast this past Saturday. If you read last week’s newsletter, you saw that we were making our way from the northern tip of Washington State to San Diego along the 101 and Hwy 1. I have a wonderful new appreciation for the magnificent western edge of this great United States of America. For me, there is a whole new meaning of “from the redwood forests, to the gulf stream waters . . ”

Jerry and I flew to Seattle and stayed a couple of days with my dear friend, Laura, in Port Angeles. Some of you may remember Laura who has spoken on Conflict Resolution at Fun Expo and helped write four of the chapters in Fun Training Serious Results. Her hospitality included a hike through the Olympic rain forests. Apparently, we were blessed with beautiful clear skies–albeit “cold” beautiful clear skies.

After a couple of days with Laura and her family, we set out for the coast. Our first huge "aha" was Crescent Lake. I burst into tears as we made our way over the mountain and the lake rose up in front of us. We saw three bald eagles fishing that morning, but I was not quick enough to catch them in a picture. Jerry and I joked the whole time that we needed to photograph the eagle, a bear, (I would have had a heart attack if we had really seen a bear), a whale (I’m sure they were there, we just never saw one), and Big Foot. I will admit that I did get a redwood-carved bear and Big Foot . . do you think that counts?

Our first glimpse of the Pacific was awesome. I’ve slept since then, but I think it was Rose Beach. Spectacular! That was the first of many hikes we took. We got a full day behind from the get go. This trip was a dream of Jerry’s, and the thing that he did not want to do was to plan every stop. Being Miss Planner that I am, I projected where I thought we needed to be each night. One thing I had not planned for is that it would start to get dark between 4:15 and 4:45. That makes for a short day.

I won’t bore you with the details of every day but will share that I know I love sea stacks. Ferns are awesome–I didn’t know I liked ferns. Elephant seals are ENORMOUS! Otters are cuter than seals. I love lighthouses. We climbed to the top of the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. The redwoods are a spiritual experience. They are giants and gentle and nurturing and you can see God in the forests. We did a little tour called “Trees of Mystery” and drove the avenue of the giants. I love the redwoods.

California is amazing. I live in Texas, and we are pretty snobbish about how cool our state is. We are big, have lots of different landscapes, and no income tax. However, California, oh my goodness! We made one little detour over to the middle of the state to a wonderful “city owned” FEC project called McDermont Field House. Very cool, and the landscape on the way was something to behold.

I’ve learned the difference between a hill and a mountain is that a mountain erupts or has snow on it . . and that West Coast has a bunch of both! The detour showed us wine country (I thought it was only in Napa) and every other type of agriculture you can imagine. OH–lots of happy cows! I got some great pictures. However, some of those cows can’t be all that happy. We saw them grazing on what seemed to be 90 degree hills that looked like giant mountains to me!

Fred Groh, editor of Bowling Industry Magazine, encouraged us to take the 17 mile drive in the Monterey/ Carmel area. Thanks so much, Fred! Pebble Beach, the Llone Cypress, waves big enough to surf (And we saw surfers. That’s commitment – it’s December for crying out loud!), seabirds in full flight, and of course, lots of sea stacks. Did I mention how much I love sea stacks?

Honestly, I couldn’t get enough of the sounds and the smells of the sea (maybe not the elephant seals). We had amazing service at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. We stopped in at a couple of little bowling centers along the way. I wish we would have had the time to stop and visit with so many of you that are close to where we were, but honestly, we needed more days to do what we did.

I had little to no cell phone service out on the edge of the world, and that worked out to be a good thing. I was able to work a little each day in the morning and then it was all about Jerry and me and the sea! It was a lot of fun to just get away. I don’t know that I had any huge revelations except for learning that taking things as they come can be a good thing. Ok, who am I kidding? I know that if we had planned a little better, we would have done two trips – this one would have ended in San Francisco, and we would come back and do the rest of it another day . Just like you and your centers, if you do it right, customers can’t do it all the first time around and they’ll have to come back!

Happy Holidays. I hope you’ll join us for the webinar next week and get a head start on goal setting for 2010 Also, I’d love to hear your best promotional idea for 2009. Share it here for a free month of Xpress Training!

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