This has been a long time coming. I felt the bowling industry needs to know how lucky we are to have men like Bruce Davis, Darin Spindler, Max Cook & Fred Kaplowitz.
A news reel featuring the Kids Bowl Free Program was shown during the 4pm, 6pm & 10pm news in Omaha on Wednesday, June 3rd - on the #1 rated news broadcast in the city. We have handed out over 11,000 Kids Bowl Free cards and according to Darin Spindler at last check - we have over 3000 kids registered - and I am sure that has grown by at least 50% again in the last week. Since that spot was played on TV - our phone has rung non-stop with info on the Kids Bowl Free program.
As a result of Kids Bowl Free program being so popular - our birthday parties have increased and late night / casual summer open play has been 20% or more up, also. What a winner!!
Since re-opening in April of 2008 after 7 months of being closed and partnering with another center up the street (which didn’t work out with those partners) - our programs since we restarted our original center have included many that I have learned from industry experts - including Bruce Davis, Darin Spindler, Max Cook & Fred Kaplowitz. Those 4 gentlemen right there represent probably the 4 greatest marketing minds in the bowling industry today. Programs such as After School Bus & Bowl, The Big Whammy, Bingo Bowling, Pizza Pins & Pepsi, Summer Carnival, Box Seat Bowling, Ultimate Teen Nights, HIP Nights and so many others that I have garnered have been infused into our center and has kept us busier than we were before we closed.
The first week of June - with “Kids Bowl Free” in full force - we have had anywhere from 1 to 2 hour waits in line for lanes and have generated AT LEAST an extra $400 to $500 a day in revenue for our 16 lane center - between extra bowling revenue and food / beverage sales. This does not take into consideration any arcade or vending revenues - which would be at least another $100 to $200 more. Shockingly - we are the only bowling center in Nebraska offering this program. I guess the other centers didn’t want the extra $15,000 in revenue!!
Linking this to our new website which Darin Spindler has helped us with automatically links all of the kids and mom’s names from Kids Bowl Free to our website and contacts them automatically for birthdays, teen nights and more. Our website has become our most effective advertising tool we have. When combined with fax blasts, voice calls and direct mail - we have such an advantage on all of the other centers in town - it’s almost laughable. Bruce & Darin are phenomenal at this - and those who don’t use them are missing the boat. Fred Kaplowitz and Max Cook not only showed me how to plan ahead using their Marketing Planner and taught me how to lay out marketing and advertising efforts in advance - they are experts in cost controls and benchmarks. Using Excel for basic inventory controls has made my center easier to keep in line on pesky f/b costs which we all struggle with.
Max Cook has been exceptionally accessible and I consider him to be one of the best - if not the best turnaround man in the industry. From an 8 laner to an 80 - Max’s calm, structured approaches gets things done. All of the gentlemen have been a part of Bruce Davis’ Focus On Results monthly marketing kit. Just the 4 of them alone could easily keep my center busy using their idea’s and expertise alone. Along with the extra ideas you get in addition with Bruce’s F.O.R. - the pittance you spend a month is worth it 100 times over. All of my thanks to Bruce for Focus On Results - the best money spent in my marketing attempts. My thanks to Max Cook for being there with calm reinforcement and cost accountability and fatherly advice. Thanks to Fred Kaplowitz for knowledge on marketing to all generations and his wealth of marketing know it all from all over the world. Thanks to Darin for the new infusion of automatic marketing using our website, fax blasts and more!!
Sincerely, Steve Sempeck Proprietor Sempeck’s Elkhorn Lanes Elkhorn, NE