Buena Lanes: A Business Without Parytwirks Online Booking is Like a Bowling Center Without Automatic Scoring!

In business since 1977 the Mission Statement of Buena Lanes is “provide the community with a recreational facility while at the same time make a profit,” states General Manager Dan Mueller.

“The only way to remain in business and thrive is with very little to no customer turnover.  And for this to happen you have to know what drives your market, you must be consumer driven and consumer focused.”

This attention to marketing is what led Dan to Partywirks and online booking.
Buena Lanes offers lots of parties for birthdays, scout troops, and clubs.  With 38,000 square feet, 42 bowling lanes, arcade, skating rink, snack bar, lounge, and a pro shop, they have the venue covered.

However, Dan’s concern was with missed phone calls and potentially lost business.  “I was concerned with the number of phone calls that were waiting for us on Monday mornings.  This meant we were missing sales.”  This was not in line with their customer driven focus.  “Our customers were calling us and they wanted to spend money but, we were not there to answer their call.”

Once they began offering online booking they noticed that most party reservations occurred between 7-10:00 p.m.

This is a time when most children are in bed and busy parents have the time to sit quietly with their computer at home and make their party plans.  These parents do not want to call and engage in telephone tag, they want to book online and on their timeframe.

Dan has also been very pleased with the customer service and rapid response by the Partywirks staff.  “If I have a question, I am confident that I will get my answer quickly and have found the service to be excellent.”

Not only does Buena Lanes know that their business is now open 24/7, they also know that their customers are receiving the same consistent and accurate party information from their website.  With Partywirks handling the online booking, the staff at Buena Lanes can spend their valuable time on other management details.  Dan says if you are not offering online booking then you are losing business.

A business without online booking is like a bowling center without automatic scoring.

 Customers like doing things online.  They like to read about it online, make their plans on their schedule, and then book it.  With just a couple of parties we pay for our Partywirks service for the entire year.”

“Adding online booking is not a capital experience that requires hundreds of thousands of dollars.  But, if you are an aggressive business person it is a must.  If you do not have online booking then you are losing business.”

Dan has switched all of his marketing online.  Partywirks takes care of their online bookings and Carey Tosello, consultant at ebowl.biz manages all of their online marketing; from email blasts, text messages, coupons, and Face Book.

Buena Lanes is certainly walking the walk and a perfect example of meeting the needs of their community.  With this progressive business attitude there is no doubt they will be providing their communities recreational needs for years to come!

Buena Lanes
1788 Mesa Verde
Ventura, CA.  93003
805.656.0666
http://buenalanes.com/

Partywirks: Part of a New Trend in Bowling Centers

Depending on your age, you or your parents might have once belonged to a bowling league.  This was very common back in the day when one parent worked and the mother usually stayed home.   

Dad had the leisure time to be part of a weekly game with his co-workers. He could relax knowing that his wife was at home taking care of the kids and preparing dinner.  Well, that lifestyle has been gone for quite some time, and been replaced with the more common lifestyle of two working parents.  

These busy parents work all day, pick up the kids from day care or school, run to the grocery store, do laundry and finally get dinner ready.  As you can image, the modern day lifestyle makes it difficult for parents to commit to a weekly evening event.   

Along with this cultural shift, it was evident that the bowling industry would also change and, that is what happened.  The traditional bowling centers of yesterday are shrinking; in fact, the industry count is now approximately 6,000 centers vs. 12,000 about 10 years ago.   

In order to keep pace with the changing times, many traditional bowling centers are now converting to a new type of center known as Bowling Entertainment Centers.  

In a recent article “Beyond Bowling” Chris Holmes talks in depth about the renaissance that the bowling industry is undergoing.  As Associate Publisher for International Bowling Industry magazine Chris lives and breathes bowling and understands this transition.  “Traditional bowling will always have its market however, today’s business operators are catering to more casual bowlers and are expanding their business operations.” 

 Last year 72,000,000 (yes, million) people went bowling at least one time.  This is a testament to the appeal of bowling as a sport and family fun.

Chris goes on to say that “Redemption gaming is at the forefront of this change.  Most kids today have video games on their computers and cell phones but, these new games are activities they cannot play on a computer.  Games such as skee-ball, merchandisers, and crane games are very popular and they are very hi-tech which appeals to this younger generation.”  

Along with expanded video arcades and other games, these new hybrid Bowling Entertainment Centers are adding laser tag centers and miniature golf to their arenas.  And, they are getting more parties than ever before!

Many operators are enhancing their party offerings because they realize that this is a critical part of their business.  A birthday party might be the first reason that a new customer will enter their bowling center.   

Once they attend the party this family and their friends might become lifelong customers.  They may eventually join a bowling league, or sign up for lessons or summer camp.  Modernization is a great opportunity to replace old customers with new customers.

Along with these changes, today’s business operators are improving their websites and offering online booking to attract the online consumer. 

  

They know that today’s modern customer wants to research, plan, and finalize party arrangements online. 

They do not have the time or the desire to use the phone, and certainly will not engage in telephone tag.

The days of Dad belonging to a weekly bowling league might be dwindling, yet the new bowling centers that cater to the whole family are moving full speed ahead.

Blue Fox Rock-n-Bowl: Online Booking a Must for Today’s Online Consumers!

One of the first things General Manager Caitlin Miner suggested upon joining the marketing team at Blue Fox Rock-n-Bowl was update their website and add online booking.  She first joined the company as the Assistant Manager and put her degrees in Public Relations and Marketing to good use.  Caitlin was familiar with event planning during her tenure in public relations for a pro-hockey team.  She says that “although it sounds rather odd, most people do not really want to speak to you, they would rather book online.”   

Not only did Caitlin feel it was important to tap into this online market she said it also allows clients to book after hours.  Now, clients book online instead of leaving voice mail messages and waiting for return calls, or worse, not leaving a message at all.   She also notes that many clients book much later in the evening and others make their party plans from work during the day.

Once Blue Fox decided to add online booking to their marketing plan Caitlin conducted online research to see what other similar businesses were doing about this issue; this led her to another Partywirks customer.

Since their market focus has shifted to consumers online Caitlin says they have definitely noticed an increase in bookings and upselling.  Clients are able to take their time and plan their own party when they can see the party descriptions, pricing, and add-on items on their website. 

With the addition of a 24 person laser tag arena to their 16 bowling lanes, and 18 hole miniature golf course Blue Fox stands apart from their competition.  They are the only facility within a 40 mile radius that offers these multiple services.  Caitlin says they rarely use print advertising and instead focus their marketing to where the clients are, which is online.   

With their upgraded website, online booking, and Face Book page, they are able to spread the word about their facility and product offerings.

Visit the website for Blue Fox Rock-n-Bowl and see how the online booking feature has set them apart from their competition!

1603 Hopmeadow Street

Simsbury, CT  06070

860.658.4479

www.bluefoxenterprise.com

Is the Telephone Booking Process Hurting Your Sales?

Funneling hot prospects into the telephone booking process is like having a giant speed bump slowing down sales!

Comments from actual Partywirks customers

• "People don't like to call on the phone ...they just want to book their order online."
• "We are getting fewer messages and more hang-ups"
• "People are impatient. If we miss their call they book elsewhere before we can get back with them"

Sound familiar? This trend is not going away but in fact speeding up!
The  bottom line - you may have the greatest staff, facilities and offerings in town but if people won't pick up the phone, will you get a chance to shine?

There is a More Modern, Effective Way - Offer The Real-Time Alternative!
It's no secret, at least to Partywirks clients. Most consumers today prefer booking online:

• Instant access to everything they need to make a decision.
• No waiting - it's immediate and available on their schedule.
• Better, more complete information. Less "he said, she said" conflict. They "think"
• they are getting better, more accurate information when they can see it in writing,
• on the screen, then when they hear it from someone over the phone (and they are).
• No pressure from staff people pushing add-ons. People actually buy many more add-ons online then they do over the phone  because they have the time & information to make decisions at their own pace.

Those who want to call can "still call" but for over 50% of your customers, the online alternative will be their first choice.
Chances are you book hotels online, buy your plane ticket online and maybe your books and clothes as well. Now your party venue can offer this same online convenience!

Imagine the difference online booking can make in your business!
Partywirks creatively combines the convenience of Online Scheduling with Sales of Add-on Items  for more revenue and happier customers! What could be better?  Watch our video for more....then schedule a demo below for a personal review of how Partywirks might help your business!
Let's Get This Party Started!

Partywirks is "Cloud Computing" - the hottest trend in computing today.

The Week the Cloud Won
By QUENTIN HARDY
February 24, 2012, 5:10 pm 

This was a milestone week for enterprise computing: The cloud won.

On Tuesday, Dell reported lower earnings, and said sales in the current quarter would fall 7 percent. On Wednesday, Hewlett-Packard, that other stalwart of enterprise hardware, also reported lower earnings, and also projected a lower outlook for both the quarter and the year.

Meg Whitman, H.P.’s chief executive, said a full transformation of H.P. might take as long as five years.

Then on Thursday, Salesforce.com, which rents business software through a cloud-computing based system, said its fourth-quarter revenue was up 38 percent. Salesforce also raised its revenue projections for 2012, to a rise of 30 percent year on year.

If these reports hold up elsewhere, it would seem that businesses are moving to cloud computing faster than almost anyone would have thought a year ago. Salesforce and others are rushing to offer more applications to businesses via the cloud, and old-line software giants like SAP and Oracle are spending billions to buy and build their way into the cloud.

This doesn’t just change the software business, but it does radically affect the hardware business. The cloud is a collection of thousands of computer servers, bought by companies that are buying in volume, and care less about brand. Laptops and desktops don’t get as much wear and tear when a business is connected to the cloud. Those stalwarts also face competition from tablets and smartphones, as employees find they can do more tasks on mobile devices.

If the changes are happening as rapidly as this week’s earnings suggest, all the traditional manufacturers, resellers, consultants and other camp followers of the current client/server computing world, who thought they had a few more years to adjust to the new realities, are having a really bad day.

“We’re at a tipping point, where mission-critical applications are moving into the cloud,” says Rick Sherlund, an analyst with Nomura Securities. “The hardware is different, the infrastructure is different; it affects a lot of things.”

To be sure, comparisons among the three companies are far from perfect: aside from the individual woes and triumphs at each company, Dell and H.P. are still much bigger companies than Salesforce. H.P.’s revenue on the quarter is more than 10 times as big as Salesforce’s for the year, though H.P. also has much lower profit margins. After accounting for things like stock-based compensation and amortization of intangibles, Salesforce lost 3 cents a share in the last quarter, and 9 cents on the year. Critics would say this is an apples and oranges comparison.

But apples and oranges are both fruit. You can similarly abstract the differences among these companies, and make some decent comparisons. They all have the same customers, for example, and most of those buyers are looking for a cheaper alternative. They are all publicly traded companies too, and for the most part have the same type of investors. The day after their respective earnings came out, Dell shares fell about 6 percent, and H.P. shares fell 7 percent. Salesforce gained 8.6 percent.

As much as a stock price is a bet on the future, Salesforce appeared to have a better outlook.

As printed in the New York Times Feb 24 2012

Retailers Add Gadgets for Shoppers at Ease With Technology

This is a trend we have been following, and helping to create, for years now. With the advent of iPads and the bevy of other hand-held computer devices and web services available today consumers are doing more self-service all the time…why spend time tracking down a sales person when you can find more information, better information and information faster and more conveniently online?

Event though you may not be a traditional “retailer” as defined in this article, the change in consumer behavior does impact your party business.  Consumers will not invest a lot of time calling, leaving voice-mails or waiting on someone to call them back. They click off your site and move on and that means a lost sale.

The question is, what are you doing to adjust to this new reality?

Published in the New York Times, March 9 2012,By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD

When Nadia Karim goes shopping, she doesn’t wait around for salespeople. She saves items from apps and Web sites on her cellphone as a shopping list. And as she browses one store — recently trying on Sam Edelman flats at Nordstrom — she uses the phone to check out styles at competitors like Macy’s.

“In all honesty, because I shop so much, I feel sometimes I know the brands better than some of the associates,” said Ms. Karim, 26, an analyst at Intel in Phoenix. For a generation of shoppers raised on Google and e-commerce, the answer to “Can I help you?” is increasingly a firm “no,” even at retailers like Nordstrom that have built their reputations around customer service.

But instead of getting defensive, some stores and brands are embracing the change by creating new personal touches that feature gadgets rather than a doting sales staff. Bobbi Brown has touch-screen televisions to demonstrate the perfect smoky eye, something that was once the exclusive domain of makeup artists.

The basketball star LeBron James’s shoe store in Miami has 50 iPads to describe its merchandise. Macy’s is testing cosmetics stations where tablets offer reviews and tips. And at C. Wonder, shoppers use a touchpad to personalize the lighting and music in dressing rooms (there is also a button in case, olden-days style, they need to call for help).

The self-service theme, which started years ago with checkout at groceries, has progressed to the point where shoppers can navigate entire stores without once having to say, “Just looking, thanks.”

Companies are adding the technology now because it has gotten cheap enough to make it feasible and because Apple and other tablet and touch-screen makers are increasing their sales efforts. Stores also don’t want to risk losing those customers who are not content shopping from home but nonetheless prefer Pinterest recommendations, Zappos reviews and Fashism feedback to interacting with someone behind the counter.

“There’s a tendency to believe that if you talk to somebody, they’re going to waste your time or sell you something you don’t need,” said Ricardo Quintero, global general manager of market development for Clinique, which uses touch screens at its counters. “It’s taking the pressure off.”

In Nordstrom’s case, customers have surprised the retailer. Nordstrom introduced an app in the fall that executives expected people would mostly use remotely to order items while they were watching TV or waiting for a train. In addition to that, though, customers used the app while shopping at Nordstrom rather than approach the sales staff.

“How the customer is defining service and wants service to be delivered is changing pretty rapidly, and a lot of that is driven by technology,” said Erik Nordstrom, president of stores for Nordstrom. “A lot of customers like to touch and feel and try on the merchandise, but they also want that information that they get online.”

Nordstrom has added Wi-Fi to almost all its stores, in part so its app will work fast, and is testing charging stations and clusters of iPads and computers. It does not limit what people can do on the in-store devices, Mr. Nordstrom said. “It’s to have our stores be relevant, be a helpful place for people to be whether they’re shopping from us or stopping to check their e-mail,” he said.

The plain truth, some retail analysts say, is that businesses of all sorts have no choice but to accommodate consumers who are trained to do research on their own — and prefer doing so. Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland now gives suite visitors an iPad so they can order food and drinks directly from it, while Aloft Hotels, a Starwood division, has installed tablets instead of concierge stations.

At Land Rover, the addition of online tools for research has cut down sharply on dealer visits. In 2000, people, on average, made 7.5 visits to a dealer before placing an order. In 2010, that figure was 1.3 visits, with shoppers conducting 80 percent of their research on their own, said Andy Goss, president of Jaguar Land Rover North America.

The new technology is also being adapted by manufacturers who have been dependent on employees at big-box stores to sell their products but now see the opportunity for a direct line to the customer.

Scott Paul, chief executive of iPad Enclosures, which installs technology for retailers, said Samsung and other manufacturers were considering adding iPads that offered live video chat with a Samsung salesperson at stores like Best Buy. “You can use the kiosk to do better, in a lot of cases, than a 17- or 18-year-old sales rep,” Mr. Paul said.

The replacement of salespeople with screens is not without its detractors. Some people worry about jobs, though stores say that for now they are not getting rid of employees to accommodate their digital counterparts. And Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that shoppers lost something intrinsic to the human experience when they avoided salespeople.

“The point is not to be nostalgic for the good old days, but to ask ourselves, what kind of society do we want?” said Professor Turkle, the author of “Alone Together,” a book on people’s relationships with technology. With technology replacing human interaction, she said, “you’ve taken out a lot of the richness, the messiness and the demandingness of actually having to deal with people.”

Ms. Karim, the Phoenix shopper, says that she does not avoid all salespeople, but that technology has given her the freedom to be choosy. She still enjoys chatting with makeup-counter salespeople, for example, and getting suggestions from personal shoppers.

“It’s fun to see things in person, and touch the fabrics, and try on shoes,” she said. “It’s a social experience.”

Online Customer Service Forms: An Alternative Method for Consumer Engagement

Not everyone who visits your website is ready to book. Some have questions or may be planning an event and are looking for information.

In this case it’s important to offer online visitors alternatives other than picking up the phone or clicking off your site. Partywirks provides those alternatives in the form of our Online Customer Service forms.

 You can create any number of online forms for just about any purpose. Popular examples include:
- Gift Cards (yes, you can sell gift cards/certificates/memberships through Partywirks and collect payment at the same time)
- Group Event Inquiries
- Fund Raising Inquiries
- Join our Birthday Club
- Membership Sign-ups
- Party to Go inquiries
- Customer Satisfaction Surveys
-Donation Requests
-Employment Applications

These online forms save time and money for you and your customer, allows you to collect better information, and turns the online browser into a new sale or lead. 

Consider these benefits:

Save time

Instead of answering time-consuming routine calls customers will start the inquiry process online by completing the appropriate form. You get the information you need to make decisions and they get the ability to share all their needs with you quickly and conveniently.

More Accurate Information

• Each form is customized with exactly the questions you want answers to before you respond to the customer’s request. After people complete the online form, their answers are emailed to members of your staff who will then have the detailed information needed to respond.

More Qualified Group Leads

• Having better information and giving your online visitor an easy way to communicate their needs to you is a significant competitive advantage over the next party venue in her Google search bar where all they offer is a voicemail option.
• With all the details your staff can respond with the right information at the right time which is an important part of the group sales process.
• People on the hot seat to plan group events want to off-load some of their responsibility onto your shoulders, letting them fill out an online form is a great way to do that. It makes them feel good that you have such a detailed process set up and this gives them confidence that this is a reflection of how their event will go. This moves you another important step forward in the sales process.

Sell New Things Online
• Not selling gift cards, gift certificates, memberships or online? You can be! It’s easy with Partywirks and your customers will like the convenience!

If you would like to be interviewed for an article on our Partywirks blog or, have an idea for an article please let us know!  Email larry@partywirks.com