Page 246 - 101 Ways to Market Your Business

ANOTHER 20 MARKETING IDEAS

117 Perseverance pays

My 13-year-old nephew recently came to stay for a short
holiday and one of the activities that I was roped into was
ten pin bowling. The last time I visited the local ten pin
bowling alley it was a graveyard. The person behind the
counter was completely disinterested, the actual building
was a mess and the few people that were there looked like
the walking dead. This was about two years ago.

When I visited the same bowling alley this time the
transformation was simply amazing. First of all, we didn’t
bother to make a booking because I thought no one would
be there, especially on a Monday morning. Was I wrong.
The place was jam-packed. As soon as we walked in the
door someone came up to us and welcomed us to their
bowling alley. We were then taken to the counter where a
friendly and highly efficient lady told us all of the specials
they had on offer at the moment. Within a few minutes
we were bowling like troopers with free ice-creams, drinks,
a voucher for a free lesson at any time we wanted as well
as a discount voucher for the next time we played.

They got us to enter a competition to win a television
and video and as a result they collected our names and
addresses so they could contact us at a later date. Very
clever.

I was somewhat shell-shocked but it just kept getting
better. After a few gutter balls (by me, not by my nephew),
a friendly gentleman appeared and whispered a few hints
into my ear. It didn’t help my score but that was my lack
of skill, not his advice. I continually looked around this
business and all I could see were smiling faces and happy
people. By the way, they had also put in a child-care facility
to encourage parents with small children to bowl.

This was now a booming business. What changed? The
answer is simple. The people running this business obvi-
ously made a firm decision to turn this business around by

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