Here are 9 Nifty Secrets to Get You and Your Team Successfully Through Christmas Week Without the Drama.

 

We are only about 10 days away from Christmas week, one of the busiest, if not the busiest week of the year.  Ya Mon. Ka-Ching!!

Between leagues, increased open play, daytime kids, teens, families and parties, your staff could get stretched pretty thin.

And this year with fewer employees to go around, the rubber band could get tighter and some employees may just quit or even snap.

So How Can You Prevent or Decrease the Stress They Might Be Feeling and Make the Busiest Week a Great Employee and Customer Experience?

Here are my Nifty Nine secrets.

1. Hold a staff meeting and let people know this will be a busy week and if there are any issues that come up to bring it to you (as their coach) or their GM to help THEM solve it. DON’T FORGETNAME BADGES FOR EVERYONE. Remind them that a smile does not cost much and can diffuse lots of sticky situations. (SEE #6 BELOW.)
2. Get them all new shirts and on the front print: “Hi, I’m Your Happy Holiday Host and (Bowling Center name) Team Member” (or some other statement). You want them to feel that they are not alone, are part of a team, and other team members are willing and able to help them and it will be easier if we all try to have fun.
3. Tell them the goal is 0 complaints and 100 complements and see how close they can come.  Send feedback cards to the customers’ cell number? (SEE #6 BELOW).  Ask one question on the feedback text: “Would you recommend (Name of center) to a friend? On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being “Absolutely they were great” to 1 being “No way ever”. Then leave room for comments. The closer to the goal, the more bonus they might make…your call!
4. Create a joke or story of the day and place it by the time clock or if you cannot create one, find one.  Google some short jokes about having fun at work or ask your people to find one to post. Keep it clean and keep it light.
5. Make sure the center is spotless. If you don’t have the staff to do it, hire a professional cleaning crew and get it right. Check signage and parking lot lights outside.
6. Could you spare someone as a hostess-during busy times to stand near the front door and welcome people. Ask the customer for his name and cell number to get on a waitlist and text them when their lane is ready. If not at the hostess station, then at the customer service area. Have signage that indicates the customer could get $X of FREE bowling just for giving you their cell number. (SEE #8 BELOW).
7. Give all employees a $50 to $100 Amazon gift card at the beginning of the week in appreciation for their effort next week…part time people vs full time people get different amounts. Pay your manager a different number. You can treat this as a holiday or “extra” holiday bonus.
8. Give everyone who bowls a (I.e.) $10 gift certificate to be used from January 3rd to February 3rd when they spend (I.e.) $50. Or, if you capture their cell numbers, send this out digitally. You decide what restrictions to apply (hours, days, etc.). I do this because, based upon who redeems the bounce back coupon, I get important data to plan my next marketing campaign. Of course, you can change the suggested dollar amounts, above to anything you want. Please make sure that the customer completes a few questions (on the reverse side of their bounce back coupon or on the text they will send back to you) such as: name, gender, age range, (13 to 18, 19 to 34, 35 to 49, 50 to 64, 65+), # of people in their party, time of day and zip code.
9. With more people coming into the center, now is the time to demonstrate to your community that your center is an important part of the community by planning a fund raiser for BVL in February; maybe around MLK Day or President’s Day.

And the Golden Rule of Customer Service Is…

“The better you take care of your people, the better your people will take care of your customers.”