We are all facing a new “normal” in most aspects of our lives. How we react to today’s realities and move ahead with our lives will have an enormous impact on our individual and collective futures.
For any small business to survive there are a few realities to face, family Entertainment Centers, included. Time is unforgiving. Time wasted is time lost. Businesses can’t wait for projects to come to them; they have to develop ways to seek out new concepts. Value time, it is your friend when you use it wisely and definitely your enemy when you squander it.
Using time wisely is an important component of being successful. There is a time for work and a time for play. Make efficient use of both. The human brain requires time to relax and regroup. For most people this can be accomplished outside of working hours. Plan your day to have both work and non work segments. For the majority of us work time begins when we walk into our place of employment, with periodic short breaks to regroup and socialize (coffee breaks, not half the morning). For many of use our brains often extend the business thought through most of our waking hours. This can be ultra productive at times, but still must be channeled to enable one to live a full life involving family and friends as well as just giving the thought processes a break to avoid repetitive thinking that may block creative new ideas.
Marketing:
There are a lot of facilities competing for guests and the revenue they bring. No one can draw every potential guest. When facing competition, recognize your limits. A competitor within your potential target market may have a stronger individual attraction, but this can be overcome by offering a better total mix of attractions and better guest service. No one will win all contested guest visits unless their prices are below costs and become a one way path to bankruptcy.
For the most part, winning guest attendance and loyalty depends on convincing them that your facility provides the best combination of features they are seeking when visiting an FEC. Know your competition and their strong points as well as their weak points. Improve your weak attractions, identify possible personnel issues and make positive adjustments.
Establishing Prices:
In today’s economic environment we are all experiencing increased costs of doing business. Salaries are up, insurance is up, energy, equipment, fuel and food costs seem to increase weekly and inflation is already more than 8.0%. Pricing has to be evaluated carefully in order to avoid driving guests away with the increases. Often some minor adjustments in the presentation of attractions and amenities can soften the blow. Our country is already experiencing the impact of inflation and it has not reached its potential peak. In addition there may well be a recession at some point. Based on the industry’s history, a recession may have a far less impact on local entertainment facilities. In past recessions most facilities were impacted to a lesser degree than their neighbors.
Facilities that fear both inflation and a potential recession to the extent they fail to adjust their pricing structure to incorporate costs already here and don’t make realistic adjustment to employee salaries will be among the first to fail and become the roadkill of our industry.
Successful firms will be the ones that take the necessary steps to adjust their fees and operating schedules to compensate for the current growing increase in operating costs. They will also recognize the need to provide competitive salaries and fringe benefits in order to retain current key staff and to be able to attract new employees.
Most potential guests as well as ongoing guests are well aware that your costs are rising along with everything else. Gaining guests with less than realistic pricing is a certain path to lost profitability. Breaking even may allow a firm to keep the door open for some period of time, but knowing you are going to lose money before you start is not a reasonable business practice.
There are certain guests out there with a “bottom feeder mentality”, seeking the lowest price possible without any concern for the quality of the entertainment value being received. This is often encountered in negotiating group events. The people who make unreasonable requests are not the clients you should seek and encourage. They can often be expected to further chisel down prices beyond break even costs. Should you be pushed to the point of taking this type of client just to keep staff employed, think twice, as you may be establishing a community perceived value far below reality that can do permanent damage to your bottom line. It can result in more potential group clients seeking lower pricing and further discounts. Taking on the “bottom feeder” removes a spot on your group event calendar that could be filled by a group willing to pay the published rate. This has the further potential of losing the preferred group for future bookings.
Never intentionally book losing events, unless it they are part of an overall profitable contract. No FEC needs or should seek out loser guests as they will not be spokesmen for your facility and certainly don’t help your bottom line. Bottom feeding guests can impact on your bottom line in a number of ways beyond the initial direct “loss leader” impact of starting out losing money. The time segments committed to these “bottom feeders” take away productive energy that could generate profitable results. Loser projects also sap morale of employees as well as management.
Today’s labor market has become very competitive. Holding back legitimate salary increases today is a highly risky step to be taking. Many organizations are experiencing salary cost increases of 10% to a few over 20%. Employee loyalty can only go so far. Failing to reward productive employees may work for a very short period, but never for extended periods.
Your competitors are looking for productive employees and your firm becomes a potential source, especially if your staff feels unappreciated and underpaid.
Staying on Point:
The greatest challenge for most of us is keeping on course in terms of our work. This can span senior management, project managers and production staff. Often it is little things, such as it is easy to drag a one minute comment into a lengthy and ongoing conversation, depleting our work product. Another one is putting off the unpleasant part of a project, whether it is in addressing a complex problem, correcting miss steps or delivering unpleasant news to a guest. Procrastination is one of our industry’s greatest threats and a definite enemy of success.
Time and money are almost always related. Most of us work for a business that exists based on its bottom line, especially if it is our own. Time wasted is time lost and earnings lost. We all do so to a certain extent and perhaps that is a human element that enables us to perform our work product in a more organized manner or not. The work product achieved in the end is the ultimate determining factor in measuring survival in the business world.
There are many ways to approach a given project but the ultimate measure of success is completion (on time and on budget). One of the most common failings for people having responsibility for a given assignment is dragging the work out. Dragging out a project reduces the bottom line and often has a serious negative effect on long term relationships with guests.
An example would be the old comment made by the man observed polishing a brass door. When asked how he knew he was finished, he replied “when they take it away from me.” Unfortunately many of us with specific project responsibilities use this as a road map. The problem is that this is the route to failure, not success.
Managers and team leaders have a responsibility for completing any given assignment within realistic time frames and budgets. Failure to do so may on occasion be the result of conditions beyond the control of the individual and accepted as a condition of doing business. This should not be an individual pattern of work performance. If it is, the individual should be retrained or replaced.
Some suggestions:
In planning for your season, keep in mind the time elements that can make or break your season. Be aware of your competition, the economy at the time and any projected external events that may have a major impact on your bottom line. This includes upcoming road repairs and utility adjustments, detours and related projects –planned for your Access routes.. It may also include major social or political events that create challenges to traffic flow past your facility.
Maintaining progress can benefit from short periodic review sessions. Each assignment should be reviewed on a monthly basis (or more frequently when required). The review should be concise and any identified problems addressed. This should not take more than 5 to 10 minutes for most situations. Avoid drawn out bull sessions. Time wasted is gone forever.
Not all of us are good time managers. When projects fall behind realistic time and monetary expectations, Senior Management must insist on corrective measures to bring assignments back on schedule. Failure of managers complete assignments on time and within budget cannot be accepted as a way of doing business. Employees should recognize their salaries are based on their commitment that they will work for the good of the firm and can realistically expect to be terminated if they do not do so. This applies doubly to senior executives and managers.
Should managers fail to cooperate in directing and performing their assignments and bringing them to a reasonable conclusion, they should be relieved of their responsibility and their salaries adjusted accordingly or terminated. With the current labor market, termination may not be the first option. The first option is determining whether the “bad” employee is willing and capable of being productive after counseling. Today’s wide range of mandated H & R Rules Regulations can prove to be a “minefield” if taken lightly or ignored.
Communications with guests:
Maintaining ongoing contacts with guest and marketing calls are all a vital component for the successful operation of modern FECs. With the advent of digital accounting and record keeping, the use of debit cards and the development of guest loyalty programs operators have a very beneficial format for retaining existing guests and the development of new ones. Today’s opportunities span phone contacts, text messages and e-mails as well as snail mail. Each has a role in business. All of them provide avenues for developing guest loyalty and the gaining of new repeat guest visits. E-mails and text messages allow one to rethink statements before sending as well as opportunities for mass contacts. Phone calls offer far more personal contact. All have limitations.
Employee Loyalty and Value in Small Businesses:
Employing and retaining staff members is a growing challenge in today’s labor market. Retaining existing staff and employing new ones has become a major challenge for all forms of business. In today’s labor market, obtaining and retaining employees has become a critical element of an FEC’s survival, let alone future success.
Failure of management to recognize and address this reality is a giant step toward ultimately being unable to maintain a realistic operation. In today’s environment it is safe to assume the employees are intelligent and aware of the firm’s pluses and minuses, especially with respect to their careers. When employees know management recognizes and rewards them for their efforts they are far more likely to feel as though they are important elements in the firm’s success. Conversely if productive employees observe certain individuals being rewarded for less than stellar performance while they are striving to maximize the company’s success, the company workplace environment becomes a ticking time bomb.
Among the elements that have proven disastrous for some firms are the following:
- Nepotism by itself is not necessarily a bad thing in a family owned business, but it can be very destructive in instances where relatives receive rewards far in excess of performance while super producers are given minimum rewards for their positive production.
- Favored employees, other than relatives being treated favorably, far in excess of work product.
- Bonus reward for top management when productive employees are left unrewarded.
Over my long career one thing stands out; there are almost no management secrets that are not known by most employees. This was true in large national corporations all the way down to two man operations.
If I were an owner of a small business with ten or less employees today, the morale of my staff would be of far more importance than personal gain, as there are far more jobs with potential for individual growth available than there are job seekers.
The last thing I would tolerate in my own behavior would be allowing nepotism or buddy support to rule my decisions in establishing salaries or bonuses. It is far better to make certain your producers are rewarded and slackers relegated to realistic salaries or let go, than to fail in a competitive market. Individuals that rebel against expectations of improved performance are like dead cylinders in an engine and should be dealt with accordingly.
The Loss of any good employee is far more drastic than the just the loss of production. Replacement entails making up for the lost work product, the commitment of training hours and integration into specific responsibilities. The training of staff replacements to be as productive as the lost employees can involve many lost man-hours and resulting higher overhead costs and the lowering of overall employee morale. Conversely, losing a less than productive employee often actually results in long term benefits bluntly expressed in terms of improved employee morale and more quality product per dollar spent. Seek to be fair and equitable in all employee situations.
Many examples can be found where nepotism drove all productive employees away for both revenue and morale reasons. You want people coming to work with the common goal of doing a great job and enjoying the rewards of doing so. Nothing can do more to negatively impact on company morale than having non-productive team members.
Conclusion:
We can all do better and if success is our goal, we have to. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions” can be applied to almost everything we do. Talking the talk doesn’t get the job done. We all have to take the time periodically to self evaluate our progress in becoming successful. Actually practicing what we preach is a sound bit of advice. Hopefully some of the above may have a positive impact on your ultimate success. Go-forth, enjoy and proper.
Mr. Olesen is a registered professional engineer in Illinois and Michigan and President of Entertainment Concepts, Inc. (formerly Peter F. Olesen and Associates, Inc.) of Mount Prospect, Illinois, which he founded in April 1984. During the past 39 years he has been responsible for more than 660 family entertainment projects spanning site selection, concept development, feasibility studies, business plans, master plans, final design, construction plans and specifications, construction engineering and ongoing consultation for existing operations. These projects have spanned 47 states, Angola, Brunei, Canada (Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and Saskatchewan), Cuba (Guantanamo Bay), Kazakhstan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam.
He has written countless articles on go-karts, tracks, miniature golf courses, bumper boat ponds and related attractions for both outdoor and indoor FECs that have appeared in industry magazines and internet publications. He has made seminar presentations at industry tradeshows, including International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, Fun Expo, Leisure Expo and Kart Expo. An original member of the “faculty” of Foundations Entertainment University He was a speaker at 49 Seminars over 17 years. You can get more information at www.fecdesigners.com, by contacting him by phone at 847-561-7013 or by e-mail at
Copyright: 2023 Entertainment Concepts, Inc.
