It's that time of year again. Hopefully the busiest time you will have, with many parks unskatable, kids with free time, its's cold outside and warm inside. How are you planning on taking advantage of these additional days events. Here are a few ideas-
1. Promotions, particularly during the holidays don't have to be extreme. You don't have to slash the price of money winners in order to move product. Many times, adults are looking for things for their kids. They don't have a clue about what to offer. Putting together packages that are attractive, cost conscious and trendy could be a good way of going after this market. Make certain that these promotions are "promoted" by fliers, mailers, email, and website. As I have said in past articles, put your promotion into a campaign. Have a contest with your staff to see who can move the most stuff.
Additionally you can lure in people with a money neutral item in order to sell other things. Having a "sale" deck could be a way of getting people into the shop to look at your items. many retailers have this item at a limited quantity say 5-10 items.
Another promotion type is the "additional 10% for members" or whatever. Instead of giving 35% off an item, offer 25% plus an additional 10% for members type sale. While in people's heads they think they are getting 35% off they are really only getting 32.5% off. So instead of discounting 35% or $35 on $100), you are offering $32.5 on $100. I would advise too that you make certain your discounts are within your costs, and that you offer reasonable discounts.
2. Events - Having holiday events is tradition in many parks. Putting on a good event takes time and planning. Having a person that can MC is vital, as well as a DJ, prizes, and trophies. Planning out your next year could put a culminating event around this time. Look to monetize a day that is not your busiest, or try to avoid Saturdays. Better to put these on a weekday evening, or during holiday break. Advertise these events too so that kids will know to come watch.
3. Parties - Everyone wants to have a holiday party. Why not market your park as a place for local shops, groups, and regular customers to have a private park party. Having space available for them to have cake and other foods is always a good idea too. Many of the kid oriented places like those inflatable bouncing businesses have several rooms and packages available for birthday parties. Spending time to create fliers and a plan for these types of event is a very good idea. Dedicate a staffer to deal with the party and make them feel like the cost is associated with service. These events could also be scheduled after hours, making down time for the park, a profitable time. Don't forget to offer a party for members and your staff. Noting the wonderful dedication and hard work of your staff goes a long way to getting more out of them.
4. Holiday camps - Many parents are looking for things for their kids to do during the days. Consider hosting a camp during the morning hours like you should be doing in the summer.
Good luck and Happy Holidays!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Promote Skatepark Memberships by adding value, events!
Often we look at membership as either an exclusive way of dealing with people, such as in gym memberships, or as a price break mechanism like in grocery stores. In the gym membership model, people are necessarily excluded because of spacing issues and the rest are roped into constant fees. In the more often thought of structure for memberships skateparks offer discounts for members. Like loyalty cards at the grocery store, there is one cost for members, and another cost for others. Many of these programs offer rewards, which I have not seen offered by skateparks. Often the memberships allows the skatepark to send mail, email or other stuff to the members (don't forget the opt out option), and this is often in keeping with other loyalty programs. But if this is the model, then rewarding people for loyalty should also be in the making. Tracking visits, purchases, and the like should be a routine system designed into the memberships. Adding these tracking systems is likely part of most membership software reports and can be monitored through non-digital means with a punch card. This would be easy enough for visits and could be duplicated with skateshop purchases and justified at the end of the month by an employee relatively quickly. These incentives give the member a feeling of worth, identity, and "loyalty". Future purchases might not be made at the park because of personal circumstances, but when someone gets close to a "goal", this could be a decisive issue in a purchase decision. Similarly, a program like this allows the owner to keep memberships real, constant, and worthwhile. This topic reflects a desire to make the most of "member services" so that the additional costs of a membership provides real value beyond just cheaper entrance rates. Having so many benefits that you would need a brochure to list them makes a membership more valuable.
Adding events that are geared toward members really adds value to these memberships as well. These events can be as simple as member discount day, to more elaborate as member only contests or parties. While many of us would ask why a business would want to offer such a money losing event such as a free party at the park, I would suggest that there are more than one way to pay for these events such as exclusive product sponsorships, or the like. None the less, think of a member party as a way of invigorating your membership, promoting membership sales, and creating a good feeling about your park. A similar way to get members to feel like they matter to your business would be to invite them to an all member meeting. This meeting could be a way for members to add their ideas on the business, or a way for you to see if a new pricing for memberships could work. Those of you who read the last posting on memberships would know that if you are in business already, changing park policy could be tricky. Calling a meeting and seeing what the members could do, or would pay for such a privilege would help in selling the idea, getting feedback, and/or testing the waters. Don't forget that the way to most people's hearts is through their stomachs, so feed them.
Obviously there are many things that can be done with memberships that can help create good feelings with your members and their parks. Think of ways to make your memberships special. And as I have said always, if you have memberships, get your staff on board to selling them every visit and checking them every visit. Show that theses are important. Good Luck!
As a note, the spa-usa.org offers an insurance program for skateparks that involves personally insuring individual skaters. Memberships can offer this as part of their pricing. More on this at a later date.
Adding events that are geared toward members really adds value to these memberships as well. These events can be as simple as member discount day, to more elaborate as member only contests or parties. While many of us would ask why a business would want to offer such a money losing event such as a free party at the park, I would suggest that there are more than one way to pay for these events such as exclusive product sponsorships, or the like. None the less, think of a member party as a way of invigorating your membership, promoting membership sales, and creating a good feeling about your park. A similar way to get members to feel like they matter to your business would be to invite them to an all member meeting. This meeting could be a way for members to add their ideas on the business, or a way for you to see if a new pricing for memberships could work. Those of you who read the last posting on memberships would know that if you are in business already, changing park policy could be tricky. Calling a meeting and seeing what the members could do, or would pay for such a privilege would help in selling the idea, getting feedback, and/or testing the waters. Don't forget that the way to most people's hearts is through their stomachs, so feed them.
Obviously there are many things that can be done with memberships that can help create good feelings with your members and their parks. Think of ways to make your memberships special. And as I have said always, if you have memberships, get your staff on board to selling them every visit and checking them every visit. Show that theses are important. Good Luck!
As a note, the spa-usa.org offers an insurance program for skateparks that involves personally insuring individual skaters. Memberships can offer this as part of their pricing. More on this at a later date.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
What can skatepark membership privileges look like?
When most skateparks open they ask their patrons to chose between being a member or non-member. Why? One idea would be to have no memberships. What do you really need a membership for? The skater doesn't need it if he/she can pay a few dollars more and still enter. So why would a membership be attractive? Often we see that memberships are like sales coupons: member price = less. In grocery stores they have memberships and can track your buying and funnel products at you based on deals they get from suppliers. At REI your membership means you get a yearly dividend as an "owner". In skateparks often we see that members have a lower price on entrances and other services, much like a warehouse buying service. You pay once a year and you can then pay less for things you want. Sometimes this includes membership prices on goods and services like shirts and camps. You don't have to buy a membership but if you are thrifty and come often enough you can save a lot of money. Many people don't think along these lines of future savings. They want the savings now. If your membership is pricey, then you will have to really want to support your park, or your park must be extremely expensive. So what can skateparks do to make memberships that are costly attractive to the potential patron? What would be a reasonable goal for these memberships. Lets look at scenarios to see costs, and returns.
Most would think a $25 membership is affordable. So if you are going budget capable membership, what would you offer with this to make it worth your wile to offer it at this price? If you said you get to skate this time and next time for free for example, and your sessions for members costs $12, you would be able to sell this as an affordable way for them to be here. You could give them a get in free pass with the idea being they could use it on the next visit. This would be a good selling point and could move quite a few of these per year. If you have an i.d. the cost of this would have to be taken out as would taxes, so you would in all likelihood take in $22.50 of this. If you sell 1000 over the course of the year this would generate $22,500. If the membership was not offered and these 1000 people came in at $15 for 2 sessions you could generate about $30,000 less tax and no member card costs. While we can you don't have to offer a free session, the bottom line is effected. What does the membership add to your revenue flow at this cost. The membership is a good tool for gaging the loyalty of your patrons. You have a way of identifying with the park as you are a card carrying member. You get special letters in the mail and maybe specials every month. But are these enough to justify losing $7500 in revenue? Maybe not at $25. The problem of price point is very tricky. Figuring out what you need to offer as an incentive is hard to figure and something that you can survey your current members and your current partons about. This could help you get a handle on how much to charge for a membership.
I would suggest that memberships should be special and they should cost a substantial amount of money. I suggest you price your membership at $150 or more but offer a lot for this. What days can you give them for free? How much can you offer them for use of the place? How many member events can you generate? This will depend on how your patrons see your place. What if you were able to get 1000 people to buy in at this level? Could you make your rent on $150,000 and have members enter free everyday? Why would they see this as value if every time they come the place is filled with nonmembers and the place is crowded? Could you make it free of others most of the time? Obviously the busiest 2 days are Friday and Saturday, with Sunday the next busiest. What if you had Sundays through Thursdays as member only and free? Does this now make $150 (or more depending on your size) worth it? Add in sales of stuff, 2 busy open days, special events, and you might have a good plan here. The membership now has meaning, this is their park, they paid for it. They have now the identity of a park member and you can really look to them for support, hype, and pride. Obviously, looking at your pricing is a good idea, but one that needs a lot of thought. I recommend you study this and see if it would work. Once you set your price, set your goal and get all your staff on-board selling this. Set sales goals, offer prizes, put out promos. Good luck. Go skate.
Most would think a $25 membership is affordable. So if you are going budget capable membership, what would you offer with this to make it worth your wile to offer it at this price? If you said you get to skate this time and next time for free for example, and your sessions for members costs $12, you would be able to sell this as an affordable way for them to be here. You could give them a get in free pass with the idea being they could use it on the next visit. This would be a good selling point and could move quite a few of these per year. If you have an i.d. the cost of this would have to be taken out as would taxes, so you would in all likelihood take in $22.50 of this. If you sell 1000 over the course of the year this would generate $22,500. If the membership was not offered and these 1000 people came in at $15 for 2 sessions you could generate about $30,000 less tax and no member card costs. While we can you don't have to offer a free session, the bottom line is effected. What does the membership add to your revenue flow at this cost. The membership is a good tool for gaging the loyalty of your patrons. You have a way of identifying with the park as you are a card carrying member. You get special letters in the mail and maybe specials every month. But are these enough to justify losing $7500 in revenue? Maybe not at $25. The problem of price point is very tricky. Figuring out what you need to offer as an incentive is hard to figure and something that you can survey your current members and your current partons about. This could help you get a handle on how much to charge for a membership.
I would suggest that memberships should be special and they should cost a substantial amount of money. I suggest you price your membership at $150 or more but offer a lot for this. What days can you give them for free? How much can you offer them for use of the place? How many member events can you generate? This will depend on how your patrons see your place. What if you were able to get 1000 people to buy in at this level? Could you make your rent on $150,000 and have members enter free everyday? Why would they see this as value if every time they come the place is filled with nonmembers and the place is crowded? Could you make it free of others most of the time? Obviously the busiest 2 days are Friday and Saturday, with Sunday the next busiest. What if you had Sundays through Thursdays as member only and free? Does this now make $150 (or more depending on your size) worth it? Add in sales of stuff, 2 busy open days, special events, and you might have a good plan here. The membership now has meaning, this is their park, they paid for it. They have now the identity of a park member and you can really look to them for support, hype, and pride. Obviously, looking at your pricing is a good idea, but one that needs a lot of thought. I recommend you study this and see if it would work. Once you set your price, set your goal and get all your staff on-board selling this. Set sales goals, offer prizes, put out promos. Good luck. Go skate.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Dealing with a Disaster At Your Skatepark
Sometimes things happen in the world that negatively affect your skatepark. With the weather events of recent months, and all the fires and other things that are effecting different areas, I thought I would spend a little time going over what you should do to deal with a disaster.
1. Have a plan ahead of time. You need to know the numbers of your lawyer, insurance agent, and key staffers and investors. Keep a sheet at home and in the office of these numbers so that you can act without being inside the building if needs be. Having a calling tree so that you don't have to call everyone on your staff, you call one, and he/she calls the next etc.
2. Let your public know what is happening. Rumor control starts with you. If you didn't suffer any damage, if your place was ruined, let the people know. Sympathy can go a long way to getting help fixing, and to making a reopening an event.
3. Assess the damage, assess how you can recover. Sometimes things are ruined that you can't recover from financially as you were. You have two options at this time, call it quits or try to reopen. If money is the problem and insurance isn't covering it, you can raise money from your members, add investors, or look to the banks for a loan, have a disaster sale etc. There are also community resources available for small businesses (these are very competitive but you should try for them). But the main issue is what you need to do for your sanity. Restarting can be hard and take a lot of energy so you need to either go all in, or not.
4. If people were hurt you need to talk to your lawyer first. You can express to the people who were hurt concern, send a get well card, give them a call on the phone and hope that they are all right. Your lawyer will say "don't ever admit wrong doing". This is possible while at the same time expressing a human hope that the persons hurt will recover. You have to worry about lawsuits when people are hurt, often they will cast a wide net as a matter of practice to see if they can get money to help with their costs. So speaking with your lawyer is a good idea anytime there are "issues" with the park. You should have a working relationship with a lawyer anyway. I know it sucks to go in to the office, speak with this person for 1/2 an hour and get charged like $200. But protecting yourself and your business is important too, and these periodic meetings help ensure a good relationship and ensure that you are addressing your liability and risk issues. If you are concerned about the costs of these visits, have an agenda when you go in, limit non productive time, and get out quick.
5. Clean up and get back to work! With contests, events, and lessons, reschedule these events. Spend some money advertising to get the word out to those people who might not know that you are open yet. Plan a big re-opening event with music, contests, etc. to generate a buzz. Update all your media, website, twitter, facebook, google+, or other forums that you publish. Get the word to the parents that you are safe, clean, and ready to entertain! Getting the word out will take a little more than just opening your door, especially if there was a lot of damage in the area. Spend the time and money to let your constituents know your are doing business. You might have to cut back on some hours of staff at first if business continues to be slow. There is little predicting how the community will react to a disaster and you need to be flexible, proactive, and responsive.
1. Have a plan ahead of time. You need to know the numbers of your lawyer, insurance agent, and key staffers and investors. Keep a sheet at home and in the office of these numbers so that you can act without being inside the building if needs be. Having a calling tree so that you don't have to call everyone on your staff, you call one, and he/she calls the next etc.
2. Let your public know what is happening. Rumor control starts with you. If you didn't suffer any damage, if your place was ruined, let the people know. Sympathy can go a long way to getting help fixing, and to making a reopening an event.
3. Assess the damage, assess how you can recover. Sometimes things are ruined that you can't recover from financially as you were. You have two options at this time, call it quits or try to reopen. If money is the problem and insurance isn't covering it, you can raise money from your members, add investors, or look to the banks for a loan, have a disaster sale etc. There are also community resources available for small businesses (these are very competitive but you should try for them). But the main issue is what you need to do for your sanity. Restarting can be hard and take a lot of energy so you need to either go all in, or not.
4. If people were hurt you need to talk to your lawyer first. You can express to the people who were hurt concern, send a get well card, give them a call on the phone and hope that they are all right. Your lawyer will say "don't ever admit wrong doing". This is possible while at the same time expressing a human hope that the persons hurt will recover. You have to worry about lawsuits when people are hurt, often they will cast a wide net as a matter of practice to see if they can get money to help with their costs. So speaking with your lawyer is a good idea anytime there are "issues" with the park. You should have a working relationship with a lawyer anyway. I know it sucks to go in to the office, speak with this person for 1/2 an hour and get charged like $200. But protecting yourself and your business is important too, and these periodic meetings help ensure a good relationship and ensure that you are addressing your liability and risk issues. If you are concerned about the costs of these visits, have an agenda when you go in, limit non productive time, and get out quick.
5. Clean up and get back to work! With contests, events, and lessons, reschedule these events. Spend some money advertising to get the word out to those people who might not know that you are open yet. Plan a big re-opening event with music, contests, etc. to generate a buzz. Update all your media, website, twitter, facebook, google+, or other forums that you publish. Get the word to the parents that you are safe, clean, and ready to entertain! Getting the word out will take a little more than just opening your door, especially if there was a lot of damage in the area. Spend the time and money to let your constituents know your are doing business. You might have to cut back on some hours of staff at first if business continues to be slow. There is little predicting how the community will react to a disaster and you need to be flexible, proactive, and responsive.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Take Time to Recharge
In September, when the kids start back in school, my skatepark was slow, even on the weekends. Kids who normally would be coming to the park were active with school friends doing things outside, or somewhere else. For this reason I recommend that in late August, early September, it is OK for you to take a break, have some vacation time with your loved ones, see your family, recharge. When I was running the park I took off very few days, and this is not healthy for your relationships, your health, and your sanity. While I understand the need to stay open, such as high rent, not wanting to miss out on potential members, or whatever, I also understand that the energy you need to meet the busy winter, the resetting of your moods and whatever else a little time off would do are also important. There are several ways you can take a break and still feel like you are doing something, but you don't have to. Your staff could use a break too, so why not now?
1. The working holiday- Take a break yourself from all that you have to do with the park while your expert builders redesign a new obstacle, or have your manager rework your inventory, inspect and justify all your supplies, and design and implement a new fall sale. The idea here is that others can keep working to have a great kickoff for fall while you take a needed break. Hopefully you ended the summer with a flush of summer camp money, and this can help take care of these expenses.
2. The total break- everyone is off for a week or two (or 3 if you can afford it). This will help everyone get things done they have been putting off, see their folks.
3. Trusted management keeps the place open. This is an owner's break and doesn't mean that you have to not keep running. If you have staff you trust, then they should be able to keep the park running while you are away. Several things are needed for this to work however. As I stated earlier, if you end of summer was anything like mine, it could be really slow and then having a staff on would be costly for what little gain you would have. Plus what would having it open do to your anxiety level? Ask yourself if you would constantly want to know how things were going, and whether this would interrupt your break. If you are OK with this type of stressor, then would having a check-in plan help? Maybe you have a call to you every other day, or something like that. You can also install, if you haven't already, web cams to watch what is going on in your park. These could be a good idea for security purposes anyway and could be hooked up to a website that would record days worth of video. Whatever you do, think of your sanity and peace of mind first.
In the end you are looking for a good time to catch some rest. By taking a slow time of year off, you can address your personal needs while not hurting your bottom line. The thing you want to avoid in doing this, is taking random breaks that are unannounced and not really posted. Don't just lock your door and go on vacation, give the people proper warning first, say 2 or more weeks of notice.
1. The working holiday- Take a break yourself from all that you have to do with the park while your expert builders redesign a new obstacle, or have your manager rework your inventory, inspect and justify all your supplies, and design and implement a new fall sale. The idea here is that others can keep working to have a great kickoff for fall while you take a needed break. Hopefully you ended the summer with a flush of summer camp money, and this can help take care of these expenses.
2. The total break- everyone is off for a week or two (or 3 if you can afford it). This will help everyone get things done they have been putting off, see their folks.
3. Trusted management keeps the place open. This is an owner's break and doesn't mean that you have to not keep running. If you have staff you trust, then they should be able to keep the park running while you are away. Several things are needed for this to work however. As I stated earlier, if you end of summer was anything like mine, it could be really slow and then having a staff on would be costly for what little gain you would have. Plus what would having it open do to your anxiety level? Ask yourself if you would constantly want to know how things were going, and whether this would interrupt your break. If you are OK with this type of stressor, then would having a check-in plan help? Maybe you have a call to you every other day, or something like that. You can also install, if you haven't already, web cams to watch what is going on in your park. These could be a good idea for security purposes anyway and could be hooked up to a website that would record days worth of video. Whatever you do, think of your sanity and peace of mind first.
In the end you are looking for a good time to catch some rest. By taking a slow time of year off, you can address your personal needs while not hurting your bottom line. The thing you want to avoid in doing this, is taking random breaks that are unannounced and not really posted. Don't just lock your door and go on vacation, give the people proper warning first, say 2 or more weeks of notice.
Friday, July 8, 2011
A first review of the new book From Concrete Disciples.com
Hey everyone - check out a great resource and look at the new review of the book (official release date is Aug. 15th. Check out the site and the review at http://www.concretedisciples.com/feature-skateboarding-articles/skateboard-product-reviews/item/4308-the-skatepark-owners-manual.html
While your are at it, why not check out another good resource for promoting yourself and your events from the owner of Charm City Skate Park: http://www.globalskateboardingnetwork.com/
Enjoy!
While your are at it, why not check out another good resource for promoting yourself and your events from the owner of Charm City Skate Park: http://www.globalskateboardingnetwork.com/
Enjoy!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Make the Most of Your Skatepark Staff
As a business owner you will need to have staff at times even if you are small to make all the hours you need to be open successful. As a skatepark, this staff can languish behind the counter. Making sure that these people are fully working will allow you ensure the most work for your money.
1. Staff sales goals. Give your staff incentives to meet the sales goals you want. You can even have a fun competition on memberships, multiple punch entrance cards, camps, or lessons. Whatever you have to sell could be put into the goal. You don't have to just make it fun either, this could be a good tool for reviewing who is working well in this environment. If someone consistently doesn't make the goals, more training or another job could be called for.
2. Training. Staff needs to be brought in for training so they know what to do, when, and how to sell your stuff. You can go over areas needing work, or what weekly projects need to be done on the slower times.
3. Projects. All people like being part of a plan. Make a few projects. Have them plan an event start to finish, review it and give them feedback. If they are at the front desk have them file, fill out mailers, straighten, clean. Give them a work checklist.
4. Staff parties. Plan on having the staff out to a party to celebrate them. Usually Christmas is the time of office parties, but you could do a seasonal one. Showing your appreciation of them will help them stay happy.
5. Give them written reviews of their performance. Pepper the bad with good as well. Have a 1 on 1 meeting with each and go over what you see. Listen to their ideas, their complaints, their praise, and things that you can fix, fix.
Above all, get the most out of your employees by making them do more than just sit there waiting. They will be happier and will help your park's success.
1. Staff sales goals. Give your staff incentives to meet the sales goals you want. You can even have a fun competition on memberships, multiple punch entrance cards, camps, or lessons. Whatever you have to sell could be put into the goal. You don't have to just make it fun either, this could be a good tool for reviewing who is working well in this environment. If someone consistently doesn't make the goals, more training or another job could be called for.
2. Training. Staff needs to be brought in for training so they know what to do, when, and how to sell your stuff. You can go over areas needing work, or what weekly projects need to be done on the slower times.
3. Projects. All people like being part of a plan. Make a few projects. Have them plan an event start to finish, review it and give them feedback. If they are at the front desk have them file, fill out mailers, straighten, clean. Give them a work checklist.
4. Staff parties. Plan on having the staff out to a party to celebrate them. Usually Christmas is the time of office parties, but you could do a seasonal one. Showing your appreciation of them will help them stay happy.
5. Give them written reviews of their performance. Pepper the bad with good as well. Have a 1 on 1 meeting with each and go over what you see. Listen to their ideas, their complaints, their praise, and things that you can fix, fix.
Above all, get the most out of your employees by making them do more than just sit there waiting. They will be happier and will help your park's success.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Summer doesn't have to mean the slow season
Often when the sun is out and the weather is hot, indoor skatepark's business slows. But it doesn't have to be the low point of your financial year. With all the kids out of school, now is a good opportunity to promote yourself, generate new business and run things that can really make your financial year. Here are 10 suggestions for this summer to make the most of the time that kids are off.
1. Camps. Camps need to be scheduled for the summer time. Parents are looking for things for their kids to do, and you can provide a supervised, interesting experience for their kids that they will talk about the rest of the summer. Varying from a morning 1/2 day session to a full day, your camp can take advantage of your assets. In addition, you will make your employees happy with additional ways of making money in a fun and structured session. If you have a van or can work out travel, you can make a full day experience for the kids with trips to a pool, other parks, basketball, or to get ice cream. The easiest scenerio is to have a 1/2 day camp. At Rain City Skatepark we offered families the ability to stay all day in a 1/2 day structured and an additional 1/2 day unstructured. We charged additional for the kids to stick around and staffed it with responsible teenagers to look after them. As a note, you should contact your insurance person if you are adding driving and van issues to your service as this might need additional coverage.
2. Overnight - why not have a "sleepover" at the park. Filled with Pizza, music, games, and skating.
3. Private parties - promote renting the park for parties.
4. Music nights - get a dj to make a regular event night for skaters
5. Contests
6. Demos
7. Send the skateteam out into the public with fliers or other promotions.
8. Special Bonus Night - like 2 for one or member bring a friend night.
9. How to build a ramp- "value added" shop class for a fee
10. Sponsor me contest- become a skatepark skater.
Every event that is not charging entrance the focus needs to be on selling memberships, drinks, food, and merchandise. This will help make what some perceive to be a "free day"a profitable day. Good luck.
1. Camps. Camps need to be scheduled for the summer time. Parents are looking for things for their kids to do, and you can provide a supervised, interesting experience for their kids that they will talk about the rest of the summer. Varying from a morning 1/2 day session to a full day, your camp can take advantage of your assets. In addition, you will make your employees happy with additional ways of making money in a fun and structured session. If you have a van or can work out travel, you can make a full day experience for the kids with trips to a pool, other parks, basketball, or to get ice cream. The easiest scenerio is to have a 1/2 day camp. At Rain City Skatepark we offered families the ability to stay all day in a 1/2 day structured and an additional 1/2 day unstructured. We charged additional for the kids to stick around and staffed it with responsible teenagers to look after them. As a note, you should contact your insurance person if you are adding driving and van issues to your service as this might need additional coverage.
2. Overnight - why not have a "sleepover" at the park. Filled with Pizza, music, games, and skating.
3. Private parties - promote renting the park for parties.
4. Music nights - get a dj to make a regular event night for skaters
5. Contests
6. Demos
7. Send the skateteam out into the public with fliers or other promotions.
8. Special Bonus Night - like 2 for one or member bring a friend night.
9. How to build a ramp- "value added" shop class for a fee
10. Sponsor me contest- become a skatepark skater.
Every event that is not charging entrance the focus needs to be on selling memberships, drinks, food, and merchandise. This will help make what some perceive to be a "free day"a profitable day. Good luck.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Check Out Your Front!
If you haven't looked at your place like a parent would, maybe you should. While it is nice to think that skaters don't care, skaters enjoy a park because it is gritty and mean, parents don't. If you look at who buys all the clothes you sell, who rents the park at night, who pays for summer camp then you will see a lot of money comes to you from parents. They are the ones that keep you in business when it is nice out and all the hard core skaters go outside. So when you go out in the parking lot and look at your front, your facade, what does it say to someone who is looking for a clean, safe place to drop off their kids? Are there a bunch of people smoking, butts everywhere, garbage blowing around? This is helping make a decision for the moms and dads that keep you in business. If you haven't recently, you really need to look at the front of your building with a set of eyes of a parent. While you can have stuff for the more hardcore skaters that don't want a place that is totally sanitized, your main focus need to be geared toward the core of your money, your parents. Why not ask a parent what they think of your front, your clean bathrooms, etc. These are all things that make a difference. You must keep the parents happy so that they feel comfortable dropping their kids off with money for a few hours while they do something else. Make it so they feel OK with going shopping while the kids play. If you can get them in the door you can sell them things. If you make it a necessary outing for the whole family where the parents don't feel safe, then chances are the parents won't come that often because they have to go shopping, drop off the laundry, visit Auntie in the hospital or whatever. Get them in with a clean inviting front, keep them in with excellent service, sell them things while they are there. Now you are making money!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
How to start an indoor skatepark
As a guide I thought I would break down what a novice would need to do to start a skatepark from scratch.
1. Formulate a plan - how will it work, who will work it, how will you pay your bills, what business structure (tax and liability issues) will you have?
2. Do some research - Do you even know where you could put a park? What are the costs per month of the building? taxes? parking? how will people get there? How many skaters are there, and how many of these will pay to skate?
3. Get your finances in order. Do you have money? Do you have enough to exist for 6 months without earning a cent? How long will you be able to have expenses without making money before things will get stressful? The longer you can last, the longer you will last. You will need build up time with lots of expenses and no income. What happens too if people are slow to respond? Plan for the worst case scenario, and work for the best. Can you spread your own finacial liability out with other investors?
4. Market before you have anything going. Start the buzz early.
5. Plan for a media blitz for when you open, get all the free press you can. Invite web, print, tv to your place. Have an "event".
6. Maximize your revenue. Don't just rely on skateboarders to pay the bills. Sell food, stuff, lessons, rentals, private park hours, party rooms, party events, christian events, before and after school events, camps, demos, advertisements, group lessons, what every you can. There is no shame in making this business work by selling things, this is your business, you have to pay yourself, your taxes, lights, sewer, trash, etc.
7. Keep it clean, think of the parents. Parents want a safe place for their kids, they are the ones footing the cost of this place. Make them happy with a nice place to watch, use the rest room, read whatever. Sell them things while they are there.
8. Network - skateshops, other parks, parks departments, community service, police, whomever can help you get people in the door.
9. Keep good track of your expenses. This takes time and effort. Make sure you have a good system to record data for you, what sells, what doesn't, who comes, who doesn't. Use your data to improve your business.
10. Hire good people who are kind yet firm about helping you stay in business. Free only means you paid, not them. You aren't competing with free, free offers nothing but ramps and rails, you offer lights, food, supervision, air conditioning, heat, a phone, a pair of eyes that are ready to help if someone is hurt. This is worth money and people need to understand this.
11. Free yourself to do business things - If you are spending all your time at the park, hire someone to help you do the things you need to do. Spend some money. Is your money better spent hiring someone to man the front, or design an advertisement?
12. Celebrate your members! Make them want to belong!
1. Formulate a plan - how will it work, who will work it, how will you pay your bills, what business structure (tax and liability issues) will you have?
2. Do some research - Do you even know where you could put a park? What are the costs per month of the building? taxes? parking? how will people get there? How many skaters are there, and how many of these will pay to skate?
3. Get your finances in order. Do you have money? Do you have enough to exist for 6 months without earning a cent? How long will you be able to have expenses without making money before things will get stressful? The longer you can last, the longer you will last. You will need build up time with lots of expenses and no income. What happens too if people are slow to respond? Plan for the worst case scenario, and work for the best. Can you spread your own finacial liability out with other investors?
4. Market before you have anything going. Start the buzz early.
5. Plan for a media blitz for when you open, get all the free press you can. Invite web, print, tv to your place. Have an "event".
6. Maximize your revenue. Don't just rely on skateboarders to pay the bills. Sell food, stuff, lessons, rentals, private park hours, party rooms, party events, christian events, before and after school events, camps, demos, advertisements, group lessons, what every you can. There is no shame in making this business work by selling things, this is your business, you have to pay yourself, your taxes, lights, sewer, trash, etc.
7. Keep it clean, think of the parents. Parents want a safe place for their kids, they are the ones footing the cost of this place. Make them happy with a nice place to watch, use the rest room, read whatever. Sell them things while they are there.
8. Network - skateshops, other parks, parks departments, community service, police, whomever can help you get people in the door.
9. Keep good track of your expenses. This takes time and effort. Make sure you have a good system to record data for you, what sells, what doesn't, who comes, who doesn't. Use your data to improve your business.
10. Hire good people who are kind yet firm about helping you stay in business. Free only means you paid, not them. You aren't competing with free, free offers nothing but ramps and rails, you offer lights, food, supervision, air conditioning, heat, a phone, a pair of eyes that are ready to help if someone is hurt. This is worth money and people need to understand this.
11. Free yourself to do business things - If you are spending all your time at the park, hire someone to help you do the things you need to do. Spend some money. Is your money better spent hiring someone to man the front, or design an advertisement?
12. Celebrate your members! Make them want to belong!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Insurance article worth reading!
Here is an article that is worth looking at on insurance and one person's work to insure skateparks. Check it out. http://www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2010/04/05/159513.htm
Sunday, March 13, 2011
March is the time to Advertise Summer Camps!
It is time to get your literature out for your summer camps! If you don't have your stuff out there now, parents will fill their kid's time with other camps. Get on it if you haven't already. Summer camps are very lucrative part of your offerings. Consider what the parents want: safe fun for their kids, part to all day experience and care. These two can be combined for a cost. With careful planning you can have both.
To start you need to decide on what you can do. Do you have the staff to run a good camp. Can you get background checks on these people to assure the parents that they can be with kids? Can they lead kids through the daily routine in a way that is fun, supportive, constructive, and ensures repeat camp visitors? What times do you have, can you realistically do double sessions? Do you need to take up the whole park or can you rope off sections so others can skate too? Don't crowd your camps, but also be aware of people wanting to come to your park.
Secondly can you schedule any fun activities into the day. How long do you have? Can you offer a special day with a famous skater or a demo? Contact local pros and see if you can't get them to do a day or two - and charge accordingly. This is value added and can command a higher price. Can you take a dip in a pool, the lake, play basketball, end with ice cream? Simple things help like a popsicle break at 10.
Thirdly take advantage of your resources. If you have a van, the staff, and local stuff schedule a full day! Do a tour of different places. Remember that if your are teaching, you price it one way than if you are touring. A tour is less costly, supervision, than instruction. Tours can have a higher camper to staff ratio and less needs for the person in charge to entertain the troops. But what is to say you can't instruct at other places? A "learn to skate the bowl" at a different park can attract enough people to make it worth your while. Similarly if you can work with the parks department, you can use your camp expertise to make money for your park and your people by offering camp services and organization to their parks. This helps you generate good feelings with parents in the region and helps solidify your working relationship with other parks. So if you have the team, staff, and organization, branch out! Don't forget to arm your staff with special prizes like your t-shirts, stickers, decks and other stuff. (Remember that this is advertising and should be counted as such for tax purposes.)
Work with your suppliers to offer add-ons such as helmet and pad specials, t-shirts supported by the outside company, camp sponsors! If you have a good relationship with a product rep or a local entity why not have them sponsor a camp, provide a demo, print shirts for the camp with their info on it (cross promotion). As an example, Company G has its factory in your town, so you get them to sponsor one of your camps, provide a pro demo, special prices on gear, help promote.
Finally get some feedback from the parents. Did you have a weak summer last year? Why? Call a few parents to find out. Then improve. In the end add camps to your summer plans and get the word out now. Ads, flyers, and promotions are needed to fill these. Send your skate team out to pass out flyers, take an add out in a parenting mag, provide flyers at area skate shops. You are providing care, education, and entertainment. By providing for the whole experience you will make the most of your summer camps!
To start you need to decide on what you can do. Do you have the staff to run a good camp. Can you get background checks on these people to assure the parents that they can be with kids? Can they lead kids through the daily routine in a way that is fun, supportive, constructive, and ensures repeat camp visitors? What times do you have, can you realistically do double sessions? Do you need to take up the whole park or can you rope off sections so others can skate too? Don't crowd your camps, but also be aware of people wanting to come to your park.
Secondly can you schedule any fun activities into the day. How long do you have? Can you offer a special day with a famous skater or a demo? Contact local pros and see if you can't get them to do a day or two - and charge accordingly. This is value added and can command a higher price. Can you take a dip in a pool, the lake, play basketball, end with ice cream? Simple things help like a popsicle break at 10.
Thirdly take advantage of your resources. If you have a van, the staff, and local stuff schedule a full day! Do a tour of different places. Remember that if your are teaching, you price it one way than if you are touring. A tour is less costly, supervision, than instruction. Tours can have a higher camper to staff ratio and less needs for the person in charge to entertain the troops. But what is to say you can't instruct at other places? A "learn to skate the bowl" at a different park can attract enough people to make it worth your while. Similarly if you can work with the parks department, you can use your camp expertise to make money for your park and your people by offering camp services and organization to their parks. This helps you generate good feelings with parents in the region and helps solidify your working relationship with other parks. So if you have the team, staff, and organization, branch out! Don't forget to arm your staff with special prizes like your t-shirts, stickers, decks and other stuff. (Remember that this is advertising and should be counted as such for tax purposes.)
Work with your suppliers to offer add-ons such as helmet and pad specials, t-shirts supported by the outside company, camp sponsors! If you have a good relationship with a product rep or a local entity why not have them sponsor a camp, provide a demo, print shirts for the camp with their info on it (cross promotion). As an example, Company G has its factory in your town, so you get them to sponsor one of your camps, provide a pro demo, special prices on gear, help promote.
Finally get some feedback from the parents. Did you have a weak summer last year? Why? Call a few parents to find out. Then improve. In the end add camps to your summer plans and get the word out now. Ads, flyers, and promotions are needed to fill these. Send your skate team out to pass out flyers, take an add out in a parenting mag, provide flyers at area skate shops. You are providing care, education, and entertainment. By providing for the whole experience you will make the most of your summer camps!
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