Your guests leave with a smile on their face, great memories of fun times, and a sense of value received, now what? Follow up. Follow up is an easy way to stay top-of-mind with your guests once they leave satisfied, and more importantly, if they don't leave satisfied. Nothing destroys a reputation faster than an un-resolved bad experience. But, your guests have left happy, now you can use them as your extended sales force - but only if you follow up, and do so regularly.
If you have started right from day one, you have a system of gathering names and contact information that will become your best method of follow up and marketing. It is much easier and less expensive to keep a customer than have to constantly be searching for new customers. Having an integrated method of gathering and managing your customers is paramount.
Three to four days after your guests event, a thank you email or even better - snail mail note of some kind sets your facility so far beyond all the others, as to not even compare. Additionally, with this form of contact you can present new and other offers, including some sort of discount on their next party if they book now, or if they refer you to friends, the opportunities are endless.
Something to consider with this follow up, is also send a small gift named for the birthday child, to show that the guest/event isn’t just a number in your eyes. Albeit this takes a little longer, the warm fuzzies provided by it are certainly worth it.
Adding previous and new customers to an email newsletter that is sent every now and again is a standard in today's wired world. Having a website and social media platforms that is informative and entertaining can also be used to keep customers tuned in to your family entertainment centre. It is important if you choose to use these electronic methods of contact that you don't abuse the privilege and border on the line of spamming people with inappropriate contact. Permission based marketing is appreciated and looked forward to.
If you are using some form of customer database, three months out from the guests birthday, they receive a 'time to party' notice from you and again, it can include an early booking offer or news of a new theme party that the guest may be interested in. By encouraging guests to book early you can set that date aside knowing you have booked the revenue.
Think back to the last time you received some kind of personal follow up from some place where you spent time and money. Chances are it is a distant memory. If you have an automated process (and you should) of some kind, this effort is minimal in both time and money when you consider the potential returns. Now let's party.