JERSEY JACK

by Jack Guarnieri, PinballSales.com & ShuffleAlley.com

Communication is the Key

President Reagan was known as the Great Communicator because of his ability to get his message across to the listening audience. As an actor and spokesman, that was his true talent. As our president, that was one of his gifts to the American people. To get your message across, you must learn how to be a great communicator as well.

You must communicate your businesses message to your customers. Contact with your customers is vital for them to feel connected to you. If you do not have a method to communicate with your customers, you are not taking advantage of the business relationship that you have built, even after one sale.

Years ago, mailings, newsletters or postcards were the answer. A sales phone call is even close to being obsolete as people have little time for calls, although "cold calls" must work for some businesses in small percentages. How many calls a week do you get from phone companies trying to switch your phone service?

I still believe that an open house is a great idea as a communication and marketing tool. It gets people together to see new product, exchange ideas and talk about what they want to buy. The bigger open house is a trade expo, which I believe is another important event that should always be attended. In March, there's one in Chicago, just like the old days of the Conrad Hilton, so there's no excuse not to go and see what our industry has to offer.

Two great ways to communicate today are websites and an email list. Customers want to get information on their terms. If you promote and market your website and keep your site looking fresh and updated with useful, relevant information, it will become a valuable tool for customers as well as potential future customers. I can write volumes on website development, marketing, promotion and maintenance, and I may in later articles. Let's just say that every business at this point in time should have a website.

Hosting companies today make it easy for anyone to create and maintain a website, and even if you know nothing about the Internet, you can have an online presence in less than a half hour. Web sites give customers and potential customers the opportunity to learn more about products and services at their convenience and you can change and add to it as often as you like.

Communication via email is another great way to get to your customers, if they open it and read it in a timely manner. We all get enough spam a daily basis. Some days I get more than 300 email messages and somehow I open all of them, so an updated antivirus program is a must.

If you use email as a communications and marketing tool to reach your customers, you must make sure that your email gets opened and read. When you send email, your subject line needs to say something valuable. Once the email is opened, the first sentence must say something useful to get people to read further.

Don't take your customers for granted. If you think that a location agreement or contract will protect your business relationship, you are in for a surprise. Ongoing business relationships, if not constantly nurtured, will also fall away, contract or not; there's always a loophole and poor service, lack of contact and communication between parties or just plain neglect will do them in. Today, customers recognize that their business and their dollars are very valuable. There are not many businesses that can openly claim they have a monopoly on what they sell or do. The Internet has empowered customers to find anything they are looking for, and they vote with their wallets at the companies who best fit their needs. If you think you have a monopoly and believe that your customers need you more than you need them, you're probably on your way out of business and don't know it yet.

Communicate during the sale. If you do not keep in touch with your customers during the transaction to report any changes, then your customers are out of the loop. If a customer is waiting for a delivery, service date or needs a call back, be sure to make the call. If you are the contact person for that customer and you have the relationship, then you must make contact with the customer. Do not delegate it to someone else.

Sales are made for many different reasons. Relationship is one of the biggest reasons for continued business. If you nurture a professional business relationship with your customers based on value, service and mutual respect, then that relationship can grow for many years. It can even weather a short storm if you falter, because you have goodwill in the customer bank. It may not be able to weather regular storms and mistakes or competition from other companies offering better service or lower prices.

Communicate after the sale. If you do not make contact with your customers after the sale to see if they are satisfied or to thank them for their business, you've probably lost more business from them already. You need to treat every customer as if they were your only customer. My wife Joanne tells me that I would get a lot more done if I talked less. That may be so, but I genuinely love talking to my customers. If they call me or come in or exchange emails, that's countless hours spent answering questions or explaining details about products or services. It's all time well spent. Customers appreciate the time spent with them, and we appreciate them spending time with us.

Communicate inside your company. If you own a business or are responsible for a department or any number of other people you must have open lines of communication. Communication and exchange of ideas and information must flow omni-directionally, that is to and from everyone at every level of your company. A need-to-know-basis is not a positive thing. Information is power and many people in companies hoard it like golden nuggets. That gives them power, they believe. Temporary power maybe, but relying on a single person or two can cripple an organization. You must work hard to include everyone in what the company is doing. That includes what it is doing right so it can be duplicated and what it is doing wrong so it can be eliminated. From the truck drivers to the board room and everyone in between, there must be a connection, a link of information on a regular ongoing basis in an easy to access forum.

This may seem a difficult task, but many companies have people who are at the top of the company who never spend quality time with their employees. They may have done that type of work 20 years ago and worked their way up the ladder, but do they know what's going on at every level of their company? Probably not. They have their eyes and spies whisper in their ear what's going on, but they should try some management by walking around and talking around.

Structured meetings usually don't bring out communication in its truest form. Employees need their paychecks and are less likely to be open and honest to communicate solutions or suggestions that can make real change in a company. That's the type of change that can bring new markets, new opportunities or new ways to do old things. Honest communication is important to encourage, reward and protect. That's freedom of speech, which is necessary to become a great communicator.

Jack Guarnieri started fixing electro-mechanical pinball machines in 1975 and has been involved in every phase of the coin-op game business since then. He operated a substantial game route in Brooklyn, N.Y., developed amusement centers and was called in as a consultant to manage Mondial Distributing and State Sales in New Jersey. In 1999, he founded PinballSales.com to sell coin-op to the home market. In 2002, he founded ShuffleAlley.com and released the Parker Bohn III Pro Bowler game, reviving the shuffle alley. His positive attitude, honest insights and opinions have made him a popular figure in the trade. While managing and growing his businesses, he still consults inside and outside the industry, and his marketing, promotional and business management expertise are widely sought. He's very active in his church, community and charitable causes as well. You can learn more at his websites (www.PinballSales.com and www.ShuffleAlley.com) or by phoning him at 866/323-JACK. Email is Jack@Pinballsales.com.

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