WHY DO SOME PEOPLE GET INTO THIS BIZ?
By Rich
Unger
It's time for my review of recent rants from An Indiana Club Owner to
Women who want to be Promoters in Los Angeles, to a Montreal Accountant who
now owns a club to a Michigan Club Owner who has no clue but to give the
house away, to a Club Owner in Cincy who relies strictly on Club Promoters
and finally to a Club Promoter in Boca, who has no clue.
I mean you can't make this stuff
up................................................
I WILL NOT NAME THESE PEOPLE OR THE CLUBS, WHY ADD ANY MORE HUMILIATION TO
AN ALREADY PATHETIC SITUATION IN EACH OF THESE
STORIES. I TELL THEM IN THE HOPES, PERHAPS
YOU WILL LEARN FROM THEM. THEY ARE TRUE,
FACTUAL AND AGAIN YOU CANNOT MAKE THIS STUFF
UP...................................
HERE WE GO:
OK, story #1, from an Indiana Club Owner, I
receive a phone call from an Owner in a Panic Mode, he is spending on radio,
passing out flyers, he has just added a VIP ROOM, ( They are not the latest
way to go, they are yesterday's Room) anyway, he can't draw in patrons and
he is in a College Town.
He has no cover charge, $1 drafts, $1 shooters and nobody is coming in.
I would say the worse Club Owners who have no clue, refuse to learn
or listen are from Indiana. Never have I
seen a State where so many bar, nightclub, sports bar Owners, refuse to do
what they need to do and continue to do what they know does not work.
Back to this Owner, he now wants to change the name of the Club, I asked
him was there an incident that occurred that someone was hurt or worse?
He replies "no but I think a name change would help? "
I ask him are you going to also remodel the club, so that the new
perception of this establishment is not just a new name, but also a new
image?
NOPE! He just wants to change the name.
Again, you cannot make this stuff up.
He is in a great college town, but he cannot
grasp why he cannot attract clubbers? He is
giving the house away, he is dropping his dress code.
I proceed to ask him what he is doing on a positive approach to
attracting patrons and clubbers, especially Women with "The Fun" and "The
Wow Factors." His response I kid you not
"HUH"?
He is not concerned with the times his radio spots run, the quality of
the spots, the production, nor the fact Radio does not work anymore, the CEO
of Clear Channel, is now ordering his Stations to push fifteen-second spots,
he realizes the significant loss of audience his 1200 stations have
experienced, so now he has cut back the number of spots per hour, thinking
listeners are fed up with advertising, and came up with the brain storm of
selling potential advertisers fifteen-second spots.
ARE YOU, I MEAN IS HE FOR REAL????????????????????????????????????????
Your a Nightclub, an Ultra lounge and your supposed to buy 15 second
radio spots to pack your establishments? Let
me repeat, RADIO IS DEAD, IT DOES NOT WORK ANY
LONGER............................ If your
paying top dollar or the bottom off the rate card dollar, it doesn't matter,
RADIO means nothing anymore...............................
So this Indiana Nightclub Owner is" lost in space," I cannot emphasize
enough to him what he is doing wrong, why it's wrong and why it's not
producing any results. He can't pay patrons
to come into him club, except for one night, that every drink is $1.
How can anyone make money offering every drink for $1? Sadly he has
no clue. My question is, why does this so
called Nightclub Owner even own a Club?
He called me to provide him with insight and information that frankly I
found offensive. He is the one that
destroyed this Club, there is no Genie in a Bottle that is going to turn
this club around without first taking him out of the equation.
He sadly has no faith in himself, no desire to follow direction, no
grasp on what "CONSISTENCY" is all about.
Personally I think he belongs in "GITMO" and has completely lost his mind.
Take your pick.............................
Because I have zero patience for Owners who are suffering, their clubs dying
and their MENSA idea is "Friday Nights All Drinks $1"
But then, he should have called me a long time
ago......................... (Rolling Eyes in
total exasperation)
Story #2, Two Ladies from Los Angeles call me, middle age Women who have
decided they want to be Club Promoters. They
have found a Club that holds six hundred People, they want to target the
thirty Plus crowd. The Owner of the club has given them "Friday Nights."
A Club Owner in the Los Angeles Area has decided to give the biggest Night
of the Week to two inexperienced Women to pack his club?
Am I missing something here? is
anyone checking what's in the water in Los Angeles?
Sorry, but sometimes I think I am a Host at "Ripley's Believe It Or Not."
The Ladies have no clue where to begin, what they want to do, how to
do it, what to charge, how to market, they are like Meryl Streep's first
day, first week, first month assistants in "THE DEVIL WORE PRADA," I mean
they haven't a clue. I have no idea the
outcome of this misadventure, because the Ladies were too
flaky to take any action.
Story #3, A former Accountant in Montreal calls me, he is in the nightclub
business now a year and a few months, his club is dying.
He has listened to everyone, even his Mailman I think, he has done
what everyone suggested and told him would work, only to find out none of
their ideas resulted in any increase in patron traffic, cash flow or the
perception of this
drifting club. The club is located in an
area of Montreal where it has ZERO, NONE, NADA competition, and yet it is
dead.
He has criss crossed promotions changed formats like you and I breathe.
I mean he has covered the gamut, and totally confused his Community.
He has done everything wrong, almost nothing right.
A Year and a few months later, he calls me.
He compliments me with the remark "everything you said not to do I
did, everything you said, you were right, I am an Owner who was wrong I see
that now." Yet, when I asked him to make
some changes, improve his business dramatically, he tells me "I am not in a
position to act."
Why did he call me? I suggest he be a
guest on the DR. Phil show. Perhaps it's
multiple personalities that he is dealing with? Ya
think?
Story #4, A Club Owner in Michigan email's me, his
club is dead, he is trying to bring in the right crowd.
This is what he describes to me as his current strategy to pack them
in.
"I only have 15 - 20 customers at any one time. On the
weekends, I only have 30 - 40 at any one time. I desperately need
some Promotions help. Here is what we currently
offer. I hold 300."
Monday& Tuesday - $1.00 domestic bottles (no entertainment)
Wednesday - $.25 drafts from 8:30-9:00 and from
11:30-midnight with a DJ.
Thursday - $1.50 domestic bottles (no
entertainment)
Friday - Ladies night 50% off for women with a DJ
Saturday - drink specials involving the 3 horseman.
(Jim, Jack, Jose)
This is what this Owner is doing to bring in patrons, to empty out other
establishments, and he too is in a College Town.
Why even bother to open? Whey even waste
your energy, your time? I contacted him,
told him the format he needed to implement, of course he
didn't. Who even knows if he is still open?
Story #5, A Club Owner in Ohio e-mails me.
His two level club is empty, that he has relied on club promoters to
promote each individual night, tragically they have ruined his club with the
wrong crowd, the wrong format, and the wrong DJ.
This Owner is working with anybody who says he can pack his club, in
the Cincy area, where clubs are thriving and clubs are dying.
The competition is fierce. This
Owner, like many other Owners puts his heart, his soul, his life into what
he does, but then relies on strangers, outsiders, and unknowns to make his
club money.
But when your giving the power to promote, the authority to market, the
ability to operate as though he is your partner, to strangers who only talk
the talk, it's the worse business decision and strategy you can apply.
It really evaporates any consistency, any even flow and any high
energy image of your Club, because far too many club promoters are doing
vastly different methods to draw patrons in.
Their number 1 concern is what is in it for THEM not him.
They bring your energy level to zero, takes your enthusiasm completely
away, there you are, knowing that your club has great potential, realizing
that if you took responsibility for the PROMOTIONS, THE CONCEPTS, THE
CONTESTS, THE EVENTS, THE THEMES, THE HAPPENINGS, THE GATHERINGS, THE UNIQUE
ENTERTAINMENT, THE MARKETING, THE QUALITY OF PATRON, THE ABILITY TO Draw
WOMEN, you would be on top rather than facing the
unknown.
Why didn't this Owner realize he needed to personally assume the helm and
just make the move, bring on "The Fun" and "The Wow Factors"?
Then, his dance floor would be wall to wall with hot women and
spenders. We emailed each other for at least
3 weeks, back and forth, but this Owner was too
egotistical to call me, too self absorbed to admit he needed
help, too disenfranchised to turn his own club around.
In Cincy, where the number of clubs, lounges, bars, are abundant, you
cannot simply jump into the "drink price war" with various Club Promoters
calling the shots, and expect to thrive much less survive.
You have to stand out, stand above competing clubs, to attract
the right crowds in. Unfortunately this
club is not going to make it.
Story #6, Ironically at the same time I receive a
phone call from a club promoter in Boca Raton, Florida just up Federal Hwy.
from Lauderdale after you pass Pompano, Delray Beach and some other small
communities.
This Club Promoter is working with Thee Club in Boca, but cannot stand
the way they operate, they pay way too much money
for a local model Search that brings in less
patrons, who spend less money than the promotion itself costs
each week.
The Club once the dominator in Boca, is dying.
The Owner has lost his direction, the club is suffering, the club
promoter is telling me all the dirt on the Owner
and the Club, none of which I have any Interest in
hearing, I keep asking him "what do you want from me?"
He says, " I want to start a night of my own somewhere, I just don't
know where?" I suggest he try a number of venues in the Boca Area and near
the local College, but he sounds too wired out and lost in space.
This is why I am totally against any Club Owner working with Club
Promoters, they are not needed, not necessary,
certainly not reliable or loyal.
On a more positive note I did receive an email from a Club Owner in
Brockton, Mass. who told me his Wednesday Nights have gone from dead to
packed, thanks to my concept.
He just wanted me to know, that if felt so good to have a crowd, on a night,
he never ever thought he could. He is on
Cloud Nine. Me, I knew it all the
time.....................................................................................
So once again, I offer you these words of wisdom, you can either suffer,
sulk,
slap yourself, OR, you can call me, Pack your club, bring on "THE FUN" and
"THE WOW FACTORS". Call Rich Unger at
941-921-7027 and say three words: "PACK MY CLUB".
Done!
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