Mike,
Sad but true. I wish there was a magic bullet that would work in all cases; if there was I would gladly offer it for free to everyone, but there isn't as far as I know.
When I was making the transition to retail management (running a multi-million dollar drug store), I was caught off guard by the huge difference between retailing and a recreational service business such as a bowling center or slot car track. At some time in their lives, everyone *needs* something from a drug store, and when your patient recovers (or, sadly, doesn't), someone else gets ill and takes their place; there is a constant stream of new customers by nature. Nobody NEEDS slot car racing, it is a manufactured want, and requires a very different style of management than a mass-market retail store.
To put it crudely but accurately, a recreational service is (even more than most businesses) a game of numbers. If only 1 person out of 500 who becomes aware of slot car racing gets involved, and you need 100 regular racers to survive, you need to get exposed to 50,000 people to survive. If 10% of current racers drop out every year, you need to contact an additional 5,000 every year just to break even, and more still for your business to grow. I don't know what the actual numbers are for slot car racing (I doubt anyone does--they are well known in the bowling business), but you get the idea. Any recreational service business is extremely promotion intensive--we must constantly find new ways to expose more people to the sport, or we die. Mass-market advertising is not the way: such a small percentage of people will be interested that the vast majority of your advertising dollars will be wasted. What is the answer? I wish I knew.
In the case of advertising, as far as parties, I rely mostly on word of mouth.
If one group of scouts has a good time, chance are another scouting group is going to get wind of it.
Same with kid's birthday parties.
I seldom quiz people how they heard of me, but once in awhile, to make small talk , I do.
They usually answer with stuff like "A bunch of mother's were standing around, and I brought up I don't know where to host my kid's birthday party, and another one recommended me, to you".
I do a lot of parties, from nearby, affluent Hinsdale (that's where yesterday's party was from).
One mentioned they heard about me on a Hinsdale's Mother's FB page.
The best one was when a mother said she heard about me, at her church, during the pastor's sermon, who had a party for one of his children, by me.(he never had mentioned his occupation at the party)
But it's not always a magic bullet.
Sometimes it's a lucky bullet.
I'm lucky enough to have a bunch of great customers.
They do everything they can to keep new racers here, vs. running them off.\
An example is Mark from Deerfield.
I touted some of his vintage collection in the below thread.
http://slotblog.net/...luding-dynamic/
He was in today to practice a bit, and to get some parts to build a car for his adult son, who he wants to get reinvolved, along with his brother-in-law.
Mark has raced, off and on, for years, and thus, has been in raceways from the mid-60's, until now.
Geary Gaspord/Backtrack walked in, to drop off an order, and to practice a bit.
I introduced them, and quickly, they were chatting away.
While still in earshot, I heard Mark tell Geary, " I really like it here. Everyone's so friendly. The first time I came in, everyone went out of their way to introduce themselves." (while he practiced by himself, on the other track from where everyone else was racing on)
"I've been to other places, where the other racers just keep to themselves, concentrating on doing their own thing".
So trying to run the raceway with a club atmosphere, while in the short game, sometimes hurts the $$$ coming in, with the long game, I believe it's the way to go.
Michael,
A drag strip or a full pledged hobby shop helps for starters. Swiss does a lot of birthday parties, I never wanted the aggravation. Fast Eddie in Richmond, Indiana does a lot of Ebay sales, mostly drag cars I think. What I think a lot of successful slot car shop owners are doing is selling stuff on Ebay under a different name at a discount. Anything they make is money they wouldn't have gotten anyway. A lot of their customers don't know they can buy it for less on Ebay. I think there's a lot of that going on. Can't beat em, join em.
Race what your customers want to race. I always raced what I liked to race, big mistake.
Parties can be aggravation, but closing up is more aggravation.
And after awhile, they aren't that bad.
The one I held yesterday, almost couldn't of run smoother.
When the dad of 6 year old Hudson came to pay me, he commented how great he thought it went, and added "You must come from a military background, you kept it so orderly". I got a good chuckle.
As far as Ebay, I've never sold anything on it.
Who knows, one day I might.
But for now, for me, I consider it the "last chance saloon".
Earlier today, the same Mark that I mention above, was commenting how during his last fairly serious run at racing slot cars, about 15 years ago, he was convinced that one guy was cheating.
The owners didn't seem to mind, and made excuses for the suspected cheating racer.
To convince himself, he got in touch with a "California guy", who touted how he knew how to take off motor seals, and replace them, without detection.
He bought a motor from the guy, and raced it once, ran even with the suspected cheater, to confirm to himself, this guy was most likely cheating.
I seem to of heard that guy folded up his tent, a year, or so, ago.
The best part, is I've tried about 4 times, to think of that goof's moniker, then, a little later in the afternoon, at dinner, and now, with zero success.
That's a great feeling, not being able to think of that POS's name.
You never learn the track.
