As we end 2007 and look towards 2008 I hope that this column has helped you to determine tactics, set strategic initiatives, and align the organization to create a 'first choice' for your players. To develop a business model in which your Players insist on coming to your gaming location over others. To create Player Insistence®.
During 2007 Four Sure Bets has examined the processes and procedures of gaming from a perspective outside of gaming. Many of my readers have informed me that the similarity to other industries is more congruent than most of you had thought prior to my writings. Many have said they could apply lessons they have learned from promotions from outside of gaming to bring a fresh perspective to what they do inside gaming.
When I look at gaming, what I see is an industry that claims to be progressive, but is restricted by regulations, mired in the past, and attached to traditional thinking.
There are few innovations, few risks, and few gambles, except if you are a player. This offers the opportunity to change. There is no better time than now to discover how to become remarkable to your players. Face it, the old components of price, promotion, publicity, etc., are not working any more. It is time to create something remarkable so that your players can't play elsewhere.
As more resources are placed in the process of planning, the successful execution of the plan becomes secondary. Resources are placed at the top (planning) and all but eliminated at the bottom (execution). Gaming promotion in many markets then sets itself up for failure because more time and money is spent on planning than on execution.
I am not suggesting follow the leader. That path has been taken by someone else. I am suggesting that you become the leader, the risk taker, the pioneer that IS the competition not following the competition. Look around. What impacts your personal buying decisions? Big brands, big ideas, big impacts, big connections.
iPod changed the way we buy music and videos. Starbucks changed the way we purchase coffee. FedEx changed the way we deliver packages. ESPN changed the way we follow sports. In 2008 you can create something remarkable that the right players will insist upon. Leaders do something remarkable, and, once they stake their claim, anyone else's attempt to replicate their achievements is not remarkable, but a pale imitation.'
The Wall Street Journal is the black and white poster child for old-thinking. USA Today delivers more information, using color, graphics and "sound bites" that take dull information and create "water cooler buzz." Look around gaming and make the comparison. Are you discovering more "black and white" or "color?"
I often talk about 3D Thinking. The premise is that in today's gaming world, situation assessment before creating the plan is often ignored in the rush to action. Bets are placed without understanding the 'rules of the game.' When action is taken without a thorough assessment of the situation, people begin working on the wrong things. If the goal of every promotion is to increase Player Insistence®, then we have to re-exam our promotions.
As a holiday gift let me provide my three-step 3D Thinking process – DEPTH, DISCOVERY and DETERMINATION.
1. Reach into the DEPTH of the problem by going into the box instead of stepping outside of it. Dig deep into the underlying causes of your problems and search for new and better ways to solve them and achieve success. Barona continues to be model for innovation. Yet if you really look at what they are doing it comes down to a few simple concepts: Define your player. Set a goal to obtain that player. Do everything possible to keep that player. We all understand this, but it is Barona's execution that makes them so successful. They spend a much greater percentage of their retained earnings to create Player Insistence®.
2. DISCOVERY involves closely examining the real-world actual situation devoid of politics or any other subjective factor. Assess whether or not the solution is worth the effort. Look at your marketing efforts. I believe that the return on the marketing investment to existing Players can be many times greater that to prospective Players. The greatest source of increased revenue is from those who already patronize your organization. Yet how do we treat them? I see more rules, more processes, and more reasons for them look elsewhere. Look around at what is working for other companies outside of gaming. Focus on results that deliver Player Insistence®.
3. DETERMINATION is required to carry out new practices successfully. Not all new ideas succeed immediately. In fact, relatively few do. But the ones that succeed do so because they are believed in, supported and given the time they need to prove themselves. That takes determination, and no matter what the idea or goal, without determination it doesn't stand a chance. And this means having upper management buy into and sign off on your program.
Use 3D Thinking to develop strategies that go beyond conventional rules. Become another ESPN and dedicate yourself serving a niche so well that you own it. Become another FedEx and absolutely, positively deliver on your promise. Become a Starbucks and deliver a commodity product with such innovation and flair that people insist on your brand over others. And remember, if there are a thousand changes you want to make, change one thing at the time, or the process will overpower you.
Make a promise that this is the year in which you overwhelm the market by creating Player Insistence®. And as this year ends and the new one begins, place these Four Sure Bets:
- Make 2008 a year in which your strategy succeeds with emphasis on the professional execution of tactics.
- Make 2008 a year in which you improve your planning and execution with tactical plans shaped by reality, with information learned from direct contact with your Players, employees and suppliers.
- Make 2008 a year in which you look at your Players as an ally instead of an interference, thus creating Player Insistence®.
- Make 2008 a year in which you partner with your employees and suppliers and through their pro-active input and craft plans to make the Player experience exceptional, thus building and empowering the team to create and maintain Player Insistence®.
And finally, my holiday wish for you is to retain what you know, discover what is not known, and learn the unknowable. Expand your knowledge base by looking outside the industry, looking inside the box, and discovering new opportunities using existing resources.
Here's to a Happy, Healthy, and Prosperous New Year.
