BCA Insider - 2017 Holiday Edition

BCA Holiday Issue | November 1, 2017

PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS A LOOK BACK AT THE EXPO

EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING

ON THE WEB

BCA Insider – A BCA Member Publication Dedicated to Businesses in the Billiard and Home Leisure Industry.

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Keith Loria

A Look Back At The Expo

IN THIS ISSUE

8 Amy Brooks

Preparing For The Holidays

18 Joe Dyton

Effective Advertising On The Web

40 2 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

10 12 26 32 34 36 44 46

BCA Honors Earl Munson & Jerry Briesath Keith Loria The 12 Days Of Marketing John Tuttle Encore Billiards: Designing Success Al Williams BCA Teams Up With First Data Keith Loria Use Social Media This Holiday Season Lynn Switanowski-Barrett Customer Feedback Charles S. Donnavan Social Media Pros And Cons Anthony Stoeckert BCA Innovative Products of the Year Keith Loria

2017

Proud Sponsors

OPENING LETTER EDITORIAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Keith Loria billiardskeith@gmail.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Lynn Switanowski-Barrett

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Amy Brooks Charles S. Donnavan Joe Dyton Anthony Stoeckert John Tuttle Al Williams

ADVERTISING MEMBERSHIP MANAGER Shane Tyree shane@bca-pool.com (303) 243-5070 x23

DESIGN/LAYOUT ART DIRECTOR Julie Snee julie.snee@gmail.com

The goal of BCA Insider is to bring you, the BCA member, relevant information to help improve your business. In this edition you will find articles to help you prepare for the holidays, give you a better understanding of re-marketing web ads, offer a solution for saving money on credit card processing, plus all the other bells and whistles you’ve come to expect and enjoy in this publication.

As you prepare for the hustle, bustle and stress of the holiday season, we are doing our best to make renewing your BCA membership quick and painless. Given how busy you are during this time of year, we are attempting to make the renewal process as seamless as possible.

Included with this magazine is your custom BCA membership invoice and a return envelope. Or if it is easier, and you like saving money, you can go online to BCA-Pool.com, log in to your membership profile and renew online immediately.

To receive a $10 discount, simply put BCAInsider2018 in the promocode box.

As we look toward an exciting BCA Expo in New Orleans in 2018, the BCA would like to announce we have retained Meeting Expectations to provide expo management services. We have assembled an outstanding team at ME who will assist the BCA Board of Directors and staff in managing every facet of the BCA Expo. Look for fresh ideas and innovative thinking at BCA Expo 2018 and beyond! For more information about Meeting Expectations, please visit their web site at MeetingExpectations.com.

And as you prepare for the holidays, let the spirit of the season shine and the cash registers ring!

Happy Holidays,

BCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIRMAN Chance Pack, Champion Shuffleboard/ Connelly Billiards/Valley-Dynamo

VICE-CHAIRMAN Ivan Lee, Iwan Simonis

SECRETARY Wes Bond, Cue & Case Sales

TREASURER Brian Rosselli, Olhausen Mfg

BOARD MEMBERS Kim Morrison-Murdock, International Billiards Brian Igielski, GLD Products Ozzy Reynolds, Cuesports International Dan Pucci, American Heritage Billiards David Piha, Greater Southern Home Recreation

4 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

SHANE TYREE,

MEMBERSHIP MANAGER P.S. Do you decorate your store for the holidays? BCA Insider is holding a photo contest for the best holiday-themed photo of your store and wants to see some unique and innovative decorating ideas. See the holiday photo contest ad on page 29 for more details.

BCA Insider is published by Billiard Congress of America © 2017 bcainsider.com

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A LOOK BACK AT THE EXPO

By Keith Loria The Billiard & Home Leisure Expo, held in August at the South Point Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, once again offered plenty of value for exhibitors, attendees and everyone involved in the billiard industry.

For more than 30 years, the Expo’s mix of speakers, exhibitors, tournaments and events has helped people stay up to date on the latest products and buzz-worthy trends, so that their businesses can better compete.

“We set out every year to provide a great platform for our industry to gather, knowing this will be the single event attracting all facets of our industry,” says Rob Johnson, BCA’s CEO. “The BCA Expo continues to be an excellent show for writing orders, getting feedback on potential new products, making new relationships and gaining educational tips with immediate impact.”

With 85 exhibitors, 301 booths and 870 attendees, the show was one of the busiest and buzziest in years.

Chris Kuntz, vice president of RAM Game Room, Milton, Ontario, says his booth at this year’s Expo was very busy and he thought the show was better attended than in recent years.

“I think everyone involved putting on the BCA Expo always do a nice job,” he says. “I always enjoy the industry social event. It’s a great time to network and socialize with customers in a little less formal setting.”

The show offered some fascinating seminars that were both interesting and informative. Lynn Switanowski, of Creative Business Consulting Group, LLC, delivered some sound social media advice with two seminars: “Social Media Marketing: How to Create Posts, Pictures, Videos and Ads that Deliver Sales for Your Billiard Business,” and “Instagram 2017: Why You MUST Have it and How to Make It Work for Your Billiard Business.”

Linda Cahan, of Cahan & Company Retail Visual Design, presented “Let’s Get Visual! Merchandising’s Secret Weapons,” exploring the science of retail color psychology, sensory merchandising, and basic design techniques of lighting, signage and display.

Those looking for game action were treated to the BCA Expo 8-Ball Amateur Tournament and the 29th Annual Junior Na8 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

tional 9-Ball Championships, presented by the Billiard Education Foundation (BEF).

The junior events kicked off with the always popular annual Adult-Youth Scotch Doubles tournament, with BCA Hall of Famers Nick Varner and Loree Jon Hasson along with pros Skyler Woodward and Shane Van Boening joining in on the fun with the junior players.

For the Junior National Championship, this year’s field boasted 167 players, ranging from 7 to 18 years of age. Gold medal winners included Austin Summers, 18UB; Michelle Jiang, 18UG; Joey Tate,14UB; and Vivian Liu, 14UG. Silver medals went to Kaiden Hunkins, 18UB; Alex Booth, 18UG; Joshua Shultz, 14UB; and Savanna Wolford, 14UG. Jeremiah Gage, marketing chair of the BEF, says from a competitive view, he’s seeing a definite talent evolution in progress for those in the Junior Nationals.

“In the U.S. today, our younger 14-15 players are now just as skilled as the older 16-18-year-old competitors. This is most likely attributable to more access to better instructional and training material on the market and better playing equipment, plus a definite renewed enthusiasm for the sport by the youth at a much earlier age,” he says. “The junior billiard sport is attracting and helping to develop academically very smart kids.”

Next year, the BCA Expo will be held July 11-13 in New Orleans. For details and to register, visit www.bcaexpo.com.

Far Left: Earl Munson

BCA HONORS EARL MUNSON AND JERRY BRIESATH

By Keith Loria The Billiard Congress of America has recognized Earl Munson as this year’s recipient of the BCA President’s Award. The annual award is given to an outstanding individual who has made significant contributions to the billiard industry.

“I am personally truly honored and appreciative and so thankful for all the friends and travels I have made via our sport,” Munson says. “Professionally speaking, I am also very excited now about the recognition of what is possible for our industry when we all develop and collaborate with new exciting junior billiard programs. This award also goes to the vision and hard work 10 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

of the BCA & BEF, which I have been honored to volunteer with for the last 20-plus years.”

With nearly two decades of experience working with and teaching junior players, Munson has left his mark on the billiard world. Through his career, he has been involved in many aspects of the billiard industry – a player, certified instructor, league operator, high school billiard program founder and director, tournament director, billiard junior team coach, billiard retail store manager, billiard retail sales associate, billiard wholesale account executive, table mechanic, and billiard business entrepreneur.

He served as the Atlantic Challenge Cup Captain in both 2015 and 2016 and served as the ACC co-captain with Johnny Archer in 2017. He has also volunteered as the BEF Junior National tournament director for 12 years, and has been a four-time USA team leader for WPA World Junior Championships.

“Without a doubt, I love the social aspects, intellectual and physical challenges, the colorful history and most importantly, the potential of this great sport,” Munson says. “Why? Because I absolutely love the fact that billiards has the possibility of developing into a mainstream high school sport. This

can bring huge opportunities for the industry that has struggled over the last decade.”

During the past 14 years, Munson has organized, directed and coached billiards as part of a program to offer pool in school for 16 high schools and hundreds of junior players. He has also been a certified billiard instructor with the Professional Billiard Instructors Association (formerly the BCA Instructor program) for almost two decades. The thing he’s most proud of, he says, is founding the first after-school competitive high school billiard program in the U.S. “In order for the mainstream to turn the corner of perception from billiards being a game to a sport will involve a ground-up approach just like all other traditionally perceived sports,” he says.

“Juniors are the key to our sport, which I love helping to develop.”

Reflecting on his career, Munson has amazing memories.

“My favorite moments have been working with professional players and Hall of Famers Johnny Archer, Jeanette Lee, Nick Varner, Allison Fisher, Loree Jon

Hasson and Tom ‘Dr. Cue’ Rossman at camp to get the junior players from Team USA ready for the Atlantic Challenge Cup,” he says. “For years, I followed and respected these players and to work side by side with them were moments I truly cherished.”

In 2017, the BCA also came out with a new award, honoring Jerry Briesath with the inaugural BCA Instructor of the Year Award, which from here on in will be named in his honor. He was presented with the award at this year’s BCA Expo.

“It was a shock, I didn’t know it was coming,” Briesath says. “It was a great surprise and a great honor.”

Briesath was the man behind creating the BCA Instructor program (now the Professional Billiard Instructors Association or PBIA), and he has dedicated his life to educating others about the sport.

we get, the more others will want to get involved.”

A PBIA master instructor, Briesath’s style of teaching and knowledge of the game, coupled with his endless enthusiasm, has led to his success in the U.S., Canada and Europe. He has taught thousands of players with a remarkable success rate.

His pool school is the longest-running and most successful school in the U.S., and he’s taught Jeanette “The Black Widow” Lee, Mark Wilson, Tony Robles, Jeff Carter, Jimmy Wetch, Angelina Paglia and Danny Harriman to name a few.

“I just started teaching in Milwaukee when I started being a good player and I just loved to do it,” Briesath says.

“People are smiling when they leave and that’s what you want.”

“Nothing brings a player back to a billiard room more than improvement,” he says. “It’s no different than golf. You give someone some good basics and they start improving, and they can’t wait to play again and it builds the industry. The more players

Far Right: Jerry Briesath

BCAINSIDER.COM | 11

THE 12 DAYS OF MARKETING

By John Tuttle You’ve heard of the 12 Days of Christmas? It’s time to get ready for the 12 Days of Holiday Marketing.

CELEBRATE ALL HOLIDAYS

The weeks leading up to Christmas are the busiest of the year and can make or break a business. Billiard retailers should take a strategic approach so that they make the most of the season. Here are some tips to help you maximize sales during this all-important time of year.

In addition to Christmas, there’s Hanukkah, which runs Dec. 12-20 and Kwanzaa, which will happen Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. Include these holidays in your decorating and offer special deals for these and all holidays that happen during the season.

SCHEDULE YOUR STRATEGIES

12

A pool table can make for an amazing holiday gift, but it’s a costly investment, so anyone considering buying a table for someone is likely to make that decision well before the last-minute holiday rush. Focus on selling tables early in the season. Promote tables of different price points and emphasize how they can be fun for the whole family.

As you get closer to Christmas, focus on items that are less costly, everything from cues, balls, racks, to stocking stuffers such as chalk.

GET IN THE SPIRIT

11

Decorate your store to make it festive and fun. Decorate a tree with billiard-themed ornaments. If you have an employee with some artistic talents, have them create decorations for the store. Play music and offer snacks – cider and cookies will always be welcome. Play holiday music, and even consider having Santa visit your store. Offer candy canes to young visitors.

Have employees get in the spirit as well. Not that they should dress up as elves, but touches of red and green, or a button wishing people a "happy holiday" adds to the fun.

12 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

9

10

HAVE FLASH SALES

Special discounts on prized products are sure to get customers excited. Flash sales are limited sales, lasting about an hour, that will entice customers to get to your store at that very minute. It’s not only a great way to move product, but it gets people into the store who are sure to buy more. But make sure those flash sales are the best deals on any given product during holiday time.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA Maximize your Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts to promote deals and showcase popular items. Let them know about items that are moving quickly.

For example, if a hot new cue is selling fast, post that just a few are left and that time is running out if people want to buy one for Christmas. Let your followers know about flash sales, not only when they’re happening, but pre-promote them with a Tweet – “We’ll be announcing an exciting sale in 30 minutes!”

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USE EMAIL

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Emailed newsletters and invites are effective methods that can get people in the store.That’s because they are sent right to people’s inboxes, so they’re guaranteed to be received by whoever you send them to, unlike social media posts, which can get lost. Include exclusive deals in the newsletter.

USE THE WEB EFFECTIVELY And don’t forget about your webpage.

Make it easy for people to subscribe to your newsletter, and to follow you on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram through your site. Give new subscribers one-time discounts of 10 percent for signing up for your newsletter. Add some holiday touches to your site. And update the store’s hours if you’re offering extra hours during the holiday season. Have your store’s address, email, and phone numbers displayed prominently on your site’s home page. Don’t make people hunt for this most basic information that will get them walking through your doors.

6

5

COMMUNICATION IS KEY

With social media so dominant, don’t overlook the powers of the personal touch. Make sure phones are answered by people who are friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. Don’t let anyone wait on the phone for too long – if it’s taking a while to answer a question, for example, have an employee pick up the phone and let the customer know his or her question is being looked into.

And of course be attentive to people who are actually in your store. They’re the most likely people to actually buy something. Be attentive without being pushy. If you ask someone if they need help and they decline, let them know where you’ll be in case they have any questions. Be welcoming and friendly to people who don’t know much about the game, and are looking for presents for friends and family who do play.

PROMOTE MAINTENANCE AS A GIFT If someone enters your store asking for gift suggestions for a friend or relative who plays pool, suggest products and services that can improve someone’s table and equipment. If a ta14 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

4

ble is older, it may need new cloth, that’s a great gift for a pool player, and something a non-player might not think of.

Products that can keep a table clean are great gift ideas, as are cue tips. Be ready to suggest gifts of all price points to accommodate a range of budgets.

HOST SPECIAL EVENTS

3

An advertised, organized event is a great way to get people to walk into your store.

Demonstrations of products are a great idea, especially for new and exciting items. Other options include hosting sessions devoted to topics such as tips that will improve players’ games or great gift ideas for pool players. Or simply host a social event where fans of the game can meet and talk about the game. Offer free food, beverages and discounts for people who attend. Contact the BCA to locate an instructor to participate in the event.

TAKE YOUR PRODUCTS OUTSIDE OF THE STORE

2

There are a number of holiday-themed shows where vendors can come and bring some merchandise and these are a great way to get your home leisure products in front of new people.

Check out local websites to find out what’s coming in the area and grab a booth.

BRING IN A CELEBRITY Do you have a local pool player who’s known throughout the industry living nearby?

Even if you don’t, many professional pool players and instructors are willing to spend a day signing autographs or teaching pool tricks for a small fee.This is a great way to drive traffic to the store and gets people excited about coming in.

And don't be afraid to contact the BCA, 303-243-5070 for assistance in locating a pro-player or instructor in your area.

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PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS

By Amy Brooks Once the weather starts turning colder and leaves are falling, minds are already on the holiday shopping season.

Whether it’s making a wish list, researching the family’s big gift or keeping an eye out for that perfect item, shoppers start thinking about holiday gifts in early fall, making it necessary for retailers to enact holiday plans even earlier in order to stay ahead of the curve.

With the large teams of people and even larger budgets of major chains, both brick-and-mortar and online, it’s necessary for independent retailers to play it smart when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the biggest shopping days of the year, using advertising budgets as efficiently as possible, highlighting the benefits of buying with a local business and giving the customer a positive overall experience that will generate referrals.

Here are some tips to help you cut through the noise of the busiest shopping days of the year and start the holiday season strong.

THINK AHEAD Consumers don’t wait until November or December to shop for holiday gifts. In its 2017 Holiday Planning Playbook, the National Retail Federation reported that 54 percent of shoppers start researching their holiday purchases in October or earlier.

“If you haven’t yet started planning for these holidays, you’re already behind,” says Denise Lee Yohn, author of “What Great Brands Do.” 18 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

While you want to get your store and products into the minds of potential customers who are making their holiday lists, you don’t want to start running holiday promotions until the season begins as it could create “deal fatigue.”

“Consider creating news, and generating traffic in new and different ways, including promoting new products and brands, offering exclusive access or services, and celebrating other holidays,” Lee Yohn advises.

One approach is to run a general ad campaign in early fall.

Pat Sullivan, general manager of Total Recreation in Minnesota, starts his company’s campaign in September by running television ads.

“The reason why I start the whole ad process [in early fall] is to promote holiday shopping, get your name out there, get

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very visible,” Sullivan says. “I’ve already had a handful of people say ‘Well, we’re looking for Christmas.’ They’re already in the gift-giving process.”

While sparking consumers’ interest before the holiday season can get your products on holiday wish lists, the NRF reports that almost two-thirds of holiday shoppers said they would like to use retailer wish lists. These lists could be curated by the retailer or become a special feature where shoppers can save and share their own lists of products they want.

DON’T COUNT OUT SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY While retailers like Walmart and Target have the resources to run huge Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns, it can be difficult for smaller businesses to keep up. Instead of trying to compete on these days, a worthwhile strategy could be to focus on Small Business Saturday.

“I can’t compete with Walmart,” says Lynne Cornwall, owner of Encore Billiards & Game Room, Milford, Connecticut. “I don’t have the budget to compete with them.”

Instead, Cornwall focuses on the day after Black Friday when people are more likely to look at independent retailers in their community. She promotes her company’s participation through her emails and advertising by adding “please promote local businesses and help the local economy.”

Shoppers have shown that they are eager to support local retailers. According to a 2016 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, people spent $15.4 billion at independent restaurants and retailers on that day.

To help small businesses promote themselves and get customers through the door, the creator of Small Business Satur20 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

day, American Express, offers free, customizable marketing materials on its website.

BE RESEARCH READY Shopping for holiday gifts is no longer a simple task of going to the store, picking out a gift and purchasing it. Instead, many customers spend time doing research online before they walk into a brick-and-mortar store. These highly informed shoppers will look into competitors’ websites as well before choosing which store to visit.

“When [customers] walk in the door, they already know price points and brands,” said Ciarra McIntire, president of Universal Billiards Inc., Dallas, Texas. “Sometimes they walk in and can specifically reference individual elements of the items that they want. They are highly educated and very informed.”

Since a retailer’s website is frequently the customer’s first introduction to a company and its products, McIntire stresses the importance of having high-quality photos of products.

“People need to be able to zoom into photos and see the product really clearly,” she says.

In today’s highly social and interactive society, consumers’ research also includes reading reviews on retailers and individual products.

The NRF reported that nearly all shoppers [96 percent] read reviews specific to retailers’ sites and nine in 10 said they found these reviews at least somewhat trustworthy, meaning that product reviews are a worthwhile addition to any website. “[Shoppers] really want to go online, browse and feel like they can learn everything they need to know about the product,” the NRF’s Holiday Planning Playbook explains. “Retail-

ers must ensure their product review pages are up to date and prominently displayed in conjunction with products.”

Some tech-savvy retailers have even incorporated QR codes with their products and displays, allowing customers to easily access more information about the product on their smartphones.

ADVERTISING ISN’T EVERYTHING According to LeeYohn, a common mistake many retailers make when planning for the holiday season kickoff is emphasizing advertising and promotions to the point that they overlook other aspects of the customer experience. The customer experience is too important to overlook as LeeYohn says it is “the most impactful and sustainable way to differentiate your brand.”

Interacting with customers every day, Sullivan believes that people wanting to buy a recreational item like a pool table are looking for a similarly enjoyable purchasing experience.

He relaxes them by talking about what brings them into the store. This sometimes leads into conversations about a remodeled house or the college that a son or daughter has recently moved to.

“You just want people to feel good that they did business with you,” Sullivan says.

22 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

This feeling breeds repeat customers and referrals. In fact, the NRF notes that a consumer’s feelings after their purchase are especially impactful during the holiday season when people spend more time with their family and friends and are more likely to share stories of positive – or negative – experiences.

Customers who are left feeling happy after their purchases are also more likely to leave a review than those who had negative experiences.The Holiday Planning Playbook reports that 63 percent of customers write product reviews, and 73 percent of these shoppers said that they were more likely to do this when they were satisfied.

KEEP THE SEASON’S MOST POPULAR ITEMS IN STOCK Taking industry trends into account can have a huge impact on the success of holiday sales. These trends will determine which products will be best to promote in advertisements and which should be featured predominantly in in-store or online displays as well as what the store should have in stock.

“The number-one thing for people like us is making sure you have enough inventory for the demand,” McIntire says. “If you don’t, you’re going to lose sales.”

In order to predict products that will be in high demand for the coming holiday season, McIntire looks at the previous year’s fourth quarter sales as well as current trends.

“This year we have seen an increase in certain styles. Last year it was more about very rustic furniture, this year it’s more of a rustic-modern look,” McIntire says. “So we’re trying to stock a lot of product that meets design trends for what we see today.”

Product trends are just as important as design trends. Sullivan noticed that this year people were becoming more interested in shuffleboard sales. This led him to highlight the shuffleboards he has for sale in his television ads.

The NRF suggests looking to social media to stay up-to-date on the latest trends. It recommends that “retailers should strive not only to have these products in-store but also prominently displayed on their websites, not lost in thousands of SKUs.” Since customers’ yearly buying preferences can sometimes be hard to predict, McIntire cautions that over-planning can be a pitfall as much as under-planning.

“When you’re over-planning, I think you tend to lack flexibility to move with the margin as the season starts,” she says.

“So I think that you have to be considerate about the fourth quarter, and plan, but don’t get too tied up into all of your plans, just in case something is amiss.”

DON’T FORGET EMPLOYEES With advertising strategies to enact, inventory to order and customers to please, it can be easy to overlook one of the key components of a business’s success – its employees.

The holidays bring one of the busiest seasons for nearly every retailer. Staff are kept busy helping shoppers pick out the perfect present and often additional employees are needed to meet the influx of customers.

McIntire says she sometimes brings in breakfast in order to help everyone start the day energized and motivated.

“I think it’s important to plan and keep spirits high, so we have lots of fun stuff going on in the fourth quarter to help keep our team upbeat,” McIntire says.

“If I have to remind myself when to eat during the month of December, I know that everybody who works with me feels the same way,” she says.

BCAINSIDER.COM | 23

Christine Bowen

ENCORE BILLIARDS:

DESIGNING SUCCESS

By AlWilliams

The lineage of Encore Billiards is rooted in the history of the game of pool itself.

That, and the trucking business.

Here are the logistics of that leap: In the 1960s, Sidney Abrams owned a trucking company. He lived in Brooklyn 26 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

and was paying his bills through the business, but when one of his clients – the entertainment company Coleco Industries – offered to hire him, he took the deal. Among other responsibilities, Abrams ran Coleco’s warehouse and factory. Back then, the company manufactured pool tables, and was the maker of an 8-foot model that has since become an industry standard.

But at the time, pool tables weren’t a home standard.

“In the 1960s, nobody bought a pool table – unless you were Patty Hearst,” says Lynne Cornwall, Abrams’s daughter, reflecting a memory her late father once shared with her. “People’s basements were unfinished, and it just wasn’t affordable.”

But over the next couple of decades, that changed. The economy elevated, and was booming by the end of the century.

People’s tastes evolved, and they started turning their basements into living areas – fun areas – they started investing in entertainment; splurging a bit on relaxation.

Abrams, who by then was living with his family in Connecticut, sensed the change. He also realized it was time to go to work for himself – because by doing so, he told his daughter years later, you have more control over your schedule, your future, and your life. By the mid-1970s, Abrams was an experienced man in the billiard industry.

The Coleco company that manufactured pool tables – including that 8-footer that became the industry’s go-to size option – was selling to big box stores such as Sears. He was at the forefront of the movement from putting “big, big tables in big, big houses,” as his daughter recalls, to putting reasonably sized tables in cozy, moderately sized homes.

“

...IF YOU WORKED, AT THE END OF THE DAY, YOU COULD PUT FOOD ON YOUR TABLE.”

Put another way: Abrams was part of the modernization of the home billiard industry, which made him the perfect candidate to go into retail, but he didn’t want to work for the Sears-like behemoths of the shopping industry.

Remember – he knew that working for himself would be a step toward freedom. So, Abrams decided to open his own billiard store, which he did in Connecticut in 1977.

That was the start of his family’s business, which has evolved into the Encore Billiards of today.

Sidney and his wife Muriel, who had two sons along with Lynne, their youngest child, grew the business steadily over the next 20-plus years, traveling to places like Chicago and the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area, where he would do the buying for his stores.

He attended every BCA show, save for a couple, and remained interested in the business until his death five year ago.

By then, Lynne and her husband David were fully in charge of the business, which they had taken over in 1992. Lynne had long dreamed of a career in fashion and merchandising, and attended the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

She graduated from FIT in 1988 and then went to work for Bloomingdale’s, which was a bounding step toward her biggest professional dream: She wanted to become the person who does window designs for the storied department store.

But at the same time, her father’s business was doing well in nearby Connecticut. Her two older brothers – one a pharmacist; the other, a businessman – weren’t interested in joining or taking it over, and Lynne’s father wanted her to do it.

“If you want to work hard, and I know you will, and make a good living,” he told her, “you can come into the business.”

He also added his long-held advice: While working for Bloomingdale’s would be a lofty position and allow a lot of people to see her work, it wouldn’t truly be her work. The Thanksgiving and Christmas and Easter designs she would be artfully installing in the store windows would not be her designs, but rather the store’s work and wishes.

Working for Bloomingdale’s would make her something of a puppet for them, he said.

“But if you work hard for yourself,” he said, “you’ll have a little more control over your life.”

In 1992, Lynne and David Cornwall took over the store. At the time, the industry was in its heyday, and as they worked toward building a life and a family (the couple has a 15-yearold son, Jayden), the choice paid off.

“You really couldn’t miss,” Lynne Cornwall says. “You could order a product, and it would sell. You worked hard, and nothing was handed to you. Everything was complicated.

But if you worked, at the end of the day, you could put food on your table.”

There were drawbacks, of course. “Retail hours stink,” Lynne says, laughing, noting that her father always worked long hours. (In the warmer months, Lynne takes off every Tuesday and closes the store on Wednesday, which helps her strike a healthy work-life balance.)

BCAINSIDER.COM | 27

There was evolution, too. Back in the ’70s, when she was a little girl and her mom and dad were running the store, Lynne remembers that virtually every standard-issue pool table had brown-wood laminate and green felt. “That was it,” she says.

Muriel Abrams took that advice a lucrative step further. She took regular car trips and visited every college in Connecticut. “We’ve got almost every single school, to this day, as our customer,” Lynne says.

But then there was change: Customers started buying lighting, bar equipment and barstools, furniture and other room accessories. “You basically do a room from soup to nuts – it’s interior design,” Cornwall says. “Finally, the industry started to wake up to that.”

That’s big business. For example, Yale University alone has nearly three dozen buildings, each with game rooms. The same is true for many schools: They outfit their buildings with pool tables, shuffleboards and other games, and they want those rooms to look sharp and inviting when students return – with families in tow – each August.

That brought the industry full circle to her original career plan as a retail designer. Then, and now, Cornwall works carefully with customers to help them design full game rooms at home.

“When the industry started to expand into lighting and other [design elements],” she says, “it really took off.”

And, of course, the billiard and game-room industry is especially prone to the roller coaster of the economy. Around 2007-08, when the economy crashed, the flow of walk-in buyers ebbed considerably. Cornwall took several steps to stabilize the business. She started by tapping into a source of work that her mother began to generate decades earlier.

“My mom was given some interesting advice before my parents opened the store,” she says. “She was told to make three phone calls a week to a business of some sort, and if you do that, you will make yourself enough contacts to do commercial work.”

College students, as you can imagine, tend to wear down the equipment through the year, which keeps Encore Billiards busy from a customer-service standpoint.

“Thank God, in the summer months, that’s what keeps us going,” Cornwall says. “They know I’m not going to sell them something that’s not going to last, but not going to oversell them something they don’t need. Every few years they might replace something, we do a lot of service repairs, a lot of fix-its, rejuvenations.

“Frankly, I drop everything when they call.”

Encore also works with several retirement homes, fire halls, and other commercial clients. “All of that is super-important to us,” Cornwall says.

So are millennials. Encore has built a good business working with office-building owners and companies that see the value in creating an enticing, stylish and fun recreation area for employees – especially the younger ones.

“In order for people to entice the younger generation to work at their companies, they’re putting fabulous amenities in office buildings,” Cornwall says.

“They now have beautiful game rooms – pool tables, shuffleboard tables – so they want to work there. And maybe they’ll stay here for lunch, not go out.”

Those companies are buying higher-end equipment too, as are apartment complexes.

Tapping into another millennial trend, Encore is selling to pricier apartment complexes that are providing game rooms, among an array of amenities, to their millennial tenants who

28 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

would rather pay a high rent for an all-in-one living experience over buying, outfitting and caring for a house.

“These game rooms are all very upscale,” Cornwall says.

“That has helped.”

So has her penchant for aesthetics and design. Several universities, for instance, have bought tables from Encore that are customized with school colors, or the logo printed on the felt.

“It’s really fun and the kids love it,” Cornwall says, pointing out that this customization is a differentiator between buying from her business and purchasing online.

She takes the same tactic in the store itself. When you walk into Encore Billiards, you’ll see an array of furniture and entertainment items available, from shuffleboard to video game consoles.

y a d i l Ho o P hot t s e t n o C

The pool tables have a variety of looks, including eye-candy options like those with purple cloth and brush-nickel legs. Cornwall opts whenever possible for American-made products, and has started a marketing campaign that promotes pool tables as a smart family investment: By playing pool with your kids, you’ll get them to put down their phones and talk about their days.

The home market, Cornwall says, remains a challenge even a decade after the economy crashed. “The economy is still on a roller coaster,” she says. “I can’t get two or three days in a row that are fantastic for business.”

But there are touching successes.

Recently, a customer visited Encore and said his ability to buy a pool table was a sign of his own success. “He said when he got his pool table,” Cornwall recalls, “he was really, really proud of himself.”

Which is why Encore Billiards remains really, really proud of its business.

Lynne, Jayden and David Cornwall

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BCA TEAMS WITH FIRST DATA

By Keith Loria In the billiard industry, payment processing can be a critical ingredient in managing a successful business or company, and not everyone has a system they can rely on.

First Data, a leader in the electronic payment processing industry, and one of the largest providers of electronic data processing solutions globally, has teamed with the Billiard Congress of America to provide its members firstclass solutions at a discounted rate and help them grow their business.

“

IF FIRST DATA CANNOT MEET OR BEAT A MEMBER’S CURRENT RATE, IT WILL PAY YOU $250.”

“There are consistent challenges that people face and we as a company can work with the BCA to try and solve those problems across the board,” says Abdul Onike, senior sales director with First Data. “It becomes a win for the merchants because essentially all the merchants are collectively bargaining,

32 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

and we’re able to drive down the price because we have opened up the door for a larger pool of individuals.”

have a dedicated point of contact to get the information they need. We’re all about dedicated service and support.”

The program covers all categories of BCA members, including manufacturers, distributors, retailers, room operators and affiliates.

One benefit is competitive rates: If First Data cannot meet or beat a member’s current rate, it will pay you $250.

It also accepts more forms of payment, including Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, American Express, Discover, debit, gift cards and more.

With more than 40 years of industry-leading experience, Express Merchant Processing Solutions (EMPS), powered by First Data, helps millions of businesses bring safe, easy, cost-effective payments to their customers with affordable support – regardless of size.

The agreement between First Data and the BCA is a pretty standard affiliate type program, with BCA members getting the best rate possible, regardless of provider. First Data can easily manage a member’s transaction data by offering free online reporting and account information anywhere, anytime.

“Outside of the financial benefit, First Data has a dedicated team of individuals supporting the BCA,” Onike says.

“We know this business. When a member gets their account set up, and they have an issue with their terminal, they

BCA members need to know that whether they are a wholesaler, retailer, instructor or pool hall operator, First Data will provide dedicated, knowledgeable and confident information and work with each one to find a solution that fits their needs.

“We are going to meet and beat any offer that they have existing today, even if it’s already through First Data,” Onike says. “We’re also offering a $100 rebate as part of our initial offering, and there will be other promotions for BCA members who sign up.”

For more information, call Steve Cabarcas at 678-255-4198.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA THIS HOLIDAY SEASON

By Lynn Switanowski-Barrett You want to sell a lot of products and provide lots of services at your billiard business this holiday season, correct? So how are you planning to connect with the maximum amount of customers to drive those sales in the next few months? Our suggestion – be social.

Really, really social.

The key for your billiard business to reach today’s connected customers is to create a comprehensive plan with your social media to reach even more customers. Try some of these tactics this holiday season: Plan to use video – and especially Facebook Live – on a regular basis as you post content on your Facebook page. Today’s Facebook users love the use of video content for posts. They are engaging and they can be viewed quickly, which consumers love.

Facebook Live allows you to take a live video within the Facebook app as opposed to uploading your own video.

Live videos are getting lots of views because the Facebook algorithms are paying attention to pages that use the feature and are boosting those posts naturally. To improve your Facebook posts this holiday season, make sure you add Facebook Live as a regular feature to your post calendar.

You can schedule Facebook Live events about new products, new or existing services that your customers don’t know about, or to show your cus34 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

tomers what happens at your billiard store on a daily basis. Once you finish the actual live event, you can then post the Facebook Live feed to your page. At that point, you can schedule an ad with the live video as well. This combination is a very effective way for your billiard business to get lots of eyes on your social posts.

Sell socially. In addition to connecting with your customers via Facebook posts and live video, you can sell directly to your customers via Facebook. Doing this can happen in several ways. You can show products directly via posts and tell customers to call, text or message you back to buy those products directly from the page or you can use the “shop now” button on your cover photo or directly in your posts themselves. This allows you to create a call to action – i.e. “Buy now,” “flash sale” or “only one left.”

This urgency helps your customers connect more often as they know that something special can happen at any time so they must check back often.

Add Instagram. In addition to Facebook, you should plan to use Instagram this holiday season. It is a picture/ video intensive sight that is perfect to showcase the products that would make great gift items. Instagram is all about engaging with great pictures/ videos and there are numerous free editing tools that can help you look like an expert with very little work and effort on your part.

Instagram is owned by Facebook so there is also the ability to advertise and reach even more customers. The key to good Instagram usage, in addition to pictures, is using the correct hashtags in your posts. Use the brand names of the products you’re talking about as well as the name of your town and any other key words you think need to be promoted such as #shoplocal #holiday #Thanksgiving #Christmas #poolroom, etc.

Keep in mind, just like Facebook, the key for Instagram is to create a personal interaction first so your followers trust you and don’t feel like they are constantly being sold to. From there, your customers will want to learn more about your business because they believe you care about their needs. Use # to improve your posts and videos even more as people tend to search by hashtags.

Another way to get more eyes quickly on your Instagram page is to comment on other pages you follow.

This would be other local businesses and associations in your area. Being a “good social media neighbor” and posting, sharing and commenting on other posts will get attention for your page as well.

Now is the time to get really social with your billiard customers! Use the tips and tactics we presented to connect and do even more business this holiday season.

Happy Holidays !!!

From all of us at California House.

CUSTOMER FEEDBACK: WHY YOUR BUSINESS NEEDS IT

By Charles S. Donnavan

A happy customer is a repeat customer – this has always been true, and for many years that was a good enough reason to aim for customer satisfaction. After all, repeat customers can often serve as the backbone of any business, especially in the billiard industry.

But there’s always been another reason to strive to give your customers the best possible service: word of mouth, recommendations, referrals – satisfied customers telling other, potential customers, why they should choose you over the competition. The thing about word of mouth is, it’s gone global, and it’s no longer just your potential local clientele who can quickly and easily find out who to use when visiting your city.

The internet has changed the way we do business, travel, interact with the world, and it’s more than just sharing memes on social media or having a “Contact Us” page on a website. For example, where reviews used to be the domain of restaurants, hotels and entertainment venues, nowadays, anyone, anywhere can leave a review for just about any business… and they will.

All you need to do is look up whatever business you’re looking for in the area, and Google will provide you with a handy map-based breakdown of listed companies, along with links to their websites, contact information, opening times and, yes, reviews left by satisfied, and unsatisfied, customers.

36 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

Sadly, many companies still dismiss the power of online reviews and feedback, to their own detriment. Studies have shown that just under 75 percent of people trust online reviews, and that as little as just one negative review can cause nearly a full quarter of people to choose a different place instead. On the plus side, having four or five stars in your reviews can equate to more than a 30 percent increase in business, which is nothing to sniff at.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATING Building and maintaining a positive customer satisfaction rating, especially online, is an ongoing exercise. This doesn’t mean you have to be constantly working on it, but it does mean that you should consider putting a few processes in place to help keep up the good work.

1: Ask for feedback

The first step in making sure you have a top customer satisfaction rating, of course, is to provide consistently good service. That, however, can be tricky if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing right and what you’re doing wrong.

Sometimes, what you think is a great idea, turns out to be something customers dislike and if you keep doing it, it could drive them away, or get them to leave a negative review.

TOP TIP: Don’t keep quiet about the improvements you are making.

If you have actively solicited feedback, but then remain silent about it, people are more likely to be annoyed or dissatisfied: If they weren’t going to make changes, why bother asking for feedback? Make the effort to let them know their opinions are valued and being taken seriously.

Start by asking every customer for feedback about the service they received. Don’t be too general, however, as a question like “were you satisfied with the service you received?” for example, encourages just a Yes or No answer, which doesn’t tell you much. Try asking a series of specific, targeted questions, such as: how would you rate the overall service you received?, did staff members answer your questions?, and so on. Don’t forget to include a question asking for specific feedback or suggestions.

Preferably, give customers the option to provide a rating, rather than a simple Yes or No, as this encourages them to consider the service more deeply. Once you have a clearer picture of what made them happy, and what they didn’t like, you can focus on improving things.

2: Actively work on improvements

Except in a few circumstances, where people are actively being silly, most of the feedback you receive will include a suggestion or specific feedback about something you do or don’t do, which, for whatever reason, is meaningful to your customer. The more often something gets mentioned, the more pressing it is, and the more quickly you need to do something about it.

TOP TIP: Don’t just make changes because customers have requested them. Consider whether a change is really going to improve things, or whether it’s something that customers consider a “nice to have” rather than a necessity. If you have the time and budget remaining once the necessary improvements have been made, then you can consider the nice-to-haves.

38 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

You don’t have to implement every single suggestion that customers make, of course, as some of them will not only be difficult to implement, but may be too expensive or potentially harmful to the business. That said, take every suggestion seriously, and give it some due consideration.

Whether the suggestions are about the friendliness of your staff or are about changing the music in your store, if someone has taken the time to write it down, it is something that means something to them and you should respect that.

3: Prioritize improvements

It’s important to decide which changes and improvements you are going to work on first, and this is where customer satisfaction surveys can be very useful. As mentioned before, the more people give feedback about something specific, the more you should consider prioritizing it.

That said, there are several things that influence prioritization.

For example, the cost to implement these changes, the difficulty involved, and the practicality of making them, could all influence when and how you do things. Make a list of the improvements you intend to implement, and take the various factors into consideration while prioritizing them.

4: Keep customers updated

Customers like to know that their feedback and requests have been taken seriously, so make the effort to keep them updated about any changes and improvements you are making. Whether you send all your customers a newsletter, communicate via social media, or simply put up a sign in your store, let them know you have taken their suggestions into consideration and will be making changes in due course.

The extent to which you keep customers in the loop is up to you, of course, but the more detail you can give them, the happier they will be. Even if things aren’t perfect just yet, if they know you are actively working on making these improvements, people are often more likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and be more patient.

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EFFECTIVE ADVERTISING ON THE WEB HOW TO EXPAND YOUR BRAND ONLINE WITH WEB ADVERTISING

By Joe Dyton Today, a person can do just about anything online, whether it’s streaming a television show, renting a movie, buying groceries for the week or ordering takeout. And of course, as many retailers know or are learning – being able to do anything online also includes shopping.

Since people spend so much time online, if a billiard retailer or manufacturer wants customers to know about their brands, it only makes sense to advertise on the World Wide Web as well.

There are a few ways to go about advertising online, such as buying a static ad to reside on billiard-geared websites. The only problem is a person will only see that ad if they visit that particular site. To effectively make sure people see an ad, it has to follow them around online. This process can be accomplished through remarketing or retargeting.

Remarketing advertisements online is a completely automated process. How it works is the ad owner puts a few lines of code on their website, which an advertising service such as Google or Bing would generate. Whenever someone visits a website containing that code, a “cookie” is placed in the user’s browser. A “cookie” is a small file that’s stored on a user’s computer and holds a minimum amount of data that’s geared toward a particular client and website. It can be accessed by the web server or the client computer.

Once the cookie is in place, whenever a user visits other websites that are advertising with the same channel, the code in 40 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

the ad looks at the user’s browser library and references the cookie that’s in place. If an advertiser bids high enough, the site will fire the cookie and show the ad for them. Past visitors could see these ads while they are reading a newspaper online, watching a YouTube video or engaging in other online activities across the web like checking sports scores or general online searches.

Cookies generally last 30 days and are refreshed whenever the user goes back to the advertiser’s site.

“Let’s take billiard supplies for example,” says Wes Stull, founder and president of Frederick, Maryland-based Vegau Digital Marketing (vegau.com). “You might create a ‘pool cue’ remarketing audience based on visitors who go to the pages of your site where you sell pool cues. This way, you can show specific visitors highly targeted display ads that market your pool cues. Since you already have a good indication that they’re interested in pool cues, you can draw them back.”

“By using data such as your search history, or other websites you visit, advertisers are able to show you relevant ads,” adds Greg Kihlstrom, founder and chief executive officer of Carousel30 (carousel30.com) a digital marketing agency in Alexandria, Virginia. “(For example), Viking would be retargeting banner ads to anyone who searches for ‘Viking Pool Cue.’” Perhaps the biggest benefit to using remarketing as an advertising strategy is the ability to be omnipresent online without hav-

ing to do a lot of hands-on marketing work. Customers don’t always buy the product they are searching for right away, so it can be helpful for advertisers to keep their product, whether it is a table or cues or their store name, in people’s minds.

By showing ads to people who have already expressed interest, the likelihood of generating sales is increased because that customer was already interested in the product.The common shopping process is to do initial research or do a cost comparison before making a purchase. When ads are put in front of shoppers over a longer period of time, it increases chances of being in front of them when they are ready to buy.

“Not only do marketing ads improve conversion rates and return on investment (ROI), they are also incredible for a branding or impression campaign,” says Tanya Leyderman, managing director of client services at Reston,Virginia-based BlueTreeDigital (bluetreedigital.com). “Since the ads are so specifically targeted, brands can ensure that they stay ‘top of mind’ with remarketing campaigns because their brand will be consistently shown to their customers regardless of where they go on the internet.”

“Put simply, previous or recent retailers visiting a manufacturer’s website who are already familiar with the brand and its products are much more likely to become customers,” says Stull.

An improperly optimized campaign can lead to a lot of wasted dollars in advertising spend. With that said, be sure to partner with someone who has experience in running such campaigns.”

It’s important to keep in mind that some online users may find this type of advertising to be invasive. That’s why it’s not just enough to use remarketing as an advertising method; there has to be a strategy behind it. Leyderman recommends optimizing any ad that a retailer wants to put online; that means targeting it toward people who are most likely to click on it. So as someone in the billiard industry, you’d want to consider putting online ads on sites where your prospective customers would visit often.

“There are many ways to optimize,” Leyderman says. “Providing ads that are appealing and pleasing should be a top priority. You can even personalize these types of ads to include specific products that the individual viewed. Targeting and timing are also extremely important.”

Like with any advertising campaign, there’s a cost that comes with remarketing, but the good news is the pricing options are vast, so there are options for any retailer or manufacturer regardless of their budget size. Some of the factors that would determine the cost are how narrow a target audience you would want as well as the desired geographic reach, according to Kihlstrom.

To get the most out of a remarketing campaign, it’s best to work with someone, whether it’s an agency or consultant, who is experienced in this field. As Kihlstrom notes, remarketing can be very helpful, but it’s crucial to have the right supporting components in place. These components include a strong landing page that people reach after they click on an ad and good tracking and measurement tools to see how those ads are performing.

Working with experienced remarketing professionals is not only key to rolling out an effective campaign, it will also help ensure businesses get the most out of their advertising dollar, according to Stull.

“If you have someone with substantial digital marketing experience within your organization, that may be a great option,” he says. “The one thing I would caution businesses about is that while it may seem cheaper to try to tackle Google AdWords marketing in-house, it can be very expensive if done incorrectly.

BCAINSIDER.COM | 41

“Advertising campaigns also work best as part of a larger initiative with other supporting pieces,” he says. “The best way to start is to talk with a digital agency or consultant to better understand your options.”

is one way to ensure that they can. By leveraging technology, customers will not only see your ad once, but it’ll appear on other sites they visit too, keeping your product fresh in their mind when it’s time for them to buy.

Monthly costs will vary from business to business, but as an estimate, simpler campaigns can start at a few hundred dollars, while bigger campaigns can reach the thousands. The difference in cost can also depend on the channel that’s being used like Bing or Google AdWords. Or if you decided to try to advertise online yourself, it could cost you as little as $1 a day. If you work with a marketing agency, however, expect to pay between 10 to 20 percent of your monthly spend in management fees.

“Web advertising is the most cost-efficient and targeted type of advertising,” Leyderman says. “It reaches your customers wherever they are and provides options to advertisers that traditional media would never be able to compete with.The most helpful advice would be to find a strategic partner, such as an agency, to help set up the advertising correctly from the start.”

“Online advertising is so flexible and can be utilized by everyone,” Leyderman says. “However, there are so many different applications of advertising, you can now find as many different types of agencies and consultants. The most difficult part is finding the one that is right for you.”

As customers continue to get inundated with options regardless of the industry, it’s more important than ever for retailers to make sure they stand out from the pack. Remarketing

As cost-efficient and targeted as web advertising can be, it’s also important to remember it’s just one marketing channel and is perhaps most effective when it works in tandem with other components, whether it’s an accompanying landing page, standard print or web ads or an email campaign.

“There are many options out there for retailers and manufacturers,” Kihlstrom says. “The best and most successful advertising campaigns are part of a comprehensive strategy that includes several complementary tactics across several channels.”

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D045-Conquest

All vinyl construction Holds 1 set of darts 2 Storage pockets Elastic tip holders

D-rings for attaching flight tubes

Redesigned D042’s

Carabiner for attatching to belt loop

Call today to order!

Both cases include D040 plastic insert for molded flights

The Original Premier Dart Cases 3188 Bowling Green Lane Suamico, WI 54173 1-800-876-1368 www.metrolineproducts.com 42 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

True American Made Quality

VISIONARY DESIGNS TIMELESS STYLE FALL 2017 TRANSITIONAL COLLECTION

THE ABBEY BILLIARDS TABLE

Available in weathered gray or espresso wood finishes

THE ABBEY 4 PENDANT LIGHT

Available in brushed chrome with optional interior lamp shade (not shown)

LUCITE CORNER CUE RACK

Available with brushed chrome or aged brass accents

HJ

SCOTT

FURNISHINGS

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FURNISHINGS

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SOCIAL MEDIA PROS AND CONS

By Anthony Stoeckert People in the billiard business also need to be in the social media business.

Social media platforms are an effective, affordable way to advertise and share information about your business with customers. But with so many options, it can be hard for billiard professionals to know which platforms to focus on.

Madeline Park is a social media expert who recommends billiard businesses use three social media sites: Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

FACEBOOK Facebook is the most popular social platform, with around 2 billion users worldwide. Businesses can create pages under several classifications, including small businesses and local businesses.

Once the page is established, you can post information about sales and events happening at your store. You also can post pictures of new products and displays, or news about tournaments or a manufacturer’s announcement of a new cue.

“Facebook will be the best social media platform for billiard retailers,” Park says. “They can build out an of-

ficial business page and create highly targeted ads and content for their specific customer base. It is also great for helping to personify an otherwise basic product and allows customers to leave reviews.”

TWITTER Twitter is a platform where posts are limited to 140 characters. You can include links to articles or information about deals on your company’s website.

Jordan French, a media relations professional who uses social media to help clients, including musicians and other music professionals, as well as athletes, restaurants, small businesses and non-profits, says one disadvantage is that many Twitter users follow hundreds of people, which means any individual’s tweets can get lost in a sea of posts. That means you have to tweet often.

“If we post something by noon, by 12:02, it’s off of my people’s threads,” French says. “It’s a matter of consistent posting.”

That actually can work to your advantage. Twitter offers the opportunity to post about all sorts of things, not just about your business. Of course you

should let your followers know about the latest products that came in, a sale you’re having, and extended holiday hours, but it also is a great opportunity to get a little personal.

Post pictures of employees at your store. If you have kids or grandkids, post pictures of them visiting the store.

Share industry news, congratulate the winner of a tournament. Tweets that lead to sales are just one part of a strategy, the overall idea is to engage and build relationships with customers and others in the industry.

“People don’t mind the amount of posts a business does, as long as it’s interesting stuff,” French says. “And it doesn't have to be about you, it can be about the industry, players, news in billiards, congratulating champions, sharing tweets and posts from other places.”

He also suggests asking followers questions, everything from their favorite trick shot to a favorite movie about billiards. Have employees take turns tweeting, this will add variety to your posts, and prevent situations where one person is doing all of your business’ tweets.

Park says Twitter is a great platform for users who have the ability to “live tweet” events and promotions.

CONS PROS

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INSTAGRAM Instagram is a photo and video-sharing site, allowing businesses to post images of new products and displays. You also can write captions to accompany posts, letting customers know how much the products cost or how long a sale is going on.

“Instagram now allows companies to build out an official business page and create highly targeted ads and content for their specific customer base,” Park says. “It is also great for helping to personify a product and build culture around a company.”

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Snapchat is a growing social media platform that is especially popular with younger people. Neither French nor Park recommend it for businesses at this time, as posts and pictures are visible only for a short amount of time.

Also, French notes that the younger audience on Snapchat isn’t likely to be in the market for billiard tables.

Park also doesn’t recommend Pinterest, where users upload images and other content.

“Pinterest is not recommended for billiard retailers,” she says. “Although it would be OK to have an account, it is a lot of work to keep it updated for little return. I would focus time and effort on the recommended platforms.”

Of course, it’s important to have an approach and strategy behind what you’re posting. French works with many businesses and he says one thing they have in common, regardless of their industry, is that they don't know what they should be posting.

“And chances are, they’re probably posting the exact same stuff that not only their customers already know about, but they’re not being creative and original with some of the ideas,” he says.

Think about what your store is offering, what it’s all about, and share that message. Look at what other successful businesses and people do on these sites and adapt those ideas to what you offer.

“It’s not a matter of spending money,” French says. “It’s a matter of realizing that when they reveal what their day is like, it’s better than most people’s best day ever.”

BCAINSIDER.COM | 45

BCA INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS OF THE YEAR

By Keith Loria At this year’s BCA Billiard & Home Leisure Expo, the Billiard Congress of America announced its inaugural 2017 Innovative Product of the Year winners from a selection of great offerings from American Heritage, Billiard Engineering, Brunswick, Championship, GLD, Kamui, Littman, McDermott, Nivecraft, Olhausen, RYO Rack and Valley.

To be eligible, products had to be introduced during the 12 months prior to the Expo.

Judging took place by a panel of leading retailers prior to the 2017 BCA Expo, and the products were judged on criteria focusing on innovation and potential success in the marketplace.

First Place went to American Heritage for its Duel Height Stools (Ashley and Brandon models). The Ashley retails at $129.95 and the Brandon retails at $149.95.

“The bar stool category is a very significant part of our business, but we have always had two large challenges with this category, which our dealers acknowledge that they share,” says Dan Pucci, director of sales for the company. “Carrying inventory in two different sizes, and thus two different SKUs, and

incurring a significant amount of customer returns because of the sizing confusion and a lack of education that the customer has at the time of purchase in terms of what size they need.

Unfortunately, the customer oftentimes doesn’t measure the height of their island or table edge prior to shopping.”

To help its dealers minimize inventory costs while taking the guesswork out of buying the correct sizes for stools, American Heritage began a program where it included two differently sized feet (for counter and bar heights) in each stool box.This way, the dealer only worries about one SKU (which works for both heights) and the customer has the ability to build either size which reduces confusion, frustration, and returns.

“Other manufacturers have tried to create adjustable stools but too often the stools end up looking a bit odd aesthetically, which really negates the benefits of the concept,” Pucci says.

“Our product development team wanted to ensure that when a retailer or customer looks at our dual-height stools, they don’t notice a single difference until we point it out. We believe we can revolutionize the industry by improving our collective margins throughout the supply chain while also making the customer experience a more positive one.”

The company also took home second-place honors, for its American Heritage Orbit 4-Player Eliminator Air Hockey Table.

American Heritage Duel Height Stools: Brandon (Left) and Ashley (right) 46 | BCA INSIDER • HOLIDAY ISSUE 2017

“We absolutely love this item. It’s just so much fun. It’s the first four-player residential air hockey table of its kind and the elimination aspect of the game is very unique as well,” Pucci says. “This was an idea that our president, Joe Pucci, dreamed up on a long car ride home from visiting customers in 2014 and it took a few years to execute. We wanted to ensure we had the perfect size playfield and table for the

American Heritage Orbit 4-Player Air Hockey Table

Championship Couture Billiard Cloth

demographics of the children who play our air hockey games and it was also incredibly important to us that the piece look like a beautiful piece of furniture that you would be proud to put in any home.”

“This innovative worsted designer weave will help dealers enhance high-end finishes that require a deeper, richer, more complex pallet to help offset the new finishes in the market,” Cohen says. “We were overwhelmed by the response at the show and the first two production runs are completely committed, and we hope to have it fully available for the holiday season.”

Based on the response it saw in test marketing and at the BCA Expo, the company believes it will continue to see success with this item, especially during the upcoming holiday season.

“It’s challenging to put into words how much the awards and the BCA show in general meant to us,” Pucci says. “There were so many other great manufacturers competing for the awards that we simply tried to put our best foot forward and hope for the best while having some fun along the way. We’re honored to see that our products resonated with people at the show. It is always our goal to improve what we’re offering to our customers each year and innovation is a big part of that objective.”

poker tables... a winning hand!

Championship’s innovative Couture Billiard Cloth came in third place in the voting.

Fred Cohen, president of Championship Billiards, explains the Couture Billiard Cloth is a worsted cloth that has never been produced before by any other company other than Championship.

“Up until now, every billiard cloth that has been made has been in one color; whatever the color you want, you dye the cloth one solid color,” he says. “This is the first billiard cloth ever made where you achieve the color by dying the individual threads an exact color. To achieve the final color, it’s comprised of anywhere from three to up to seven colors, so it’s blended.”

By doing it this way, it’s creating different variations of shade, allowing various tones within the billiard room to be highlighted. It comes in eight designer colors and has an MSRP of $499.

MADE IN THE

U.S.A

Featuring

• Folding leg or pedestal-based • Furniture-quality northern hardwood • Kestell’s own Sur-Loc leg mechanism for safety and stability • “Tough-As-Nails” top coat for durability • Billiard cloth or vinyl upholstery in a variety of colors • Quality matching folding chairs to boost accessory sales

Phone: 920.898.4251 Fax: 920.898.4253

www.kestell-furniture.com sales@kestell-furniture.com

BCAINSIDER.COM | 47

Own the Hottest New Game of the Year in Time for the Holidays!

The Orbit Eliminator 4 Player Air Hockey Game!

2nd Place Winner in the Innovative Product of the Year Contest

Available in Black or Brown Patent Pending

Retails at $899.95... Call for Bulk Discounts!

Email us at Sales@ahbilliards.com or call us at 330-626-3710 to reserve yours for the Holidays now!

A video that discribes game play is available on YouTube!