10 key factors to help you get your game on

With an estimated 65% of total Club revenue coming from gaming, plus the added competition threat from pubs and casinos, having a wide knowledge base is more important than ever. It’s never just one single tactic that can bring you to the forefront of your industry, it is a combination of multiple strategies across key areas connected to your gaming floor, that work together to deliver enhanced experiences and clients that just keep coming back for more!

Attracting and retaining customers is a continuous battle that changes daily and just when you think you have the answer, another problem arises. Here are 10 key items to consider when setting your goals for customer retention on your gaming floor.

1. Keep the customer at the heart of everything – It’s not just thinking about your bottom line and revenue generating, otherwise you will end up sucking the life-force out of a lot of customers who will not want to come back. Making sure a customer is happy is always number one.
2. Keep looking outside the window – Be engrossed in not only what you offer, but also what everyone around you is offering. Analyse the contributing factors, reflect on it at the end of the month, and see how you can use that research to your advantage. It’s not about replication, but understanding how players interact and what they come to expect.
3. Volume vs Value – Volume will come through many components of your business such as food, beverage, functions and entertainment. Once volume has been achieved, it is important to understand and prioritise the value of your players and how to convert through other areas. Remember, at the end of the day, you and your staff are all ‘salespeople’ that need to identify and sell each component of your product.
4. Make sure there’s clear and tangible targets for growth – Just because you’ve always done something isn’t a reason to keep doing it. Make sure you understand each component of the business and what value it represents – or more importantly what value should be achieved.
5. Content is king – Just as it is important for gaming to have the most up-to-date and popular games, it is just as important to ensure you are serving the latest trends in food and beverage. In an industry saturated by choice, venues must strive to ensure all products are current and in-line with the expectations of the consumer.
6. Right to win – Your competitors are becoming more savvy in understanding their customers and you have the data to stop them in their tracks, so don’t just take your customers for granted. Instead, make the effort to find out their favourite game, how much they like to spend per session, and target the different content and value propositions that you send them based on the information at hand.
7. Keep it simple – We spend numerous hours each week analysing and forecasting our business, but that’s not what the customer wants to hear. They want to hear about their chance to win and what they need to do to qualify for a promotion. It’s about keeping it really simple and approaching your customers in a manner they will understand.
8. Launch and leverage, share and re-apply – Seek to continually optimise and streamline what you’re doing. It’s not just about getting the promotion/activity live, it’s also vital to add value in your team and making sure you have the optimal processes.
9. Win as a team and celebrate success – The key to running a successful promotion, is making sure that everyone is striving towards the same goal. Make sure that your team understands what you’re trying to achieve, and always follow up with a moment to thank your team and celebrate success.
10. Have fun – When you look across the day-to-day and long-term plans for running a venue, sometimes approaching it with flexible, general outline leads us to our best ideas. While it’s important to keep the end game in mind, if you get your head stuck in budgets, logistics etc. you may miss out on the experience the journey gives you.

If you are interested in learning how to maximise your bottom line and to attract and retain customers, attend our upcoming Game On! Program. To book for our next event, click here or contact DWS Hospitality Specialists on (07) 3878 8977 or email info@dws.net.au.