B O D wrote:
Just from my nonscientific observations we have increased play somewhat. How many of these will become Buzztime regulars remains to be seen. As of right now we do not have the new section set up for BT but that will change soon and we'll see how that affects playership. At this point it is up to us to promote BT. We haven't really done so since we opened the bar.
Anyone seen any effective promos from the bar/restaurant side?
(Edit: BO has informed me that you already have an established trivia bar, with a great clientelle, so you don't have to waste your time reading this post.)Don't rely on NTN to give you serious support once they have got you to sign the contract. It seems that after the NTN rep has made the sale, he moves on to try to make another sale. After signing that contract, you are pretty much on your own. The tremendous number of small local bars that drop Buzztime after their contract runs out kind of supports this.
I will give you a few ideas that might help you to establish a regular trivia playing clientele. Here they are:
1- Most people, who come into your place, will have no idea what Buzztime trivia is. They will never start playing it on their own. Logging on and creating a Players Plus account is more work that they want to waste their time on. What needs to be done, is to have your bartenders/servers
offer them a trivia box once they are seated and have their drinks in front of them, and then explain to them how it works. If the customer seems interested the bartender/server needs to help them log on, and most importantly help them create a Players Plus Account. Getting them into Players Plus is a hook, because they will want to come back to watch their total points grow.
They might want to explain to them that by creating a Players Plus account they might win something from Buzztime. (I've won some T-shirts and baseball caps, and a gal, who played with us at T.G.I. Friday's, actually won $4,000 after being randomly selected from those playing a new game that NTN was promoting.)
2- I would also suggest that trying to create a team of players, who share answers is a good idea. This is because it will create a camaraderie for players, who devlope a feeling of bar pride, waiting to see where they ranked nationally, and hoping to make the top 20 for all to see. Playing as a team will also improve everyone's scores on games, and make them feel better about playing the game instead of saying to themselves, "I don't know shit. I'm never going to embarrass myself playing this stupid game again."
There is another benefit to having a trivia team. Once your regulars get into it, they will start recruiting friends to join the team. For the most part, these recruits will be new customers, who would never come into your bar, until a regular invited them to join the trivia team.
3- Here's something that Damon's did. They had a 14" trophy that they would move in front of the person, who won the last game. You could put a little plaque on it that says something like, "Game Winner!" That will feed players' egos, and make them want to play again. (They don't get to take the trophy home with them. It stays at the bar for others to feel proud about, as it sits in front of them.)
4- You can try to beg little trinket handouts from NTN or your liquor distributers to give to your trivia players every once in a while. (T.G.I. Friday's in Louisville used to do this.)
5- If your state and local laws allow you to give alcoholic drinks away, you can tell your trivia team that if the bar ranks in the top
(You decide the ranking, based on how good the team is. Obviously, you won't want to pick a ranking that they can make most of the time, but one that is attainable every once in a while.) in the country your next round is free. (Elsa's in Dayton does this.)
6- I believe that NTN still allows you to sell advertising spots that pop up on the TV between Games. Obviously, you can sell them to help reduce the expense of Buzztime Trivia. However, there is another thing you can do with one of those ad spots. (This was my idea at the old T.G.I Fridays in Louisville.) Give one of those ad spots to your trivia players. Get a list of their Buzztime handles, and randomly select one of them each week to show up on the TV that says something like,
"TinaZ welcomes you to Buzztime trivia. Get a box and play the game." The rule was that you could not be randomly selected twice in the same month, to enable as many as possible to get their one week of fame. Besides being very proud of seeing her name up on the TV every day for a week, TinaZ is very likely to bring her friends in, so they can see it too. Some of those friends may very well keep coming into your bar, and start being regular trivia playing customers. (T.G.I. Fridays would also give the randomly selected
"Trivia Greeter of the Week" a free appetizer.)
The concept here is to create an atmosphere that makes people feel happy playing trivia, making it easy for them to get started, giving them a reason to bring friends in, and giving them a reason to keep coming back.
p.s. Others may disagree with this, but I strongly feel that if your bar becomes a dog-eat-dog individual competition place, Buzztime trivia will fail to attract enough people to make Buzztime worth what it costs you. (That is unless your bar is within walking distance from Mensa's International headquarters.)
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