Brochure Pictures, Show them Action

For example, begin with what the pictures do in general; Clowns should have a current headshot on the brochure.  This gives management an idea if “Dimples” is male or female, what their costume looks like, and helps them develop a better idea of what management will be hiring.  All other entertainers consider using an action shot of you performing in or at restaurant with kids.  The key to the picture is not the entertainer, but the reaction of the audience in the picture. Select pictures that show bewilderment, appreciation, surprise, happiness, fun or warmth.  Go for the Hallmark card look. Will you have to create a picture like this? Yes! That’s what Hallmark does and so do large advertising agencies.  You have to create that special picture that will sell your restaurant entertainment service.

Scripted pictures will help impress management and make a lasting impression in their head.  So choose your pictures wisely and make them appropriate for the brochure.

Brochure, the Content is Restaurant Entertainment Only

If the brochure is for restaurant entertainment, it is important that you only present key sales information that deals with restaurant entertainment.  The goal is to highlight key points that will make it easy for management to understand the service you are providing.

Content should have bullets, pictures, descriptive text and testimonials from past restaurants and customers.  The goal is to show benefits to the restaurant, so leave out all ego statements.  Managers are not interested in awards. Their concerns are how you are going to retain customers and bring in new clients to their establishments.

If producing a tri-fold brochure, use only one panel to highlight other services.  The goal is to make the brochure 95-100% information about restaurant entertainment.  This restaurant brochure is for the solo purpose of acquiring new restaurants not advertising other services.

Brochure, the Design Process

Fliers are normally a quick document produced on a word processor with a splash of graphics and eye-catching fonts.  In the early 1990’s, the best color for fliers was neon green and yellow. It was the beginning of the desktop publishing and everyone was creating their own fliers and printing them on their new laser printers.  Times have changed. With the price of color printing, computer equipment and digital photography, people now create affordable full color fliers.  Not only has the color copies prices become competitive and inexpensive, so too has the publishing software.  Microsoft Word and Publisher provide many templates to help beginners develop a nice bi-fold or tri-fold brochure.  The Microsoft Publisher templates preset the printing area, provide address information and offers examples of text size, verbiage and overall appearance.  This brochure can be multi-purpose mailing material or as standalone literature.

If you do not have, the experience or time, go online and find a graphics designer or place an advertisement in craigslist.com and seek out professional help.  Not everyone has the creativity or skills to produce a brochure, so find a solution that works for you and your budget.

Brochures – A tool that sells your service

If you are serious about restaurant entertainment, then you need to develop a brochure/flier about your restaurant entertainment.  A brochure is a powerful marketing tool, which will highlight key points in your restaurant sales presentation.  By providing the restaurant with a brochure, management can discuss, save and pass on your information to other potential customers.  You can use the brochure as an introduction to your service by mailing or delivering it to a prospective restaurant. This will give management an opportunity to call you before you solicit them for business. If you do visit a restaurant and talk with management, you can present them with the brochure for future consideration.  The restaurant may not be considering having any entertainment, but when the need arises, they will know to call you.

Brochures are also great to mail out as follow up reminder.  Let’s say that you have just solicited a restaurant and they have shown little interest.  The holiday season is approaching and you send them a brochure for a follow up.  At this point, all you are trying to do is keep your name and service in front of the restaurant management.  The more you do this, the better chance you have at receiving work form them: be it performing at the restaurant, referral for a private event, hiring for a grand opening/store anniversary or management moves to a new restaurant and pitches the idea to the new owner, they will have a brochure explaining your service.

Know Your Elevator Speech – It will get you work.

Wikipedia defines an elevator pitch is a short summary used to quickly and simply define a product, service, or organization and its value proposition.  The name "elevator pitch" reflects the idea that it should be possible to deliver the summary in the time span of an elevator ride, or approximately thirty seconds to two minutes.

The key to any elevator speech is to have a short, defined, to the point speech that entices people to ask a follow-up question, thus starting a conversation. Consider it the ice-break before the sales pitch.

When asked what you do – do not say I am a clown; instead . . . I'm a specialist in fun, who helps parents control kids at birthday parties, while making it memorable for the guests.

Use words like specialist, fun, exciting, control, words that have action and are descriptive.  The more interesting you can make the elevator speech the better your response when presenting it to a customer.  How often are you asked while performing what is your day job?

Avoid using jargon, technical terms, or fancy acronyms that nobody but you understand.  Keep it fun, interesting and easy to remember.  You want this information to roll off your tongue smoothly and gracefully. So practice, redefine, and practice some more until you have a speech that defines what you do in a creative message.

Cold Calling, we do it more then we think

While entertaining at a restaurant, people are going to be asking you about your entertainment service and you will have to sell yourself.  This restaurant customer is a Cold Call. Look at your entertainment service from an outsider’s view can prepare you for Cold Calling.  Cold Calling is when you solicit potential customers that you have never met.  Telephone solicitation or direct meetings are the most popular forms of Cold Calling and each technique have a high rate of failure. You should not skip using these marketing techniques just because the failure rate is high, but instead use them as a learning tool to help improve your marketing.

The goal is to view your company entertainment service from an outsider’s view.  By analyzing your company mentally beforehand, you now are prepared to present logical sales information to them, which will help you close the deal.  This Cold Calling experience will help increase restaurant customer business. Customers will now have a clear understanding what your entertainment service is about and will be able to promote your services.  Many times after performing, customers will ask, “do you do birthday parties?” I give them my rehearsed speech about my services and the type of events (birthday, picnic, trade shows, and holiday parties) that I have done for clients.  Good percentage of the time they will ask for a second business card so they can pass the card to a friend or employer that has an event upcoming.

Developing a written script will ensure you do not overlook any key sales information. Professional telemarketing companies develop detailed scripts with a yes/no reply to every question. This assures the salesperson that when presenting the sales information to the customer, the customers no reply will lead to the next yes answer.  Marketing theory dictates that the more times you get them to say “yes”, the more they will need your service. This is one of the reasons it is hard to get telemarketers off the telephone—they have an answer for everything.

If you were going to do telemarketing, I would strongly recommend you build a script and rehearse it until you sound smooth and know the material backward and forward.  Treat it like an entertainment routine, you need to practice it hundreds of time before you do it live.

Writing your sales pitch down will help you understand your entertainment business.  Start with a mission statement.  My mission is to: increase birthday parties performances. A mission statement is only one sentence with one common mission.  Do not try combining multiple missions or services into one statement.  We are only trying to complete one mission. A bad mission statement would be: I want to increase my birthday party business and increase balloon deliveries. Adding more to the statement will stretch you and your resources and you won’t fully achieve your goal.

If your mission statement is to increase birthday parties then write down everything you can do at a birthday party.  What are your key selling points?  Do you present the birthday child a gift?  Do you bring goodie bags for all the kids? Do you do multiple activities?  This is the information you will develop into a two or three sentence sales pitch. So when customers at a restaurant ask “do you do birthday parties?” you can give them a quick, well rehearsed, two minute sales pitch that has all the key information.  If presented correctly, the customer will ask “Do you have a card?”

Restaurant entertainment is a form of Cold Calling.  You solicit the customers to watch you perform in hopes of a tip and to provide them with your entertainment service information.

How the Customer Benefits from Restaurant Entertainment

We, as entertainers, normally do not think about the customer’s benefits for coming to the restaurant. Nevertheless, if we evaluate why they come, we can better hone our skills to make sure they keep returning. I find that most customers are concerned with the quality of the food.  If the food is good, the customer will return. However, if we can provide an entertaining atmosphere, one in which kids are kept occupied, giving the impression that food preparation time or service time is quick, these customers will return like clock work.

Over the years, my restaurants have changed and currently I am working a different [lace on Fridays.  The focus of the restaurant is still pizza, but with a much larger family menu.  I have a couple who come in every Friday night around 6:30 pm with their two little girls so they can have a good meal and see the Magical Balloon-dude Dale.  The girls are occupied with the balloons and Mom and Dad can relax and enjoy their meal.  I have learned over my years of restaurant entertaining that I can keep families like this coming back for years, or at least until the kids are in their teens and the balloon guy is still cool.  The restaurant and I have provided a service to these families for years and they have repaid us by return every Friday night for years.  At some point, these families do outgrow the food, the entertainment or just move on. However, I will, as you will with your customers, always be part of their childhood memories as the Magical Balloon-dude at their favorite pizza parlor.  If we stay long enough at one establishment, we can get lucky enough to see the grandchildren of these families.

Some customers just come for the entertainment.  These are the people watchers, older couples whose children have grown up.  Most approach me and tell me they love to watch me interact with the kids.  They like coming when I am around because they think it is cute how the kids react to the balloons.  I had some of these couples tip me just because the enjoyed watching me.  I always tell them, “When you have their kids or grandkids in town, make sure you bring them and I will make something special for them.” I have one couple from Wisconsin and we can always joke with each other, especially when it is football season.  A Green Bay Packer fan versus a Chicago Bear fan, do I need to say any more.