...often copied, never duplicated

Live By The Special, Die By The Special

Live by the special, die by the special, is a common phrase used by the foremost authorities in this industry. And I agree. It is one thing having a very large club and working off of volume. But for most, that is not a reality.

You call them specials, or promotions. You and all of your competitors see things like draft beer for twenty five cents, pack the place, and on the nights you don't have your special, your place is like a ghost town.

You mean to tell me that you can't offer customers a good reason to come to your place, without reducing prices? Are you really going to try and live by the special? When customers are willing and eager to pay to be at your place? You are in the wrong business then. Think of yourself as a customer. What would be great? What would be over the top? What would be FUN?

See what I mean. If you put yourself in a position where the only time you are busy is when you have specials, you have very little profits. Did you go into business for your health? What do you think you are going to gain if you live by the special? These kinds of specials are designed to attract that kind of crowd, on off nights. But so many do this on prime nights.

Are there exceptions to the rule? Aren't there always? Sure. Are you the only game in town? You must be living in a small town. By being the only game in town, you can pretty much do what you want and they will come. But for most, there is competition. Did you build your club just like the one down the street? And why would you do that?

You need to get full price so that you are profitable. That being said, you need to give your customer a reason to come in to your club. Why is it worth it to come to you? Only you can answer that. Yes you have to mix it up. But you need to get your mark up also, or you won't be around very long if you are trying to live my the special. Did you ever go to a nightclub, that had a great crowd, people were really having fun, talking, eating, dancing, drinking, and didn't have specials?

Fun is hard for many people. What I mean by that is most people don't know how to have fun. They want to have fun, but are not quite sure on how to go about it. It's true! So your job is to create the fun for them. A great emcee can do this very easily. Playing games with the crowd, giving prizes away, audience participation, music changes and more. And when people start having fun, it becomes contagious.

You chose to be in the entertainment business. So entertain!You are not really going to play rap music all night and sell fifty cent draft beer are you? What happens when your competition lowers their draft beer to twenty five cents? You both will be in a heap of problems! If you don't know how to entertain and build a nightclub that is fun, safe, and full of life, maybe you need to consider a different career?

You know a few years ago the auto industry tried the same thing when the economy was down. Great specials! And they sold a lot of cars too. Unbelievable prices, and no interest!! When the special stopped, car sales just stopped. So they did more specials. Well finally they stopped as there was no profits. How long can you go with no little or no profits.

It was ridicules for a while. But they stopped and you never saw anything like that again. They started promoting their cars. What they had that the competitor didn't have. They started to tout their quality. See what I mean.

So I hope you take heed. If you live by the special, you will die by the special. If you live by the special, then think you will need to read my page on the Nghtclub Venue.