Main laser tag business mistakes
Owing a business requires attention and exceptional concentration from the entrepreneur during all the stages of its formation and development. At times even experienced, accomplished businessmen make mistakes that may lead to negative outcomes – loss of income and demand among the consumers, and may even result in the business close-down. There is nothing new to add about beginners: for them, wrong decisions are a common matter. Laser tag is a major business, too. Therefore, it wouldn’t be right to adopt a superficial approach when dealing with it. No wonder why laser tag business is periodically chosen as a discussion matter of specialized seminars, courses, conferences that are held wherever this type of active recreation is widespread. At such conventions, businessmen that have reached significant heights in laser tag business development in their regions share their experience with younger, less experienced colleagues and offer them the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of others, thus helping them avoid making same mistakes themselves.
Just as for any other serious venture, there a number of recommendations for successful laser tag business development.
1. As has been mentioned earlier, one shouldn’t adopt a superficial approach when dealing with laser tag. Instead, treat it as an important and serious business. This probably pauses the main mistake among beginners. Laser tag is essentially an entertainment, yet the opening and the development of a specialized laser tag club is a rather difficult type of business and outstanding professional management is its fundamental element.
2. Marketing. Despite the fact that there is an extensive network of laser tag centres and there are clubs in big cities that offer the chance to play a game, an expert marketing strategy is required to attract clients. This means that one will need to hire marketing and communications specialists.
3. Interacting with clients. A lot depends on how well your managers communicate with consumers and on the system of booking games. In any case, one must answer phone calls and e-mails promptly and politely, for it is usually during a telephone conversation that a potential client makes a final decision whether he is going to have any further dealings with your club or not.
4. Smart approach to hiring specialists. One cannot manage business all by oneself. Therefore, one had better avoid cutting corners when it comes to personnel. Those must be professionals: a qualified accountant must take on keeping the financial accounts, a PR and marketing specialist must be responsible for advertising and so on. An instructor must be well-trained, too – he must be familiar not only with game rules and safety requirements, but also with the technical features of the equipment, so as to be able to promptly repair it in case of failure.
5. Examination of the technical state of the equipment. Play sets must operate flawlessly, without interruptions. To ensure this, each blaster, headband/ helmet, additional equipment set need to be services at least once per week. All the faults need to be fixed at once. This won’t take long. On the other hand, if one decides to skimp on regular technical servicing, one will be in for long term repair at best, at worst, one is sure to lose a great deal of their clients.
6. Keep updating. When you open a laser tag club and buy the cheapest equipment, you shouldn’t hope that it will work forever. You need to regularly update play sets, meaning that you not only have to upgrade the firmware, but also stock up on new tagers and additional devices. Certainly, you won’t be able to keep up with equipment producers who introduce new ideas with amazing regularity. But this does not mean that you can forget about upgrading your club arsenal altogether.
Qualified personnel and staying updated – the sum of these will, probably, make up a formula of your business steady and successful development. And of course, don’t regard laser tag business as an entertainment despite the specific character of this game. Only if you take into consideration all the conditions that have been listed above will your venture flourish, bring profit to you and positive emotions from well-spent time to the consumers.