We have officially entered the post-holiday slump. People are hunkering down, getting back to work, school and the daily routine. For family entertainment centers, this can mean a slow-down in customer visits, making the days go by at a snail's pace. But rather than looking at it in a negative light, consider it a time to shift focus on things you may have neglected during the busy season. There are numerous ways to maximize your time and put efforts forth to encourage guests to stop in.

Keep reading to learn more.

Get Employees Back on Track

Don’t just focus on customers; remember that your employees are who keep your facility running. A slow time is ideal for reviewing the basics for your staff and getting them ready for when business picks up.

You can go over things like:

• Getting customers in the park faster

• Internal and customer safety rules

• Handling customer complaints

• Basic HR topics

Offer Discounts & Specials

People love discounts, especially after the holidays when they have spent a lot on gifts, food, decorations and all the festivities. Sending out special discounts gives people an incentive to come to your park -- you can offer things like:

• Group or party specials

• Free meal deals

• Two races for the price of one

• Free credits toward gaming machines

You have the power to decide whatever you want your special to be. You can even take different customers into account and give them deals based on their past behavior. If a customer always has lunch while at your center, you can offer them a free meal with certain activity purchases.

Add Activities

Been toying with the idea of making use of open, unused space to add another attraction to your park? Take advantage of this time to finally get it done. Whether it’s something as simple as adding a couple arcade games, or more complicated like building a climbing wall, it is far better to get it done when you are less busy than during the busiest time of year. If you decide to make additions during the busy season, customers will likely find the construction bothersome and stay away until it’s complete. Do it now, and they will have more to look forward to come spring and summer -- or better yet, decide to come and try it out earlier!

Host an Event

Events are a great way to promote your business, spread awareness and bring more customers in, so why not have one or two during the slow season? Whether it’s a race, contest, or just an event to celebrate the new year, events are great for building relationships with customers and meet people in your community.

Additionally, if you don’t already have a kart racing league, now is a great time to start one. Customers can form teams with their friends to race against each other, and you can develop team or one-on-one tournaments to up the competition and encourage people to participate and visit more frequently.

Keep in Contact with Customers

Just because fewer customers are coming to your location, doesn’t mean you should neglect them until things pick back up again. Everything mentioned above (specials, events, new attractions) along with seasonally-relevant content and industry news can be communicated to customers via email, social media, and other marketing channels. Even if a person isn’t thinking about visiting your park at that moment, you will be top of mind when the time comes.

If your business has an app, don’t forget to keep the content there up-to-date as well.

Consider New Management Software

The start of a new year is a great time to think about what internal improvements you can make to run your business more easily. If you’ve been using the same legacy server for many years, manually recording customer data and dealing with extensive updates, it’s time to rethink the way you operate.

Software solutions like Clubspeed makes your life easier with automated data collection and storage, scheduling, customer emails, reporting, and more. It may seem like a big undertaking, but in reality it is a simple process that will pay off well in the long run. Read more here about converting to a software that has all the capabilities you need with the bandwidth to support ongoing growth.

Don’t Let the Slow Period Slow You Down

There are plenty of things for you to do during the slow first quarter of the year. Use the time to turn your attention to customer outreach and making sure customers have the best experience possible when they come back. For more information about Clubspeed’s platform, contact us today.