THINKING OUT OF THE BOX? CLUB BASIC CONCEPTS (I)

We visited a club in Ermita, the old town of Manila.  The owner asked for some advice. He knows that we used to work in some projects with FHM Philippines and asked if we could bring some models for a party.  “I am trying to think out of the box”, he said. Minutes later I talked to him, and explain to him what he was doing wrong, I hope this tip will be useful for him and for all our members who are running a club for the first time.
You don't need “to think out of the box” at this stage, you just need to do the basics right. The “BASIC CLUB CONCEPTS” are like the roots of a tree, if the roots are weak the tree falls.
If you are a club owner, remember that this is a people's business, your staff and your girls need to be good with people, the rest: like decoration, club interior, nice printing materials, great light and sound system, are what I called VALUE-ADD FEATURES, those features give additional value to the product and service that you sell.

But what we actually sell in a nightclub?
We sell entertainment, fantasy, and most important, we sell alcohol and fun with good looking girls.

You cannot make your existing sofas look better, you just can replace them, same with your existing light and sound equipment. A Dom Perignon Brut, cannot become better, is a final product, if you want a better Champagne, you have to buy another bottle.
What you can improve is your people performance, your team, your staff, your hostess and dancers. That you can improve and there are not limits for a person to become the best in his/her position.
Intensive training is a must if you want to improve your business.

I asked that Club Owner:
How do you expect your waiter to sell a Moet Chandon Champagne, if he doesn’t even know what is it? How do you expect your waitresses to deliver first class service if they have never been in an upscale establishment as a guest?
The same with the girls, how do you expect your girls to deal with rich and well-educated guests if they don’t know how to talk?
I must say that there are people with special talent who don't need any training, but those people don't fall from trees, what you can do is educate your existing team.
You cannot ask or demand people to give you what they don't have.

But you can improve that with a lot of hours of training. With a proper job descriptions for each position, evaluating their performance with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for club business, and customer service.

24 hours/month training for staff is a must in a new club. One hour a day, line up meeting and training.
Training is one of the basic concepts of Club Business.

I told the owner of the club to stop thinking in crazy events or spending a lot of money bringing well-known artist and celebrities from now, FIRST go back to the basics.  If you apply the BASIC CLUB CONCEPTS correctly, the rest will be just fine…

Have a good week,

Francisco Leon Nakagawa
francisco.nakagawa@apenca-group.com

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