Great Idea - Worth Sharing

Purchase Park2Fly

offers free weather-resistant luggage tags

for their parkers.

As a seasoned traveler myself, I believe this idea is out-of-the-box thinking. It makes perfect sense to keep your brand name in front of your customers.

Just another comment: If anyone has ideas to share, please send them to us. We would love to hear what is working at your business.

Welcome Purchase Park2Fly

SMC would like to welcome Purchase Park2Fly (PP2F) to its family of parking clients. SMC has provided PP2F with a turnkey solution to compete at the highest level:

• New Super-friendly Website (a must see - click here)
• POS/Ticketing Management System
• Real-time Reservations System

Congratulations to PP2F on their new business venture at the Westchester County Regional Airport near White Plains, New York. After starting up its operation on April 1, 2011, Bill Guerrero, President and his team have completed major milestones in his college community by offering superior valet parking services.

To learn more about PP2F, click here to watch a local news channel interview customers and Bill Guerrero.

Be Careful with Emails like....

Your UnitedAirportParking.com parking lot information has been updated. Please contact your administrator if you should have any questions regarding this update.

If your business does not respond with a response similar to "please do not use my company's information on your website" or "you are not authorized to use my company's information on your website", there will be consequences long-term for you and your customer. What are some of those consequences?

1. By not responding, you are authorizing a 3rd party company to use your company information.

2. If authorized, a 3rd party company will use your name in your market on the various search engines.

3. Using your name helps a 3rd party company get listed on the 1st page of Google and Bing.

4. Your website listing will be competing against the 3rd party listing who would love to incorporate a commission back to you (normally the first day rate).

5. Bottom line is, they want your customer's data.

In addition, these 3^rd party websites create mass confusion with their pre-paid program; charge-backs, refunds, auditing, and of course, administrative fees.

I cannot stress enough the importance of branding your business in the eyes of your community. Drive shoppers into your website, set the hook and then real them in one-by-one. Do not let other websites create the relationship with your customers. History shows this is not a good long-term strategy.

Example of a reply:

“You are not authorized to list any of my information on your website. We do not allow any 3rd party aggregators to use our branded and registered name for their own gain or to promote their website. This only leads to confusion for my customers. Thank you for your understanding in this manner."

Is your business still listed on a 3rd Party Parking Aggregator?

If your answer is YES, then please click here to read an article by Christopher Elliott. He is the author of the new book "Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals." He's also the ombudsman for National Geographic Traveler magazine and the co-founder of the Consumer Travel Alliance, a nonprofit organization that advocates for travelers.

The same Chris Elliott wrote a car rental article several years ago where my former employer, Payless Car Rental, was mentioned as a culprit of misleading consumers on insurance coverage. The long-and-short-of-it, the "free" bad press was not good for the company.

If you want your business removed from outside interferences, please call me to discuss a "short" long-term plan to freedom.

Google+ Business Profiles Are Coming Third Quarter

Companies clamoring to build a presence on Google's new social network have a few more months to wait. Business profiles are coming to Google Plus around the third quarter of this year, according to a story on VentureBeat.

While Google hasn't revealed many details about what the brand profiles will include, a Google representative told VentureBeat that users should expect "a level of analytics and measurement that you'd typically find in Google products," hinting at the inclusion of analytics in business accounts.

Google is urging brands to wait for these official business profiles rather than set up their own, which the company said would not be able to be automatically migrated once the brand profiles launch.

"The platform at the moment is not built for the business use case, and we want to help you build long-term relationships with your customers," Google's Christian Oestlien said in a post on Google Plus. "Doing it right is worth the wait."

Google has said that they will continue to disable unauthorized business profiles ahead of their official launch later this year.

More Social Networking News

Social Networking is growing so fast in this industry, we wanted to share the following chart to further help you see how essential it is to make social networking a part of your plan.

Look for words such as intimate, develop, connect, engage, channels, influence, loyalty, viral, mass, and authority.

About RSR Research:

Retail Systems Research (“RSR”) is the only research company run by retailers for the retail industry. RSR provides insight into business and technology challenges facing the extended retail industry, and thought leadership and advice on navigating these challenges for specific companies and the industry at large. RSR’s services include benchmark reports covering the state of retailer technology adoption for topics ranging from merchandising and supply chain, store operations and workforce management, to customer-facing and multi-channel technologies. Custom research reports provide more in-depth views into topics of industry interest, and advisory services help retailers and technology vendors make the most of the insights RSR provides. To learn more about RSR, visit www.rsrresearch.com.

Groupon Stats for anyone looking to try!

Is Groupon a good deal for your brand?
Groupon is good for deal lovers.
But is it good for business?

A new study found that almost 7 in 10 businesses made money on their Groupon promotions. But only 6 in 10 said they would do it again.

A recent study by Rice University found a mixed bag of results for businesses considering partnering with Groupon.

Your success depends on the industry you’re in and if you can avoid cannibalizing on current sales.

• Among service businesses, salons and spas reported the highest number of successful promotions.

• Restaurants reported the highest percentage of unprofitable promotions.

• Businesses in which the promotion did not cannibalize sales to existing customers reported more successes.

• 1 in 3 businesses reported the promotion was not profitable. And 4 in 10 said they wouldn’t do it again.

• 66% of businesses surveyed were profitable, 34% were not.

• More than 40% said they would not run this kind of promotion again.

Satisfied employees were the most important factor in determining the success of the promotion. The percentage of discount offered, number of Groupons sold, or percentage of Groupon users who purchased beyond the deal did not predict the deal’s profitability.

If you’re new to Groupon promotions follow these 3 guiding principles in developing your deal:

1. Do the math before you offer your deal. Figure out your costs, including the additional labor. The rule of thumb is to discount your lowest-cost, highest-margin products and services first.
2. Make sure you prepare your staff, and yourself, for the influx of new and different customers.
3. Remember that Groupon shoppers are discount and value hunters. So be sure to display other products and services that appeal to them, so they’ll come back.
4. Develop a conversion strategy (like a bounce back offer) along with your Groupon offer, to encourage your Groupon customers to return.
   

Feedback from our Parking Clients is Invaluable!

Did you know that 90% of the food items sold today at McDonald's were names/ideas stemming from franchisees? The most respected franchise system in the world became the most successful franchise company around the globe simply because the company insisted on input from their entrepreneur network.

I would like to thank John Youkhana (Chicago Midway - Airways Parking and Midway EZPark) for sharing his thoughts about ways to drive more online shoppers into his parking business...and yours. We like the way you think John.

I have provided an illustration below to support John's comments. In this image, there are three companies - American Airlines, Thrifty Car Rental and Marriott - delivering the same simple message....BOOK DIRECTLY WITH US AND RECEIVE THE BEST RATE.

After years of watching Southwest Airlines roll-the-dice and position their brand in one of the most competitive industries, other travel companies have decided to follow their success.

Later this month, SMC will create an email campaign for our parking clients with a similar message. We will design a colorful badge for the campaign and then make it available to you for your website. In the meantime, we would like your feedback on educating the traveler.

Why reserve directly with us? Or why reserve with us? Or why you should reserve with us? Or list the Top 5 Reasons to Reserve Direct at www.AirwayParking.com.

1. Accurate pricing. Many 3rd party websites may advertise pricing a certain way to confuse the customer. And the customer is surprised at check out. On our website, simply put in the accurate check in and check out times and there won't be any surprises at check out.

2. No Messy Deposits. All 3rd party websites charge you a deposit which makes it hard for you to cancel your reservation should you need to at last minute. They also keep the deposit which costs the parking lot money.

3. Reservation Service Fees. All 3rd party websites tend to "try and stiff" the customer especially since to them once you reserve your done. Typically these 3rd party websites will up-charge the reservation 2 - 5 dollars which is simply lost money to you. Don't fall for this trick.

4. Cancellation - All 3rd party websites give you the run around when you try to cancel a reservation and if the cancellation is less than 24 hours before your trip, Forget About it!. However, canceling a reservation on our website free, fast, simple and real-time.

5. Our website is your one stop shop for all your Airport parking needs. Airways Parking at Midway Airport provides you with valuable information on the parking lot, our best rates, and easy-to-use reservation system.

Another thought! Maybe as a follow up we can ask our customers for a quote or even a short video speaking about our reservation process. The ultimate goal is to find customers who have used the other reservation service and have them share the differences that solidify these points.

The bottom line is this - testimonials and reviews are essential necessities in the online world. And if together we can deliver a message to help travelers find the best parking price at your airport, this is a good thing.