An Idea For Room Owners

mnorwood

mnorwood

Moon
Silver Member
Recently I was shooting pool with a friend of mine and the crowd in the room we were in was sparce.

My friend commented that in an effort to generate more regular customers dance halls offer free dancing lessons on a weekly basis. The thinking is that if people learn how to dance correctly they will have a better time and will be more likely to return.

Has anyone here ever seen this type of thing work for a pool room? Seems logical enough to me.
 
my first thought is...what kind of pool room do you play in?

sounds more like a bar/dance hall with pool tables in it
 
Lots of pool halls offer free lessons on X day of the month or week. I also personally know of an owner who is a BCA certified instructor that gives free lessons all the time to new players (or any player who can't afford them) who want to learn how to play who frequent his establishment.

He actually came over to my house to help me prepare for playing in Vegas and his advice REALLY helped me! I ended up one game in my set away from making the money thanks to his help!

Brian
 
I'll also add that Jimmy's Pro Billiards here in Minneapolis has weekly free lessons given by Jimmy "The Kid" Wetch who is one of the owners.

Brian
 
lol...so i finally put 2 and 2 together and realized that OP was probably talking about free pool lessons.

we are starting a get a cue league here in phoenix where members of the league get free instruction each week. granted, they have to join the league to get it but it still has drawn some interest and should lead to more patrons/players in the bar
 
I pretty much threw the same idea out to the owners of the hall that I used to play at. Sadly, the room closed, one of the main reasons was a lack of customers.

My idea was to open earlier on Saturdays and open the hall on Sundays.
Use the down time or less busier times to try to increase your customer base.
My thoughts were that there were lots of Dads that would like to spend some time with their sons playing pool and the same with Moms.
Father/son, Mom/daughter. Moms aren't going to come to a pool hall by themselves unless you give them a reason to. How is a lady going to learn to play pool unless she knows someone personally.

Six weeks of free lessons and a Scotch Doubles tourney at the end.
Probably wouldn't be any drinking but they are going to buy sodas and burgers.

Give them a reason to come back and buy some table time.

See how the beginners lessons pan out and offer advanced lessons later.
If they have fun, word of mouth works great. Soon they will be bringing their buddies down.

It was just an idea I tossed out, if it works fine, and if it didn't, at least you can say you tried.
 
Free Pool School! Great Idea

mnorwood said:
Recently I was shooting pool with a friend of mine and the crowd in the room we were in was sparce.

My friend commented that in an effort to generate more regular customers dance halls offer free dancing lessons on a weekly basis. The thinking is that if people learn how to dance correctly they will have a better time and will be more likely to return.

Has anyone here ever seen this type of thing work for a pool room? Seems logical enough to me.
Click to expand...

Years ago in Chelsea Billiards in NYC they used to have FREE Pool School every day I believe, at least Mon-Fri. It started at 4:00 or 5:00 PM and ran a couple of hours. It was a great success, novices showing up regularly and hopefully staying after to play more.

It was run by volunteers, I believe, a number of whom have gone on to become certified instructors, who were probably compensated with free table time. It didn't appear to cost the house anything, and it kicked of the night crowd nicely.

I always said to myself... "I would just about give away table time in the off hours if I was a room owner"

In answer to your question. Yes, I believe if structured properly it could work anywhere. Get started 3:00 - 4:00 pm before business kicks in...

Good Luck

Jay
 
How about a singles night? Sometimes the pool crowd can be a bit older and have other things on their mind. I would be playing a match and it just felt like the older opponent had to get parental in the "discussion." What I mean is they would say I should do something differently because they want to help me, sometimes they take pool a little too serious. I mean just play the table. I feel comfortable in a crowd of people that I have something in common with, preferably age would be nice.
 
Blue Hog ridr said:
I pretty much threw the same idea out to the owners of the hall that I used to play at. Sadly, the room closed, one of the main reasons was a lack of customers.

My idea was to open earlier on Saturdays and open the hall on Sundays.
Use the down time or less busier times to try to increase your customer base.
My thoughts were that there were lots of Dads that would like to spend some time with their sons playing pool and the same with Moms.
Father/son, Mom/daughter. Moms aren't going to come to a pool hall by themselves unless you give them a reason to. How is a lady going to learn to play pool unless she knows someone personally.

Six weeks of free lessons and a Scotch Doubles tourney at the end.
Probably wouldn't be any drinking but they are going to buy sodas and burgers.

Give them a reason to come back and buy some table time.

See how the beginners lessons pan out and offer advanced lessons later.
If they have fun, word of mouth works great. Soon they will be bringing their buddies down.

It was just an idea I tossed out, if it works fine, and if it didn't, at least you can say you tried.
Click to expand...

My wife spent more time at the pool hall then I did! She was the driving factor in getting our first pool table (I wanted one, but she picked it, saw one I sent her on craigslist and said "THAT IS MINE!"). But, she is in the minority....

I will say, that my 7 (almost 8yo) daughter is getting a "Drake Bell" signature cue and case for Xmas (Thanks Robin Dodson!). We had our "new" GC III installed last week and my daughter FINALLY asked me the other day to teach her how to play! I can't wait till she opens her presents on Xmas morning and I can take her down to start teaching her with her own cue!

Of course, I'm the minority... I grew up in a house with two pool tables. My parents had a nice Pro 8 table in the game room, and I had free reign of a Sears 7' table in the basement. Once I got to be around 10 or 12 they allowed me to start playing on the real table and got rid of the old one. My friends used to LOVE to come over and play pool in the basement on that crappy old Sears table... Ever since then I've been HOOKED!

Brian
 
Shooters, Burnsville, MN gives free lessons

Just to let everyone know that Beau Runningen, House Professional and I, House Instructor, give a 4 hour lesson block on Saturday about every 5 weeks. One hour on topic instruction, 2 hours of table to table individual instruction and one hour of Q and A.

Our Junior League, run by Master player, June Maiers, has grown every year it has been in existence, gets a block of 30 to 45 minutes of free instruction every time they meet (Could be why they have placed well in so many National events).

We have a Social Meet-up group that meets once a month and they get a 1 hour block of free lessons when they meet.

Does it work? Emphatically YES

Should every room that can swing it have a Junior League with instruction? Emphatically YES

Does Shooters gain customers by giving free instruction? Emphatically YES.

OP, good idea.

BTW, the Junior League is run by a completely volunteer staff and features various guest instructors that also volunteer their time.
 
At Buffalo Billiards in Metairie, LA, the owner hires me to give pool lessons to specific customers, pro bono. Maybe that's why his pool room is packed most every night, league or no league.
 
Where I live we have a Ladies Group, I call the Purfume Mafia. One of the ladies offer FREE BEGINNERS LESSONS, and the Group GrowS because of the Lessons.

When Don Rose was alive, he use to do a FREE WEEKLY Clinic at Click's Billiards in PHX, it was a tool for Don to get students, and also built the Click's Customer Base.
 
This kind of thing is definitely on my to do list. Its good to see that it has been tried and it works.
 
mnorwood said:
This kind of thing is definitely on my to do list. Its good to see that it has been tried and it works.
Click to expand...

A great instructor by the name of Ron Tocci gives free lessons Monday nights to anyone who approaches him at Buffalo Billiards in Nashua, New Hampshire. Not enough people take him up on this offer, I think, perhaps because it's not widely advertised.

I would suggest that free lessons be mentioned in advertising AND that the pool hall should post a sign near the front entrance on days when the lessons are offered.
 
You know what, this pool room which had a league team which i played against had a salsa night on tuesday night in the corner area of the pool room. We used to love going to this pool room to play matches because of the girls who came for salsa night. We had great fun playing pool, drinking and scoping the talent. Get girls in an establishment (doesn't matter how), guys who spend money follow.
 
abie10 said:
my first thought is...what kind of pool room do you play in?

sounds more like a bar/dance hall with pool tables in it
Click to expand...

You're not getting the jist of what he said. He was saying that dance halls offer free lessons. Not a pool hall that dances. LOLz
 
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