Customer Satisfaction

I have found in my business experience that making customers happy is an ever-changing goal that you must adjust to with every conversation.  The fact is that you will not be able to make every customer happy 100% of the time and seeking perfection on this is a noble goal that requires realistic expectations set by you as the business.

Price is topic that most people struggle with both from a business and personal shopping perspective.  Today's market is flooded with deal sites or coupon companies that create unrealistic expectations for price of goods and services.  Sites like Groupon or Living Social exploit small businesses that are doing the best they can to compete and stay in operation to get the customer 50% discount off of whatever they are selling.  These companies then take a 40-60% commission from the remaining 50% revenue leaving the business owner 100% liable for servicing the customer but only 25% value of that particular product or service.

This creates a stigma for the businesses involved because even though the cost of providing the service may be more than what that particular deal is worth the customer now has a de-value of your service.  Most believe that if you can run a $100 deal today then you can afford to run it at the customer's convenience and this is not the truth.  In fact, most Groupon or Living Social deals will end up being run every 4 months because the business that ran the deal cannot afford to operate at 25% of their expected revenue stream for the amount of coupons they sell.  

Game truck businesses have a limited amount of party slots each week.  When coupons are sold at cut-rates the selling company will fill all the time slots with de-valued parties where they will take a loss over an extended period of time.  This loss is due to the low revenue generated minus the cost of fuel, labor, maintenance costs, insurance, equipment loan or investment payment, and the hundred other things that cost you as a game truck owner.  The only way around this is to tack on "travel fees" or up-sell you things you may not want or need for your event but most couponers only want the deal so you are left struggling to figure out how to cover your losses.

I know this from experience as I was in the original game truck operators in Atlanta as I have been on the road for nearly 6 years.  I have experimented with all types of advertising and been duped by pushy salespeople from these coupon companies that promise "great exposure" and "guaranteed repeat business" which was always fairy dust.  I ran coupon deals with integrity and then struggled for 6 months to keep the business afloat will servicing the coupons and got none of the return on investment promised from these opportunists.  I did see recently that Groupon CEO bought the largest mansion in Chicago thanks to businesses like me so I guess I did my part.

So to answer the question I get nearly daily, no I will never have a Groupon or Living Social coupon.  

What we will do is provide the best service in Atlanta for video game parties.  We are the only video game truck company in Atlanta that is owned & operated by full-time gamers and military veterans so we know video games.  We also will have the largest video game library available with the hottest titles for all the next generation systems all played in surround-sound with vibrating seats & controllers for the ultimate video game party experience.

We do ask of our customers a favor when reserving a party;

Do not make a reservation if you have no intentions of actually having your party.

• All our time slots are highly sought after and when someone tells us they want a time slot we make sure it is 100% set on the calendar.  
• This is why we require full payment to reserve a time slot.  
• It is not fair to others if you reserve a slot with intentions of only window shopping.