Quality Brings Quantity

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I constantly preach about the customer experience.  The term “customer service” is not strong enough today. Also, customers usually add the word “no” in front of “service”.   Ask your customers what they want for live entertainment and they will always tell you a quality show at affordable prices. This is a key element to selling more tickets.

Look around at any business today.  Companies are coming up with products and services that are marketed as “higher quality”.  I’m not saying they are all producing quality. The ones that are shit will get exposed and will not make it. 

The liquor business today is a perfect example for the demand of quality.  In the old days if you ordered a mixed drink you didn’t care that much what brand was in it.  You were adding mixers.  Today, you ask for the brand.  I read this morning about the demand for 100% blue agave tequila.  In the past most tequila imported into the USA was only 51% blue agave.  Now customers want the good stuff!  Selling the better quality has caused a big increase in tequila sales.

We in the live event & entertainment business can’t continue to produce and market the same old stuff the same old way.  Our customers are looking for new, exciting, and better products from us.

I’m sure some reading this are saying that better quality equals higher prices.  This may be true in many cases but how do we continue to explain higher prices for the same product we have marketed for 25 years? The public understands that prices go up but they want the quality to go with it. If we give them top shelf quality they might just buy.

“Put Yourself In My Shoes”

How many times have you used that phrase or something like it? I tend to use it a lot.  Sadly, it seems I use it more and more these days. What if everyone did business with that phrase in mind?

When you sit down to develop the marketing strategy for a show or event, you need to get into your customers head.  What will they think? How will they perceive my message?  What will make them buy?  You have to put on your customers hat.  Remember, you may not be your own customer.  Just because you think they will see your message, doesn’t mean they will.  For example, if you plan to buy out of home advertising, where are the best locations for your customer to see it? I once had a boss who wanted billboards placed along the route he took.  He said his customers take the same route.  Our marketing research did not gel with his thought process.  We saw no increase in sales. Maybe he just wanted to see his own billboards.

The phrase “put yourself in my shoes” gets used the most when it comes to customer service.  I tend to use it all the time with customer “no” service people on the phone.  When you put your policies and procedures together for the customer experience, do you think about how the customer will deal with it?  If you answer “who gives a crap” then you are not putting yourself in their shoes. Just because it looks good on paper doesn’t make it so. Listening to our customers is what sells.  Next time you want to cut something that will affect your customers experience, put yourself in their shoes.

Business Is Too Good: You’re Fired!

 This is what the ticket sales staff at the Miami Heat heard over the weekend.  I’m sorry but that is just wrong! I am not the only one thinking this.  The web is buzzing this morning.

I first heard about this yesterday while reading some LinkedIn updates.  This morning I checked the Miami Herald website  and it was confirmed.  The article  states that ever since the Heat signed Lebron James, there has been a run on season tickets.  Since there are no more season tickets to sell, they don’t need a sales staff.  What message does this send to your ticket staff?  Don’t do your job too well?  Don’t let the owners sign a top notch star?  

Now that the Heat have an arena full of season ticket holders, who is going to service them?  When the customer has a problem, who will they call?  Why don’t they turn all the ticket sales staff people into customer service staff?  Selling tickets was the easy part.  Now you have to take care of the customers. 

How many of you in this business worry about being let go because of the economy and the lack of business?  How many of you have heard management say, “We will take care of you when business turns around”?  Not sure the Miami Heat ticket sales people consider that being “taken care of”.

Becareful Where You Snip

All of us have gone through budget cutting.  Nobody like budget cuts but in this world it has become a necessary (and unnecessary) evil.  There are three areas that should never be cut: 

1. Anything that affects the product
2. Anything that affects the customer
3. Marketing

I am sure all the bean counters out there are reading this and saying “but we don’t have a choice, every department needs to cut”.  Cutting budget to any of the above three things will hurt incoming revenue.  The live event & entertainment world has already seen huge deeps in ticket revenue.  When you cut budget to any of the above you are just increasing the collateral damage.

Our customers and fans are used to our product.  If anything, they expect us to offer even better product.  If they notice you are decreasing the product in any way, you are ruining the business.  If you don’t have the money to increase the product, then it is better to maintain status quo until you have the budget.

Anything that affects the customer experience in a negative way is detrimental to your business.  Just like the product, the customer expects a certain type of service. Take away the good experience and you take away the customer. 

For some reason bean counters always look to marketing first to make budget cuts.  Why do they do this?  One reason is the attitude that some business people have of marketing.  How many of you have heard “sales brings in the money and marketing spends it”? If you cut money to marketing, you are letting less people know about your product.  If less people know, fewer tickets will be sold.  The alternative is to leave the marketing budget alone and figure out how to obtain even more exposure with the same budget.

If you trim too close or in the wrong places it can really hurt!

Don’t Forget The Human Touch

I am a huge fan of modern technology and the internet.  I am not afraid of it and never have been.  But I have noticed one big change that is not good for companies or our customers.  This is the lack of human contact.

This year I tried to use the web to purchase many of my holiday gifts.  The internet method is designed to be easy and convenient.  It is supposed to take the hassle out of traffic and malls.  Sometimes the net can be more of a hassle then wading through the malls.  What happens when something goes wrong?

How many of you have had issues with buying something online?  My guess is most. Think how you feel when it happens.  Now as marketers of event & entertainment use that feeling to make your customers experience better. 

Give your customers as easy a fix as quickly as possible.  What this could mean is getting a human to speak with them right away.  Every minute and step the customer needs to make is one step closer to losing the sale.  On the same web page where the transaction is taking place, give them a couple of options to speak to someone.  This could be with a phone number or with “live chat”. 

Last year I gave my family hockey tickets.  First I went online and looked around.  Nothing was available.  Then I went to the arena box office and spoke with a very nice ticket seller. She took the time and effort to look around and found me great seats.  She took an interest in helping the customer.  The computer cannot do this.  The technology is not there yet.

The customer experience is always your best marketing tool.  Good word of mouth and repeat business comes from a good customer experience.  Sometimes the internet cannot fix issues when they happen.  Only a pleasant human on the other end can bring comfort and joy.

The Friday Doubleheader

The customer experience is worth its weight in gold

My friend Doak Turner sent me an example of a good and bad customer experience with his new iPhone.  He bought his new iPhone at the Apple Store.  He asked them if they could transfer his contacts from his old phone to his new phone.  They told him that he would have to have AT&T do this.  He went to AT&T and for some reason they couldn’t do it.  They sent him back to Apple who still could not transfer them.  While at Best Buy buying a charger, he asked them if they could help with the contact transfer.  Within minutes the task was completed. 

As soon as I read his email I said, “Wow, Apple’s customer service has really gone south”.  This is not the first time I have heard or noticed Apple’s decline in the customer experience.  I remember when everyone raved about their service. 

Right after I read his email, I read Seth Godin’s blog today titled Spare No Expense.  Coincidently, the take away from the post is that if you train your customer to expect a great customer experience and then pull back on this you will amplify the bad experience.

As event & entertainment marketers we need to remember that we are in the discretionary dollar business.  Our customers buy our tickets to be entertained and provide an escape.  They expect and deserve a great customer experience.  They may need to buy a mobile phone but they don’t need to see our events.  When you budget for the event, make sure you also spend the money on the customer experience.

Project Showtime?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that two years ago Ticketmaster considered buying up some of the biggest ticket brokers to counter Live Nation.  Of course this was all prior to the merger of LN and TM.  The name of this secret project was called “Project Showtime”.  First off, is that the best name they could come up with? 

Can any of you imagine what would have happened if they had proceeded with this project? The article claims that one of the reasons this deal didn’t happen is because none of the interested parties trusted each other.  Really, what a surprise!

The article states that Ticketmaster actually did an experiment last year with the Van Halen tour.  They pulled tickets from 20 Van Halen concert dates and gave them to the brokers.  The money was split 70 -30.  The 30% went to the brokers and the 70% was split between Ticketmaster and the band.

Why is this article coming out today?  I can’t see Ticketmaster or Live Nation wanting this out right now. The Justice Department is in the middle of reviewing the merger and this revelation can’t help. 

 Have a great weekend!

Customer Experience: A Tale Of Opposite Stories

In Monday’s Wall Street Journal there was an article titled “Companies Strive Harder to Please Customers”.  This was music to my eyes and I read it immediately. 

In the article they discussed how companies have come to the realization that current economic conditions call for better customer satisfaction. I can’t believe it took this long to figure that out. The companies they highlighted included Sprint Nextel, Cheesecake Factory, US Airways, and Southwest Airlines.  This was a nice mix.  I consider two of them having a good reputation for customer experience and two who don’t. 

All four of them know that customers have choices and beefing up the satisfaction can be the difference.  For Nextel it was rewarding customer service people for solving a customers issue on the first call.  Cheesecake Factory is enhancing the service they provide while waiting for a table.  US Air is fixing its missing baggage issue.  This is a great idea since they charge you for baggage.  Southwest now offers free call-back from their call center if wait times are too long. 

All of this made me happy until yesterday when I realized not everyone is on the good customer experience bandwagon.

I received a text message from Verizon Wireless letting me know that at least one of my family phones had data usage charges.  Verizon Wireless has a phone store called Get It Now.  They also place apps on your phone that are demos.  What they are not clear about is they charge you for checking them out.  My kids phones don’t have a data plan.  They don’t need one.  They are offering customers to check out their products and then charge them to enter the store.  They place demo apps on the main screen of the phone and tell customers to try it “free”.  Without a data plan you are charged for the data usage to try it “free”.  Don’t they make money from customers buying apps, games, and ringtones?  Why would they charge you for looking?    The customer service person agreed with me. However, he said that the “fine print” explains they will charge you.  When is the last time a teenager or most adults ever read the “fine print”? The customer experience is not about the “fine print”. 

Being upfront with your customers is always the best customer experience.

Life After Event & Entertainment Marketing

If you decided to get out of the event and entertainment marketing business, what would you do? 

I am sure all of us have thought about this in the past.  Some don’t have a choice and think about it everyday.  Have you ever thought about all the different career paths you could take with your knowledge and experience?  With so many event marketers out of work and looking for the next big thing, let’s write down some of the different areas of business we can do with our backgrounds.

1.   Marketing
2.   Media Buying
3.   Advertising
4.   Creative
5.   Copywriter
6.   Promotions
7.   Public Relations
8.   Retail
9.   Sales
10.  Customer Service
11.  Management
12.  Accounting
13.  Public Speaking
14.  Chief Cook & Bottle Washer

I know there are so many more but I think you get my point.  As event and entertainment marketers, our daily grind will work for many types of business.  The hard part can be convincing someone in another business of this.  They just don’t get us! 

If you decide to leave our crazy business, know that:

1. You do have the tools to do just about anything
2. You entire interview will be selling them on the list above

When Sh*t Happens

If you read this blog on a regular basis, then you know that I am a big fan of the customer experience or what most call customer service.  While we all agree the customer experience starts from the moment your customer is interested in your product, the customer experience when something goes wrong may be even more important.

Even brands with the best customer experience sometimes have missteps.  They have policies and procedures in place to make sure that a bad experience doesn’t happen.  Even with all this, sometimes shit happens.  When it does, the good ones have a solution ready to go.

This week I am traveling.  I booked my flight with American Airlines over a month ago.  When I went to get seats, there were none available.  I believe the airline holds back seats to assign at the airport.  To me this is not a good customer experience.  I just gave the airline money for a ticket.  Is it too much to ask for two seats together?  The airport is stressful enough; do we need the stress of not having seats?  When I got to the airport, I made sure I spoke to a person and not a ticket kiosk.  Guess what, she gave me a good customer experience by giving me exit row seating.  When you fly coach, these are the best seats.  This made the rest of my very long flight a good experience. 

My brother is also a huge proponent of the customer experience.  So when shit happened at his food fest a few weeks ago, it almost killed him.  Every issue that happened that day was directly related to the customer.  While the damage was done that day, what he did after the fact made a huge difference.  He offered refunds to any customer that asked for one.  He went on the radio and offered an apology.  He even answered every single email that was sent to him.  Anyone who gave him their phone number, he called them.  He spoke to them in a personal manner.  He explained what happened and in most cases the customer understood.  While they may not have had a good customer experience at the event, they were treated with respect and given the post experience they deserved.  I bet many will go back to next year’s event.

Market The Summer Experience

Today starts Memorial Weekend.  This is one of my favorite weekends of the year.  It is the unofficial start of summer.  Beginning with this weekend, people like to get out their house and do stuff.  All of us in the event and entertainment business are part of that “stuff”.

It was reported again this morning on network TV that people will go out and about this summer.  They will take vacations.  They will see events.  However, they are doing it with less.  They are taking vacations closer to home, they spending less money, but they want to enjoy life.  We have a great opportunity here to help them with this.  Here are three ways we can:

1) Market as a local event

2) Market the value

3) Give them a great customer experience

When planning your marketing and advertising, mention the ease and proximity.  Let them know that you are their escape for the day or evening. 

Market the value of the admission.  You don’t have to “cheapen” the event.  Just make sure it’s a good deal.  Make sure the advertising sells it.

A great customer experience ties into the first two.  The customer experience is more then the actual show or event.  It starts with the marketing, to the ticket purchase, to the experience at the venue.  A great customer experience is vital to the overall value.  Let’s use this holiday weekend as the kick off to the summer of the customer experience.

Interesting marketing approach

I received an email from a kids rock-n-roll day camp my son attended last summer called DayJams.  They sent out an email inviting campers, parents, and camp staff to join their street team.   Here is the pitch:

Become an official DayJams Street Team member and help get the word out about DayJams 2009!  Street Team activities include:

• Spread the word out about DayJams to parents and kids in your school or community!
• Set up a table at events or just walk around distributing DayJams materials at sporting events, all ages shows, recitals, school plays, etc. 
• Give away free swag (magnets, stickers, pencils) and say great things about DayJams to your friends in person, or on MySpace and Facebook, etc.
• Keep track of the names of the people you give the literature to and if one of them signs up and attends; you’ll be paid $50 for each NEW camper!
• DayJams will provide you with giveaways and promotional materials once you sign-on. 

Besides, the $50 commission, they also get t-shirts and free swag that goes with their instrument.  Such as, guitar strings and music books.

This is a very interesting marketing approach.  I don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  My first thought was “they must be really hurting”.  If that is general first impression then this is bad.  What is good about this is the direct testimonial marketing.  These are actual campers and parents marketing the brand.  Let me know what you think?

Have a great holiday weekend!