Two of 2014's Box Office Star honorees helped induct this year's new members to the prestigious club. BOM Adviser's Jason Varnish, class of 2014; gathered with Venues Today Publisher Linda Deckard; Columbus Arena Sports & Entertainment's Cait Schumann, class of 2015; Director of Ticketing at CenturyLink Center Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park Omaha Jon Secunda, class of 2015; Venues Today Managing Editor Jessica Boudevin; and SMG New Orleans' Mark Arata, class of 2014, celebrate the industry. (VT Photo)
REPORTING FROM DENVER — “Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I really wanted to be a ticketing professional… just kidding,” said Michelle Harris, Dir.of Client Relations at Ticket Philadelphia. Though many in ticketing may not have had starry-eyed dreams of the industry, there’s no question that it’s a passionate group of people who have grown to love their professions. About 950 professionals gathered at INTIX, held at Hyatt Regency Denver Convention Center Jan. 13-15.
This year, three of those ticketing professionals joined the ranks of Venues Today’s Box Office Stars, a dynamic group that now numbers 21 of the industry’s brightest.
Jon Secunda, director of Ticketing at CenturyLink Center Omaha and TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, and Cait Schumann, director of Ticketing at Columbus (Ohio) Arena Sports & Entertainment, were on hand to accept their awards, while Asst. Box Office Manager Paige Stouch of XL Center and Rentschler Field in Hartford, Conn., couldn’t attend due to ticketing the huge hit Disney On Ice Frozen. A couple of alumni even jumped in to help, with SMG New Orleans’ Mark Arata and BOM Adviser’s Jason Varnish introducing the new inductees. Read more about our winners in the January 2015 issue of Venues Today.
Several panelists focused on topics surrounding the fan experience, which, after all, is what it really comes down to.
“We often talk about grosses, ticket sales, and results, so often guest satisfaction and customer happiness is something we keep for last,” said Cirque du Soleil’s Ticket Sales Director Eric Valley, who stressed that the topic needs to be in the forefront because happy customers will keep coming back.
Relationships are important in managing the guest experience, but they aren’t just relationships with the attendees. Presenters’ relationships with clients and open communication are vital. For instance, Valley said that collaboration and open communication allows presenters to learn some best practices from their contractors, which then trickles down to improve the customer experience.
“One of the main advantages (of working with other companies) is being able to benefit from all of the experiences gained from those partners,” he said. “Communication is the basis of almost everything, not just dealing with your partners in business, but also dealing with your partner at home.” Outsourcing also allows presenters, or ticketing companies, to focus on their core business while letting other companies focus on their expert niches.
Ticket Philadelphia has improved the customer experience through proactive outreach. Instead of waiting for a patron to contact them, Ticket Philadelphia will send an email out after an event thanking the attendee for coming and asking them about their experience.
“You get more balanced feedback,” said Harris, who added that customers are more likely to comment unprompted with a complaint as opposed to praise. “Sending out those touch points invites patrons to start the conversation with you.”
Michelle Harris of Ticket Philadelphia participated on a panel with Cirque du Soleil's Eric Valley and Ticket Philadelphia's Carrie Farina, formerly of Cirque du Soleil. (VT Photo)
The company has also seen a positive reaction to the Flex-It program, which empowers front line staff to solve problems with a list of potential offers they can provide the patron immediately on the phone, as opposed to drawing out the call a couple of days and escalating it to a management level. It’s important that the front line staff know what they’re talking about so that when patrons call with questions, they can receive immediate, knowledgeable answers. Before any new Ticket Philadelphia employee gets on the phone, they have at least 30 hours of training not only on the ticketing software, but also focused on the various presenters for which they’re selling tickets.
“We want to make sure that those answering the phones know what it is they’re selling,” said Harris, who added that after employees have been selling tickets for two weeks, they come back in for more advanced training, with ongoing monthly training sessions. “It helps us develop a trust with the patron so that when they call us they know that the information they’re getting is accurate.”
Carrie Farina of Ticket Philadelphia spoke about a unique experience they worked on with Philadelphia Orchestra, which developed an app called LiveNote.
“Everyone complains about having phones out at events and having things on screens and tablets, but Philadelphia Orchestra decided to make that a positive experience,” she said. LiveNote is geotargeted so it only works once a patron is inside the facility, and gives guests a multitude of options from viewing the story behind the music or the actual musical analysis, both of which update live and follow along with the orchestra.
The orchestra launched the app for one series and “had prepared for D-day. We had the front line empowered to be able to not only refund that concert, but a multitude of concerts, and had special verbiage they were trained to say,” said Farina. It turned out all of that preparation was for naught. “Everybody loved it.”
So far, the app has had between 500-1,000 downloads on the Google Play website for Android. The orchestra started it for one show as a test and has now expanded it into a series called LiveNote Nights with three different concerts.
Venues and presenters also have the option to create unique experiences, but Valley cautioned there isn’t a one-size-fits-all upsell.
“You don’t try to sell a $500 upsell to someone that’s only willing to pay $40 for a ticket — it doesn’t make sense and you’re wasting not only your time and resources, but you’re wasting their time and it’s almost a lack of respect,” said Valley. Cirque du Soleil created the VIP experience including access to a VIP Suite with wine and hor-d’oeuvres at its big top touring shows about 12 years ago. About two years ago after decades of customer requests, the company created a premium ticket option with behind-the-scenes access.
“They were saying, ‘We’re huge fans, so for us, that would be the utmost uber experience,’” said Valley, who added that though the artistic elements are sacred to Cirque du Soleil, they now make just 20 tickets available for certain performances for backstage tours, giving patrons the ability to walk on stage, see performers getting ready and the facilities in the back. The company first tried a $400 price tag and saw tickets sell out immediately, eventually settling on a $495 ticket for the experience.
Cirque du Soleil also added a group of tickets called Producers Seats, which are composed of very well placed house seats that end up being released to the public at a premium of about $50 over regular prices.
“We sell maybe 20,000 of them a year, which is a lot of money just for answering a customer need and managing ticketing better,” added Valley.
Word of mouth may be one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s still strong.
“Word of mouth has changed over the years and today it’s digital and social,” said Valley. “You want people to be engaged positively and to share and post about how great it was — that’s money in the bank.”
Interviewed for this story: Carrie Farina, (215) 893-1986; Michelle Harris, (215) 893-1920; Eric Valley, (514) 723-7646