Groupmatics aims to uncover "hidden revenue" in group sales.
In today’s technological era, it’s vitally important for venues to find ways to conduct work in an efficient and productive manner while increasing revenue to the bottom line.
That’s what Cleveland-based Groupmatics is doing for 50 venues across the United States through its web portal that allows large groups of people to purchase tickets in chunks for sports and entertainment events.
It used to be that if you had a group of 20 people who wanted to go to a basketball game or a concert the group leader would have to collect payment, get in touch with the venue and book a block of tickets. The group leader also would have to keep track of who had and who hadn’t paid for their tickets, making the process cumbersome and frustrating.
Partnering with Groupmatics makes the group ticket purchasing and organizing process easier for both consumers and venue operators.
It also gives sales reps at various stadiums and concert halls data about group buyers that they never had before, said Matt Mastrangelo, founder and president of Groupmatics.
“We’ve uncovered the hidden revenue in the group sales industry,” he said. “The process has been very archaic as far as group sales are concerned. How the process has always been is the groups are always in charge of keeping track of the orders.”
Now, venue sales reps send group leaders to the Groupmatics portal where they type in their information, the names of those who want to attend a game or concert and manage the alerts and payments through the web portal.
“We allow the sales rep to quickly create a group page,” Mastrangelo said, noting that the group organizer gets exact seat location within the venue, general price categories and options on where to meet people before an event.
All the information provided by the group leader goes back to sales teams at venues where they find new sales leads through data collected, meaning that when more people join the group portal, information is collected on each person.
“The customization is really great,” said Steve Zarick, director of group sales at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which operates Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. “In the past it had always been on the group leader to organize everything.”
Now Zarick and his team have various channels of communication with the group leader and those who join the group.
“A lot of things can be communicated on the group page,” Zarick said.
Mastrangelo highlighted how the group page is very similar to an evite, where people can check in, tell others in the group if they’ll be late or where they’ll meet other party members before a game or event.
The idea to consolidate group sales, making it easier on the consumer and venue sales reps, came after Mastrangelo spent years selling group tickets for the Cleveland Browns.
“It was very risky,” he said about starting his own business. “But I felt very strongly that group sales needed advancement on how the process had been done.”
The company is now in its third year of business and at a point where all the kinks have been worked out, Mastrangelo said.
“We have continued to listen to our partners and develop new features,” he said.
Consumers can access the group page from any device, including their tablets and smart phones. They can share information on social media, and update group members before, during and after an event.
The real key for venue operators is the data they collect through Groupmatics, Mastrangelo said.
“Group sales teams are uncovering new groups within a group. Teams have never been able to market to those groups. It’s been very old school,” he said.
It makes the process easier and more efficient.
“We get all the buyer information,” Zarick said. “Every time a ticket is purchased an email is sent to the sales rep. Everything runs through (the Groupmatics) website.”
Interviewed for this story: Steve Zarick, (202) 292-1967; Matt Mastrangelo, (216) 407-4860.