NEW PATRONS VS OLD
Kara Larson
1/31/2011
If we can’t make our existing patrons happy, we might shortly find ourselves with a more urgent need to find new ones.
Not long ago, while working in an interim capacity for an arts organization, I was handed a letter.In it a patron complained that she, a subscriber, had 1) not been notified in advance when a new event was added to the season, and 2) been charged a transaction fee when purchasing a ticket to that event. Her point, that she wouldn’t have had to pay the transaction fee if she had been able to buy the ticket with all the others in her earlier order, wasn’t unreasonable. I indulged in a bit of off-the-cuff handwriting analysis, commented that the writer was probably elderly, and gave the letter to the box office manager with the request that someone call her, be nice, and refund the $4. And there the story ends.
I tell this story only because I am sure that it will sound familiar to many of you. And it’s not the worst of its kind.
At every arts organization I’ve worked for or with I’ve seen one event repeat itself; a complaint note arrives, is routed to a marketing/managing/executive director at a time when he/she is paying attention to something else, and is received with annoyance or contempt. We brush off the patron’s concerns even when they point out a genuine flaw in our policy. We write a fake-sincere apology and hope they go away. (Fortunately, when we hand the problem to the box office they generally do a very sincere and kind job of making things right.) In our heart of hearts, we often assume they have too much time on their hands and don’t understand the qualities of what we’re offering. We brush them off.
At the same time, we’re investing time, money and ingenuity into finding new patrons. We offer them discounts, give them incentives, and try new social media or online approaches to them. Don’t get me wrong—I believe it’s possible to bring new audiences to the arts in a meaningful and long-term way. It’s a necessary investment in a healthy future. But we often take our current patrons for granted.
In a recent New Yorker article, James Surowiecki sounded the alarm:
“Companies have a roving eye: they’re always more interested in the customers they don’t have. So they pour money into sales and marketing to lure new customers while giving existing ones short shrift.... Economically this makes little sense; it’s more expensive to acquire a new customer than to hold on to an old one, and, these days, annoyed customers are quick to take their business elsewhere.”
Your patrons are buying an experience. Can you say it’s as good as it can be? Their ticket transaction, ease of finding a place to have a pre-show meal, practical parking availability, your lobby amenities, bathroom lines, temperature and seat comfort, all create part of the experience your patrons are having. Oh, and what you put on stage (or hang on the wall, etc.).
The “whole experience” may seem like a lot of things you can’t control. But if we put the kind of energy and ingenuity into changing them that we put into enticing new patrons, we might find otherwise. And ultimately, if we can’t make our existing patrons happy, we might shortly find ourselves with a more urgent need to find new ones. A lot of them.
Comments
GPM says:
Feb 4th 2011 at 3:51 amLet see, where do I start?
I am in agreement with the article presented above. However, with respect to the author, her examples barely "smudge" the surface of the "experience" concept.
Let me add a few more examples that reach deeper.
My presenting organization just completed a $12 million renovation. It is the Marketing 101 concept that the audience "experience" is utmost--beginning with audience comfort. In our renovation, I reduced our seating capacity by nearly 200 seats in order to have wider, more comfortable seating and leg room. Our HVAC system estimates ranged from $750,000 to a $2.1 million high volume/low velocity system. We bit the bullet and went with the state-of-the-art system. Result? Quiet yet rapid exchange of air that maintains a comfortable temperature even with the influx of all those audience members in a short period of time. The room recovers well and that is extremely important. Too many renovations give short shrift to HVAC system that will be in that building for generations to come.<--READ: audience experience.
I learned years ago in graduate school that the audience experience begins (and continues) with every contact we have with the patron. From the first telephone call for information, to the ticket purchase, ease of approach to the theatre on day of show, the presentation of the building (exterior and interior), temperature in the theatre, and, most important, the performance itself.
I have often told my board and staff that the performance needs to be of the highest quality and exceptionally satisfying.
A patron who leaves the theatre saying the performance was "OK" or just "nice" is a patron primed to sit out the next event. There is little or no room for error when choosing a season.
Therefore, I will "pass" on a routed tour if I do not feel the program (no matter HOW popular it may seem) might fall short of the "sizzle" our promotion will create. Everytime I promote a show, I am romancing my audience, asking them on a "date" always promising. And I MUST deliver better than their expectation if I want it to develop into a meaningful relationship. you know, that single purchaser who develops into a donor over time.
The same goes for production values. Although we renovated, we still have some serious need for a higher quality sound system. I am very careful not to choose artists that have tech requirements beyond our capability to meet the artists needs(either through our own house-owned system or augmented by rental).
I cannot tell you how many of my colleagues will get a great "deal" on an artist that doesn't live up to the audience expectation--or they "cram" a show onto their stage because the agent says they can squeeze it in. If you think the audience doesn't feel the difference, think again. Likewise for my colleagues who do not ask their audience to "stretch" a little--take a chance on something they might not otherwise think they would like<--READ: Netflix "If you like this you might also like...".
They are looking for an experience they may not be able to articulate <--READ: I'll know it when I see it.
Ultimately, a so-so experience is an invitation to our audience to cuddle up to their HD TV with Blu Ray and consider THAT the more "sensate" experience than our live and in person version.
What the author touched on was customer service. What I am touching on is the depth and breadth of the experience.
Thank you for allowing me to comment.
Richard Gardner says:
Feb 5th 2011 at 6:21 amTotally agree! "New patrons are gold. Old patrons are platinum!!"
And I totally agree about box office staff. They are our front line. And often our least well-paid. We make a point of inviting them to all of the cast parties, and insisting they go watch the current show in the first few days!!
On a connected but different topic... we're looking to buy/lease some new ticketing software to install in our own servers. We especially want to improve our Patron management. Anyone got any recommendations?
(Oh, by the way... we're in Malaysia, so it needs to be software made by a company that won't faint in a heap at the thought of a world outside the US!)
Best,
Richard
Kara Larson says:
Feb 16th 2011 at 4:56 pmYou may find this report useful--Ticketing Software Satisfaction Survey (http://www.technologyinthearts.org/files/2009TicketingSoftwareSatisfacti...)
Technology in the Arts surveyed 900 relevant arts organization employees about their ticketing and patron management software, and have data on over 50 systems, used by organizations from XS through S, M, L, to XL. Good luck!
Kara
Christy Farnbauch says:
Feb 7th 2011 at 3:13 pmAll great points, Kara! Just this morning (Monday), in a box office, I observed a box ticket employee tell a gentleman that if he would come back tomorrow or Thursday, he could get the "senior" discount of 1/2 off. Thinking that was too much trouble, he purchased the tickets at full price. The next person might walk out the door and not return. I was quietly wondering why there are senior discounts, but only on certain days. I intend to ask the Artistic Director of the organization in question that very question.
Roy says:
Feb 15th 2011 at 5:48 pmI make a habbit of visiting my box office several times a week just to watch my employees in action. I listen to them on the phone, and when they talk with patrons who come to the box office for tickets. I have witnessed numerous times where and employee has told a patron to come back another time to buy tickets for a show. When I see this I have to intervene and take over the situation and take care of the patron. I have tried several corrective measures with my box office employee's. Hopefully I have cured this problem
Diane Ragsdale says:
Feb 7th 2011 at 3:22 pmGreat post, Kara. Letters from such patrons are gifts. They alert arts organizations to policies that might be putting off others, who don't take the time to write. While the return gesture on your part was small (relative to the organization's budget), I imagine the impact for your patron was meaningful. The "whole experience" matters - and one need only go to a performance a week at various organizations around one's city to begin to put together a list of the kinds of things that can make an experience go from being frustrating, to fair, to fine, to fantastic.
alex96 says:
Aug 17th 2011 at 4:15 amI observed a box ticket employee tell a gentleman that if he would come back tomorrow or Thursday, he could get the "senior" discount of 1/2 off. Thinking that was too much trouble, he purchased the tickets at full price. The next person might walk out the door and not return. I was quietly wondering why there are senior discounts, but only on certain days.
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