Customer Service from a Marketer's Point of View

I have been a lifelong customer of American Airlines. A frequent flyer, credit card holder, miles gifter--you name it. I started flying AA because they had direct flights into St. Louis, where most of my family lives. From there, I started to accrue miles, and soon enough, I booked all of my travel on AA. It became a habit. I knew their routes, the layout of their planes, and how to navigate Dallas Forth Worth airport like a local. In performing arts terms, I was a long time subscriber. That is until now.

My flight from St. Louis to Washington, DC was canceled the day after Christmas due to weather (even though DC didn't receive any snow, and my plane was at the airport ready to take off). I was informed by a robo call, which also told me that I was rebooked for a flight 26 hours later. The message ended by instructing me to call AA reservations if I had any questions or concerns. Knowing that I had to be at work the next day for two interviews with major media outlets, I tried calling the number given. After being hung up on four times, the automated telephone system said "we are experiencing high call volume. If you would like to speak with an agent, please call back later." Knowing that I wouldn't be able to speak with a human, I tried working out my problem on the AA iPhone App and on their website, neither of which were designed to handle cancellations. My last option was driving an hour and a half to the airport, which I did only to be met with an apologetic but complete ineffective gate agent. So with no other option, I boarded a flight 26 hours later, however I decided I would no longer be an AA subscriber.

As marketers, we know that it costs significantly more to attract new customers than it does to retain them. Customer service is one of the easiest ways to create brand champions or to drive loyal customers away. As the economic crisis continues, we are all being forced to examine our expenses and improve ROI. So here are some thoughts on customer service as a marketing tactic to reduce churn:

1. When dealing with a customer service complaint, take a holistic view of the customer. At Arena Stage, we are fortunate enough to have a robust database that allows us to see a holistic view of our patrons. Each time a patron comes into contact with our company, it is recorded. Any employee can log into the database, and see a lifetime's worth of interactions. Like most companies, Arena Stage has policies and procedures, however our greatest asset is the excellent judgment of our front line staff. They are instructed and empowered to thoroughly review a patron's file, and to depart from most policies and procedures if necessary to retain loyal customers. I would rather waive a $10 exchange fee for a longtime subscriber every once in awhile than spend ten times that finding a new subscriber. Senior managers must allow front line employees the flexibility to take care of highly valued customers.

2. Track all customer service issues, and start to look for a pattern. Each time a customer complains, be it to front of house, box office or anyone else, the complaint should be logged into your database and tracked. Every Monday morning, senior members of the Arena Stage staff are sent a CSI (customer service issue) report listing all the complaints that came in the previous week. These complaints are then put into a spreadsheet, sorted into categories and analyzed for any visible patterns. If the same issue continues to come up, you can bet that there are ten times the number of frustrated patrons with the same issue who haven't complained. It is then your responsibility to proactively address the issue swiftly to prevent future patrons from having a similar disappointing experience with your company.

3. Be proactive, rather than reactive. The best service comes from proactive management of customer service issues. Instead of relying exclusively on complaint tracking and analysis, be proactive and solicit opinions. Send customer satisfaction surveys. Benchmark numerical responses from year to year, and ask open ended questions. Aggressively solicit customer service issues and correct them before others have to experience them. In addition, if you notice a customer has experienced a problem, try to contact them before they contact you. We ask our house managers to get the names of all patrons who share complaints and/or concerns. This allows us to follow up with the patron and suggest a solution, apologize or offer some form of compensation before they contact our box office. Imagine receiving an apology and a compensatory offer from a box office before you even contact them to report an issue.

4. Even small gestures go a long way. After doing a little research on airline customer service, I was reminded by Time Magazine's Richard Zoglin in his article "The Airlines' Customer Complaint Lines: No Answer" that even small gestures go a long way. You might not be able to meet all the demands of an angry customer, but you should be able to offer a little something to most of them. A comp ticket to an under-performing show, a free drink at the bar, complimentary parking, an autographed poster or perhaps a handwritten response from your Artistic Director. In today's world of fast-paced, unfriendly, automated response systems to customer complaints, it shouldn't take much to stand out from the crowd. Differentiate yourself from your competition by making a small gesture to each upset patron.

By offering better customer service, you can reduce your marketing expenses by slowing down churn. Make it a priority to retain the customers you spent valuable time and resources attracting in the first place.

Why I Hate Comp Tickets

If there is one thing that can kill your earned revenue quicker than anything else, it is a misguided complimentary ticket policy. Someone asked me the other day why I hate comp tickets so much, so I decided to list my top reasons:

1. Comp tickets devalue what it is we do. For my entire career, I have watched artists struggle to make the argument that the arts mean business, and that an artistic career is just as viable an option as any other. However, these same artists then give away the fruits of their labor to anyone with the most feeble of reasons. In the past few days, a viral video entitled "Explaining the Arts Non-Profit," has been passed among my colleagues illustrating this point. It starts out with one bear saying how much he enjoys a choral group, and then asking for a comp ticket. The other bear responds by saying that putting on a concert is expensive, and would prefer it if the first bear would purchase a ticket. The first bear is befuddled by the response because he thinks the choral group is made up of volunteers who perform as a hobby. For many of us, the arts aren't a hobby--they are our livelihood, and we deserve to be compensated for work that enriches the lives of so many people.

2. People don't show because they aren't invested. Many organizations believe that they must give away comp tickets to "paper the house" in order to fill as many seats with butts when important people such as reviewers are in the audience. However, in many cases, it backfires on them. Those who receive comp tickets haven't paid anything for them, therefore they aren't invested and many don't bother to show up. An average no show rate for comp tickets is in the 30% range. Next time you are at an opening night performance, take a look at how many empty seats there are. I would bet dollars to donuts that those empty seats are a result of a faulty comp ticketing policy. Not only are organizations giving away free tickets, but they aren't even getting the results they want out of them.

3. Blood in the water. Nothing smells of desperation worse than massive public discounting and uncontrolled comp ticketing programs. You might as well put a sign on your theater that says "no need to buy because we can't give tickets away." Marketers are in the business of managing perception more than reality. Even with shows that are under performing, smart marketers have tools in their toolbox to create the perception of demand.

4. Comp tickets create box office nightmares. The old saying that "those who pay the least complain the most" definitely applies to recipients of comp tickets. Recipients of comp tickets, in my mind, are the most entitled and demanding group of patrons to serve. They demand the attention of box office and front of house staff, which in turn takes a significant portion of your limited resources away from your full paying audience.

That all being said, there are a few good reasons to use comp tickets in a controlled and well thought out strategy:

1. As benefits for full time employees and actors. In many organizations, comp tickets are an important part of the benefits offered to employees. Organizations want their employees to be proud of their work, and knowledgeable about what is on stage, so offering them complimentary tickets is well worth the loss in revenue.

2. For members of the press. Press members who have agreed to cover a particular performance should be offered a comp ticket. However, do not give out comp tickets to press who haven't agreed to coverage. If a press member wants to see a performance but isn't going to cover it or your organization, it is more than acceptable to ask them to purchase a ticket. Just because they are a member of your credential press corps doesn't automatically entitle them to a free ticket.

3. To cultivate potential investors and/or donors. Comp tickets can and should be used to host potential investors and/or donors as a means of cultivation. However, these tickets should be monitored and tracked. I have seen companies give away thousands of dollars worth of comp tickets to potential donors who were in the "cultivation" process for years without a single donation.

4. As a professional courtesy. Most organizations have a vested interest in other artists seeing their work. Agents, casting directors, affiliated artists, artistic directors, and producers comprise most of this group. In some cases, if a relationship is exceptionally important, offering comp tickets would be appropriate. In many cases however, a discount for industry professionals will work just fine.

In closing, here are a few quick thoughts on developing a comprehensive comp ticketing policy for your organization:

1. Create a budget for comp tickets. Used in much the same manner as an expense budget, this allows an organization to plan for a given number of comp tickets each year for various purposes. Make sure to get buy-in from all members of senior management as they will be responsible for managing the comp tickets for their departments.

2. Develop very clear instructions on how comp tickets are to be distributed. The key to a good comp ticket policy is clarity. Make sure your policies are easy to understand and simple to follow. For fairness, it is important that the same policy be in effect for your entire organization. Once a clear and concise policy is created, stick to it.

3. It's like a crack addiction--it will be tough to wean people off of them. If your organization has a serious comp ticket problem, you might need a couple of years to turn it around. Be prepared...you will piss people off. But we are talking about the livelihood of the organization and its artists. Why would anyone want to buy a ticket if they know that your organization gives them away at the drop of a hat? It will be tough, but worth it. I promise.

Managing Success

I was joking with my Managing Director a couple of days ago that managing success is just as time consuming as managing a flop. On the other end of a conference call, Adrian Bryan-Brown, whose press firm Boneau/Bryan-Brown represents Arena Stage, replied “yeah, but it’s a lot more fun.” Truer words have never been spoken.

At Arena Stage, we are fortunate enough to be in a situation where we have two record-breaking productions playing concurrently: Molly Smith’s production of Oklahoma! and Marcus Gardley’s world premiere of every tongue confess directed by Kenny Leon starring Phylicia Rashad. In the past two months, I have learned a lot about what it means to manage success. Below are a couple of things to keep in mind when a mega hit hits:

1. To ensure success in the future, you need to think about retention today. Having a smash hit is exciting—orders are flooding your box office, reviews are kind and generous, and you don’t have to stress about making your sales goals. But there will be a tomorrow, and inevitably you will hit a patch that isn’t as pleasant. So take the time today to maximize your chances of retaining all the new patrons that are coming through your doors. Help prepare them for the experience by sending them a pre-attendance e-mail that discusses the show, provides dramaturgical insight, offers tips on parking and transportation, and suggests possible dinner options. Think about greeting them with a welcome kit, or maybe a complimentary drink at concessions. Go the extra distance to ensure their first experience with you is memorable for all the right reasons, and then follow it up within 48 hours with an irresistible offer to come back for another production. Studies show that if you can get new patrons to come back to just one additional production during your season, you will significantly decrease churn.

2. Have a plan for what do if inventory suddenly becomes available. Even during high demand situations, inventory becomes available as you get closer to a performance date. Sometimes group leaders can’t fill their quotas, or maybe you get lucky and you have found a way to add a few more seats. In most cases, companies just blindly throw that inventory on the market and are satisfied when it sells. These tickets have a value beyond their price as in most cases there is significantly more demand than there is inventory. Perhaps you can maximize the value of these tickets by offering them to your highest donors first as a benefit of donating. Or you could choose to sell the tickets at a significant discount to the winner of an online raffle, thereby collecting hundreds of contacts that you can use to promote to in the future. Or a little more controversial, some companies, particularly TicketMaster clients, are setting up their own e-bay style auctions to maximize revenue.

3. Monitor discounts and comp tickets aggressively. I recommend incentivizing early purchasing behaviors by providing patrons the best possible discount when you put tickets on sale. Even in high demand situations, I would encourage people to protect a significant allotment of tickets to be sold at a substantial discount weeks in advance of performances. Once you are into performances, and demand is at its highest point, discounts need to be managed aggressively. I believe that most arts organizations have an obligation to make sure that all productions are accessible to audiences that might not be able to pay full price, but that doesn’t mean you have to offer discounts on demand. If patrons want to wait for a rave review before purchasing tickets, then they can purchase them at full price. The other option is to purchase well in advance. I would also recommend budgeting your comp tickets. If each department has a maximum amount of comp tickets they can use, then you won’t have to serve as the arbitrator when people request comp tickets. It will also help you project future sales as you can factor those seats out of your projections. Keep in mind though that just like full price tickets, demands for comp tickets increase when you have a hit on your hands. However, you need to ask yourself with each comp ticket request if honoring the request is worth the full price of the ticket, because I assure you, you will be able to sell that seat.

4. Save money on advertising, and build a reserve. Normally I would suggest spending more money on advertising a hit show as you are more likely to see a higher return on investment, however if you are in a situation where you feel relatively sure that great press coverage and word of mouth is enough to drive the needed sales to move all your inventory, then pull back on advertising expenses. Many companies enter into yearlong advertising contracts with vendors, so cutting advertising completely might not be an option. But you can build a reserve of the advertising expenses you saved on your hit production to help you later in the year when you have a production that isn’t selling as well.

5. As a follow up to bullet #4, encourage word of mouth. There is nothing more powerful than word of mouth. I know I have a hit on my hands when daily sales double the second week of performances, because I know that patrons who saw a show in the first week are talking. Think about all the ways in which you can help them spread the word. Maybe a post-attendance e-mail from the star asking them to tell all of their friends. Perhaps you should give patrons a complimentary souvenir to walk away with so they can show their friends. At Arena Stage, we are giving out complimentary hand fans to Oklahoma! attendees that have a replica of the 1907 Washington Post article announcing Oklahoma’s statehood on one side, and the lyrics to a song on the other (not to mention, The Washington Post is sponsoring them so there is no cost to us for 40,000 fans). Create a viral video featuring behind-the-scenes work, record a podcast with a leading star or even do a robocall message from a celebrity. The goal—getting them talking!

If you find yourself in the fortunate position of having a record-breaking hit on your hands, make sure you do everything in your power to have that show pay dividends well into the future. I liken it to winning the lottery—you can spend all the money today, or you can put it into a savings account and have it work for you in the future.