Whew! We’re halfway there. July is a blur of extra staffing, advanced training sessions and fun contests with great incentives. For us here at Paradigm, all the extra work paid off. Total revenue generated for our clients stands at $132,483 this July compared to $96,220 last July, a 38% increase!
Now let’s take a brief moment to...
... aaaand... back to work.
We’re halfway through summer; people have had some summer fun. September, and the start of the performing arts season is closer, so people should be more available and ready to talk subscriptions, right? Not so much. Instead of facing the “excitement-of-summer-unfolding-in-front-of-us” delirium, we are now facing the “Oh-no-I-can-see-Labour-Day-out-there-on-the-horizon!” panic; which basically results in the same unanswered phone calls. So even though we’ve had a successful July, we can’t relax just yet.
For all of their similarities, August is different from July – in August, we can see the finish line, and that means we have URGENCY on our side. URGENCY, the ever-important partner to VALUE. All of our staff are great at building VALUE – of course the season will be amazing, unforgettable, incredible, and all the other descriptive words we can think of when telling people about the upcoming performances they do not want to miss. But that’s just one part of the equation. How do we, not only get a prospect to be interested in the season, but so interested in the season that it moves them to make that decision and actually purchase RIGHT NOW?
Never suggest a call back so the patron can think about it. Never. Ever. As soon as you do, you have destroyed any URGENCY that you have worked so hard to build! BE THE PROBLEM SOLVER.
Literally. Request frequent updates from the box office regarding seating availability. Update seating maps to show callers what the seating availability looks like right now for any given series. A visual reference goes a long way. Talk about seating availability every day during your staff meeting. When seating is top of mind, the caller will discuss it more urgently with the patron.
Sometimes those dog days of summer seem to last forever, but we all know they don’t. Make sure patrons know how many days are left to the opening of your season. (*Note – if your season starts in September, use the opening night date as your deadline. If it starts later, like October, then use Labour Day as your count down deadline.) Nothing jolts people back to reality more readily than a phrase like, “Our season starts in just 3 weeks, Mrs. Jones and you don’t want to miss it!”
Caller did a brilliant job, but the patron is still hesitant? Now is the time to add another step to the process before accepting a callback. I call it the assessment. “Mrs. Jones, you and I have discussed the season and it is fabulous, the seating is great and you’re saving money - what is it that’s holding you back? Perhaps there is something I can help you with so you can reserve your place in line today and assure yourself great seats.”
Want your staff to effectively express URGENCY? Then YOU must express it in everything you do. Consistently talk about deadlines in the staff meeting. Always set goals for the shift, and announce goal updates consistently DURING shift. Change the way you speak. Take all the “ifs and maybes” out of your vocabulary – we don’t have time for indecision!
Good luck, and see you at the finish line!
