I just flew in from INTIX
172: Talking Tickets 27 January 2023
Hi There!
I just flew in from Seattle…
So I don’t have a huge amount of jokes today.
Let’s just get:
To the Tickets!
I. I was at INTIX. So I’ll get to things next week.
Here are a few quick hits:
The Playhouse Theatre has seen 48% of their guests purchase refund protection for their tickets in the last several months. That’s an incredible amount of folks.
Did about a half dozen live podcasts to share in future days.
Met many new folks from South Carolina, AudienceView, the vivenu team, and more.
The donuts and coffee yesterday at the Cover Genius stand were hits.
More next week.
II. Matt from True Tickets talks about maximizing patron engagement:
Quote me, get a mention in the newsletter. It isn’t an absolute rule, but it is a pretty good rule of thumb.
The Good stuff: The customer experience starts earlier than you think. The customer experience goes on longer than you might imagine.
Why does this matter?
It should make you invest more thought in your customer journey.
Matt points out that it all begins with understanding your customer.
That’s a good starting point, but as the point I make further down the post will make clear: you need to get beyond just the customers you know about and get into the market as a whole.
Look at behaviors.
This will drive your relationship with people that are your customers and people you want to become your customers.
Create packages that fit your market:
I think Matt is a little more into personalization than I am.
I haven’t seen personalization pay off in the way that it is often sold to us. The cost-benefit ratio is a bit lower than I would like.
But Matt’s point still makes sense in you need to look at the customer behavior and design products around the behaviors of your market, not just what you’ve always done or what you “think” will work.
Get into the market and find out what really matters to your audience.
Takeaways:
Know your market. Resarch over data. Research is proactive. Data is reactive.
Build products and services around behaviors. I am not as much into personalization as other folks might be, but at the scale of the people I work with most often has proven to me…personalization is tough at scale.
The customer journey starts earlier than you imagine and ends later than you believe. So focus on every touchpoint like it is the magic one because it just might be.
III. Chris Furnell teaches us about making change stick:
Change doesn’t happen and doesn’t stick by accident. It takes attention and consistency, not words.
The key: Change is on everyone’s mind right now.
We don’t know if we are going to enter a recession or not in the US. The UK is still dealing with a cost-of-living crisis. Growth is slowing in some markets. China has opened up from its zero-Covid days but has a COVID spike to deal with.
What does this have to do with anything?
You have to be able to be flexible.
You need to focus on what you want success to look like.
You must understand that the changes you desire don’t happen by accident.
My POV: Chris brought the idea of hosting a podcast conversation around a specific title to me. And, it worked.
Change is the most important topic to think about because:
Change is constant.
Change will come no matter what.
You have to be an active participant in change to maximize your likelihood of success.
IV. Ultra High Net Worth folks still spending:
I’ll chalk this one up as another case of me being correct.
I’m right again: My research pointed to an understanding of the premium market that said the UHNW folks were growing as a segment and spending their money in different ways.
So…I’m right.
What does this mean?
Do your research. Obviously.
Don’t just guess at this BS.
It also means that you need to rethink:
Who are we targeting?
What’s our position?
What brand codes are we using to stick in our market’s mind?
Use this:
Recognize that it is likely you have more than one target audience.
Focus on what the audience values.
Broaden your reach.
Linktree: Find everything I’m up to.
Join the ‘Talking Tickets’ Slack Group. Almost 300 people from around the world.
Offering your customers’ refund protection:
Gives customers certainty in their purchase.
Gives you a new revenue stream.
Improves your customer service.
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