Aplogies are okay, but most customers want reasons and then actions. Good service, which to an extent includes quality human relations, is the main reason for repeat customers, in our case, fans to keep coming back. Keeping customers happy and loyal quite simply makes good fiscal sense, or in a company's case, "cents".
I always said the service business is easy. Get most of the people that come through the doors to come back. That and the cardinal rule....you gotta spend money to make money and use the money you make wisely to make more.
It can be easy indeed, providing that employees of the business truly understand what the customers (fans) need and doing whatever is necessary to satisy those needs. Human relation skills are of the forefront in successful businesses in these service based times.
lol well i know I'm working on a story that involves the Columbus Crew in the plot. Here's hoping i actually finish and maybe get it published. Then hopefully get it turned into a Movie. I will have to try to hold on to as much of my creative rights as possible.
Bet that changes this year--at least for the paved lots. As I recall, from the contract somebody posted on the boards, most of the parking $$ go to the state. Fair parking is also subsidized a bit by the fair, I'd guess, as people *will* spend money there. Other events at the fairgrounds cost more than $5 for parking (at least they did before the lots were paved). I seem to recall $6 the last time I went to a train show there.
One thing I've thought HSG could always do that could help is try to see if they can rent the fair grounds on the stadium side of 17th and then sub-rent that out to a deverse number of street vendors. Create kind of a business incubator type deal. Open the thing like 4 or 5 hours before kickoff and keep it open until 1am or something. People are always complaining about not having things to do around the stadium, but there's all these buildings and land that just sit there most of the year doing nothing that could easily be changed into entertainment/dining options on game days. It would be good for the state, city, and Crew to have activity there.
Trouble is that land is all owned by the Fairgrounds and you have to go through a ton of stuff to get anything approved by them. You know it would work. I know it would work. I'm sure the FO knows it would work. But try explaining that to the politicos. You'd have Sodexho running it. They have the contract--and I'll bet it's union too. And I'm not trying to make a political statement here--just that you generally don't find street fair kinds of things under a union, which would make it tougher to get anything approved. They tend not to be terribly flexible.
Expect a good turn of events from the FO very. Very. soon. They are talking to the supporter groups and have decided to go aggressive with their marketing and to whom. Obviously, the specifics are not known just yet, but if they back up what they have alluded to the groups, things should get better. *fingers crossed*
Yes they do have a Union and I thought they were on strike last I heard. Sodoexo has the Columbus schools contract too that is why they went on strike. I wonder do the Clippers have a contract with Sodoexo?
Well, Sodexho isn't on strike where I work (they have the cafeteria there, and it's ok food--sometimes very good). It's not the Crew that have the contract, per se, it's the Fairgrounds, and anything there is covered by that. Now the Crew may have a separate contract--but they *have* to work with Sodexho. One problem with using the other buildings south of the stadium but north of 17th is that those buildings *are* used for other events other than the fair. The Laushe Building is where the train shows usually are, for example. Too bad they couldn't figure out how to use the Ohio Village at the historical center--it gets almost no use these days and it could make money for both the Crew and the Historical Society.
I believe that the problem stems from SLOW action, as opposed to NO action. Someone mentioned earlier that there are a TON of threads that deal with trying to bring people into the stadium. Many MANY ideas have been offered to the Crew FO through various mediums (fan forums, surveys, casual conversations, etc...) and a lot of them were fantastic ideas. However, the FO is finally implementing some ideas that were presented 3 years ago. I remember Frankie suggesting "Free Beer Nights", which I believe has evolved into the next best thing "$1 Beer Nights". Marketing to the 18-35 demo group as opposed to kids soccer leagues was also an issue that they just started implementing last year. Heck, the "Nordecke Cup" was an idea that came up back in 08 and is now FINALLY getting implemented. I do wonder sometimes though, if we (regular Crew fans) are able to come up with a multitude of ideas on various levels, what are the people getting PAID to have that job are doing????
Well if thats the case then I think we should let Smithsoccer1721 be GM for a day with full power and authority to do whatever he pleases. What better way to reach the community then letting fans become a larger part of the team.
That would be http://www.deinfussballclub.de/ Basically there was a old German team, Fortuna Koeln (Bernd Schuster once played for them) that fell on hard times and a deal was woked out where fans "own" the team and make decisions. Explained here: Zum ersten Mal in der deutschen Fußballgeschichte haben Fußballfans das Management eines echten Vereins übernommen. deinfussballclub.de bietet allen Fußballbegeisterten in Deutschland die Chance, den Traditionsfußballverein Fortuna Köln zum Erfolg zu managen! Die Mitglieder entscheiden wo es mit dem Club hingeht: Die Fans haben das Sagen im Verein und die Verantwortung über das Team! Per Mausklick können die Mitglieder Einfluss auf das Management und den Betrieb des Clubs nehmen. Der Erfolg des Teams liegt in ihrer Hand! ...or translated For the first time in German football history, football fans took over the management of a genuine club. deinfussballclub.de offers in Germany the chance for all football-inspired fans to manage the traditional soccer club Fortuna Cologne to success! The members decide where the club will go: The fans have a say in the club management and responsibility over the team! By mouse click, the members can exert influence on the management and the enterprise of the club. The success of the team lies in your hands! See also the British version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MyFootballClub
From the Balloon idea thread: Here and there I've heard some people grumbling over CSC. Naturally there will be those that complain about everything when it comes to security. But I've observed a few of the newer CSC staff that might not be communicated to as to what fans do at soccer matches (Most of the older and/or supervisors understand supporters). Are CSC peeps supposed to be the kings and queens of human relations? Not quite, after all, they are they to be a stern presence against illegalities. However there can be a fine line between doing things by the book, and doing things because that one person feels they have one-up power just because of wearing that CSC shirt. As a paying customer of an event, who wants to go through TSA type of hassles?
Why does everybody now have to show your belt buckle when you enter, I know an older lady in front of me was very upset that she had to take off her jacket and lift up her shirt so he could see her belt buckle.
AFAIK, that's a fairly standard security practice. They've had it in place at Nationwide for years. I think it's because they don't want people hiding things under their shirts/coats.