I come home from work today and as usual, one of the first things I do is check my voice mail... Imagine my surprise to find a message from a pleasant young man from the Real Salt Lake front office reminding me that good seats are available for the upcoming July 4th match against the Metros along with the July 23rd match (which is the day before Pioneer Day, a HUGE state holiday in Utah)... Why was I so surprised? Look where I live... <= <= <= Obviously, this is because I went to the USA-Costa Rica match in SLC three weeks ago, but still... This is not the first time this has happened...in fact, every time I've been to a National Team match in an MLS city, I've gotten some sort of mailing urging me to get my playoff/season tickets... I fully expect after my trip to Seattle next week to get something from the Sounders... Why in the you-know-what can't the Fed get this? This shouldn't be that hard. You go to a National Team game, you get on the mailing list for more National Team games. Or is this too much like rocket science? Paging Dr. Bob...please pick up the white courtesy phone...stat!
It's rocket science! Or maybe weird science. It has to be. That is the only explaination. When I got home from work today I too had a "strange" call from some soccer organization or other. And -- surprise, surprise -- I too was in Salt Lake City for the US-CR match. Caller ID was: REAL SOCCER 801-924-8585
I think that jester hat may have scared them away Seriously, asking why is the USSF incompetent is kind of asking why the sun rises in the east.
WC 1994, P-40, U-17 residency, MLS, WC 2002 other Feds are asking how our Fed has done it.USSF is perhaps the top Federation in the world when it comes to competency.I am not linked to them in any way, but you whiners do nopt know what you are talking about.Stop complaining and give to their charity-US Soccer Foundation- so more kids of all incomes can play.
1. am i missing something? it sounds like the call didn't come from ussf, it came from real salt lake. right? so, good for them that they're trying to build off the huge crowd they got, but perhaps they might be more selective and exclude out-of-state addresses and numbers. 2. i'm feeling kind of left out. i went to the game also and they haven't called me
This is one of the few times I'll come down on the side of the Fed.... ...if a local club wants to take the Fed's customer list from said local club's nats fixture, and use it to make cold calls, that makes a lot of sense. What doesn't make sense is why the local interns making the calls don't use common sense by not calling an area code that's not likely to create a lead or a sale. The cost of the long distance isn't the issue; the intern's time is far more valuable then the dime the club pays sprint or whoever to leave the voicemail. Someone with RSL should give their interns the following link: http://www.lincmad.com/locator.html This will help insure RSL interns aren't calling beyond the Great Basin soliticing customers. -bs
Gotta agree here. As bad as the USSF may seem at times, they have presided over an unprecedented rise to prominance of a soccer nation (from ameture squads to world top-10 ranking in about 10 years, even if the ranking is not deserved). At the same time, they have successfully helped launched a professional league that is providing real talent to the national team. Their list of successes is impressive. I'll forgive them the small oddity every now and then, as they are getting the big things right.
Getting on any phone/mailing list is like getting on the TSA "No Fly" list; you never get off it. I'd give them a little credit for trying the market the game, however poorly.
As for calling non-local area codes: I know several people who live in one area but have phones from other geographic locations. Recent moves, sharing plans with other family members, etc. etc. MOST people with out-of-state codes probably really are out-of-state, but it doesn't hurt much to try. And if you're in RSL part time, maybe you would want to see more games there, if you visit frequently, for whatever reason.
With VOIP services like Vonage, I can get a "Virtual Number" in say Florida for my Grandma to call me "locally".
...seems to me they have come a long way from the 70's when they used to be called the USSFA (until the United States Shrimp Farming Association got pissed about some foreign sport run by ruski commies stealing their monika)...In those days they were really delusional, picked the national team by commitee, scheduled games against top world teams without so much as ONE training session, and basically lived in a dream world of their own making.
I think the fact that they are doing any marketing at an level is to be commended. For the USSF - this is breaking the sound barrier.
You could do worse than get a call from the Sounders. Go Sounders! Now back to whatever the subject was...