Front Office Professionalism

Been wondering the same thing...for different reasons.

 

Intern season?

 

I'm don't think Julie J. could have done anything better than what she did for us as STH last year. Absolutely fantastic, great personality, went completely out of her way to help us out when we had questions/issues.





So of course they let her go.

 

I disagree.

Please see % growth since their departure for reference, draw your own conclusions.

 

What growth? They certainly aren't drawing more fans.

 

Do you mean the decline in attendance or the fact that Section 8 sold more season tickets this year? How is the FO taking direct credit for S8 selling those tickets?

 

For whatever reason it seems to pain some people to admit that the FO is selling more tickets than previous years. :/

 

But fewer people are coming to the games. You know, that thing called "ATTENDance?" The Fire are a god-damned charity case now. LOL People are buying season tickets just to to give the team money.

Who sold the tickets? S8 or the FO? S8 sold those tickets. Got a nice residual for your efforts, too. So don't give credit where it isn't due. Take it for yourselves. You earned it.

 

I didn't receive these for whatever reason, but from the sounds of it, I think their e-mail sender/mailing list may have been hacked...

 

Says who? MLS attendance and ticket sales figures have all the credibility of this guy:



I mean, I'd love to have faith that we really are selling gobs more tickets than ever before but until some uninterested third party comes up with legit, credible figures, I just have to assume they're still padding everything because what they say does not agree with what we all see in the stands week in, week out.

I do believe that we probably have more season tickets sold thanks to S8 if that makes anyone feel any better.

[edit]As far the total FO experience, I think they're doing well with game day operations and STH servicing, incorrect spelling on emails notwithstanding. If the spelling on emails is our biggest service issue, I'd say we're doing pretty well.

 

The Chicago Fire Soccer Club is implementing a long term plan for club growth and business success. Without it, well, see Columbus. You kittens can obsess over attendance figures, that's fine, but bemoaning the absence of FO staff who possessed mediocre talent/skill isn't very next level thinking. This forum is such a drag, lighten up fellas.

Legitimate complaints, gripes, and ideas should be communicated to the front office or independent supporters association, for the first time in a long time there are skilled and caring ears to hear them.

Unless this forum is a coping mechanism for ya.

Go Fire.

 

I think its likely that if PAID ATTENDANCE is up 19% from last year, it means the FO was giving away a hell of a lot of tickets for nothing in 2010. If they've quit giving out comps on a wide basis, with the hope, I'm guessing, to give more value and incentive to those that actually buy season tickets, there are going to be less people in the stands.

I think the 19% increase in PAID ATTENDANCE is true, given this.

 

Personally, if the sales staff wants to perform with a familiar approach to their potential clients/customers: good on them. There are fewer butts in the seats than before, and anything they do to increase fan presence on television, including smiley faces in e-mails and what-not as well as -yes- free tickets is fine with me. Many of us yearn for the "good old days," and this display of familiarity reminds me of that. I don't think that it's necessarily a bad thing.

 

I don't think it was hacked- this is what I got:


Hello Fire Fan!

We are currently updating our database to better serve you, our Chicago Fire fans! If you could please respond to this email with the following information that would be great!
· your birth date
· the name and birth date of your spouse
· the names and birth dates of your children, if applicable.

If you have any questions, you can reach me at the number below or via email. You will also find an attached is a word document with the necessary fields. Thanks again for filling out our survey. Go Fire!

 

And I agree with this. Julie was great. It is also nice when your STH rep actually knows who you are

 

My typing is horrible, too. You guys know that. I'd rather receive a personal e-mail than a form-filled one.

As far as the familiarity right off of the bat in the first message, yes, that is kinda weird, and if they plan on sticking around, then they should learn who their customers are by themselves and not rely on reference notes from previous staff.

I agree that it is not good to have a revolving door in customer relations as often as the revolving door in the coach's office.

 

That's just **********in weird.

 

I don't think this can be emphasized enough.

We pay pretty good money for our tickets and the person we are indirectly paying to service our accounts should do just that.

My season ticket rep is pretty much useless. I have heard from her exactly one time this season. I have repeatedly requested that she update my email address and it still has not been done.

As an example, I was not informed by my rep about the Red Bulls game on Tuesday. About a week and half ago, I stupidly agreed to give a lecture at 6:30 that night. When I realized it was the night of the game (from the Big Soccer thread, by the way), I was really pissed at myself. A notice from the rep would have been nice.

I have had such great reps overall, but I have not been really pleased this season.

Bitching over, time for the Fire v. Galaxy game.

 

Database was not hacked. When I called in to order Open Cup tickets, they asked me the same questions directly.

I agree it should have been worded better. If I had not heard the questions, the e-mail is exactly the kind of message I would never reply to. Ir looks too much like phishing.

 

That's a sweet sentiment and all but it totally sidesteps the issue of the accuracy of the figures we've been fed and the bias of any error in those figures. Are you saying those figures are 100% accurate? If so, on what facts do you base that?

I mean, you're a VP of S8. Are you saying that S8 had nothing to do with season ticket sales in your own section?

 

We've been collaborating with the front office in a much more productive manner than ever. They have been very helpful in meeting our shared goal of building the season ticket holder base. Of course we worked our tails off getting the single game ticket buying folks in the supporters sections to invest in season tickets, but we could not, and have not been able to do it the last few years, without the front office sharing our vision and collaborating with us. They made us a challenge, to double our STH to 800, we did it, and went to nearly 1100. They stuck to their word, paid for the buses to Columbus and helped us promote it. What a great experience, that is how a Club builds faith with it's supporters, and it was a great time for everybody. I think it was very positive and I'm pretty sure that the staff and executives that went along on the trip, that spent 17 hours in the company of a load of Fire fans, learned a bit and got a pretty good look at things from a perspective they might not have seen before. Good stuff.

Season ticket sales were increased throughout the park this year. I do trust the numbers. I've seen them. I don't really understand your conspiratorial tone, but I guess that's a bigsoccer norm, oh well.

The training and resources going to the sales staff have been greatly improved, and the expectations are very high. They have taken a closer look at the things they need to do to build the Club in a long term and deliberate fashion. This is a good thing.

To help folks understand a little bit of where I'm coming from, and my own personal take on things right or wrong, I'll disclose one of my motivations to increase season tickets sales, for me it's more about investing in the Club and hopefully encouraging the Club in turn to invest in making improvements, to hire better talent in the FO, to get their shit together and run this business at a higher level. I believe that is more important to the long term success of the Club. More important than filling seats at discount, more important than looking good on tv, more important living and dying on each games attendence without a broader perspective and longer vision. I believe that with a continously stronger season ticket base the ownership group will be emboldened to invest more on the business end of the team. Ascending STH numbers are a metric that motivates, that opens coffers, and breeds optimism where it matters.

The ship is heading in the right direction. For example take tonight's watch party at the Globe. The Fire promoted it on their website. Their media guy was in attendance, doing his tweets, etc live, and talking to Fire fans. Sales staff were working the room, telling people about the flex plans, hyping the Manchester United match, talking to season ticket holders about renewals. This is a marked change from how they have done things in the past, where it felt like S8C were they only folks with a desire to actually promote the team and build the Club. In years past you'd have "fan relations" staff sitting in a corner, not engaging anybody, not mingling, looking like bored interns on assignment. That is if they would even show at all.

I know there are still areas for improvement when it comes to customer service, and the ISA is regularly making recommendations, reporting incidents, and passing on complaints. It's not a perfect system, and the organization can always use improvement in some areas of delegation and execution, but I feel pretty confident that there are efforts being made, with variable success, to make these improvements, and to be a more efficient and accountable operation. That says a lot, because just a few years ago, they could have all taken a leap into Lake Michigan for all I cared.

The sales staff, the executives, and the supporters association can only do so much about attendance, the truth is the team needs to win, and regularly, to be able to compete for peoples entertainment dollars in such a sports packed, entertainment packed metropolis like Chicago. In my humble and admittedly biased opinion, I think the team is just shy of enough quality talent to make the kind of impact on the field to pay off in capturing broader attention and proper attendance. I am hopeful that this is remedied soon enough to impact this season. The team has committed to the Open Cup in a way we haven't seen in years, they fired CdlC, the team on the field has been pushing and striving, something that we didn't see much of last season. Somethings got to give. The Club is making the right moves in the FO, the supporters have shown their commitment through season ticket sales and bringing it loud and passionate, both at home and making several long treks to support the team on the road, now it's up to the players and coaching staff. They need to do what they are supposed to do, win and never give up. If they can do that, I'm pretty sure attendance will pick up.

Go Fire.

 

My GM used to know who I was.