…but yes, I am going to talk about Twilight: Eclipse the day after it was released. Twilight: Eclipse, Twilight: Eclipse. “Twilight: Eclipse.” And while we’re on the topic of search engine optimization, I learned this week via Sitemeter that you get to this blog when you Google “hot sex.” Right, so, anyone who’s here looking for hot sex, welcome, enjoy your stay, and I’m sorry – I’m going to talk about classical music PR now.
Last Friday, a friend slash colleague and I were at Nick and Toni’s discussing marketing geeky things to geeky folks and how, when you do that, some wormhole looping effect occurs and you end up in Coolville anyway. Of course, for example, Hilary’s Schoenberg CD was The One to be featured in Time magazine, despite our best efforts to rally Nerdz Only. My friend then asked if I knew about Geek Squad, because they had apparently come to her apartment for a $100 consulting fee that was later put toward the TV she bought, and had everything she needed waiting at Best Buy the next day. She couldn’t say enough about the Geek Squad’s customer service, and I recounted three items of rare customer service glory moments I’ve experienced recently. The first was at The Carlyle, where a friend took me to see Sutton Foster. I was waiting in the lobby for him, and watched the host greet everyone who approached him with equal grace–a man who asked if children were allowed, women who had clearly been coming for…decades–no one was given anything less than VIP treatment. When I finally went in by myself, saying that my friend wasn’t here yet, the host said, “We’re so happy to have you at The Carlyle,” as if he really was. Randomly, I had a great customer service experience at a Starbucks in Chelsea last week as well: when I went to pick up my medium iced coffee with milk and hazelnut syrup, the woman making the drinks said, “Let me know how it is.” How amazing is that? Even if it wasn’t delicious, I would have told her it was delicious because she was so nice about it. Lastly, the broker who helped me find the apartment I moved into a month ago recently e mailed me on my birthday! Her name is Kathryn Swift and she’s at kathryn at barakny dot com if you live in the city and are looking to move.
And now, back to Twilight. My sister has, apparently, spent a ridiculous amount of money at Best Buy for her job, so she’s a “Best Buy Rewards Zone Premier Silver member.” One of the perks of Premier Silver membership is free screenings of movies before they come out, so we got to–and I use “got” loosely, here–see the new Twilight movie the night before it was released. Smartly, they had all the membership perks flashing through while we were waiting for the movie to start:
…and back to Twilight [cue screaming tweens]:
A few thoughts. First, and I’ve blogged about this before, why don’t performing arts organization use the time we’re all sitting around waiting for concerts to start to advertise subscriber and donor benefits, as well as upcoming performances? We’re stuck there! Sell us on something!
Second, when was the last time you had a great customer service experience at a classical music concert? The ushers can barely crack smiles (and God-forbid you ask them a question about the repertoire, venue, or performer), tickets are usually impossible to pick-up in any sort of organized manner, and the other audience members…well, the venues can’t be responsible for that. Imagine if we were all greeted by the Carlyle host: “Welcome to the NY Philharmonic. We’re so glad you’re here.”
Third, do you know of any concert presenters with rewards programs? Not subscription or donor benefits, but actual points to accumulated for dollars spent.
Does anyone have any great customer service experiences to report? I’m happy to give credit to presenters where credit is due. Comment here. Oh, and if you came for hot sex and/or chaste teenage vampires, please comment as well.
My idea of great customer service is being left alone. I have my ticket, I know where the seat is – I don’t want ushers hovering around me.
I do have an example of terrible customer service, however. I was once about 30 seconds late after the doors had closed to an event I was attending. The usher told me I could not go in, even though the lights were still up. I was prepared to open the door and go in – she barred my way physically, which the usher training for her venue should have counseled her against.
I was sitting in the aisle seat of the LAST ROW, and that seat was five feet from the door. Seating me wouldn’t have been at all disruptive. You could say I was pissed. (I had to go downstairs and wait to be ushered into a seat in a completely different part of the hall. I stayed pissed through the entire event because I was not sitting with my girlfriend.)
I hate the advertisements before movies. I don’t want them at the concert hall or opera house.
We just had FABULOUS customer service at Enterprise Rent-a-car at the Phoenix airport. We didn’t have a reservation, we didn’t want to pay an arm & a leg, and Liz got us in & out in under 10 minutes (GASP! at a car rental agency!!), beating the web price that I found on my cell phone & showed her. All with a smile & a nice chat while she did her job quickly & competently on the computer. FABULOUS! So, if you go to Enterprise at the Phoenix Airport, look up Liz Glynn!! She’s amazing & will hook you up (she also gave us a free upgrade without our asking!).
@Lisa Hirsch – Yikes! I wouldn’t want to run into you in a dark alley!
@Sarah C – Actually, you do want me with you in a dark alley, to protect you. I’m sworn to use my martial arts skills (second-degree black belt in Dan Zan Ryu jujitsu) only for good. I never laid hands on that usher. 🙂
I had a difficult experience with the ushers at a Toronto Symphony Orchestra performance early this year. But when I sent an e-mail to the TSO, I got a call from the PR department to discuss my complaint, with the offer of free tickets to another performance to make up for the experience. (And they do have a bonus for subscribers: we get a free CD each year with selections from the upcoming year’s programs — mind, it’s usually mostly stuff of which I already own complete performances.) Nothing can entirely prevent bad moments, but a fast, strong response can make a difference.
They DO get us with all those things – in the programs. Opera houses definately have an unused medium in their supertitles; they could be used for revolving text ads.