Telemarketing
Should You Outsource or Build It In-House
Gordon Armstrong
Sr. Director, Business Development Turnstyles Ticketing
Mary Jane Avans
Vice President, Business Development SD & A Teleservices, Inc.
Shawn Robertson Ticket Sales Director Center Theatre Group
Telemarketing Should You Outsource
Turnstyles Ticketing Gordon Armstrong
Sr. Director of Sales and Business Development 634 Frelinghuysen Ave Newark, NJ 07114 garmstrong@turnstylesusa.com www.turnstylesusa.com (855) 849-4879 x 3353 Outsourcing Customer Service/Sales
Tickets
Tickets are the life blood of your eventFor the ticket holder, they mean more than just entry to the show – they are the promise of an experience, building anticipation, and are keepsakes holding those memories for a lifetime
Ticket holders are your guests, customers, friends, ambassadors, and live/digital ad agencies
They share the entire lifespan of their experience with you and your event – with the whole world
Outsourcing Customer Service/Sales
It is Always Important to Enhance your patron’s buying experience, as there are many alternatives for them to spend their disposable income.
As an industry we are seeing most people are buying through the web but what
happens when they pick up the phone? The trend seems to be that 1 out of every 10 calls makes a purchase, what about the other 9 calls?
• Are they speaking with a live operator
• Are they able to get their questions answered
• Are the being provided with a high level of customer service
Outsourcing Customer Service/Sales
Outsourcing a call center can be a critical component of your patron’s
overall experience.
•
It can offer flexibility by extending your hours of operations
•
Provide overflow assistance during on-sales and special events
•
Increase your ratio of calls answered and those that are dropped
•
Free up your box office staff so they are able to complete their daily
tasks
•
Mostly importantly providing your patrons with a high level of customer
service
Outsourcing Customer Service/Sales
Benefits of Outsourcing
Can be a cost effective resource without the added expenses of:
Additional phones lines and computers
Workspace
Staffing needs
Management and training
Additional Benefits include
No cost dedicated Toll Free phone connection(s)
Up selling capability by highly trained sales agents
Real time sales capabilities
Customer service for calls regarding specific event information
All calls answered as the facility
Outsourcing Customer Service/Sales
Seamless Operation
Calls are routed to the call center seamlessly, thus giving the impression and feel of speaking directly with one of your box office representatives.
Operators receive calls, are prompted as to the origination of the call, and answer it as a representative of that venue, team, facility or organization.
Training of offsite operators
Client provides the call center with complete event, venue and local area information. This information is summarized by a project Management Team and formatted for distribution to the operator via an Online Event Operator Guide.
Outsourcing Customer Service/Sales
P E A K M U S E U M C L I E N T
Monthly In-house Costs
Operating Costs 8am – 8pm
10 agents
2 Supervisors
1 Manager
Total costs = $40,000 per month
Plus infrastructure and phones
costs
C U S T O M E R C A L L C E N T E R
Monthly Outsource Costs
45,000 minutes = $24,000
per month
Total savings to venue
$16,000 per month
OUTSOURCING
OUTBOUND CALLS
Mary Jane Avans
Vice President, Business Development
mjavans@sdatel.com
www.sdats.com
OUTSOURCING
OUTBOUND CALLS
Onsite Campaign Management
•
Your Organization Provides:
•
Phone Room Set Up
•
Internet Connection
•
Phone Lines – Phones
•
Dedicated Line For Manager Voice Mail
•
Manager Area (Office)
•
Leads to Call
•
Access To Necessities
Outsourcing Outbound Calls
Onsite Campaign Management
•
Vendor Provides:
•
Campaign Manager
•
Oversight For Manager
•
Team Of Local Callers
•
Human Resources Support
•
Payroll, Taxes, Insurance
•
Computerized Lead Management System
•
Reports – Daily, Weekly, Cumulative
•
Campaign Support Materials
Outsourcing Outbound Calls
Vendor Provides:
•
Physical Space
•
Overhead Costs
•
Trained Crew
•
Computerization
•
Additional Services
Organization Provides:
•
Leads
•
Training Materials
•
Method To Receive
Orders
•
Updated Seating &
Relevant Info
Outsourcing Outbound
Calls
Keys to Success
•
Experienced & Talented Team
•
Campaign Design & Planning
•
Communication Of Product
•
Training
•
Clean Data
•
Capacity To Address Challenges
•
Customized Solutions
•
Accurate Reporting & Analysis
•
Partnership
Outsourcing Outbound Calls
C A M P A I G N B Y T H E N U M B E R S
30,000 leads (households)
35 weeks
150 calling hours per week
35 weeks X 150 calling hours
3 contacts per hour
10% participation
5,270 calling hours*
15,750 contacts*
1,575 orders
Outsourcing
Outbound Calls
Costs
*Definition of a contact: a yes or no. In a week, we might contact 450 people, based on the types of leads called. Calling hours are per caller – 4 callers calling 4 hours = 16 calling hours.
•
Set-Up or Administrative Fee - $2,500 - $6,000
•
Other Misc. Fees
•
Straight Hourly Fee - $30 - $40 Per Hour
•
Hourly + Commission
•
Commission Only
Outsourcing
Outbound Calls
Costs
5,270 Hours
$15 Per Hour$79,050
1,575 Orders
20% Commission$94,500
Opened in 1967
Founding Artistic Director, Gordon Davidson Michael Ritchie, Artistic Director
Music Center of Los Angeles County
Ahmanson Theatre – 2103 seats
Mark Taper Forum – 736 seats
Culver City
Kirk Douglas Theatre – 317 seats (opened in 2005)
TICKET SALES DEPARTMENTS
Audience Services Phone Room (22)
Account Sales/Group Sales (2)
Box Office (9)
Priority Services/Telemarketing (26)
Subscription Services (6)
ANNUAL SALES/PERFORMANCE INFO
$35 – 40 million in annual sales
450+ performances
50,000 subscribers total
Over 750,000 tickets sold
Looking at Your Organization and Beyond
1. Do you have buy-in from the organization?Do all departments understand the value?
Who are the decision makers who will support the decision and operation? 2. What are your resources to support the department?
Startup costs; staff size, infrastructure, time, location, technology, energy, etc 3. What does success look like?
Establish benchmark sales goals; expense to revenue that you need to operate and justify 4. Do you have a strong Manager already in the organization? Can you recruit on your own?
(In my opinion, it all starts and could end here.)
What Makes a Strong Sales Manager?
•
You aren’t selling widgets; selling an experience that takes place
at your venue
•
Must be passionate about your product and organization
•
Be able to motivate and be an advocate for staff
•
Provide proper compensation to keep manager motivated
•
Maturity; Experience; not letting it get to you is an art
Kerry Korf,
CTG’s Director of
Priority Services
How do we measure success?
It’s 20/20!
•At least 20% of all subscriptions sold are through Priority Services (minimum 10,000 of 50,000 subs sold) **All Time High in 2011-12: 11,874**
New Subscriptions Renewal Subscriptions
Ahmanson – 2500 Ahmanson – 3000
Mark Taper – 1500 Mark Taper – 2500
Kirk Douglas – 500 Kirk Douglas - 500
•Cost to revenue is under 20% (5 times more revenue than expense for department) Last 3 year Average: 18%
Sales $5,030,000.00 Expenses $943,000.00
How does sales team know if they are achieving success?
Minimum required sales per calendar month is 25 full subscriptions. (Callers have averaged selling 40 full subscriptions per calendar month.)
Failure to do this will result in "probation" and the following month will be paid Hourly or Commission, whichever is higher. As soon as 25 subs sales is reached in the next month caller reverts back to the Hourly plus Commission pay. If caller fails to sell 25 subscriptions in the next month it will be cause for termination. (In 27 years only 4 callers have ever been terminated for quota)
New employees are given a one-month grace period before the minimum sales requirement kicks into place.
MTF NEW SALES AHMANSON NEW SALES KDT
$0.00 - $300 7% $0.00 - $500 5% All New Sales 15% $301 - $600 8% $501 - $1,000 6% Renewals 10% $601 - $900 9% $1,001- $1,500 7%
$901 - $1,200 10% $1,501- $2,000 8% $1,201 + 11% $2,000 + 9%
Renewals 4% (2nd year+) Renewals 3% (2nd year +)