After yesterday's incident with the Washington Nationals tickets department, Adam Froemming left another message on my cellphone, saying that I had made him a "minor celebrity" in his office and asking me to call him back.
I've had a few newspaper jobs. Finally, my journalistic curiosity got the best of me and I gave Adam a call.
It was a fairly pleasant conversation. Adam said the Nats don't just call people out of the phonebook but instead call people who have purchased tickets previously. He tries to make a personal connection based on someone's e-mail address (i.e., if it ends in house.gov) or on his or her area code (for instance, he recognized my number as being from San Diego, where he once spent a summer). In my case, he Googled me and found out that I had written about baseball. He said some people appreciate this, though he admitted that others, like me, were a little creeped out.
At the end of our 10-minute chitchat, he actually went into the whole spiel about the benefits of being a season ticket holder. To which I responded, "I can't give you the satisfaction of saying you talked the crazy blogger guy into buying season tickets after all."
I've never sold stuff over the phone before, so maybe the tactic is more effective than I think. For now, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
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4 comments:
I'm actually impressed that the guy actually kept up with your blog and saw that you'd posted about him. Gotta give him credit for sticking with it!
You should also have mentioned two very significant economic advantages to the team if you become a season ticket holder even with NO additional expenditure on tickets:
1. Season ticket holders pay up front, giving the team better and more secure cash flow.
2. Once you become a season ticket holder, the team has a pre-existing business relationship with you that can be leveraged into renewals and ancillary sales.
As a baseball fan who wants the Nationals to succeed both on the field and economically, I suppose I am glad they are showing so much marketing initiative, though if they acknowledge it creeps people out you have to wonder if it is worthwhile.
Good points, Bill. Thank you for sharing those.
Paying up front is better for the Nats not only because the payment is more secure, but also because money received today can be invested and thus be worth more tomorrow, as I've discussed previously.
I've gone through the steps of ordering a season ticket on the Nats' Web site, and it appears that you pay all at once, not in installments (though maybe I missed something or maybe people can make such a deal over the phone).
Adam earns his paycheck!!!
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