T hey pay for tickets, parking passes and $16 beers. They paint their faces (sometimes their entire bodies). They record games while they’re at work to watch them later, even if they already know who won. And they do it (mostly) for the love of the game.
In fact, fans are the reason the game is played. Across the world, fans of professional and college-level sports spend big money to support their favorite athletes. That money is what allows athletes to keep competing.
Fan appreciation, therefore, should be a top priority for every sports executive.
■ Do It For the Fans
Most organizations have some sort of “Fan Appreciation Day,” which can be highly memorable for fans and athletes alike. It definitely was for NASCAR fans at Richmond International Raceway who got to walk down a red carpet to the track’s main gate before the final race of the NASCAR regular season last September.
And soccer fans attending last October’s match between Seattle Sounders FC and Real Salt Lake were able to get their kits embellished with “Gears of War 4” markings to match the players’ customized uniforms.
Dedicating a day to celebrating the people packing the stands is great. It can be fun for everyone. But fan appreciation is like a long-term relationship. If you don’t give your wife or girlfriend flowers on Valentine’s Day, you’re probably going to have a problem. It’s the bare minimum, and it’s expected. If you want the relationship to last, though, you need to be thinking about the other 364 days of the year — especially for season-ticket holders.
If I’m an MLB fan who pays 10 grand for season tickets, I’ll take the free bobblehead on Fan Appreciation Night, but what about the other nights? A full season is 162 games.
■ Reward Your Die-Hards
Season-ticket holders are already your best clients, but you want them to become salespeople for you. And that won’t happen if you don’t make them feel special on the nights that really count.
The nights that aren’t explicitly for fan appreciation offer opportunities to surprise people, and that’s how real memories are made. Fans who are paying hard-earned money to attend games that are back to back, on school nights, or on a workday are truly special. You need to recognize that whether your team is winning or losing.
Successful teams lead to sales in all sports because of the natural buzz people want to be a part of, but that buzz will come to an end. Ensuring that season-ticket holders have an amazing experience (even when the on-field product is lacking) isn’t always easy, but it’s how successful organizations drive business.
■ Make Every Day Game Day
Ruby Newell-Legner, a client of mine from 7 Star Service and one of the world’s foremost customer and fan experience experts, observes that even though you can’t control what’s on the field, there are plenty of other touch points where things are in your control — in the stands, in the parking lot and in the suites. And not every touch point occurs on game day.
Under the ownership of Jeff Vinik, the Tampa Bay Lightning has taken its fan experience to the next level. The team gave 10,000 customized jerseys to season-ticket members, using Ruby’s proprietary 7 Star Service Cycles of Service Methodology to make sure each step in the Lightning jersey distribution process was promoting positive relationships and engagement with fans.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning keep fan morale at a high level by rewarding season-ticket holders.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The Lightning organization isn’t the only one exploring new ways to show fan appreciation. Chances are your competition is, too. If you’re a sports administrator starting to worry about empty seats, here are three things you can do:
1. Send handwritten notes.
Every day, members of your team should dedicate time to writing personal notes to fans. Suppose you have 35 people answering phones and acting as internal sales reps. If each of them wrote 10 notes a day over the course of 200 days, you could reach 70,000 people. That’s more than the seating capacity of most NFL stadiums. Even just a few lines on a letterhead from the team would have a meaningful impact on most fans. Take advantage of downtime.
2. Choose quality over quantity.
One high-quality item is always better than 10 cheap tchotchkes. You can do better than a bobblehead or a keychain. Empower the people on your team to think outside the box. Let’s say you find out a couple will be coming to a game on their 50th wedding anniversary. Give your team the budget to help make it a truly special occasion for those fans.
You can’t always plan for this type of thing, but if you empower and motivate your team members at all levels to be on the lookout for opportunities to surprise and delight fans (and then reward them for finding those opportunities), you’ll be surprised by what you can accomplish.
3. Take care of the spouses.
Let’s face it: Big-time sporting events tend to be dominated by males. The majority of the athletes, coaches, administrators and fans are men. But most of the world’s population is female. Along with boosting efforts to engage different cultural demographics, sports execs should focus on engaging women. Especially in America, where they make 85 percent of all brand purchases, women hold a lot of the family’s purchasing power. Many teams neglect this, and it’s to their own peril. A lot of money is being left on the table. It’s a whole lot easier for a man to convince his wife to drop $10,000 on season tickets if she’s a fan, too.
Sports fans spend a huge chunk of their waking lives following their favorite athletes and teams, and many spend large amounts of money to watch them in action. While you can’t guarantee these fans will be happy with the final score, you can show them your appreciation to guarantee they’ll come back and want to continue spending.
John Ruhlin is the founder and CEO of the Ruhlin Group, co-author of the best-selling book “Cutting Edge Sales” and the author of the recently released book “Giftology.”
