How do you sell more tickets to your annual show?
Posted by Rick Spencer | Posted in Chapters, Leadership, Members, Run your chapter | Posted on May 11, 2009, 6:39 AM
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Society Music Specialist Mike O’Neill, has submitted a short compilation of great tips for selling more tickets to your annual show:
Is your annual chapter show a sellout every year? Is there someone in your chapter that is a wizard at selling 50-100 tickets without breaking a sweat? What are the tricks of the barbershop ticket selling trade? Discuss some of your success stories and help others around the world of barbershop have successful tickets sales to their annual shows.
Below are two examples of proven methods from the Nashville, TN chapter:
Submitted by Charlie McCann:
My campaign is done mostly by mail. With a cover letter hyping the virtues of the show, I send a show flyer and an order form. The order form includes my address, my phone number and how to order by credit card if they choose that method. This gives the option of ordering by phone or by mail and payment by check or by credit card.
I have built a data base of over 170 names and addresses over the years. These are people who have bought tickets in the past or have expressed an interest in being put on my mailing list. I try to get my first mailing out 3 weeks to a month before the show.
Depending on the response, I might send a second mailing to a select list to arrive about 10 days before the show. I keep a record of those who have bought tickets each year. My select list comes from that group.
Submitted by Dave Mensel and Clyde Perkins:
We maintain a list with addresses and phone numbers of people who might be interested in buying tickets. We both also have on the list the names of people NOT to call (that way we don’t aggravate folks who are not interested). I use Microsoft Access to maintain the database and have columns for who bought what for each of the last several years’ shows. If someone said they were busy or out of town but want to be called in the future, I note that as well. Having the phone numbers on the schedule along with the names makes calling people easy. With names and address in a database, it is also easy to do a mail-merge if you want to send out postcards or a letter letting people know you have tickets available.
And here’s another idea. If you are uncomfortable selling tickets to people for whatever reason, consider buying a few tickets and offering them to people on a complimentary basis. It costs a bit but once someone has heard us sing they may turn into paying customers the next time around. This has worked for me.
The initial issue, however, is how does one populate such a list? I started with the rosters of my church and my clubs and went through them, jotting down each person I thought a possible candidate. I also considered who I know from business and my neighborhood. I’ve found the list grows by 20-30 people a year. Not all of them are prospects. Some tell me they really don’t want to be called again.
I am usually able to sell 40 to 50 (sometimes more) tickets for each show, with the investment of only a little time, using my on-going list to guide me.
What do you at your chapter that works?
My current and past quartets have produced a combined three public concerts to date. The four of us (and some of the other acts appearing on the show with us) sold a combined 2200 tickets, so when I hear of a 30-man chapter scraping together sales of 150 tickets, it makes me wonder.
When preparing to produce any public concert or chapter show, I believe it’s wise to go into any endeavor like this with a plan.
There are lots of questions that should be asked. The answers to these questions generally will help create a viable road map to success.
For example…
A. MOTIVES
1) Why are we having this show?
2) Are we really just trying to cover our expenses?
3) Are we trying to fund many projects throughout the year with these revenues such as new arrangements, coaching, costumes, risers, sound system, contest travel and charitable contributions?
4) Is the show just a round about way to get the chorus to learn some new songs?
5) If we put on a first class production, doesn’t the show become the single best marketing tool to attract new members and other outside bookings throughout the year?
B. THE CUSTOMER
6) Who buys a majority of tickets; family, friends, the general public or other barbershoppers?
7) Do our patrons (really) walk away satisfied?
C. THE TALENT
9) Should we hire a professional Master of Ceremonies?
10) Will we have just local groups or should we bring in one or more headliner acts?
11) Should we seek professional (outside) help in scripting, production and marketing duties or rely on folks that do this sort of thing once a year?
12) What show could we produce that would prompt folks to buy a plane ticket to attend and/or have people driving to our town from miles around to attend? Believe me, it happens more than you think.
13) If we’re a Barbershop Harmony Society chapter, should we consider hiring a top notch Sweet Adelines International or Harmony, Inc. quartet to draw local Sweet Adelines?
14) If we’re a Sweet Adelines International or Harmony Inc. chapter, should we hire a top notch Barbershop Harmony Society quartet to draw local Society members to the show?
D. THE BUDGET
15) What is our budget for the show? (fixed & variable expenses)
16) Do we have a contingency plan? (reserve fund) if sales are poor?
WHERE THE REVENUES COME FROM?
17) Will more of the revenues come from selling ads in the program or from ticket sales?
18) How many tickets do we usually sell?
19) What have we been charging for tickets in the past?
20) What do other organizations in your town charge for their tickets?
21) Will the afterglow be a cast party or will we charge admission and offer another more informal show?
WHAT ARE OUR EXPENSES?
22) What is our advertising budget?
23) What will insurance cost us?
24) What will the ASCAP/BMI copyright fees cost?
25) Do we want the audience to hear us? Should we spend money to rent a professional sound system and engineer or use the “free” antique system that comes
with the hall and have some high school kid run it?
26) Who will serve as ushers?
27) Can we trade out advertising in the program with local merchants to reduce out of pocket expenses for things like hotel rooms, ground transportation, and afterglow facility?
28) Do we build our own sets & props or rent them?
29) Will we serve food or drink at the afterglow?
30) Is the lighting in the hall adequate or should we rent equipment and manpower to make it better?
E. THE HALL
31) What venues are available and which one would be best suited to holding our show?
32) How far in advance can we reserve the facility?
33) Is it a union ($$) hall?
F. MARKETING
34) Can we get any of the local radio stations to run PSA’s (Public Service Announcements) to promote the show or play a cut from a CD of our headliner quartet?
35) Can we get one of the local papers to do a story about the show with photos, profiling the local chapter or the headliner group that will be on the show?
36) Can we get one of the local TV stations to run PSA’s about the show or send a camera crew to the show to film a segment to run on the nightly news broadcast?
37) Do we have a mailing list? If so, is the name of every barbershopper, Sweet Adeline and Harmony Inc. member within a 60-mile radius on that list?
38) How accurate is our mailing list? Regular mailings that request forwarding information will help keep you mailing list current.
39) Do we offer a door prize at every show to gather names for our mailing list or to seek potential members?
40) Should we place an ad in the district bulletin to promote the show?
41) Can the headliner quartet provide us with names from their mailing list in our region of the country to add to our list and attract new patrons? ACOUSTIX does this on a regular basis.
G. MISCELLANEOUS
42) Will the show have a theme?
43) Should we have general admission or reserved seating?
44) Is the purpose of the afterglow to give every quartet (good or not so good) within a 60-mile radius an opportunity to perform or to give the chorus members a chance to hear and/or sing with your headliner quartet?
45) Should we have just one show or two?
46) If we’ve been going with a two show weekend every year, but only filling half the seats of each show, shouldn’t we consider having just one show and making it a sellout?
47) Will we save money by holding two shows in one day instead of having a Friday and Saturday evening format?
48) Should we consider promotion of our show using social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter?
49) Are we making it easy for people to do business with us. Have we set up a Paypal account or established a merchant services agreement with our local bank to accept credit cards? Can people place orders for tickets on our chapter website.
50) Do we all agree that a great show this year helps sell next year’s show tickets?
CONCLUSION:
In my travels as a member of a show quartet (Class of the 80s & ACOUSTIX) I have sung on all kinds of shows in all kinds of facilities. The ticket prices have ranged anywhere from $5 to $50 for special patron seating. I have seen shows where at $5 a ticket, the chapter sold half the house and the chapters with a $20 ticket price (with usually a better product) sold every seat in the house. I know that many chapters say they could never afford the cost of hiring a big name show quartet. Many chapters would disagree with that philosophy. They would tell you they wouldn’t risk having a show WITHOUT a big name group. You have to be willing to spend money to make money.
Case in point: Several years ago (the first time we did their show) the Wooster Ohio Chapter hired two International Champ quartets, ACOUSTIX and the BLUEGRASS STUDENT UNION on the same show at $5 per ticket. They packed the house and covered all the expenses with program ad revenues. The ticket sales were all profit. They did so well; they hired ACOUSTIX again, this time with MARQUIS. It can be done.
The proficiency level of the local choruses I’ve shared the stage with has ranged from excellent to poor. I’m sad to admit that there have been several over the years where the chorus should have PAID THE AUDIENCE to sit through their set. That cannot
possibly be good PR for our Society.
If learning a bunch of songs and getting them to an acceptable level is beyond the capabilities of your chorus, you are better off (from a PR point of view) to get a strong opening and closing number polished and turn over the rest of the performing duties to other more proficient groups and your headliner act. There is no law that says the host chapter/chorus is required to sing 30-45 minutes on the show! 10 minutes of quality is better than 30 minutes of mediocrity.
Aside from exhaustive rehearsals to get the chorus ready, I can tell you from personal experience that show production often involves months of hard work and planning (behind the scenes) and can be the single event that funds an entire year’s worth of
(much needed) projects. (charitable or otherwise)
In my opinion, if you’re going to work that hard for something, DO IT RIGHT! I can’t fathom the logic of working many long hours and extremely hard to produce an entertaining show with the aspiration of just covering your expenses.
TODD, i WAS LEADING SALESMAN THIS LAST SHOW WITH 2,075 BUCKS. tHAT WAS 4 TIMES MORE THAN ANYBODY ELSE. WE HAD A QUALIFY SHOW WITH OC. TIMES AND THE SWEET ADS CHAMPS AS WELL. TONY DEROSA IS OUR DIRECTOR. THE PACKAGE WAS GOOD. MY QUESTION TO YOU IS HOW DO YOU MOTIVATE THESE GUYS TO SELL?/
Awesome! It starts with presenting a quality product that exceeds the attendee’s expectations and doesn’t let them down. I’ve only found three things that motivate volunteers. Peer pressure, incentives, or recognition. As a member of many different chapters over the years, I’ve been to many Installation banquets. These events are a great opportunity to recognize members for leading the pack in any given area of chapter operations. Instead of a plaque, it could be a garment bag, hat or polo shirt with the chorus logo, something that can be worn and become a conversation starter leading to an invitation to your next chapter meeting or show. Awards can be given to the top ticket sellers, but they also should be considered for the guys the recruit the most new members into the chapter.