Relax, it's  early-mid July.  There's a month and a half left before the home opener. There are literally over 100,000 alumni of Ohio University - chances are you're on the list to be called.  I've been called, most of my friends have been called.  

If you are called, are you going to purchase season tickets?  Have you already purchased season tickets?

You keep mentioning that they aren't doing enough... if sales are up 92%, then what IS enough?  200%?  300%? 400% ?  Remember  - these are SEASON ticket accounts, not individual game accounts.  Chances are VERY good that Peden will be sold out on several occasions when you add in students and single game tickets.  If we were able to sell out multiple times in the past few years with half this amount of season ticket accounts, imagine what it will be like when the "guaranteed" butts in seats is doubled. I wouldn't be surprised at all if we're turning people away at the gate soon.

 

Has anyone else seen the black OU billboard on 33 between Nelsonville and Athens?  I was driving home from the airport last evening and saw it.  The right hand side said Coming in the fall of 2012 and the left side says something like OU Is In The House (yes, it says OU).

As for the increase in numbers, those are year over year, not final numbers.

When compared to the same week during the 2011 preseason, season ticket sales have nearly doubled with an increase of 92 percent. This number represents the greatest recorded increase in Ohio Football history.

Increases have been realized in all seating levels and locations throughout Peden Stadium, with the most dramatic demand seen in the Tower Club (72 percent increase), Phillips Club (81 percent increase) and Bobcat Family Package (148 percent increase) sections.

The figure that got my attention was the 72 percent increase in tower club seats.  There are a finite number of those seats.  For the sake of the example, if there are 500 of those and we are now sold out (again for the sake of the example), there were only 291 of those purchased last year.  Can that be right?

I tried to get the number of season tickets sold for football and basketball last year from the ticket office but they said that isn't public information.

Anyway, back to the billboard.  Anyone know what the campaign is for?

 

Again... what number do you need to see to make you believe there is some ass busting going on?  200%, 300% 400%?  If we're going to throw accusations out there that people aren't pulling their weight, we at least need to have some sort of benchmark to measure them against.  If they don't get a 200% increase this year should they all be fired?  300%  400%?

Also, we keep throwing out this "I guess it's fine for their budget and staff" like it's some sort of half-ass excuse for people not working hard enough.  As far as I can tell, the marketing staff consists of 1, ONE!, full time permanent employee devoted completely to marketing.  The other positions are either 10 month internships or an Associate AD who has a bunch on his plate besides just marketing.  

If the budget is limited which makes more sense? Trying to maximize the number of people within an hour who are MUCH more likely to make a trip to a game, or spending money in Cleveland or Cincinnati trying to convince people to make a 3-4 hour drive to Athens?  Also, if you're advertising heavily in Cincinnati, Cleveland, or Columbus you're directly competing with the Bengals, Browns and Buckeyes.  You're NOT going to win that battle.. just isn't going to happen, so why waste the time, effort, and money there when you can own Southeast Ohio.

 

And now we have Varsity Ohio to eliminate this very problem.  Sounds like a very proactive initiative. 

I expect a sellout. What ever percentage increase that takes. I expect 17,000 season ticket holders at these prices. I expect 7,000 to be set aside for students. I expect that this year. I expect this to continue with such regularity that it becomes necessary to add 6,000 seats just to fit the general admission within 5 years. This is what I know we are capable of at this very moment if we only used every thing at our disposal.

You cited the limitations of the staff. However, in earlier posts you assured me I would be called. Then OrlandoCat joined in and said he graduated in 2007, was an athlete, and still hasn't been called. You then assured him that it will be taken care of because of Varsity O. They will call him.

Where are those extra employees coming from?  You asserted above that reaching for people in areas much more than an hour from Athens would be a waste of time (which I whole-heartdly disagree with). Do all these Varsity O members live within an hour of Athens?

With this current staff's mentality: I'm not getting a call. And neither is OrlandoCat.

You're logic is looking more like Swiss cheese than granite.

I cannot stress this enough. Every single 2012 Ohio University graduate needs to be called or sent a letter before August 1 to buy tickets for Bobcat football. This most recent class has more school pride than any graduating class in almost twenty years (arguably the most ever because of nationwide success in both sports). We must capitalize on this now. They are OUr future. As is every class to come. They are OUr foundation. Not the people looking for $5 tickets.

Another sales story: Black Friday has the lowest attachment rate of any day of the year. Those customers are just looking to get in an out for the cheapest price. They don't buy accessories (concessions, merchandise), service plans (make donations), and they rarely buy big ticket items (travel to bowl games, NCAA tourny appearances). I've worked three Black Fridays. It's down to a science.

Let me try and prove to you why the marketing team is underachieving; even if it is just ONE full-time employee. Objective number one for that employee would be to identify the problem. Quickly he sees that not enough alums and good old fashioned regular people know about us, OHIO, and what we have to offer. He then rationally concludes that he can't do it himself. His budget is limited though. He must feed the mouths of staff members with loaves of bread and baskets of fish he does not have.

Here comes what I was talking about earlier, finding a way: He then realizes that there must be a thousand marketing students on this campus. There are a hundred (?) sports management majors. If he can just convince 20 of the thousand (2%) to work just 2 hours a week for free (shifts of 6-8 pm making phone calls)... What's in it for them? Priceless resume and life experience working for a Division 1 program. What's in it for him? The equivalent of 20 staffed cold callers for free. Cold callers that wind up calling people like me and OrlandoCat. They must remember though, ASK FOR THE SALE.

These 20 kids (or more) are taking 3 classes. They've got nothing at all to do on a Monday night. Why not get the resume experience. Heck this guy can look at options available to him to incentivize the process. (Free tickets for family members, friends, or something more...I don't know what's all at their disposal). If he can't convince bored college students, desperate for experience, to donate a little of their time now to their future, this man is incompetent, and is not a salesman.

At 2 minutes a call, these 20 kids could contact every 2012 graduate in just 6 weeks. By phone. For FREE.

And by the way, this is small scale thinking. If had just $6,000 extra in his budget, he could employee two desperate summer session college students 40 hours a week at minimum wage. Their job would be to look for business growth opportunities (cold calling every business in the state and offering SEO corporate packages: bundling a hotel with the Hocking Hills canopy tour and dirt cheap Bobcat Football tickets. A very complete and enjoyable weekend and a way to convince someone to make the 3 hour drive from the far reaches of the state.).

On top of this, the sports management majors are forced into work anyways. Over my four years I can't tell you how many times I saw two of my friends checking IDs at the Convo student entrance gate. That's an obligation their major makes for them. It only takes one. That line isn't going to get out of control on a Tuesday night against NIU. Every game that extra person could have been used from 6 to 8 to call people that weren't at the basketball games. Each game slowing growing the fan base.

Heck speaking of obligations, I'm sure this one employee could make other aspects of the forced labor more efficient. One less walkie talkie here, one more phone jockey there. He could even reach out to marketing and business teachers to offer extra credit to their students for participating in cold calling activities (psychology does it already for participating in experiments).

To summarize: All I have seen and heard so far have been excuses with no suggestions to innovate. They're just excuses why we are underachieving, why we are not selling out,  where our limitations are. I don't care about and of that. We have an amazing product here. I believe in this. 

I look at every school in the MAC. With the exception of UMass and maybe Miami, none of them can touch the potential we have. Period. We are playing down to the level of OUr opponents. There are no more excuses.

 

I do not have season tickets. That is because I'm waiting to for a solid answer about funding for grad school at Ohio University. I'm under the impression I will get it, so I haven't purchased them yet. If I'm not funded however, I won't go to grad school and will buy season tickets. I fully intend on being a season ticket holder in football and basketball for the rest of my years, regardless of whether I attend the game or not; regardless of where I live.

Would a sales call influence my personal decision to buy tickets? No.

But I also buy my TV cables on the internet.

Hello!  It's reality calling.

Who has time to read your entire posts (are you really helping your cause by posting book length diatribes....maybe you neeed to do some research on marketing).

You are like the execs at one of the firms that I work for; you think that just because you have a good idea, it will happen magically.  Sorry; it takes a businesslike approach and execution.

With about 100,000 OHIO alumni, you expect each one to be personally called?  You expect 2012 grads to have (to feel that they have...or actually have) the cash for season tix?  You expect 20 students to volunteer 2 hours a week for six weeks?

Maybe..over time...slowly getting there.  But your expectations are not at all grounded in reality.

92% increase from any number is impressive.  Answer the question:  What number would you find satisfactory--200%, 300%, 800%?

I'm flattered you compared me to someone you work for. If you had only time the read my first sentence you'd see that I expect a full sellout every game (17,000 season ticket holders). If you were informed you'd know that the number of season tickets sold last year was not available so I could not calculate a percentage. It doesn't take a CPA to know that.

I'll translate to your reality... Request: BIG MANZ NEEDED IN MARKETING DEPT!! OHIO FOOTBALL 52 DAYZ!!!

On a side note...I've noticed lately that Monroe's posts have contained less ALL CAPS, almost no alternative font colors AnD sizes and very few replacementz of z'z for s's. Bring it back Monroe! I miss your old game.

Just did a little Google search and I found this incredibly relevant USA Today article ("College Outsourcing Ticket Sales"):

www.usatoday.com/sports/college/2011-08-05-college-outsourcing-sports-ticket-sales_n.htm

For the record: I know all about "prospects" when it comes to selling for a paycheck. I also spent a summer "selling" meetings with health insurance agents to HR representatives of businesses.

Nearly all of my points and ideas have been supported with at the bare minimum anecdotal evidence. Most of the dissent has come without any form of supporting evidence.

I am a good salesman. I would be good at marketing. I simply chose a more stable career that has less stress yet still fulfilling (Engineering).

You've been calling out folks for "evidence" - what is your evidence here?

In the history of Ohio Football, we have never approached anything near the kind of demand you expect...neither has any team in the MAC. Now we win one mediocre bowl game by a single point and you expect us to be able to attract an additional 10,000+ people per game?

There is no historical precedent for any of this to happen. What makes you "know" we are capable of this?

I am all for going into Columbus and trying to chip away at THE's market share. And I think the idea that we should only focus on SEO is really setting the bar low. What about Parkersburg? Heck, a school in WV is in the same conference as Athens High. That's our market. I would even give Cincy a try.

Cleveland, though, would give a terrible return on investment. If I had to guess, I'd say they're trying to stay close to home and slowly expand. Maybe we'll see a bigger presence in Columbus in the next couple years.