BIGGER crowds

[Ronaldo]

Well if we can't get more coming through the gates now on a Sat we'll never do it!!

All this winning, attractive football, many local not coming on down, should be ashmed of themselves I say.

I for one will be encouraging friends and others to come along for sure, have they any idea what they're missing?

An opportune time for the Club to start waving the banner too.....

[Govan Jaggie]

I am the opposite of most.  I miss the big OF games and make it up for the "smaller" games.  The smaller games are the one's that really mater and we must get more people through the gates.  Start by reducing the price and I am sure we would see a difference.  ?17 for Tyncastle and ?20 for us?  It makes no sense.  I will be up for the Killie game and I think the club should think, "hey we just beat Celtic lets get those people back.  As it is christmas and money is short, lets reduce the price and see how it goes."  THen get adverts out letting people know and we could keep the good will going from yesterday.

[Kingsmills]

Past experience suggests that sunday's fabulous result and performance will, unfortunately, make very little difference to ur crowds for the next few home matches.

Don't forget we were 800 or so short of capacity on Sunday.

[Scotty]

The club should take a multi level approach.

[li]Review season ticket offer. Make it attractive for people to buy tickets for the whole or partial season well in advance.

[li]A nicely priced full season pack available early and with a monthly direct debit option to make it affordable for most.[/li]

[li]A 'flexi' package that might appeal to those who live far away or work some weekends. You get say 6 or 8 games of your choosing over the season including a voucher you can use for one 'big' game[/li]
[li]Price, Price, Price ..... As GJ mentions, its cheaper to get into Tynecastle than the TCS. Make the prices for season books attractive, and get it in early ... it should be available in April/May. The club gets the money in early, and the interest from that will offset the couple of quid per ticket they lose by reducing prices.[/li]


[/li]

[li]Sensible 'walk-up' pricing. Not everyone will buy a season ticket for various reasons, but most would probably agree that there should be a sliding scale depending on the opponent. Playing the OF? you will fill the ground at full price, playing Gretna or St Mirren will be a struggle to fill half of it at the current scale.[/li]

[li]Voucher scheme. Aberdeen did it very succesfully for years when I went to uni there in the 80s. You want a ticket for the Celtic or Rangers games ... If you dont have a season book then you need to swap 2, 3, or 4 vouchers from lesser games to get it. Encourages occasional supporters to come to these games [/li]

[li]Sensible Family Pricing. Kids and families need to be encouraged along - extend family pricing throughout the north stand and wings of main stand. Its really expensive (and discouraging) if you cant get into the KBFE[/li]

Kingsmills - crowd was 7004 (officially) of the capacity of 7522. From what I hear, the club were not allowed to sell tickets for the singing section for some reason.

[Kingsmills]

I was factoring the 300 or so seats in the " singing section" into the equation.

As far as  remember, they were in use for the Rangers game. My understanding is that the club would have been able to sell tickets for them if the ground had otherwise sold out.

[12th Man]

Its a difficult time of year for some people to go to the match.

That game was fantastic and televised around the globe too,we probably have far more admirers than you could imagine.

The way the team are playing again, a real forth stand will be required for 2010.

[Scotty]

televised around the globe too,we probably have far more admirers than you could imagine.

Dont get me started !!!!! - lets just say, we would have far MORE admirers if that was truly the case.

[Scarlet Pimple]

The club must start in true entrepreneurial spirit by innovative marketing. What about the simple one to start with:

First three consecutive games at full price and the fourth consecutive game at 40% off (equivalent to 10% per game)

Or First four consecutive games at standard price and the fifth at 75% off (equivalent to 15% off per game).

I worked a scheme like this in my business and it worked very well.After I had hooked a barrowload of clients I stopped worrying about the discounts since I had steady income that was my bread and butter; the discounts were  viewed correctly as the cost of doing business and it certainly built up a core of loyal clients even if the loyalty was based as much on the reduced prices as their love for me.

Whatever the club  chooses to do it must be  shown to be innovative, customer orientated and give real value back to the customer for their loyalty and support. :rolleyes02:

S>P>

[RiG]

I was factoring the 300 or so seats in the " singing section" into the equation.

As far as  remember, they were in use for the Rangers game. My understanding is that the club would have been able to sell tickets for them if the ground had otherwise sold out.

If I mind right the club must sell 6,000 seats in covered areas first before they can seel the other areas of the ground. Think that's where the 6,000 all seated, covered SPL rule kicks in. Meet that threshold and you can seel tickets for other areas of the ground.

[Scotty]

While you are correct in what you say RiG, I believe this was not the case with that section for this game. If my sources are correct, it had more to do with the lack of that stand being included in the stadium safety certificate .... I am sure that will be rectified for the next "big" game

[The Long Man]

Pimple: great idea. Like the 3 for 2 offers in many shops it is a good way of getting people in who might buy the odd game, but could be tempted by a good deal for more (excluding OF games of course). The argument against is the amount of admin involved, but couldn't they use the internet to get a scheme like this going? By having a log-in of members whose accounts showed what games they bought tickets for, then issuing the bargains after a few consecutive matches. Come to think of it, why not offer the discount for as long as you keep going consecutively, thus tempting people to keep going on a regular basis, and not missing matches, because they don't want to lose their discount? Kind of like a live season ticket which keeps going as long as you do. Even if you can't make a match, you still might buy a ticket just to keep the discount going.

[Govan Jaggie]

I think a monthly direct debit is a good idea.  They tried it before bu only gave you 3 months.  Why not spread it over 6 or 7 months of the 8 month season.  Yes the club need the money quick but it is still money that they can budget for.  Also like the buy a book of games.  It cost a lot of money to come up the road every second week.  If they could say choose any 8 home game exc old firm for ?15 a ticket and with this you get a voucher for the OF game, that could work. They must also be taken before the spilt.  Then after the split offer packs for the 2 or 3 home games w are given.

[RossP]

The 3 for 2 or discount offers would still have to offer less value than a season ticket. As we'd soon find a massive drop in season ticket holders, who are preferring to take up these offers instead.

Interesting ideas though...

[Scotty]

GJ - glad you like my ideas .... I dont think there is anything there that would be difficult or costly to implement.

The "flexi pack" idea came straight from Toronto FC and while the MLS may not be that highly regarded, the people behind Toronto FC have more than 80 years of experience promoting the likes of the Maple Leafs, Raptors, and now TFC .... They know their **** when it comes to marketing on both a small and large scale and I think most fans who go to TFC games feel valued .....

If the club can come up with a strategy for season tickets that is inclusive - and allows those with money to pay it at once, those who need to spread the cost to do so, and those who live further away (or work weekends) the ability to pick and choose their games then I think it may go a long way to increasing sales and also making fans feel valued - something that has been rapidly draining away in recent years.

That would just leave the overseas fans like myself (and many others) feeling excluded ... and if the club can get the finger out and investigate the option that PTV make available to all their customers which is to implement the "<club> World" service that allows all fans to subscribe to audio/video highlights, all fans to get live audio, and overseas fans to get live video, for a yearly subscription fee then I am sure that we would also feel valued as well as adding money to the ICT coffers ......

[Ronaldo]

Yes some interesting points indeed.

In my mind the key is effective advertising, I haven't seen any and as far as Iam aware the club is not, or has not, addressed the "lets get a bigger crowd issue" certainly to my satisfaction, or even at all?

I am sure there is someone out there who could think up a clever idea to sell another 500 season tickets. It's hardly rocket science.

[Govan Jaggie]

Is this not why we waste money on a commercial director and a chief Executive?  It is not all about finding even more sponsors for boards and match balls!

[12th Man]

The monthly direct debit would be a good idea.If they started taking payments in June they would have an early wad of cash to play with and the fans would also be two months in credit for the first game.

[RiG]

I think DD scheme is now over 6 months is it not? Certainly a bit more than 3 anyway I think.

[Scotty]

If they started taking payments in June they would have an early wad of cash to play with and the fans would also be two months in credit for the first game.

agree. It would also mean they would have to start marketing it in March/April .... catching supporters before the end of the season when their football interest is still high and not mid summer when they are wondering how to pay for that nice holiday ! Like everything in life, timing is crucial !

[Scarlet Pimple]

I agree that the Discount scheme that I proposed  should and could be spread over the whole season. The use of this scheme menas that a fan does not need to buy a full season's worth of games (i.e season ticket) but , in order to get top value from the Discounted games , he or she must go to all three, four or six games selected.

It's like a rolling renewal every 3rd, 4th  game etc.

How I worked it in my business was that I was not giving any discounts but I realised that the compettion was fierce and that I had to offer something to get more customers. So I said  "O.K. you like my first job, would you like to become  a regular customer" The reply was often ''Yeah.. how often do you think ?" or "what would you give as a discount if I go three times a year?" and I woudlrepoly ..10% off. Then I realised that giving the discount on each consecutive job was not going to work because thatr way I had no control over the  customer's fickeness.

So then I put together a paper authorisation for me to come and do the work automatically without further reference to the client being needed ,which they signed and this mini-contract assured them of the ultimate discount, I also included a clause that this arrangement would go on ad infinitum until they chose to cancel without any penalty being attracted to cancellation.. This latter clause made them feel that they had control but I knew that if I kept doing a good job and kept future price increases to a minimum then they would rarely cancel because they needed the service. The outcome was great and I kept many many clients for well over 15 years, and some over 20 years.

The key for me was the fact that I did not need to telephone them because when you do that it can open up a can of worms and  you are subject to their whims-of-the-day. But after the job is done they just accept it and send the cheque and forget about you until the next time. And the less that I talk to the customer the better since "out of sight out of mind " is always a good policy especially when if you open your mouth you can put your foot in it , even inadvertently.

ICT can also do the same. Whether we like it or not the fact remains that there is no shame or penalty in giving something back to the fan so long as they agree to continue to show up. It's just  good business sense. If ICT produce a spirited team and lots of effort and thrills this scheme could be a winner.

Just a suggestion. :002:

[Ronaldo]

If the club were smart SP they'd hire you!

[caley100]

Anyone have available stats on our average crowds yr on yr since we returned ' home' ? i wondered if we were make a steady increase in crowd sizes?

Inverness being the growing place that it is, by law of averages we should be getting better crowds as long as the team keep performing.

[Govan Jaggie]

Our average this season is around 5100 which I thin is the highest yet.  Still could be better.

[Scarlet Pimple]

Thank you Ronaldo. You know how to win friends and influence people.! :002:

Dealing with the great unwashed pubic for twenty eight years has taught me a thing or two, I can tell you.  :029:

Survival being one... :001:

As I see it you have to break out of the old mould, catch the eye with the right approach and at least try. I truthfully don't know how hard ICT are trying to be that innovative but I just feel that the prices are too high and a different approach is mandatory to increase the crowds.

[Guest couchpotato]

It's not just an ICT problem,Scottish footbal per se has taken it's eye off the financial ball and lost the plot,the die hards still keeep digging deep but  they will never attract newcomers or folk who have lost the habit. At ?25  for 90 minutes of vastly varying qaulity the Scottish game needs a reality check.