120 Fahrenheit: The Peter Wilt Method
November 2nd, 2009 . 1:01 pm . By: Buzz CarrickWith the end of the line in sight for FCD General Manager Michael Hitchcock, I thought I might discuss ticket sales and customer service. It’s not secret that FCD has lacked in that department the last few years. One of the General Managers I respect most from the early days of MLS is the ex-Fire Gm Peter Wilt. I still believe that he got the short end of the stick from Fire Ownership. But that’s not the story I want to tell. Instead I want to talk about an email Peter Wilt sent to Alexi Lalas when Lalas was named GM of the San Jose Earthquakes back in 2004. In this email Wilt lays out ten (ok, twelve) keys to running a MLS franchise and ten secrets to selling MLS tickets. From evidence it doesn’t seem anyone at FCD or HSG has ever read this email. Sure, some of it might not be perfect for Dallas, Frisco, or FCD, perhaps some of it might be a touch outdated, but at it’s core this is still worth a look. So I thought we might compare Wilts points to what FCD has been doing. Perhaps someone can take some notes. Wilts’ Keys to Running a MLS FranchiseFrom Peter Wilt’s email to Alexi Lalas. (Reprinted with permission)
Does anyone out there think FCD is even close to being good at this? I’ll give them one thing, I hear good things about the new Ticket head they stole from RSL, Kris Katseanas. Maybe he can turn it around.
Unfortunately this one has been contrary to the entire HSG philosophy to this point. It used to be what Swift and company would do back at the Cotton Bowl. One might even say that Pizza Hut Park is itself a direct opposite approach to this idea.
Unfortunately over the last four years some of the best people at FCD have left the organization. Starting with people at the top, like John Alper and Shawn McGee, but that’s just the top of the iceberg. The list of great people lost is quite long. I do like the last few hires they have made, Eduardo Carvacho being one example.
While I don’t know enough about the various department heads, I think one example has been glaring for some time. There needs to be a technical director or director of football operations. Hitch, it seems clear, didn’t know enough about soccer. See Denilson, Hislop, etc. Thankfully FCD is now looking for a TD.
I think by this time it has become fundamentally clear HSG doesn’t provide enough resources. And by resources I mean money. There just isn’t the financial backing needed across this entire organization. You have to spend money to make money.
A fundamental of good management in any business.
A motivational and morale thing.
Helps keep employees happy and on point, understanding the why can be important for a worker.
This one can go a long way to helping run a smooth ship. Without being inside the organization it’s hard to know how Hitch rated on these pervious four items. I can tell you I don’t think he was good at #9, cause he never seemed to listen to what was trying to tell him.
This again is an area FCD has dropped the ball. Complaints abound about game day service, poor concessions, and problems with security/ushers. Response has been slow from ticket reps, and FCD has frequently acted against their hard core fans (see point #2), although not as bad as some other markets.
Admittedly a tough one to qualify. But let’s face it, the results in the stands and in the ratings should tell you FCD hasn’t done this well enough. Far to much of the MetroPlex isn’t even aware of FCD. Their Q-score, I would bet, is at an all time low.
I think FCD has tried to do this, sending player to events, clinics, and functions. Bt it tends to be the same young players over and over. Usually the ones with tons of free time and he ones who need a little money. Community exposure and interaction can be better. I wonder how they compare with other clubs? 10 Secrets about the selling of MLS:
I think Seattle and Toronto have proven this isn’t necessarily true in the greater MLS picture, but it certainly seems true in FCD’s case. It’s definitely true of the soccer moms segment that FCD has saddled itself with in the Frisco location.
In the Frisco/Plano area… absolutely. Only the hard core soccer fan comes on their own.
Interesting point. I wonder if it’s better to turn the season tickets over ever three years, or to try and figure out why people stop being season ticket holders? I bet it’s product related and customer service related. Maybe some focus should be paid to your current ticket investors. Look into the cost/value of season tickets. With the current game day discounts available the cost benefit is small.
The Burn new this under Swift and Co. HSG does not. Just look at the billboards on the Tollway and ads in the DMN. Swift, and clearly Wilt, knew that it was about grassroots marketing. Small, intimate avenues that reached the soccer community directly.
I hate getting direct mail. It doesn’t shock me this doesn’t work.
Email and internet. This is more and more true every year. This email is from five years ago, you can only imagine how important this has become since, and how big it will get to be.
How many times have we heard the complaint, “I didn’t get a call.” Even from current season ticket holders, people you want to retain, this is almost a mantra with FCD. I am quite sure ticket sale is not an easy job.
Not sure how this translates, except to perhaps say, “ignore the state associations.”
Again, personal contact. Grassroots marketing. Customer service. Sensing a trend?
Boo! Keep it coming Wilt! I for one would love to see him running FCD. In conclusion I would say there is vast room for improvement at FCD and HSG. One can hope it’s only up from here. I will give the caveat that their last few hires look solid, perhaps John Wagner is learning from his mistakes. Dare I begin to hope for a turn around in the stands? We’ll have to wait and see I guess. By the way, you can follow Peter Wilt on Twitter. 14 Comments Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI Leave a comment |
Get this out to Philly, Portland, Vancouver, to Dallas, to New England, to Colorado.
Heck, put Wilt in the League Offices.
My only quibble would be with your assertion that Seattle and Toronto’s crowds aren’t “manufactured through promotions, discounts, special events.” Depending on what you count as “promotions, discounts, special events,” that may or may not be true.
But are their crowds manufactured? Oh, absolutely. Look, when the MLS Sounders are getting crowds 10 times larger than what the USL Sounders got, you have to say that there’s some manufacturing going on. Granted, it is a different sort of manufacturing than what FCD and other teams have done in the past, but it is manufacturing that works for those particular markets.
And those who say that FCD should ape what Seattle and Toronto are doing… are still getting it wrong. Instead, FCD should look at what two other Dallas teams have done in either introducing a nontraditional sport or to revive a floundering brand. They should look at what the Stars and Mavs did.
And in the case of the latter, some of it might be a little unsavory to the Hunts and some readers, if stories are to be believed.
He has kept it coming, actually, via regular guest posts on the excellent Pitch Invasion site. See this link for a list of his articles so far: http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/author/peterwilt/
In the same vein as this old email to Lalas, I recommend “How not to lose fans and alienate people”, “Peter Wilt’s Soccer Management Philosophy” and “Hiring and Retaining a Good Front Office Team”.
Sounds like the Burn of old. Just bring Swift and Alper back and be done with it.
Is Wagner learning from mistakes? The mistake was not spending any money on anything. Even with all the new hires, I don’t see any change there. (Or in Columbus or with the Chiefs, either)
As for ticket sales, I went through three reps in three years, all of whom were awesome, but I still haven’t gotten a new rep since mine left near the beginning of last season. They’re fortunate I’m one of the few, committed die-hards Wilt mentions in #2B.
I agree with Jefe. The Stars are the best parallel. You can’t tell me Dallas is inherently more of a hockey town than a soccer town, but the Stars have more of both die-hards and casual fans.
This is interesting, but really, as you point out Buzz, most of this is pretty much SOP for most businesses/organizations. That Wilt gave Lalas this blueprint makes sense because Lalas was a neophyte. It’s almost criminal the way this side of the organization has consistently failed in reaching even the most minimal progress in filling the stands. And there’s no use crying about the stadium location. At the end of the day, that no longer matters.
If the team were in downtown dallas and had the same attendance then all we would hear about is how the location is unsafe, and that the team needs to move to frisco. If the product was good then attendance would rise. Winning eliminates whining..
And yet Peter Wilt’s WPS team was a basement dweller in terms of league attendance last season — with a pretty inferior product on the field as well.
When I finally get around to starting my Bluegrass-Death Metal fusion band I’m gonna call us The Peter Wilt Method.
Basement dweller and inferior product. So no different than FC Dallas.
frisco gets a bad rap, but i doubt that you could sell very many season tickets to the hispanic community. 5400 for a suite in south dallas? thousands up front? nope, not by a long shot. You would be confined to cheap seats and hope to make up the volume. THE NUMBER 1 thing to put butts in the seats? A WINNING TEAM that is well marketed….
Who says anything about a stadium in South Dallas? Who says anything about having to sell a suite to the Hispanic community?
Let’s not go from one extreme to another.
FC Dallas is poorly managed obviously. Their website says partial plans available on 11-3-09 and here we are the next day and it still says the same thing. Pretty basic, do what you say you will do. I can’t imagine the cowboys screwing around with their ticket sales like FCD does. pretty basic
WOuldnt it be great for the whole Brimstone rivalry to have Peter Wilt be the new GM of FCD?