Deploying the right CRM system can make the different in building customer relationships no matter the venue. Just ask Comcast (News - Alert) Spectacor, a sports and entertainment firm that owns and manages multiple sports franchises and the Wachovia Center (Arena) in Philadelphia, Pa., home to the famous Philadelphia Sixers basketball and Flyers hockey teams, among others.

Comcast Spectacor has 90 sales reps located in the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, Pa. The majority of the users are part of its direct sales groups for the Philadelphia Sixers (NBA), Flyers (NHL), Wings (NLL), premium seating, groups and ad sales. There are also 20 agents responsible for renewals and guest services for current customers.

The firm needed to leverage the wealth of data on our customers in its ticketing system to understand customers better, to increase fan satisfaction, and develop more creative opportunities for its corporate sponsors, explains Mark DiMaurizio, VP of technology solutions, Comcast Spectacor. Additionally it needed the ability to share accounts across its sales and service teams to maximize the opportunities for each customer and develop better data on its customers.

“Our ultimate goals were to increase sales, decrease costs and improve customer satisfaction,” says DiMaurizio. “A CRM system that included each detailed interaction with our customers including past ticket purchases, attendance data, and customer service interactions would allow us to build and target campaigns customized to our fans.”

In 2007 Comcast Spectacor chose a hosted CRM solution because it wanted to focus its resources on its core sports/entertainment business. It selected Salesforce.com, going with the vendor’s Salesforce CRM Unlimited Edition, because of the supplier’s leadership in the on-demand CRM industry and because the firm allowed customization to meet its needs. Salesforce.com (News - Alert) also has robust integration capabilities to enable it to integrate with Comcast Spectacor’s ticketing system to pull in ticket transactions and attendance data on a nightly basis.

“Using hosted software as a service as opposed to an on-premise solution allowed us to focus on driving revenue and delighting our fans not on ensuring that our servers were working,” says DiMaurizio.

Comcast Spectacor had several goals for the Salesforce application that are little different than those in other businesses. Traditional metrics, like increasing sales, doesn’t always apply in sports marketing, explains DiMaurizio because the fate of the sales is often tied to the fate of the team’s performance.

Instead the sports/entertainment firm wanted, regardless of the season results, to develop a “single view of the fan” which enabled a truly ‘customer-centric culture’ and to help it build long term loyalty. Its key metrics include:

 

--Ability to place a lifetime value on each type of fan i.e. most profitable customers

--Track fan seniority to reward loyalty

--Optimize renewal rates

--Transparency of data across all lines of business

--Reduce sales cycle times, nurture prospects and accounts; analyze customer behaviors

Citing limited IT resources, Comcast Spectacor chose a strategic consulting firm, Acumen Solutions. It gathered requirements, customized the system, performed the data migration from the ticketing system, setup the nightly updates from the ticketing system, tested and trained users.

“Acumen Solutions was chosen because not only are they experts on Salesforce.com implementations but they really understood the importance of and the approach to integrating the ticketing data into Salesforce.com,” explains DiMaurizio.

The project was completed within three months, which met its need to have the system in place prior to the Philadelphia Flyers pre-season, a critical sales milestone.

Mapping the data from the ticketing system and building the transformation and loading routines were the most time consuming aspects of the project. Data migration of all existing accounts, leads, contacts, historical activities, tasks, and five years of ticket transaction and attendance data was successfully completed within one weekend. In addition the nightly sync process with the ticketing system was implemented and has successfully performed for since deployment about a year ago. Acumen Solutions configured and launched Salesforce.com, the data architecture, the integration with the ticketing system, and training of all of the sales and service groups.

Concurrently Comcast Spectacor launched its marketing automation solution, Eloqua, which was also integrated with Salesforce.com to route leads to our sales groups.

“The rapid timeframe was challenging, but the combination of using expert resources and a cloud computing solution enabled us to exceed our expectations of being up and running for the Flyers season,” says DiMaurizio.

The program has been successful. The Comcast Spectator VP says “we can confidently say now “We Know Our Customers.” This was its number one goal. The solution enabled contacts with each customer in a personalized and direct manner leading to more personal relationships, more customized service offerings, and an enhanced fan experience. In the case of the Flyers, this new system permitted it to rapidly launch a “Fan Stimulus Plan” in 2008. This was a creative way to renew ticket holders who were delaying a purchase decision because of financial concerns.

“By helping [ticketholders] split a season ticket with others or resell certain tickets, we met the immediate needs of its fans and helped them remain loyal,” recounts DiMaurizio. “We also are able to track their season ticket renewal intentions and track the critical issues of why they may not renew. This tracking allows us to plan out responses to customers’ concerns and tailor a solution that is a win/win.”

By knowing customers and automating the marketing process the combined Salesforce / Eloqua solution boosted Comcast Spectacor’s lead conversion rates by 4 percent, driven by faster and more accurate touchpoints. The firm’s sales staff reacts quicker to leads and prospects with more relevant offerings. Streamlining the sales process so that all users can instantly see what “type” of customer information they are viewing has made sales more efficient, boosted rep productivity, and boosted their ability to quickly communicate the firm’s value to sponsors and season ticket holders.  Sales staff now spends more time calling and less time compiling their daily activity sheets in Excel.

At the same time lifetime value has been assigned for each customer. Information has been put at sales reps fingertips to let them explain to their clients the impact of a sponsorship or advertising spend. Analytics on past fan purchase patterns now permits Comcast Spectacor to identify premium customers and create more targeted cross-sell or up-sell campaigns. Integration of sales and service through the CRM and e-mail systems have improved service levels, response times, case resolutions, customer and sales rep satisfaction.

Also when it comes time to re-ticket the arena before a new season Comcast Spectacor can now offer ticket holders with the most seniority a chance to upgrade to the next best available seat. The ability to establish and track a “born on” date for seating drafts allows it to reward customer loyalty.

Like a great sports team like those based in Philadelphia, Comcast Spectacor is not sitting on its laurels. It plans to leverage the data in Salesforce.com to develop a deeper understanding of the issues and opportunities within its fan base, reports DiMaurizio. It is looking at creating a data warehouse to do more extensive analysis that could lead to even better campaign creation. For example, with this warehouse it could run a complex query on how many customers had gone to five or more games but had not yet purchased a ten game plan i.e. identifying upsell opportunities. Once identified, it could build a sales campaign to reach out to these customers to explain how they can better leverage the dollars they are spending with the firm.

Comcast Spectacor also plans to leverage the real-time capabilities of salesforce.com and their integration with mobile technology by using handhelds in the stadium to instantly capture customer feedback. This will enable it to collect their comments as they enjoy the game. If they have concession stand wait time complaints or if they would like more seating in their corporate box we can make changes in the stadium service in real-time.

“The CRM strategy has worked very well,” says DiMaurizio. “The biggest surprise was how much the system made us review our sales and operational processes. We feel that this implementation improved our process more than we would have thought and made us more effective overall.”

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