Our new growth initiatives

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:d03440d060="El-Saltman"]Can my referral code be: rotflmmfao?
seems only proper.[/quote:d03440d060]

I'd like mine to be something like zOMFGSTFUA.

[PotKettleBlack]

[quote:800c48e41b="socalchiro"]I've learned 1 very important thing in my 15+ years of owning a business.

Now there are some here that will say "Running a chiropractic business is different than Strat". Of course it is. However, the main thing I keep in mind is this...


[color=blue:800c48e41b][b:800c48e41b]It's much easier AND cheaper to keep my exisitng patients, than to go out and get new ones[/b:800c48e41b].[/color:800c48e41b]

Of course, new business is needed. Every business needs it. I'm just saying my priority is to do what it takes to keep my current patients happy over acquiring newer ones. They are already here and trust me and trust what I do.

visick[/quote:800c48e41b]

[img:800c48e41b]http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e248/maxlharris/churn-it-up.gif[/img:800c48e41b]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churn_rate

It is impossible to keep all of your existing customers. Especially for an entertainment product. Without an acquisition strategy, we wither on the vine and eventually, the math turns against SOM and TSN offering the game, and all the existing customers become orphans of the game, searching for something else to fill that void.

[gorshar]

I don't think anyone is criticizing the acquisition strategy. The criticism is what appears to be a lack of retention strategy.

Of course it is not possible to keep all your customers, but a little more effort to keep what they can wouldn't hurt.

[visick]

I didn't say I kept all my existing ones.

Of course you need NEW business. Without it, there is no growth.

However, like I said earlier. You ALREADY have someone that knows the game in an existing manager. They love it. There really isn't anything more to sell them.

Incentives are nice. Specials/ discounts are nice as well. However, what I don't see is follow thru with managers ideas.

[b:9206e799ad]What happened to the live chats we were suppose to have? What happened to ideas that existing managers have? What happened to a consistent forum/board presence?[/b:9206e799ad]

[Jerlins]

[quote:fa85a19fce="LMBombers"][quote:fa85a19fce="Jerlins"]I'm not giving my opinion for selfish reasons...[/quote:fa85a19fce]

[quote:fa85a19fce="Jerlins"]As for me, my next purchase will be made either under my wife's credit card, or I'll go out and purchase a Visa gift card and take advantage of the new incentive for first time buyers.[/quote:fa85a19fce]

This is a "How to" on scamming the system for selfish reasons.[/quote:fa85a19fce]

If you are going to quote me, quote the whole sentence, not just selective parts of it to suit your argument. I wrote that I will purchase the same amount of teams regardless of the price, that I think I can handle at a given time. At present, I've enough credits regardless of the price, so even at $14.95 for 2 teams, I won't be purchasing any. However, should I decide to purchase again, I'd be foolish not to take advantage of a $10 per team saving.

Often, my business purchases product from the same distributor at a slightly higher price from other distributors, out of loyalty to our relationship. Long term, it's to our advantage to do so. But that price is in comparison to it's competitors, not to it's other customers.

If there is a similar game out there (and there is), that charges $15. for its product, I'm still paying TSN's $25. out of loyalty and satisfaction in it's product. However, if there are two price points within the same company, well, loyalty becomes a two-way street.

I thought my original post was respectful, well thought out, and written from a consumer's point of view. The first response from a representative of the company was to attack the messenger, not the message, which is often the case when there is no sensible response to the discussion.

Selfish? Scam artist? That's your best argument LMBombers? How about giving us a legitimate argument as to why the company is willing to neglect its long term customers in an attempt to bring on a few new ones. Name calling or accusations is not the proper way to support your side of the argument. Now, not only have I been insulted from a business standpoint, but the company has decided to attack the reputation of one its customers in a personal way. Now that's a great strategy in customer relations!

[Valen]

[quote:51188b2192]As for me, my next purchase will be made either under my wife's credit card, or I'll go out and purchase a Visa gift card and take advantage of the ignorance of this wonderful new incentive for first time buyers. [/quote:51188b2192]
This will work unless TSN is smart enough to track ip address in which case you will also have to keep up with which of your friend's computers you have created accounts from. :lol:

There has been a lot of discussion about the difference between prospecting for new customers verses keeping old ones. In truth this depends on the business. The cable company and satellite companies for example offer steep initial discounts for new customers but rarely if ever for existing customers. Ditto for magazines. The company I am with would never give discounts to long time existing customers but would to a new customer to get them on the hook.

There is good reason for that. In most industries you do not keep customers based on price, you keep them based on quality of service. I will refrain from commenting about service. I have received great service at times and we all know about the periodic server outages, etc. Suffice to say the key to keeping current customers is delivering new features and improving the experience, For example bullpen v2 or providing league options for clutch pitching feature on/off, etc. New customers know little of customer service though so price is the primary determining factor for them.

It is a good thing TSN is addressing this and giving new prospects a price break. If successful it can only benefit all of us by making leagues easier to fill and more variety between leagues on who your opponents are.

[Jerlins]

I'm heading to my store in a few minutes. Let's make sure I have this correct before waiting on my first customer.

Me: Hey Mike, how's your day going? Let's see here. You have 5 packs of Topps Baseball Cards, that will be $10 please.

Mike: $10? Your sign outside says they are $1. each. That's only $5.

Me: Business is slow here. Trust me, I appreciate your business, you've been loyal to me for so long. But I already have your business, and I'm trying to get new business, so am only offering that price to folks I've never seen before.

Mike: Well my wife is in the car, how about I have her come in and but these for me?

Me: What? That's being selfish. You're just scamming the system now. But I'll tell you what I'll do because you're such a great customer. You bring in a friend I've never seen before, I'll give him these same 5 packs for $5., and because you did so, I'll knock off 10% from your 5 packs, so you'll only pay $9. That's fair, no?

Ok, off to work now. Hope I have this correct.

[visick]

[quote:33e6157635]There is good reason for that. In most industries you do not keep customers based on price, you keep them based on quality of service. I will refrain from commenting about service. I have received great service at times and we all know about the periodic server outages, etc. Suffice to say the key to keeping current customers is delivering new features and improving the experience, For example bullpen v2 or providing league options for clutch pitching feature on/off, etc. New customers know little of customer service though so price is the primary determining factor for them.
[/quote:33e6157635]

Well said. It goes along with the point I was trying to make in my 2nd post.

visick

[bernieh]

Indeed, this is about how we serve you, as existing customers. You're entitled to your opinion, good and bad, about the level of service we're providing you, and for what it's worth I definitely feel like I could always be doing a better job bringing you what you want.

The new customer initiatives are separate from my efforts to improve the game for you die-hards. Jerlins put a sinister spin on it, but we're not out to screw anyone over or skimp on our service. I think we can all agree that we have not done enough to bring in new business - which is vital for everyone and which the community has implored us to do - and we're just taking a step towards improving that front, with classic, simple initiatives that tons of other businesses use much more aggressively than we are.

"What have you done for [i:b789bdee79]us[/i:b789bdee79] lately" is an understandable sentiment, but it's independent of what we do to bring in new business. Say what you will about the job I've been doing serving you as loyal customers, but I'm not going to suddenly somehow do a [i:b789bdee79]worse[/i:b789bdee79] job now and start ignoring you. It could be argued that because of our historical lack of emphasis on growth, I've been focusing [i:b789bdee79]too much[/i:b789bdee79] on the existing audience, by definition.

I'm not going to fight with you and argue that I've done [i:b789bdee79]enough[/i:b789bdee79] for you, but I will just say that I've done more than [i:b789bdee79]nothing[/i:b789bdee79], which is what it sounds like to hear some of you speak. Interface improvements, gameplay features, complex game engine advancements, even the occasional sale... that's what I'm best at, and you've seen it all. Has it been enough? I guess not - [i:b789bdee79]and it's fine if you feel that way[/i:b789bdee79] - but our new customer initiatives aren't to blame.

Also, I repeat - as with all things this is merely a step. We didn't hide in a secret laboratory for a year, emerge, and say, "this is the key to all our problems and we're done!" It's a step. Maybe the step will bring us closer to a position where we can take more exciting steps to directly impact you, whether it's hiring more programming, marketing, or customer service resources, or - *gasp* - lowering our everyday prices. We can hope. But we won't rest.

[Stoney18]

Well said Bernie.

Valen has a very good point how different industries using different methods to attract new customers. A retail store such as Jerlins owns is a different business model than SOM and I think the new customer initiative is a good idea.

I don't take any of the comments posted as a knock on what you have done. You've done a great job enhancing the product.