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Yes. I’d check to see if you can buy tickets over the web and at other ticket outlets. See if we
can come up with a few additional and maybe untraditional outlets or distribution channels. I’ll
assume that they have discounts for season ticket holders, large groups, students and senior
citizens.
– That’s correct.
I think schools are a good place to educate future opera fans. We have to rebuild the audience.
Get the next generation interested in opera.
– The next area you mentioned was costs. I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but I’ll
assume that you’ll work hard to reduce all our costs.
Yes.
– To be honest with you, your answer isn’t going where I want it to go. I feel like we’re getting too
bogged down in details. The question was about growth strategy. Unless you have more to say
about growth strategies, we’ll end this interview right now.
Well, we’ve talked about increasing sales by bringing in a big-name singer, adding new
distribution channels for tickets and merchandise sales, as well as possible new revenue
streams. We talked about increasing the product line and the diversity of that product line.
That could mean new merchandise or more operas, but I think it means different shows,
concerts or maybe stand-up comic revues — anything that fills the opera house on nights
when there is no performance. A third strategy — that doesn’t apply, but I thought I would
mention — is acquiring the competition, maybe buying one of the smaller opera companies.
But it doesn’t sound like we have a lot of extra cash on hand, and what we do have can be
better allocated toward driving more people in our door.
– That was a nice summation, but there was nothing new there.
One last thing. This summer I worked for a mutual fund company and what we discovered is
that 95% of the business came from 5% of the customer base. This company wasn’t fully
taking advantage of the opportunities to grow through its existing customer base. Up until this
summer, they never differentiated between customers who represented real profits and
customers that only represented costs.
– This is good. Continue.