Do You Leave A Ton Of $$$ On The Table To Please Your Most Vocal Customers Instead Of Most Profitable?

Posted on November 15, 2008 | Filed Under Blog, Management Tips, Rants 

I took my wife out to see the new James Bond Movie last night "Quantum OF Solace".

On a side note I thought the movie rocked. My Wife and I commented on how James Bond is sort of a "new" James Bond. When Sean Connery and Roger Moore used to get in a scuffle they rarely got a wrinkle on their suit. The new James Bond the Daniel Craig plays is a more troubled and perhaps a little broken Bond. He really gets his ass kicked and it shows! He was filthy, bloody and battered by the end, but my wife still thought he was sexy… note to self…guess I need to get my ass kicked more often!

So the movie was great the experience wasn't.

$21 bucks to get in. Popcorn, soda etc another $22. So we have 43 dollars invested in this night-o-fun, plus the time etc. Just for information purposes we saw this at The Bow Tie Cinemas in Trumbull Ct.. FYI - not a bow tie in the house - I'm just sayin'…

The theatre was kinda full, but we still found good seats, the snacks were almost OK. The popcorn was stale… it just plain sucked…

Theaters everywhere take note -if you want to charge $7.00 for a 30 cents worth of popcorn I'm OK with that. I understand the Sundries are where you make your money. But… the popcorn better be damn good! Throw out the old stuff and pop fresh! You'll have a hard time convincing me that the popcorn is worth buying the next time for $7.00 if it's not delicious Tonight!

So.. we find our seats, and the movie starts. Right behind us there was a group of  young boys about 14 years old. Now I understand kids will be kids, but these kids were out of control…they started talking on their cell phones, talking with each other, laughing, giggling, etc through the entire movie.

FYI - I'm working on my anger issues so I contained myself pretty well until they started getting up and down for about 15 minutes. Banging, the back of my chair and head. Now I'm pissed… so I kindly turned around and said - "Hey Guys could ya keep it down please!," .

And they did - a for a little bit. Then they started back up and kept it up for the rest of the movie until it ended and two or three of them said - "F*c&k;… Thank God it's finally over!" and they left.

Like I said kids will be kids, but this is just nuts. These kids were getting calls from friends, parents etc.

People calling them - they are in a movie! They told you they are in a movie - stop calling them!

Kids getting calls - if you want to be on the phone - leave the theatre to talk.

Kids if you don't want to be there go out into the lobby. Sitting there for 2 hours, chatting and giggling like a group of 11 year old Nancie's is pissing everyone else off. GROW UP. I would've loved to call you young men earlier but you acted like little boys.

OK… So what should have happened.

The popcorn should have been fresh - simple - pop fresh corn. DOH!

The theatre needs ushers patrolling the cinema at least twice an hour.

Yes that costs money - oh well… your job is to create a good experience for me and a good value for my forty bucks… didn't happen. These kids should have been kicked out.

My wife insisted that we talk to the manager, she was more pissed than me, guess my anger work is starting to pay off!

So I spoke to a manager, a young guy, very friendly and sympathetic. He understood our frustration, (by that time I had forgotten about the stale popcorn , once again… chalk one up for me - anger vanished quickly!) He said kids had been thrown out if they are like that. He said it happened tonight in another theatre and the parents of the kids came to him and complained there kids were thrown out without being warned.

Note to parents - A public movie theatre is not a baby sitter. If you think your kids are behaving and you are challenged you damn well better be prepared to sit there with them. Don't make me do your parenting job.

Second note to parents - They weren't warned - Parents give me a break! You teach them responsibility, not me. If you won't teach them they WILL  learn the hard way in the real world!

In the real world there are no warnings. You take action - you reap the rewards or repercussions of that action. PERIOD! Teach your kids that they are responsible for their actions and they won't need or expect warnings thet will not get. In a  previous life one of your kids might be in need of permanent dentures this morning and I would be sitting massaging my aching fists in a jail cell. It happens. They got the "new "me. You're welcome. Send a Thank you note to my Reiki Master!

The Manager pointed out that that demographic spends the most money so it's hard to kick them out, you don't want to piss off the top customers… great point… I hadn't thought of it like that! I am not the target customer - the teens are! So how do we handle that?

First - Do they spend the most - they buy more tickets, because they come in herds… but do they buy more sundries? These kids brought their own drinks and snacks… no money there… And reader…shame on you if you encourage this. Don't bitch when your favorite local theatre goes belly up. They survive on the sundries, not the tickets! The Studios get most of that ticket!

Here's an idea…. For the popular movies, have one showing a night for each movie, for adults only. 21 and over. Make it the less popular time.  If 7:00 is prime time, make it the 10PM showing. Adults only.

And MARKET THE CRAP OUT OF THAT! That's your USP! We know kids will be kids and adults go out for a night of adult fun, so we are looking out for you too! Yes you'll have to police it, and explain it, but that's OK. If I was the manager I would rather explain the new policies than apologize for the crappy experience.

You want to know something too… I would likely pay more for this better experience! You'll have to present the value to me first, but if I KNEW my experience would be better I would pay more, that makes me a lot more profittable than the kids that bring their own drinks and snacks!

The manager did give us two passes to see another movie any time in the next year, we'll be back I'm sure, hopefully for an adult only showing.

The lesson - Sell Value, Create That Value, And protect that value with everything you have - cause kiddies - it's all you are selling - period!

The question… Are you sacrificing what could be a profitable demographic for the easy simple demographic? Tell me how you could remake your strategy to include and worship all of your demograophics, not  just the simple one? How would you do that…

Drink up me hearties… yo ho!

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