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Sheffield United FC sign up to TALENT Sport
England - 14 August, 2006
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English Sheffield United FC capitalise on promotion with new ticketing and CRM system from Software4Sport.
With their promotion to the English Premiershship, Sheffield United's tickets are in demand. Season ticket sales this year are the highest the club has ever seen at over 21 000, smashing their previous record by 7000, and demand for match tickets is reflected in the ever-lengthening queues.
In response, the club has bought a new ticketing system - TALENT Sport. The system will help the Blades to reduce queues through a soon-to-be-launched automated telephone sales facility.
As well as helping to improve the service for supporters, the system's built-in CRM functionality will help the club to capitalise on the sales and marketing opportunties promotion brings.
Sheffield United Football Club has gone live with the TALENT Sport ticketing and customer relationship management (CRM) system. The club is now using the system to sell tickets both online and in the ticket office, as well as to manage their corporate sales and marketing operations and track loyalty. In coming weeks, the club will roll out a new automated ticket sales line.
Developed by Software4Sport, part of UK-based Computer Software Group plc, TALENT Sport is used by clubs such as Newcastle United FC, Liverpool FC, Rangers FC, Manchester City FC, Reading FC and Leeds United FC, as well as a range of other football, rugby and cricket clubs.
Mark Fenoughty, Chief Operating Officer for Sheffield United explains why they chose the system , “Promotion represents a big opportunity for us. We wanted a ticketing system with good, built-in CRM and corporate sales management to help us capitalise on this. After evaluating the different systems on the market we concluded that TALENT Sport was the best system to help us achieve this goal."
"We were also very impressed with TALENT Sport's automated telephone sales and web sales facilities. One of the key reasons we chose TALENT Sport though was the Software4Sport team and their vision for taking the software forward ."
The system went live at the club over the summer. So how did the implementation go? Mark says, “There were a few teething problems as you might expect - transferring the data from our old system to TALENT Sport was harder than we anticipated - but the Software4Sport team went beyond the call of duty to sort it out on time for us and have been really helpful, enthusiastic and professional.”
Targeted marketing
In a sports club, there are thousands of fans pouring through the gates every week. How do you pick out the people who'd be interested in your latest promotion from the crowd? TALENT Sport's key advantage is that it integrates ticketing with customer relationship management (CRM) functionality, so clubs can build up a detailed picture of who their customers are and then communicate with them effectively.
Glenn Jackson, Managing Director of Software4Sport, says “Many clubs have multiple systems in place – one to manage ticketing, one for CRM, another for corporate sales. This can mean you have an incomplete view of your customers and it can be a nightmare trying to keep all the systems up to date. With TALENT Sport, it covers ticketing, web sales, CRM, merchandise and corporate sales, marketing and more in one package. It can also be integrated to external systems such as smartcard, accounts or retail systems. This means you have one fully complete view of your customers - you can analyse their demographics, attendance, merchandise purchases, ticket purchases, loyalty, whether they prefer to buy online or in the shop, which are your top customers.... As a result you can be more targeted in your marketing.”
Mark Fenoughty says. "Before we had one system for ticketing and a separate system for corporate sales. As a result, it was difficult to track what our customers were buying from us. With TALENT Sport, it is one system that all of the ticket, sales and marketing teams will use. We will be able to direct our marketing to the right people for the right offer. The corporate sales team will now also be able to see instantly what tickets are available and there will be less manual intervention required."
Automated telephone sales line
Later this season the club plans to introduce an automated telephone sales line. Glenn Jackson, Managing Director of Software4Sport says, “In a sports club, the ticket office faces incredibly tight timescales in which to sell thousands of tickets. TALENT Sport’s Automated Telephone Sales facility helps to reduce queues by channelling routine ticket purchase calls through an automated route. Another advantage is that fans can book tickets after the ticket office is closed - it's a great alternative for people who haven't got access to the website. It will also bring financial benefits to the club as instead of having to pay for and train temporary staff, they can simply order as many lines as they need in busy periods and turn them off when the queues have gone down.”
Future plans
Mark concludes, “We now have the system up and running. In the next couple of months we want to roll out a range of other projects - such as kiosks and integrating TALENT Sport to our retail and lottery systems. It is a really exciting time for Sheffield United and the new system is helping us to make the most of our opportunities.” ax
With their promotion to the English Premiershship, Sheffield United's tickets are in demand. Season ticket sales this year are the highest the club has ever seen at over 21 000, smashing their previous record by 7000, and demand for match tickets is reflected in the ever-lengthening queues.
In response, the club has bought a new ticketing system - TALENT Sport. The system will help the Blades to reduce queues through a soon-to-be-launched automated telephone sales facility.
As well as helping to improve the service for supporters, the system's built-in CRM functionality will help the club to capitalise on the sales and marketing opportunties promotion brings.
Sheffield United Football Club has gone live with the TALENT Sport ticketing and customer relationship management (CRM) system. The club is now using the system to sell tickets both online and in the ticket office, as well as to manage their corporate sales and marketing operations and track loyalty. In coming weeks, the club will roll out a new automated ticket sales line.
Developed by Software4Sport, part of UK-based Computer Software Group plc, TALENT Sport is used by clubs such as Newcastle United FC, Liverpool FC, Rangers FC, Manchester City FC, Reading FC and Leeds United FC, as well as a range of other football, rugby and cricket clubs.
Mark Fenoughty, Chief Operating Officer for Sheffield United explains why they chose the system , “Promotion represents a big opportunity for us. We wanted a ticketing system with good, built-in CRM and corporate sales management to help us capitalise on this. After evaluating the different systems on the market we concluded that TALENT Sport was the best system to help us achieve this goal."
"We were also very impressed with TALENT Sport's automated telephone sales and web sales facilities. One of the key reasons we chose TALENT Sport though was the Software4Sport team and their vision for taking the software forward ."
The system went live at the club over the summer. So how did the implementation go? Mark says, “There were a few teething problems as you might expect - transferring the data from our old system to TALENT Sport was harder than we anticipated - but the Software4Sport team went beyond the call of duty to sort it out on time for us and have been really helpful, enthusiastic and professional.”
Targeted marketing
In a sports club, there are thousands of fans pouring through the gates every week. How do you pick out the people who'd be interested in your latest promotion from the crowd? TALENT Sport's key advantage is that it integrates ticketing with customer relationship management (CRM) functionality, so clubs can build up a detailed picture of who their customers are and then communicate with them effectively.
Glenn Jackson, Managing Director of Software4Sport, says “Many clubs have multiple systems in place – one to manage ticketing, one for CRM, another for corporate sales. This can mean you have an incomplete view of your customers and it can be a nightmare trying to keep all the systems up to date. With TALENT Sport, it covers ticketing, web sales, CRM, merchandise and corporate sales, marketing and more in one package. It can also be integrated to external systems such as smartcard, accounts or retail systems. This means you have one fully complete view of your customers - you can analyse their demographics, attendance, merchandise purchases, ticket purchases, loyalty, whether they prefer to buy online or in the shop, which are your top customers.... As a result you can be more targeted in your marketing.”
Mark Fenoughty says. "Before we had one system for ticketing and a separate system for corporate sales. As a result, it was difficult to track what our customers were buying from us. With TALENT Sport, it is one system that all of the ticket, sales and marketing teams will use. We will be able to direct our marketing to the right people for the right offer. The corporate sales team will now also be able to see instantly what tickets are available and there will be less manual intervention required."
Automated telephone sales line
Later this season the club plans to introduce an automated telephone sales line. Glenn Jackson, Managing Director of Software4Sport says, “In a sports club, the ticket office faces incredibly tight timescales in which to sell thousands of tickets. TALENT Sport’s Automated Telephone Sales facility helps to reduce queues by channelling routine ticket purchase calls through an automated route. Another advantage is that fans can book tickets after the ticket office is closed - it's a great alternative for people who haven't got access to the website. It will also bring financial benefits to the club as instead of having to pay for and train temporary staff, they can simply order as many lines as they need in busy periods and turn them off when the queues have gone down.”
Future plans
Mark concludes, “We now have the system up and running. In the next couple of months we want to roll out a range of other projects - such as kiosks and integrating TALENT Sport to our retail and lottery systems. It is a really exciting time for Sheffield United and the new system is helping us to make the most of our opportunities.” ax
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