Remembering the Customer

It seems the biggest problem with businesses today is delivering quality service. We hear and see the failures continually. It seems that the days of "the customer is always right" idiom has died. I actually think the problem is much deeper than that however, I believe the failures in delivering good service are a result of forgetting who the customer is. The Red Bulls provide a prime example today.



The press surrounding the newly redesigned Red Bull Park has been incredible (of course it is like a Bigfoot sighting).Today's SportsBusiness Journal has an article lauding Red Bull management's decision to move the press corp closer to the action.
Don Muret reports:

"The trend in sports is for teams to design press boxes in the upper regions of their new arenas and stadiums. In the NBA, clubs are moving beat writers farther from the court to free up space on the floor so they can sell $1,000 courtside seats.

By contrast, Red Bull Park, when it opens sometime in 2009 in Harrison, N.J., will position the media in the stadium’s sweetest spot, 100 seats at midpitch behind the team benches."

"In addition, stadium architect Rossetti is designing what project officials are calling the “Flash Zone,” a controlled space on the west side near the entrance of the tunnel leading to the locker rooms where reporters can get quick postgame interviews as the players leave the field.

The open-air interview area will be just a few steps from the media seats, McGowan said. Red Bull Park will also contain a traditional interview room beneath the stands and auxiliary press space on the second of two suite levels."

The article goes on:

"“We’ve got a great group of writers in New York, but they really can’t hear and fully capture the atmosphere of the game,” said Red Bulls spokesman Andrew McGowan. “This way, they will be close to the action and be able to better describe it.”"

"McGowan acknowledged that the Red Bulls could have generated significant revenue from selling the media seats as season tickets at a premium price."

So what's wrong with that? Nothing I guess, until you look at an organization that hasn't forgotten who the customer is. DC United has foregone revenue of their own in prime seats at RFK. Giving group rates to the Black and Red's supporter groups Barra Brava, The Screaming Eagles and La Norte, field level at mid field. Not only did they give up full ticket price the Front Office also decided to create a buffer zone behind the Barra Brava sections. The team does not sell tickets there so fans who want to sit and watch the game aren't disgruntled when they can't see over the standing supporters. In David Montgomery"s Post article, "United Force", he recounts how at first drums were banned from RFK.

"But Kevin Payne, president of D.C. United, did understand. "This is not other sports," says Payne. "Rather than have a band getting up occasionally to play a rehearsed song, our fans make their own music." Deny this urge, and the cost to a franchise in passion, atmosphere, noise and ticket sales is incalculable."

At DC United not only is the customer always right, the customer is always the customer.