Just got off the phone with Gary from the 92nd Street Y. He was the most pleasant salesman I’ve ever spoken to, and should get some kind of raise or promotion, if anyone from the organization is reading. The conversation went something like this:
Amanda [sees “92nd Street Y” on Caller ID, figures it’s telemarketing, considers screening, picks up anyway because she’s procrastinating pestering a photographer today.]: This is Amanda?
Gary: Hi Amanda, this is Gary calling from the 92nd Street Y – I hope this is a good time?
Amanda: Good a time as any.
Gary: Good. I see you bought tickets to see Richard Goode and Jonathan Biss here at the 92nd Street Y a couple weeks ago; how’d you like that concert?
Amanda: Uhhhh….it was great. But I guess you should know I’m friends with Jonathan. [Note to readers: I did not–but probably should have for the Sake of Comedy–ask Gary if he was aware of the world-renowned “Life’s a Pitch” blog and perhaps familiar with our week-long group discussion in January.]
Gary [laughs]: Oh, OK. Well, did you know Jonathan’s playing at the Y again on April 17th? That’s why I was calling, actually.
Amanda: Uhhhh…I did know that, yes. If I’m in town, I’ll certainly go. I just can’t think about buying tickets now.
Gary: Great. Well, if you like keyboardists [love that] you should know Leon Fleisher and Jaime Laredo are here on March 2nd.
Amanda: Huh. I’ve never seen Leon Fleisher in concert.
Gary: Oh, well – it’s certainly worth it! Also, Shai Wosner–a real rising star–is here with the Tokyo String Quartet on March 13th. That should really be a fantastic concert.
Amanda: This is all good to know, I just go to a lot of concerts, so can’t commit right now. But thanks for calling.
I feel bad now, actually! Maybe I should call back and buy tickets for the Fleisher concert next week? And I thought it would be too insufferable to tell Gary that I’ve actually met Shai as well. I’ve never heard him play, either, so maybe I should call back and get tickets to that, too?
Those were good pitches. First, “you bought tickets to a concert with an artist who’s playing here again – did you know that?” An obvious move, but executed in a non-pushy way. Second, “you bought tickets to a concert with a piano legend and a piano ‘rising star’-type; here’s a concert with a legend, and here’s another with a rising star.” It was all very well-crafted and natural, and I appreciated it as both a publicist and a future ticket buyer. Usually, I’m listening to a monologue and can’t get a word in to tell the person that I’m really not their average ticket buyer. Sure, this was pretty basic, but at least it was a conversation, not a bombardment.
I love the idea of the personal sales pitch but boy he sure had a lot of concerts to mention. It’s “if you like this, you might like this” taken to the personal level via the phone. Very interesting approach. I wonder if I will get a call from Godiva saying they heard I like Neuhaus and wanted me to know that they use the same Cocoa farmer.
I still find it off-putting. And when I get pitches like this, they usually only find superficially related programs to push. “Oh, you liked this combination of instruments, you’ll probably like this other show that has a completely unrelated repertoire, but the same combination of instruments”. No. That’s not how it works.
The only telephone pitches that work for me at are from institutions that I’ve already had long relationships with, specifically my high school and college alma maters.
Don’t most organizations outsource calls like this to places like DCM. I worked at DCM for a few days a while back. They make sure to hire musicians or people with a relatively strong arts backgrounds so that the callers know what they’re talking about and don’t sound like boring telemarketers. They also told us to play to the customer’s interests while not being too pushy. It’s nice when a sales call can actually be pleasant and relevant to your interests!
This works and doesn’t work. I’ve gotten these people trying to sell me tickets to my own concerts! But one time, and god bless them for this, they sold me on a really expensive ticket for Turangalila — while I was still a student, mind — that was some of the best music making I have ever heard in my entire life.
I wonder if personal emails would feel less crazy. I am on the phone so rarely with strangers; I would never pick up such a call, whereas an actual email from Gary being like, hey Nico, we know you came to our Purim concert last year, do you want to come this year, might be kind of nice…?