{"id":429,"date":"2010-02-26T12:07:59","date_gmt":"2010-02-26T12:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=429"},"modified":"2010-02-26T12:07:59","modified_gmt":"2010-02-26T12:07:59","slug":"relating_publicly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2010\/02\/relating_publicly\/","title":{"rendered":"Relating publicly"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just got off the phone with Gary from the 92nd Street Y<\/a>. 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: <\/p>\n

Amanda<\/b> [sees “92nd Street Y” on Caller ID, figures it’s telemarketing, considers screening, picks up anyway because she’s procrastinating pestering a photographer today.]:<\/b> This is Amanda?
Gary:<\/b> Hi Amanda, this is Gary calling from the 92nd Street Y – I hope this is a good time?
Amanda:<\/b> Good a time as any.
Gary:<\/b> 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:<\/font><\/b> 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<\/a> in January.]<\/i>
Gary [laughs]: <\/b>Oh, OK. Well, did you know Jonathan’s playing at the Y again on April 17th<\/a>? That’s why I was calling, actually.
Amanda: <\/b>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: <\/b>Great. Well, if you like keyboardists [love that]<\/i> you should know Leon Fleisher and Jaime Laredo are here on March 2nd<\/a>.
Amanda:<\/b> Huh. I’ve never seen Leon Fleisher in concert.
Gary: <\/b>Oh, well – it’s certainly worth it! Also, Shai Wosner–a real rising star–is here with the Tokyo String Quartet on March 13th<\/a>. That should really be a fantastic concert.
Amanda: <\/b>This is all good to know, I just go to a lot of concerts, so can’t commit right now. But thanks for calling. <\/p>\n

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?<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-429","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}