Transcript
Speaker: As digital transformation continues to impact businesses, the middle market is faced with choices on various opportunities to pursue. Analytics are a tool that can drive growth but come with its own set of challenges. How does a professional sports franchise use analytics to its advantage?
Speaker: Welcome to the Market that Moves America, a podcast from the National Center for the Middle Market, which will educate you about the challenges facing mid -sized companies and help you take advantage of new opportunities. Welcome to the Market that Moves America podcast. I'm Doug Farin, Managing Director of the National Center for the Middle Market at the Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.
Speaker: We are the nation's leading research organization studying mid -sized companies which account for a third of private sector employment and GDP and the lion's share of economic growth. It is truly the market that moves America. The National Center for the Middle Market is a partnership between Ohio State and CHUB.
Speaker: Today I'm joined by Jeff Eldersfeld, the Director of Business Strategy for the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Blue Jackets are a professional National Hockey League franchise based right here in Columbus, Ohio. Jeff has been part of the team's business organization for over nine years and we're happy to have him join the podcast today.
Speaker: Great. Thanks, Doug. Glad to be here. So why don't we just start by having you tell us a little bit about your background, kind of how you ended up with the Blue Jackets. Yeah, I'd be happy to do that. So I grew up in Michigan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and attended Hope College for my undergraduate degree. I played football there. That was a big reason why I decided to go to a Division III school, get a chance to play.
Speaker: when I knew Division I was going to work out. While I was at Hope, I got a business degree. It was kind of a generic degree, but I did end up taking some classes along the lines of marketing strategy, Excel, how to be good at Excel with macros and pivot tables and things like that.
Speaker: While I was at Hope, being on the football team afforded me some opportunities to meet with members in the community. When I was fortunate enough to meet someone through a connection at the Chamber of Commerce, Jeff Abahara, who introduced me to a sister when she was in town once, and they had an internship available at the Big 12 Conference, which is where she worked. So moved down to Dallas after I graduated from Hope College.
Speaker: and had an internship there for nine months. And I kind of became the Excel guru in the Big 12 office. So it was a great opportunity. I think a lot of the senior leadership at the Big 12 leaned on me for certain reports. So I'd produce reports every week and try to make them better and give them what they needed so that they could make decisions off of what I was doing.
Speaker: What were, what kind of reports? I mean, were you doing like attendance? Yes, attendance. What were the things they were interested in? Even like box scores and things like that. So just more statistics data, ratings data too for the Fox Sports affiliates, excuse me, down there in the Dallas area.
Speaker: anything that they needed help with, um, from a technology perspective, granted I wasn't necessarily it, but I could help out with getting things ready for presentations, Excel, Excel expertise and things along those lines. So I translate that back to, you know, taking a class at hope college, um, and just developing an expertise there and then using the internship to, to keep going down that road.
Speaker: So the internship was over within a year and I was trying to apply for jobs and really the only jobs that were available within the athletic space were sales jobs. And it wasn't really something that I wanted to do so I leaned on a couple of mentors down there from the Cotton Bowl, Rick Baker.
Speaker: And some others at the Big 12 and just kind of asked their advice on what should I do next? And Rick Baker actually recommended to go to Ohio University for their sports administration Graduate program and another appeal to me with that program was they offered a dual degree with Masters of Business along with a sports degree so I ended up applying and getting in and Then was there for two years
Speaker: Um, was still crafting and cultivating my, what I would call Excel knowledge, but now it's kind of evolved to be more, uh, database oriented, research oriented. And then that afforded me a job with the LA Clippers, um, as a database marketing and research coordinator. So, uh, moved out there site unseen. That was, that was pretty exciting, but, uh, definitely worth it. And then I was there for four years. Um, took on more responsibility as, as my time there, um, increased.
Speaker: Ended up working with email, with website, with social media, and then moved back to the Midwest here with the Blue Jackets. And I've really been doing kind of the same thing. I've gotten a larger staff, which I'm very thankful for the Blue Jackets for investing in that.
Speaker: They've also invested in technology. So a CRM system, a database warehouse. So it houses all the information that we use to analyze. So just a lot more resources and things right at your fingertip as it relates to technology and staff. And I'm really happy with the way things are going. Sure. That sounds really interesting. So a lot of students that I come across here at Fisher and just people in general, I think are really curious about what it's like to work in the sports industry. Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, so you've had a couple of different experiences. Can you kind of tell us what that's been like? Sure. Like things you like, maybe things you don't like so much. I mean, you mentioned that sales is the primary entry point, but you've had a different path. Exactly.
Speaker: So I think when you boil it down, sports is essentially a business. There's maybe not as many resources as bigger companies, as I'm sure you know, being mid market here. So the main difference I would say with Los Angeles and Columbus was market size, obviously. And in LA, it was more like who was the opponent that the LA Clippers were playing. And granted, we weren't a good team at the time that I was there.
Speaker: So we had to get pretty strategic and creative with some of the offers and initiatives we had. So it forced us to kind of think outside the box. So that's kind of where I would say started developing some creativity with how we went about things. As far as Columbus, the team didn't start out so well when I got here. So it was a little tough, but I was in a similar market in Los Angeles. So just made sure we were doing all the little things right. And then ultimately now where we're at, the team's a lot better and there's
Speaker: bigger demand so we're able to capitalize on that just because we keep doing the little things right and once the team starts playing better then
Speaker: All the analytics go up, more people to your website, more people interested in tickets and all that sort of thing. Right, right. So you alluded a little bit to the similarities between maybe a business organization within a professional sports team and a middle market company having to do more with less. I mean, it sounds like you're finding that to be true. Yes. We have to stretch resources and can you describe that maybe a little bit more?
Speaker: Yeah, sure. So I think there's going to be more resources probably for bigger corporations. I mean, our staff size, I'm very thankful for how large it is. But when you compare it to anything like Nationwide or Huntington or anything along those lines, it pales in comparison. So a lot of what we do is try to create areas where there's quick wins. So we'll understand who's attending games. We've got full season ticket holders, half, quarter, mini plan buyers, even single game buyers.
Speaker: Our ultimate goal is to try to get single game buyers to buy multiple single games and then plans and things along those lines.
Speaker: We have essentially created in our minds a database of what we want to do and how we want to progress those people to that next stage. So with the resources that we have, we very simply define what those stages are, who those people are, and then target them with specific messaging and try to get them to ultimately buy a larger plan and then ultimately become a full season ticket holder. So what are some of the things that you would segment on?
Speaker: age, household income, kind of like typical demographics. Yes, exactly. It kind of depends. We use a company called Live Analytics. It's an affiliate of Ticketmaster. And they work with a third party called Axiom. Axiom is one of the largest data aggregators in the world. And we are able to essentially give Ticketmaster Live Analytics data and then they send data back to us based on an append
Speaker: And it can be upwards of 300 additional data points, like you just mentioned. So, you know, what, how old these people are, where they live, that sort of thing. We have to be careful. It's not like we want to go after people just because they're a certain age or they're married or whatnot. But it may, it may help us tweak our messaging. So we might have pictures of a family if we know that they have kids at home or something like that.
Speaker: So it helps with marketing for sure. So it sounds like most of that is based off of maybe ticket sales or attending games. Are there other types of data that you collect that might not be as obvious to people? Activity within the arena? Yeah, activity within the arena. So one of the biggest things that I like to focus on are building seats 19 ,200.
Speaker: We want to be at that number every single game as best we can but If we're at nineteen thousand two hundred We're not really able to tell most times like who all those people are So we have to employ some some data capture strategies in the in the arena to try to understand who's in the bowl So we'll do some text message campaigns get people to text in chance to win something We'll do t -shirts jerseys anything along those lines. We have a Wi -Fi system so that when
Speaker: It's a free system, and all people have to do is just submit their email address or sign in through Facebook, and they can access Wi -Fi during the game. So those are just two ways that we're collecting data on people that are at games, and people that, honestly, they may not even have been the ticket buyer. So we didn't know they were at the game. So I look at that, and I think really try to enhance our in -game experience. And then even after the game, we'll send a survey to those people, too, asking them how their experience was.
Speaker: And based on the questions that they fill out in that survey, we can then quantify or qualify, are they a better lead than someone who didn't take the survey or didn't even come to the game or submit their data. So that's another level of segmentation that we like to get to. So I guess the next obvious question would be, what about privacy and data security? I'm sure that's a big concern for you as well.
Speaker: Yeah, it is. And I think there are a lot of laws that are coming in into the fold right now. California has some, Europe has some. So we're just trying to work really diligently with our legal team to make sure our privacy policy is updated.
Speaker: My philosophy is if someone's at the game, we're sending them a post -game survey. It's a service -related piece. At that point, any response we can follow up with just to see how their experience was, and we're not necessarily sending anything to people that would be
Speaker: unsolicited to that extent. So all the leads and the data that we capture is directly from the consumer. We're not buying it from third parties. Um, like live analytics that I mentioned earlier, uh, we have the person's initial data. We, we just use the appends to try to help us understand profiling. So what does our quarter season plan holder look like as compared to our full season plan holder? And then our full season plan holder as compared to our single game buyer.
Speaker: So we stay within the realm of privacy laws and all that there is to it. And it's definitely something we have to stand top of for sure. So other than live analytics, are there other tools that you guys utilize? Yes, definitely. I mean, live analytics is one that's really just gives us data. But in order for us to visualize that data, we have to use programs like Tableau.
Speaker: So we use Tableau a lot. And then we have analysts on the team that are very good with SQL. And so they can then write code that helps bring the data from Live Analytics into Tableau and visualize it. We also use Eloqua. It's a marketing automation platform. And with Eloqua, we can place a tag on our website, on bluejackets .com, so that when we send emails out and they click an email,
Speaker: and go to our website, we know what pages that person looks at once they're on our website. It's only for our website. Again, this isn't the privacy policy. And we do not get invasive as far as like, you know, we saw you were on this page. It just helps us craft messaging better.
Speaker: In terms of the people that are running these programs, are you recruiting specifically for people skilled in these tools or are you training them or some combination? I think one of the things we always look at is just the talent crunch that a lot of mid -sized companies face, so I'd be curious to understand how you build that team.
Speaker: and get them the skills they need to be effective. That's a great question. I think, as you mentioned, off the top, I've been with the Blue Jackets for over nine years now. And it's nice to see a steady progression from when I came to the Blue Jackets to now. Obviously, my roles changed slightly. We've gotten more staff. But I would relate that back to your question, saying, so when we hire someone from an entry level position.
Speaker: Like back in 2010, that person is way different than they are today. So I think the skills that we're able to capture now as compared to eight years ago are night and day. So people are coming in with Tableau experience. They're experts in Microsoft Excel. So it just helps us hit the ground running once we hire somebody new.
Speaker: But to answer your point too, a lot of what we do can be taught. So when I look to hire somebody, I look more for, are they curious? Are they willing to push the envelope and ask questions? That sort of thing. Are they inquisitive? Things along those lines. Because we can teach Excel, we can teach Tableau, even SQL, and even the data sources that we have in our warehouse.
Speaker: So, um, but yeah, to me, it's more we have, we have the, uh, the software, um, the resources we can teach you up, but the applicants, the applicant pool from eight years ago to today is completely different. Sure. So these are all great upsides and positives around the area of analytics, but I'm sure it comes with its own set of challenges. Can you talk about like some of the common things that you face
Speaker: that are either issues, barriers, can cause problems. I mean, I'm sure you have some of those examples. Sure. I mean, just off the top of my head, I'm thinking the sources that we have in our warehouse. Oftentimes, you just have to validate the data to make sure it's accurate. And that's usually us working with our CRM vendor and data warehouse vendor right when they're making that integration.
Speaker: making sure that it matches our ticketing system. Because our ticketing system essentially pushes data into the warehouse, and we want to make sure that it mirrors each other, so then we can effectively use the warehouse. So every time that there's a new integration, we have to make sure that that data is accurate. It takes a little bit of time, a lot of troubleshooting. And I think that's also another challenge too, is that when a report is asked, sometimes it's not too clear how long it's going to take. You have to kind of figure it out as you go. A lot of the things that we've done
Speaker: have never been done before. Our analysts department, our two analysts that we have, they've only been at the organization for two years. A lot of what they're doing is reporting and doing things that we've done for our company's history.
Speaker: And so sometimes they have to learn like, Hey, how was this done? Um, and those people that could, could teach and train like the person's not working with the company any longer. So you've got to reverse engineer certain things. Yeah, sure. Um, so that's a challenge. Um, and then just, you know, making sure that we're, we're setting expectations appropriately. So if a report is requested, making sure that we communicate clearly with the executive team, um, here's the timeframe we're looking at, uh, you know, this is going to take this, this many hours. Um,
Speaker: Something along those lines and then of another request comes in saying you know, how should we prioritize and make sure that we're all on the same page with what needs to be done? Yeah, so there's a cultural component too with the organization kind of all being on the same page. Has it been your experience that people kind of trust the data and rely on it or do you have to sell it sometimes when maybe there's a
Speaker: Well, I've been here a long time. My gut says something different. I don't believe this data. I mean, do you see some of that too? A little bit. And I think that's where the troubleshooting comes in. And oftentimes it's just working with our vendor core software. They're the ones that implemented our CRM system and our data warehouse. So we've got a really good working relationship with them. So if we notice something's off, it usually is because we may be doing something new. We didn't tell them that this is what we wanted or something along those lines.
Speaker: And then there's just a back and forth and we're in regular communication with them to make sure it's accurate But that learning curve internally for the blue jackets That's kind of been a steady progression since I've been with the team early on it was probably more inquisitive and you know questioning and I'd say now it's we're getting to the point where there's not as many questions and if there are
Speaker: Everyone's kind of on the same page with how to understand like okay what the issue is I can articulate and and they understand instead of like saying the data is not accurate because oftentimes what we really want to do is just You never want to say like get a ballpark figure or something along those lines But the data can still craft a story if it's not 100 % accurate so if you can just get to a point where you can understand the theme and
Speaker: then a decision could be made. So you may not even need all of the data to understand fully what you want. So if you're looking out in the next, say three to five years, what do you think the future of analytics is headed? Do you think things like AI, do you think, you know, new tools, what do you kind of see as the next kind of frontier in this area and how it might impact you and your team?
Speaker: That's a good question. I think that there are a lot of vendors that are trying to gain a foothold in the space. I don't know that sports is the right industry for certain elements like that because sports in general,
Speaker: Take the Bluejacks, for example. We're not necessarily gonna be the ones that are gonna lead a charge with doing AI. First, it's probably cost prohibitive. And being a smaller market team, professional team, we don't have a budget of maybe the New York Knicks or Madison Square Garden or something along those lines.
Speaker: So that's probably a challenge, just generally speaking. There are teams that have invested heavily in analytics, and they have a staff of 15 people, and we have two analysts and a staff of maybe eight. So it just kind of comes into, I guess, what are other industries doing?
Speaker: and keeping tabs on that. So there's conferences that I'll go to just to make sure that if there's anything that we could fit within our business model and it makes sense financially and it makes sense from a business perspective, then we'll jump on board that. But I don't think that there's necessarily anything from an AI perspective. It's got to make a good business case for us, too. So for investing time and money on it, we've got to have a good return. And some of the things that I'm seeing right now
Speaker: I don't really feel like there's a good return on it as of yet.
Speaker: Okay, so I'll wrap up with a question around if I'm a mid -sized business owner or CEO and I'm thinking about my own company's analytics, what advice would you have for a company that is looking to start a team or start looking deeper into analytics or strengthen what they have today? Where would you start? What would you do? So I think the first place to start would be just to assess the overall scope of data that you have access to.
Speaker: So from the Blue Jackets perspective, it's people buying tickets. So assessing that database. What do we have? We have names. Do we have email addresses? Do we have an email system that we can market to these people with? I think that's probably the first thing that should be looked at because it's a really good investment. You're sending emails to people.
Speaker: You can push them along the buying process and get a return really quickly. So taking a look at what data you have and then trying to identify quick wins that you can get from it.
Speaker: And then I think at that point you start to build staff around that. And I don't know that you necessarily need to even hire analysts off the bat. I think you just need to start trying to understand the data that you have access to and get into a place where you have a good working day -to -day and then analysts can get there and get involved.
Speaker: OK, terrific. Very interesting discussion. I know the next time I go to a game, I'm going to be thinking a lot differently about all the data that I'm getting at. Yeah, right. Think about that. So I want to thank Jeff for being here with us today. And for more information about the team and the Columbus Blue Jackets, you can check out their website at www .nhl .com forward slash Blue Jackets.
Speaker: As always, thank you for listening to The Market That Moves America. Never miss a new episode. You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever a podcast can be found. Or you can subscribe and learn more about us at our website, which is middlemarketcenter .org.
