How I would raise MGC membership and revenue

[oldguystudent]

Our MGC membership is down.  Way down.  We can all easily point fingers at the product on the field, but I'm going to ignore that aspect for the present.  I'm going to focus on a poster a few days ago that said when the athletic department called him for renewal, he said no, they didn't even try.  He even tried to actively give them the chance to sell him, and they simply hung up.

I was somewhat surprised when I learned how much people in the athletic department make.  It ain't much.  So we're kinda getting a you get what you pay for in terms of service and effort on this front.  So if I'm the sales manager here, I'm going to give them a chance to put some money in their pocket.  The cycle runs for 12 months, beginning November 1st, 2015 through October 31st, 2016.  Any person who is a mean green club member as of the start day is not eligible as a credit to this program.  Any person who is not a member, including those who have previously been members, but are not on November 1st, are eligible.

I'm not gonna look at number of members for this campaign.  I'm gonna look strictly for dollars.  So the day that new membership signup checks clear for a total of $125,000, BOOM! $12,500 goes into the pockets of the people selling the accounts.  That's 10%.  I'm increasing that percentage to 15 and 20 as the revenue increases.  I'm also assuming, conservatively, that for every $125 in new membership contributions, there will be $500 revenue in tickets, merchandise, and concessions.  The athletic department flat out keeps this money.

So look what the employees and the athletic department could earn at each milestone:

MGC Revenue	Ticket Revenue	Bonus %	Incentive Bonus	Net to AD
$125,000	$500,000	10%	$12,500	$612,500
$250,000	$500,000	15%	$18,750	$606,250
$500,000	$1,000,000	20%	$50,000	$1,200,000
$750,000	$1,000,000	20%	$50,000	$1,200,000
$1,000,000	$1,000,000	20%	$50,000	$1,200,000
	$4,000,000.00		$181,250.00	$4,818,750.00

The not currently well paid employees of the athletic department could, if they were to raise $1 million in new MGC memberships, pocket a hefty $181,250, a not insignificant amount of money for them.  Meanwhile, the athletic department nets a cool $4.8 million.  That's enough to pay a football coach, buy out a basketball coach, pay a new basketball coach, AND, I know we're dreaming here, but we may as well dream big, INSTALL ALL THE SEAT BACKS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR AND PROMISED.

Current athletic department employees don't see this as an attainable goal?  Don't want to put in the effort?  I bet for that kind of scratch, I could find people who do.

Put those $25 spiriki stickers in your pipe and smoke 'em.

In next week's lesson, boys and girls, we'll discuss renewal and retention bonuses.

 

Edited October 20, 2015 by oldguystudent

[NTAlum09]

Our MGC membership is down.  Way down.  We can all easily point fingers at the product on the field, but I'm going to ignore that aspect for the present.  I'm going to focus on a poster a few days ago that said when the athletic department called him for renewal, he said no, they didn't even try.  He even tried to actively give them the chance to sell him, and they simply hung up.

I was somewhat surprised when I learned how much people in the athletic department make.  It ain't much.  So we're kinda getting a you get what you pay for in terms of service and effort on this front.  So if I'm the sales manager here, I'm going to give them a chance to put some money in their pocket.  The cycle runs for 12 months, beginning November 1st, 2015 through October 31st, 2016.  Any person who is a mean green club member as of the start day is not eligible as a credit to this program.  Any person who is not a member, including those who have previously been members, but are not on November 1st, are eligible.

I'm not gonna look at number of members for this campaign.  I'm gonna look strictly for dollars.  So the day that new membership signup checks clear for a total of $125,000, BOOM! $12,500 goes into the pockets of the people selling the accounts.  That's 10%.  I'm increasing that percentage to 15 and 20 as the revenue increases.  I'm also assuming, conservatively, that for every $125 in new membership contributions, there will be $500 revenue in tickets, merchandise, and concessions.  The athletic department flat out keeps this money.

So look what the employees and the athletic department could earn at each milestone:

MGC Revenue	Ticket Revenue	Bonus %	Incentive Bonus	Net to AD
$125,000	$500,000	10%	$12,500	$612,500
$250,000	$500,000	15%	$18,750	$606,250
$500,000	$1,000,000	20%	$50,000	$1,200,000
$750,000	$1,000,000	20%	$50,000	$1,200,000
$1,000,000	$1,000,000	20%	$50,000	$1,200,000
	$4,000,000.00		$181,250.00	$4,818,750.00

The not currently well paid employees of the athletic department could, if they were to raise $1 million in new MGC memberships, pocket a hefty $181,250, a not insignificant amount of money for them.  Meanwhile, the athletic department nets a cool $4.8 million.  That's enough to pay a football coach, buy out a basketball coach, pay a new basketball coach, AND, I know we're dreaming here, but we may as well dream big, INSTALL ALL THE SEAT BACKS THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN PAID FOR AND PROMISED.

Current athletic department employees don't see this as an attainable goal?  Don't want to put in the effort?  I bet for that kind of scratch, I could find people who do.

Put those $25 spiriki stickers in your pipe and smoke 'em.

In next week's lesson, boys and girls, we'll discuss renewal and retention bonuses.

 

[oldguystudent]

So is complaceny

[Christopher Walker]

Hear, hear.

[forevereagle]

I like this. To add, there are other things that are not monetary that can be done to motivate people, but if we are looking at a lower paid group, then I would use those non-monetary incentives as a compliment to the commission approach outlined above. There are a lot of ways to crack this nut, but this is a simple and easy to understand approach that should yield some results. 

[letsgiveacheer]

About a week ago, I sent some money to the Mean Green Club. In response, here is what I received (with the amount blanked out, of course)

That's it!  No follow-up email, call, anything. It was not much money, but still...

A few years ago, I tried to buy tickets for the Ohio-North Texas game through our ticket office. I finally gave up and ordered them through Ohio's ticket office. Within a day, I was bombarded with invitations to join the Bobcat Club and to this day,  still receive news of their games and other activities.

No wonder we get frustrated.

In response to Oldguy's idea, I would question the legality of state employees working on commission. If the Mean Green Club was its own 501c3 entity, then this would not be a problem but most, if not all, professional fundraisers will not work on commission.

 

Order Confirmation - Monday, October 12, 2015

	Thanks James! Your order number is 239074

	 Mean Green Club Drive Year 16  Myself 

	       , , - 

	Payment Details - Thank you for your payment!





Edited October 20, 2015 by letsgiveacheer

[GMG24]

Don't give RV any ideas to help him retain his job

[oldguystudent]

 

In response to Oldguy's idea, I would question the legality of state employees working on commission. If the Mean Green Club was its own 501c3 entity, then this would not be a problem but most, if not all, professional fundraisers will not work on commission.

 

 

I did kinda' wonder about that, and I don't know the answer, but if you look at any coaching contract, they are laden with incentive bonuses.  Coaches are just as much state employees as anybody.  So you may not be able to do a strict commission like that, but you surely could construct something within whatever the compensation rules are.

And while we're playing the nomenclature game, these aren't commissions.  They're bonuses.  The employees already make an annual salary.  Their base annual income would in no way be contingent on any of this.

Don't give RV any ideas to help him retain his job

Why not?  What you're implying by that statement is that your only real bent with him is personal  That were he to suddenly hire the modern day incarnation of Knute Rockne, fill Apogee and the Super Pit to the brim with screaming fans, win multiple national championships across the board in the big 3 and non-revenue sports, you'd still want him gone. The conclusion that leads to is that you're less concerned with results than anybody.  You just want a particular person out of your life.

Edited October 20, 2015 by oldguystudent

[medpilot21]

I like Oldguy's point here, but I think the problem is bigger than just using incentives to get sales rolling? I like these ideas, and any ideas must certainly be considered at this point. The problem is more about perception. North Texas has had a monkey on it's back for years, and the damage done over the past decade has made the perception of NT worse. Many student athletes in the area would rather go to a smaller FCS school than go to NT? My daughter's softball position coach is a High School Senior in Keller and beast catcher for American Freedom Club Softball. She and her father have already visited Baylor, Texas A&M, and Stephen F. Austin. She didn't even consider North Texas as a contender?. I told her I would take her around campus myself and show her the softball facilities. She said "No offense, but we won't look at UNT". It's painfully obvious that is't all about the perception. Nothing I could say would make a difference, and it would be hypocritical for me to even attempt it.

I had been a loyal season ticket holder since 1997, and I was one of the many passionate in our Alumni Group. (Myself, Emmitt, FFR Rick, Zeke, The entire Hiatt Family, Rudy, Marshall, Lera, Melissa, Erin, and countless others) We spent our time doing anything and everything to give back to this program and we demonstrated our dedication to it. In return, we became involved in it and even had a voice that Darrell Dickey and Rick Villareal heard. It meant a lot to them to have Alums on the practice fields when our teams were going at it. Many of us remember when Brandon Kennedy was knocking OL's into the crowd as we watched close by, or Jamario Thomas skirting around the corner to run right by us at 80 MPH to score a practice touchdown. Harry and I were standing on the Fouts Field sidelines during practice, I walked up to Coach Kelvin Martin and asked "Who's that Johnny Quinn Kid who is running such great routes?" Those were winning years, and we were a part of it. That was more than enough to sell tickets and get people excited about North Texas. Was that going to be enough going forward?, of course not. It was the perception that we and the community mattered, and the Athletic Department understood how important those things were to all of us. Yes, times change, coaches come and go.. I get it. But the magic that was the North Texas Spirit has been lost to apathy and the "Give up" attitude of our Athletic Department. Today North Texas is larger than ever, with more students than ever, and more Alumni than ever. There is also less excitement and involvement than ever. I am no longer a season ticket holder as I lost faith and time for the show, and that is all it is now.. a bad show. Here is a simple idea.. If the NT AD really want to sell tickets, don't make the same mistakes over and over? The Athletic Department needs to hire a coach who needs the Alums, students, and fans to be involved again. Sell tickets after hiring a coach who tells everyone North Texas will be relevant again. Hire a coach who doesn't tell everyone how hard it is to recruit here?, but how important we are to high school athletes while standing in their living rooms. I dont care what ring he won at another school, win a ring at our school. Also, I don't want to go watch SMU practice again in the fall, and I can. Let us watch our own team practice, and not just in the freaking spring. How about we GIVE the damn tail section tickets to high schools and Junior colleges for home games! Make the tickets $5.00 for any other walk-up fans. Trinity and Allen played there last year almost sold the place out for a high school game. High school kids will come out if the tickets are free. That gets bodies in the stands. Those bodies buy food and drinks.. you will make money Mister UNT-AD. Emmitt and I sat in the tail section for that Allen-Trinity game and It wasn't a bad view at all.

My apologies to Oldguystudent for this rant. His thread is about selling MGC memberships and making money. I hope I've covered some of that. GMG!!!

 

GMG!!!

[oldguystudent]

It's all good, and we all want the same thing.  My points are improvement on basic operational function.  While I can sit here and tsk tsk with crossed librarian fingers at past hires, I don't have any knowledge or skill to do better.  But what I did my entire life before coming to UNT and finding myself living in a cubicle crunching numbers was going into depressed territories and growing them into power houses.  Step one is getting the people responsible for selling it excited about it.  Step two is indoctrinating them with service and relationships.  Step three has something to do with gnomes and dirty underwear.  Finally step four is big time profit!

[KRAM1]

About a week ago, I sent some money to the Mean Green Club. In response, here is what I received (with the amount blanked out, of course)

That's it!  No follow-up email, call, anything. It was not much money, but still...

A few years ago, I tried to buy tickets for the Ohio-North Texas game through our ticket office. I finally gave up and ordered them through Ohio's ticket office. Within a day, I was bombarded with invitations to join the Bobcat Club and to this day,  still receive news of their games and other activities.

No wonder we get frustrated.

In response to Oldguy's idea, I would question the legality of state employees working on commission. If the Mean Green Club was its own 501c3 entity, then this would not be a problem but most, if not all, professional fundraisers will not work on commission.

 

Order Confirmation - Monday, October 12, 2015

	Thanks James! Your order number is 239074

	 Mean Green Club Drive Year 16  Myself 

	       , , - 

	Payment Details - Thank you for your payment!





Thank you James. Appreciate your support.  It is exactly what I received as well shortly after my renewal donation.  A letter of thanks should follow within a short period of time.   I believe mine this year was signed by John Nitardy.

[greenit]

John Nittardy laughs at your post. 

[SilverEagle]

In response to Oldguy's idea, I would question the legality of state employees working on commission. If the Mean Green Club was its own 501c3 entity, then this would not be a problem but most, if not all, professional fundraisers will not work on commission.

 

      Coleman Feeley contacted me about buying a ticket package for one of the games. The tickets were in the wing section and were going to be given to a local group. After some conversation with him I found out that he was not working for the ticket office, but rather a private business that the ticket office contracts with. So in this case he probably was working on commission......but not for the University.

Edited October 21, 2015 by SilverEagle

[DeepGreen]

Reading oldguystudent's I just know the man was an incentified salesman of some sort.  I have always(privately) thought that anyone raising money for UNT Athletics should be either straight commission or bas salary, plus commission.  Now oldguystudent lays out a bonus program for MG Club memberships.  And that it is based on membership dollar$ Rather than numbers of MGC members.

Surely RV has thought of something like this.  Wait. Has RV ever ran a commissioned sales department.

[oldguystudent]

Reading oldguystudent's I just know the man was an incentified salesman of some sort.

I miss it a lot, but I had to give it up when I became a single parent.  I couldn't travel anymore, and that profession had me on a plane at LEAST twice a month.  Usually more.

[GMG24]

I did kinda' wonder about that, and I don't know the answer, but if you look at any coaching contract, they are laden with incentive bonuses.  Coaches are just as much state employees as anybody.  So you may not be able to do a strict commission like that, but you surely could construct something within whatever the compensation rules are.

And while we're playing the nomenclature game, these aren't commissions.  They're bonuses.  The employees already make an annual salary.  Their base annual income would in no way be contingent on any of this.

Why not?  What you're implying by that statement is that your only real bent with him is personal  That were he to suddenly hire the modern day incarnation of Knute Rockne, fill Apogee and the Super Pit to the brim with screaming fans, win multiple national championships across the board in the big 3 and non-revenue sports, you'd still want him gone. The conclusion that leads to is that you're less concerned with results than anybody.  You just want a particular person out of your life.

yes, he's been a piss poor AD. Your point?

[Christopher Walker]

I miss it a lot, but I had to give it up when I became a single parent.  I couldn't travel anymore, and that profession had me on a plane at LEAST twice a month.  Usually more.

Who the hell had the nerve to -1 this post!?

[oldguystudent]

Who the hell had the nerve to -1 this post!?

Recall that there is/was an alternate universe message board out there. On that message board was a list of people NOT to invite. I was #1 on that list. Seems the white hot loathing for our athletic director runs so deep on a personal level, that to say anything about him other than foot stomping fetish level fantasies of violently kicking him to the curb and into a lifetime of soup lines is to align yourself with 100% of everything he has ever said and done and further confirms that you're a mere teet sucking patsy of the 17 devoid of any personal or independent thought. This is war,don't you see. Line in the sand. With us or against us.