by Andy
August 18, 2010
Today I attended a meeting at the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce to hear Rich McKay speak on sports, the business of sports, and more. Rich McKay is President of the Atlanta Falcons who reports directly to Arthur Blank (Falcons owner and co-founder of Home Depot). This interested me for a variety of reasons. First and foremost, I’m a sports nut and nine-year season ticket holder. I’m the fan franchises die for. Loyal to a fault. Buy everything. Defend vigorously. Re-up my tickets every year.
I do this even after our star quarterback goes to prison on Federal dog fighting charges. I do this even after our coach bolts mid-season to the Razorbacks. I do this even after ticket prices skyrocket while personal income falls. I do this while owners and players whine about revenues and threaten a work stoppage.
Loyal customers are brand junkies in that we make irrational decisions. We don’t use coupons. We don’t compare or price shop. Rather, we blindly buy as we are told, which creates recurrent, high-margin volume they count on year after year. Sports junkies are even worse. We keep coming back no matter how much it may hurt. I digress.
The real question I wanted to hear Rich McKay answer was, “What did the Falcons do to pull itself out of the simultaneous Vick dog fighting and Bobby Petrino coaching disasters and, more personally, Arthur Blank’s decision to bring in someone else to replace you as General Manager in the wake of all this?”
This Falcons tsunami was not too far from the economic tsunami affecting us today. Think about it. Corporate morale is dreadfully low, Wall Street is perceived as corrupt and untrustworthy, government debt is rising faster than GNP; Americans are spending at their lowest rate in decades.
So how did the Falcons get beyond this so fast and so effectively and is there learning we can apply to business?
His answer was pretty clear. Communications and commitment. First they circled the wagons and believed in themselves. From there, they began the constant discussion of focusing on the future. They recommitted to their employees that their jobs are not at risk and kept open and transparent lines of communication. Then, they executed a strategic plan to focus on tomorrow rather than dwell on today. They led the conversation, or at least tried to, rather than become a victim of it.
Their primary goal was to first reassure the base – employees, season ticket holders, sponsors – that the past is behind them and this will soon become a footnote. They proved their commitment by giving a total facelift of the Dome. They did not raise ticket prices that year.
Then, they moved the conversation toward the upcoming draft and rookie Matt Ryan. They talked about the free agent acquisition of Michael Turner from San Diego. They talked about their new coach Mike Smith and a commitment to defense. They lauded their new GM, Thomas Dimitroff. In short time, the past was behind us loyalists too – and we were rewarded with two back-to-back winning seasons, the first time ever in Falcons history.
There is rarely a strong play to call when it’s fourth and long. Other franchises would have punted (sold), but the Falcons went for it with the only weapon they had – communications.
The home opener is September 19th. Look for me in section 117 wearing my new Falcons jersey.
Love the sports allegories. Very good point about Sports brand loyalty, although even that has it limits
Love the sports allegories. Very good point about Sports brand loyalty, although even that has it limits
I believe another key to the Falcons’ recovery was learning from their mistakes. A lot of enterprises pay lip service to this notion. But the Falcons methodically studied their failures, identified the root causes and dedicated themselves to not only correcting them but (most importantly) not repeating them.
In life (as in business and sports) mistakes are made and failures occur. It’s inevitable. One key to success is learning from those mistakes. Another is to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Winning teams don’t make the same mistake twice. They’ve learned not to. And they don’t.
I believe another key to the Falcons’ recovery was learning from their mistakes. A lot of enterprises pay lip service to this notion. But the Falcons methodically studied their failures, identified the root causes and dedicated themselves to not only correcting them but (most importantly) not repeating them.
In life (as in business and sports) mistakes are made and failures occur. It’s inevitable. One key to success is learning from those mistakes. Another is to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Winning teams don’t make the same mistake twice. They’ve learned not to. And they don’t.
Nice article and excellent points. My one burning question though is…. which jersey? The Falcons jersey you buy and wear to the game will speak volumes about you. It’s your brand… so who will be representing you? Think long and hard about that decision.
Nice article and excellent points. My one burning question though is…. which jersey? The Falcons jersey you buy and wear to the game will speak volumes about you. It’s your brand… so who will be representing you? Think long and hard about that decision.
Arthur Blank
Arthur Blank
From one sports junkie to another, I loved it. And I GET IT! Thanks for putting it in a way that makes sense for all us team-centric business folk. Sounds like it was a great session at the Commerce. Now if only our government, especially here in the state of CA, would take a lesson from this. I would really like to know when the state is going to pass our budget this year — and to hear from them how they plan to do it. The state may be able to pay us with IOUs, but we can’t pay our taxes and mortgage with IOUs. I don’t know how much longer CA “fans” will be loyal….
Great post!
From one sports junkie to another, I loved it. And I GET IT! Thanks for putting it in a way that makes sense for all us team-centric business folk. Sounds like it was a great session at the Commerce. Now if only our government, especially here in the state of CA, would take a lesson from this. I would really like to know when the state is going to pass our budget this year — and to hear from them how they plan to do it. The state may be able to pay us with IOUs, but we can’t pay our taxes and mortgage with IOUs. I don’t know how much longer CA “fans” will be loyal….
Great post!
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Thank you for another informative blog. Where else could I get that kind of info written in such a perfect way? I have a project that I am just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such information.
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