(I'm not going to say anything about posting again after another long absence, because I will doom myself once again to failure. Feel free to ruminate on the pyschological meanings of my shortcomings, though I would personally prefer to blame the whole thing on too many commitments in too short days--and nights.)
Here's an interesting post from The Consumerist today:
We have a mini-subscription to the New York Philharmonic and used to constantly receive solicitation calls from the "Friends of the New York Philharmonic"...Each time they called, we'd ask to be taken us off their lists before blocking the number. Those sneaky audiophiles, they'd call back from a different number and pretend we'd never requested anything other than another call...
The experience was annoying enough to keep us from ever being friends with the New York Philharmonic, even if they give us their Cool Ranch Doritos and invite us over to play Grand Theft Auto. No, they blew that chance. Take note, symphony orchestras, your pushy tactics won't win you any friends.
That's actually the editor's response to a reader submission, which alleges that the marketing department from the Boston Symphony Orchestra fraudulently signed him up for a $25 donation that he had never agreed to give, and then started harassing him to pony up. (Go to the link for the whole tale.)
Now, in the race to fill seats and raise dough, there must be a better way to build a relationship with people who have ventured in your front door than this, no? (I will say that I myself have been the recipient of some very aggressive NYP repeat calls over the years.)
Comments