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Podcasts Mission Admissions Episode 1
Treating Everybody Like They’re the Most Important Person
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Enrollify - mission Admission 1 -
[00:00:00] Jeremy: Hey everybody. This is Jeremy Tiers from tutor collegiate strategies, and you're about to check [00:00:15] out the first episode of the mission admissions podcast. A show that's designed to help higher ed become better recruiters, communicators, and managers. each week, I'll introduce you to an industry [00:00:30] leader or difference maker who will share helpful advice, tips, and strategies that will help you grow professionally and personally.
[00:00:38] Jeremy: Mission admissions is a part of the enrollify podcast network, and it's made possible by gecko [00:00:45] and engagement platform that makes it easy for your team to deliver a better student experience. I'm excited to share my first candid conversation. So let's get started.
[00:00:58] Jeremy: Hey everybody. This is [00:01:00] Jeremy Tiers, and welcome to the first episode of mission admission, a completely different kind of higher ed podcast. Many of you have been pushing me for the past year to do this and thanks to the support of Zach, Pat, the team at [00:01:15] enrollify, plus the team at gecko. I'm excited to finally get this off here.
[00:01:21] Jeremy: My goal is going to be simple, just like the work I do at tutor collegiate strategies, where I'm the senior director. I want this podcast to help higher ed become [00:01:30] better recruiters, communicators, marketers, and managers. Throughout the year. I have thousands of conversations with admissions and enrollment marketing team members at all levels.
[00:01:40] Jeremy: And I continue to see way too many people only look for professional and [00:01:45] personal development in their particular. You can get all kinds of helpful advice, tips, and strategies to improve things like customer service, your communication, the way you build relationships, your marketing, as well as leadership [00:02:00] from industry leaders and difference makers in other spaces.
[00:02:03] Jeremy: So I'm excited to introduce you to some of those people, and I'm confident that each time you listen, you will walk away with one or more things that you can put into practice. Right. So, thanks for [00:02:15] checking this out. I really appreciate your time. And with that, I want to introduce you to my first guest, a good friend, and literally one of the best human beings.
[00:02:23] Jeremy: I know in the entire world, Jeff Munneke, vice president of fan experience for the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx. [00:02:30] Jeff has been with the Timberwolves for almost 34 years, which is the longest of anybody in the organization. And when he's not at target center, you can probably find him out on 10 mile lake in Northern Minnesota or out on a golf course.
[00:02:43] Jeremy: So welcome to the show, Jeff, [00:02:45]
[00:02:45] Jeff: Hey, Jeremy, number one. Great to see you. Uh, it's it's so fun and I'm glad we had a chance to exchange some notes and I'm honored that I'm your first guest. This has been fantastic. This is great. No
[00:02:55] Jeremy: pressure whatsoever, right? That's right. Well, it's game day [00:03:00] and that's not only exciting for you.
[00:03:02] Jeremy: I know. And the whole city of Minneapolis and, and you know, the twin cities and the state of Minnesota, but I got to believe right with the Timberwolves being in the playoffs. Right. You've got a lot of attention and [00:03:15] eyeballs on you, probably even more so than normal. Right. So talk to me just as the person in charge of fan experience, right.
[00:03:22] Jeremy: And you're in charge of all of it. What are some of the big things right now that you're reinforcing to your staff? So that everybody walks away tonight and in [00:03:30] future games with a positive fan experience.
[00:03:32] Jeff: Yeah. That's a great question. And you know, here's what I would say. Uh, number one is when the team wins, the hot dogs tastes better than the beer gets colder.
[00:03:40] Jeff: Right. So, you know, for us, people always just say, well, it is a tougher when the [00:03:45] team doesn't win as much. And unfortunately we haven't been at this spot in a long time. Uh, on the link site and we also do everything and we replicate everything that we do on the, on the WMB side, uh, that we do for the Minnesota links that we do for the Timberwolves.
[00:03:58] Jeff: Now we've had tremendous [00:04:00] success. There was four championships, uh, on the temple of site. We haven't quite got there yet, but maybe this year is the year. If not, it's, it's coming soon, but we really tried to say, Hey, I can't go make baskets. I can't make coaching decisions. I can't go play [00:04:15] defense. But what I do own is how we treat people and how we treat her fans.
[00:04:20] Jeff: So that is something that we emphasize on a day-to-day basis. Our trainings, our orientations, the way we onboard staff is that you get to own your own. How cool [00:04:30] is that we don't need to go ask our owner, Mr. Taylor, for a million dollar budget to go treat people nice. You know, that one's free and we get to own that.
[00:04:38] Jeff: And so for us, there are a lot of eyeballs on us. And one of the big challenges for us frankly, is that [00:04:45] we have a sold out building tonight and it's a six 30 start. And so normally it's a seven o'clock start. So a big challenge for us is to get everybody in that building for the tip at six 30 for a normally later, right.
[00:04:58] Jeff: Um, so we've messaged [00:05:00] and communicated through the course of social media, the different, no. Before you go platforms that we have to go to our season ticket members, but we can not be more excited about welcoming 19,000 people to our house for tonight for game three. Yeah.
[00:05:14] Jeremy: And, and you hit on a [00:05:15] couple of things there that I know I talk about.
[00:05:18] Jeremy: With a lot of college admissions and marketing professionals, right. That are listening that are in the world that I'm living in every day, which is you control, right. Everything you do. And [00:05:30] it would be great if you had a bigger budget and it would be great if you had more staff to help you with this event and this, all of that would be nice.
[00:05:36] Jeremy: But at the end of the day, right. Really focus on what you can control. And if you're in a position of leadership, like you are, obviously you can control a little bit more [00:05:45] than the next person. So. Talk to me a little bit, just about what a couple of those things again. Specific things in terms of the way you're treating people, right?
[00:05:55] Jeremy: Like what are specific things that you've talked to the staff and said, Hey, we've seen [00:06:00] this work. Well, we want to double down on this. You know, it's just going to be at a greater level tonight because we're going to have that many more fans in the building.
[00:06:08] Jeff: And it's one thing that we talked about, a drill home in our pre-shift meetings with our staff, the way we [00:06:15] onboard staff, the way, uh, we go through orientation or recognize staff.
[00:06:20] Jeff: So we always. Every single conversation. You may have heard it 50 times at night, but that person, that's their one question for the night. And so one [00:06:30] time that they've asked it, so you got to treat everybody like they're the most important person in the room. Number one, be a great listener. Uh, number two, be a problem solver.
[00:06:38] Jeff: Find ways to say yes, there are times when we do have to say no, but let them know the reason why. [00:06:45] And a marketplace such as this in Minneapolis, St. Paul, which is super competitive. You know, we have basically everything you want to do. You have hockey, baseball, football, soccer, great theater, great arts. So people's disposable income and fans, [00:07:00] disposable income really gets stretched.
[00:07:02] Jeff: The one thing that we always say is. Hey, somebody may leave us as a fan or a sponsor or a season ticket member, because maybe they're frustrated we didn't win enough. Or they're frustrated that we didn't draft the right [00:07:15] person. They're frustrated about a coaching decision. The one thing that we can't ever have happened is some way leave us for the attitude of indifference.
[00:07:22] Jeff: That is unacceptable. So we just drove home on that. It just that every single conversation you're have treat them [00:07:30] like they're the single most important person in the room, be a great listener and be a problem solver. So that, that's what we drove home in.
[00:07:36] Jeremy: Yeah, and it makes complete sense. And I guess that leads me then to this thought that I think would be helpful for the audience to hear from you.
[00:07:44] Jeremy: You do [00:07:45] events of all different sizes throughout the year, right? So game day, 19,000, like you said tonight, or even if it was 10,000, you know, at some point in the year, but you're also doing smaller events. So give me an idea. What are you talking to? And maybe it's the same [00:08:00] conversation. Maybe it's something completely different.
[00:08:02] Jeremy: In terms of not just how we make everybody feel like they're getting a personalized experience and an enjoyable fan experience, but when it's a smaller event versus a huge event like this, are there any key things that [00:08:15] you've seen? All right, we've gotta be very mindful of this and those get reiterated to them.
[00:08:20] Jeff: Jeremy, you hit it. You said personalized the experience and that's it. And so a lot of the work that we do, whether it's a small event with 50 people or a large event with 19,000 [00:08:30] people is there's a lot of work to get up to that. So if we've done this correctly, so you may own season tickets because it's your family.
[00:08:37] Jeff: You want to bring your kids down to games. The next person might be, they own season. Tickets were a fan because. Business purpose. They bring clients down to [00:08:45] games. Next person might be just a basketball nut and a basketball junkie. Then just give me more basketball. Uh, next person, it's just the whole entertainment aspect with their friends and family.
[00:08:54] Jeff: So if we do this correctly, we really look at this like a golf course in a golf. [00:09:00] 365, 24 7. So there's really not a time. We're never not engaging. So if we know your name and your spouse's name and your kids' names and who their favorite player is, and, and, and what are the reasons that they come down, what are the main [00:09:15] motivating factors we can personalize that relationship and those questions that we ask to to make sure that they retain our business every year, where we retain their businesses.
[00:09:25] Jeff: And if we do this correctly, regardless of wins and losses, it's going to be a [00:09:30] situation where they say, you know what? You didn't want to as many games as we'd like this year, but man, do you guys treat me well? I remember when you did this for my kids, or I recall when you did this for my clients that I brought down to a game, so that that's really the goal.
[00:09:44] Jeff: And [00:09:45] what I'd say is that when I first started, you know, almost 34 years ago, I think the mentality in sports, and obviously we didn't have technology like we do today, but the mentality was okay into the season. We'll send out an invoice. We hope you renew your tickets. That is no longer [00:10:00] acceptable. We have to really build and value that relationship all throughout the course of the year.
[00:10:05] Jeff: Yeah.
[00:10:06] Jeremy: And I'd love to hear your thoughts on how important is that entry point at the start of the relationship versus. How much easier it [00:10:15] becomes. All right. You have a brand new, let's play it out. You have a brand new season ticket holder who signs on for season tickets. How much does that first interaction when they bring their family or they bring their friends or they bring again, you know, somebody they work with or [00:10:30] a client to a game.
[00:10:31] Jeremy: If it doesn't go well, do you feel like, okay, there are still things we can do over the course. Versus we really have to knock it out of the park in that first interaction for the rest of the interaction. To be as [00:10:45] successful as we want them to be.
[00:10:46] Jeff: Yeah. Another great question. So I think there's a consistency that you want to have there, for sure.
[00:10:52] Jeff: Uh, so once you sell something, I've always believed that there are some sales processes where, okay, we've got this person on, they've just spent [00:11:00] $500 or $5,000 or $50,000 go onto the next one. Really that's when the work starts, that's when you got to make sure. And, and so we gotta make sure. Okay. Number one are, do you have any questions?
[00:11:12] Jeff: Let's go through a rookie orientation. Do you have questions about [00:11:15] parking? Where to go? What are the favorite spots to go grab a bite to eat? Um, what are the things that are important to you when you come to. Check-in uh, the first game you check in there for 30 days, she check in. After 90 days, you check in that for 120 days.
[00:11:29] Jeff: [00:11:30] The worst thing that can happen is you sell something and you never talked to that person again. Well then at the end of the year, when that invoice comes and you haven't rectified a problem or problem solve for them on some things that they, that they may have questions about. Well, now it's. [00:11:45] So, if you're doing this correctly, you're going down the process and just saying how's that first night, you know, how great was it?
[00:11:51] Jeff: Well, actually, you know what? Everything was great, but you know, there's a little bit of gum in my seat. Oh my goodness. We'll let our, our, our maintenance crew know right away. We'll get that replaced. [00:12:00] Well, that's going to happen right away. Or maybe there's a, you know, there's an unruly fence. It really close to us.
[00:12:06] Jeff: Oh, okay. Well, thanks for letting us know. Uh, we're going to make sure that wasn't a season ticket member or was it a single game buyer and is that something that we need to [00:12:15] adjust to going forward? So if we do that correctly, which I think in most cases we are we're problem-solving long before we ever asked them to retain the business.
[00:12:24] Jeremy: Yeah. How do you scale that though? Jeff? Because again, I think of, you know, a lot of [00:12:30] people listening to this, there are a lot of people in the higher ed realm that are sending messages. It could be an email, right. It could be a text message and it's going to 10,000 people, right. Prospective students, for example.
[00:12:42] Jeremy: And it has to feel personal, like we've talked [00:12:45] about right. But it also has to be very intentional with the direction of what you're trying to do with it. And then if it's somebody on, you know, for example, on your side, the ticket sales side, I got to believe people have hundreds of different accounts, correct me if I'm [00:13:00] wrong.
[00:13:00] Jeremy: So how are they scaling those conversations? So that it's not just one or three or five or seven or nine people that feel good about it and feel like, Hey, I'm being taken care of. I'm being listened to talk to me about how you scale it. What are some of the things that you [00:13:15] found. Or some of the things that you are doing that seem to be working well,
[00:13:20] Jeff: there's a trick to it, of course.
[00:13:21] Jeff: Right? Because you have someone that might be spending, you know, $60,000 to sit court side for the year, and then you have a season ticket member that's spending [00:13:30] $500 in, you know, four rolls from the top of the building. Well, when you see them, they can't be made to feel any. They have to feel just as important as that court side seat member.
[00:13:40] Jeff: Now with that, obviously there's benefit plans and different things that you may do [00:13:45] that are higher in nature and higher end scale, uh, to that court side seat member that you'd offer to someone four rows from the top. But the trick is you can't make him ever feel like they're second class citizens.
[00:13:55] Jeff: They have to be made just as important as that court side seat memberships. [00:14:00] With that, it goes back to the, the, the personalization of that relationship. So are there things that that person for rose from the top of the building are really important to them? And are we in, let's just say that for an example, they're just a [00:14:15] basketball nut.
[00:14:16] Jeff: And so in the benefits plan and personalizing that well, let's put them in front of coach. For a zoom chat to talk about X and O's or perhaps we have a women's clinic to come in and talk a little bit more about X Noah's and [00:14:30] make sure everybody understands. Here's what really, what you're seeing on the court.
[00:14:33] Jeff: Um, now that court side seat member, they probably are used to having a lot of very extravagant type of opportunities, but for them it might be because they have all those opportunities. [00:14:45] Maybe it's something as simple as, Hey, I travel a lot. I entertain a lot of clients. Really, all I need is when I go to San Francisco, can you help me order tickets for the warriors scheme or if I have a top client coming in and they're coming in and Elton John is playing [00:15:00] over at Xcel over in St.
[00:15:01] Jeff: Paul, can you make a call for me to help me to tickets? It might be as simple as that. And so again, whether you're a court side seat member or somebody for, for relational on the top, we're going to go back to that personalization and make sure we [00:15:15] dial into what's most important.
[00:15:19] Jeremy: I don't think I've met a single higher ed professional that loved everything about their technology stack.
[00:15:25] Jeremy: Here's the honest truth, no CRM or SIS will be able [00:15:30] to meet all of the needs of all of your team. And that's why I'm a huge fan of gecko. A student engagement platform that offers customizable modules
[00:15:39] Jeff: designed to compliment
[00:15:40] Jeremy: your institution.
[00:15:42] Jeff: CRM and
[00:15:43] Jeremy: SIS
[00:15:44] Jeff: gecko offers, [00:15:45] plug and play modules that enable your
[00:15:47] Jeremy: team to deliver memorable student experiences at scale, their chat bot and texting tools will empower your admissions team to engage with the
[00:15:56] Jeff: highest quality prospect by serving
[00:15:59] Jeremy: as a [00:16:00] frontline of defense for prospects that have basic questions about the college admissions process, geckos event module makes it easy to create awesome online.
[00:16:10] Jeremy: And in person event experiences one time and then duplicate [00:16:15] them throughout the year with just a couple of clinics.
[00:16:18] Jeff: Their call center is also an industry leader.
[00:16:20] Jeremy: No more splitting call lists into a dozen Excel files, scrolling through data to find who you need to call next or having to manually record who [00:16:30] picked up and who didn't.
[00:16:31] Jeremy: Oh, and did I mentioned that everything. Seamlessly into your CRM and SIS, because it does. So if you're a
[00:16:38] Jeff: slate school, for example, you'll see
[00:16:41] Jeremy: all of that sweet interaction data in your student's [00:16:45] timeline. If you want to level up how you engage with prospective students, but you don't want to disrupt your processes, rip out all your tech or start a new CRM procurement process.
[00:16:55] Jeremy: You need to check gecko out. You can learn more about their offerings [00:17:00] at gecko. engage.com forward slash enrolled.
[00:17:04] Jeff: And be sure to tell them that Jeremy and the
[00:17:07] Jeremy: enroller fight team sent you their way. And so are you sending again, I'm thinking, [00:17:15] I know when a lot of people listening to this, for example, who are connecting with prospective students and parents throughout the college search process, right.
[00:17:22] Jeremy: You're communicating with a huge number of people. How do you get number one, the person on the other end, whether it's a [00:17:30] season ticket holder or in this case, it might be a prospective student, or it might be their. To number one, feel comfortable reaching out and having some of these conversations with, in your case, your staff, or is it Jeremy?
[00:17:43] Jeremy: We just have to be direct [00:17:45] and intentional in the questions we ask and we find that that's the best way to gather all this information to allow us to personalize the process more.
[00:17:54] Jeff: Yeah. So for me personally, I love face to face contact. I would much rather meet with someone [00:18:00] face-to-face and ask questions.
[00:18:01] Jeff: Cause I think you see body language, you see enthusiasm, you see energy, but maybe not everybody brings the same energy that I would. You don't me. I'm practically jumping out of my shoes all the time. When I talk to people. There's some people that are a lot more stoic or some people that [00:18:15] just like, you know, I I'm good.
[00:18:16] Jeff: I'm super busy. If you just send me text messages, that's fine. Now the next person might be, Hey, you know what? I'm really big on social media. So just hit me up on Twitter. Let's just communicate that way. So one of the questions we're going to ask is what is [00:18:30] the best way to communicate with you? And, and they're going to come up and just say, you know what, I'm, I'm all about.
[00:18:35] Jeff: If you can spare a little bit of time to have a coffee or a lunch with me so I can ask some questions about. I'd prefer that myself, but I also have to make [00:18:45] sure that, uh, people are comfortable getting to know me through a lot of different means. You know, it's funny is with social media and the power of social media.
[00:18:53] Jeff: I have people coming up to me at games all the time that that read my social media posts are like, you're Jeff . That'll [00:19:00] like, I've been following you for five years. You're hilarious. I'm like, well, I'm not sure if I'm hilarious. I'm certainly trying to engage with. They, they, I think you have to show your personality a little bit, whether that's through some social media posts or some text messaging, bring that energy and [00:19:15] enthusiasm, but also just kind of match that personality of who you're talking to as well.
[00:19:19] Jeff: How
[00:19:20] Jeremy: do you ultimately define then success at the end of the day? Like at the end of tonight, tomorrow, whenever you look back right on a game or any sort of event that you're [00:19:30] involved with, what makes it as a. Yeah. So,
[00:19:33] Jeff: so there, there's obviously analytics that you can utilize for that. And sometimes it's very black and white in the sales and service area, probably more than the sales area.
[00:19:41] Jeff: Either you hit numbers or you did that on the service area, it's a [00:19:45] little bit more warm fuzzies. Right. But, uh, one of the things that we do is we survey the heck out of, out of our fans. And so rather than guests and assume what they want. So I'll give you an example. Uh, for a number of years, we had a survey that [00:20:00] the click-on rate was really high.
[00:20:02] Jeff: The click off rate was even higher because it was just simply too long. So you're 15, 20 minutes into it. And you realize you're halfway through a survey that's way too long. So we simply said, you know what, let's, let's [00:20:15] condense this. And let's basically. Every single time, the game has done buzzer hits.
[00:20:20] Jeff: You're going to get a push notification with the survey that said on the scale of one to five, how did we do? And then there's a spot and you can put in feedback. So from that feed, [00:20:30] Then myself and our staff will go through every single survey and we'll categorize those into what we call our fan experience pillars.
[00:20:39] Jeff: We then build a dashboard from that data. And we also answer every survey to, we answer [00:20:45] every survey, no matter, no matter what, good, bad or indifferent, but we use those dashboards then to work with our building partners and our teams inside the organization to just say, Hey, let's look at the last home.
[00:20:55] Jeff: Stand here over the last home stand. Here's five things that we [00:21:00] think are really important to address. Three of them are great. Let's do more of that. Here's two that when sideways on us a little bit, and I'll just make this up, maybe it's something to concessions or maybe it's something that our entrance, so, okay.
[00:21:12] Jeff: Building partners and all the people that are [00:21:15] affiliated with working a game, let's talk about that. You know what, what's your. You know, how, how do we affect that? Uh, you know, this is something that not me telling you, this is our fans telling us that they want us to adjust. So I'll give you an example, Jeremy, when we started our [00:21:30] fan experience area, I came out of running the sales teams and the service teams.
[00:21:34] Jeff: And we started this fan experience area really because nobody was doing it, doing that in the league. We were always talking about the relationships, which I think. We we've found that we, we [00:21:45] registered really well amongst all our counterparts around the league. We're always in the top five or six, so we felt good about that.
[00:21:51] Jeff: But from the extreme standpoint, being in a tenant in a city owned building, we just said, let's start digging into that a little bit. Let's start talking about our [00:22:00] entrance and our exit and our concessions and our parking well, so the MBA at the time, Nobody was doing this. And so they just said, we're going to do this on behalf of everybody.
[00:22:10] Jeff: So it's now a fan experience survey. Well, our numbers came back the first time [00:22:15] 30 teams in the league. We were 30th and that was things in a lot of cases we didn't control, but we said, we can't be happy about this. And so from that survey and that data, we just said, oh boy, did we have work to do so, hence, I got [00:22:30] put in charge of the fan experience area, which has been.
[00:22:33] Jeff: So over the course now of the last five years, we've gone from 30 to 27 to 18 to 16 this year, we're up to number five. So that, that tells me that the data we're [00:22:45] accumulating and the information we're getting, we're going to affect change and say, okay, our fans are frustrated about this. Let's go do something about it and fix it.
[00:22:54] Jeff: So, uh, that tells me relationships are always strong. We always felt good about that. Now from an experience standpoint, we're [00:23:00] really starting to lock in and. It's about inviting people into your house. Let's make sure that they're having a great time.
[00:23:05] Jeremy: Yeah. And pain points, right? Like you hit on a lot of, it's just figuring out those pain points.
[00:23:09] Jeremy: And I just, I know the challenge would be. I think if you asked tire Meg, your two kids, right. [00:23:15] To fill out a survey when they were in high school, how excited are they going to be? Right. To fill out that survey versus it's you it's me and it's an adult. Right. But getting that feedback no matter how you get it.
[00:23:25] Jeremy: No question is super important. It's, I'm always encouraging people. Every [00:23:30] campus I go to work on, you have to survey your current students every year, otherwise. How do you know how they're feeling? Like you said about all the different aspects of the student expects. And you hit on just, Hey there, a little important things, like is the area clean, right?
[00:23:44] Jeremy: [00:23:45] How quickly do they get through the door? Do they feel like they're waiting in a concession line for like three hours? Do they like the food that we're serving or do they think it's gross and like trying to figure out all of that? No question. And then saying, how do we put actionable [00:24:00] things into, you know, play, I think is super important, right?
[00:24:04] Jeremy: You know, from there, I kind of want to shift gears a little bit. Cause you said something that kind of piqued my interest. You obviously I'll call you the liaison, right? For all these different groups that are within target [00:24:15] center, how do you get everybody on the same page in terms of listen? We're all.
[00:24:21] Jeremy: Yes. The people doing concessions are yes, the people doing ticket sales, they have their own goals, but yet the whole goal is the same in the macro. It's the [00:24:30] fan experience. How do you, as somebody in a position of leadership, walk me through how that works effectively in your world, in terms of collaboration and getting all these different groups and organizations on the same page.
[00:24:44] Jeff: Yeah. There's [00:24:45] this awesome question. And near and dear to my heart. Cause we always explain this whenever we onboard staff. So I'm going to go back to it. And I mentioned it a couple of couple of minutes ago, so, um, we were doing really good in the relationship. And we started saying, you know, [00:25:00] we should check in on the span experience standpoint.
[00:25:02] Jeff: Again, we're a tenant in a city owned building. So at the time it was the two teams, Timberwolves and Lynx, um, ASM previously AIG ran the building on behalf of the city. We [00:25:15] had Delaware north. I was a concessionary, which is now levy. So we had four different ways. We onboarded staff, four different ways. We trained.
[00:25:23] Jeff: Four different ways. We recognize staff. So we are, we are all over the place. And so when we got that [00:25:30] data back and we're 30 out of 30, we, we brought in all the department heads and just said, here it is. And again, this isn't here to point fingers. This is just simply saying we have some work to do as a building and venue.[00:25:45]
[00:25:45] Jeff: Teams. So of course, none of us are happy about that. Great. You know, when you're good getting graded at amongst all your breath in order to run the MBA. So first thing we said is that look, um, again, not to point fingers, but how do we get [00:26:00] on the same page here? So we started just having a really deep discussions and just said, let's get all the challenges.
[00:26:07] Jeff: That's preventing us from being better on the table. If you're mad about something or if you're mad at someone, let's hear it again. Let's get [00:26:15] it all out now. So what we found was it was just, we're so disjointed from an onboarding and training standpoint, we weren't talking the same way. One group was seeing, well, if there's a problem in concessions this way, we're going to handle it.
[00:26:28] Jeff: We, and you know, [00:26:30] maybe on the team side would say, wow, you know, I don't know, is that really the way we
[00:26:33] Jeremy: want to handle it? So how'd you get everybody on the same page though, Jeff? Like what did you do? Here's
[00:26:38] Jeff: what we did. We just started saying, look, let's, let's go learn who else is really good at service.[00:26:45]
[00:26:45] Jeff: So we started throwing out targets, Starbucks, Zappos, all these different venues. We kept coming back to them. So we just said, Disney boy, they do guest care as good as anybody in the country. So I said, let's, let's, let's go [00:27:00] learn from them. So I went down and went through the Disney curriculum twice. Uh, our assistant in our area went down once several people from the building went down and said, let's go learn it.
[00:27:10] Jeff: We're we don't have to copy them exactly. But let's take elements of what makes them tick [00:27:15] and bring them into the target center, Timberwolves and Lynx. Let's see if we make this work. So we've now basically. Revamped restructured everything that we do. So now instead of four different ways, we onboarded good orientation.
[00:27:27] Jeff: It's what, and it comes from. So [00:27:30] the fan experience group now trains every single employee that comes in. So now we have one United message. Now we train to one United message and we recognize to one United message. And so, so now we're not disjointed. Everybody's got their [00:27:45] kind of their own group. It's just simply we have, what's called our one service platform, everybody trains and, and onwards that way.
[00:27:52] Jeff: So to get everybody in the same. That was not easy. That was not easy. But I think now people [00:28:00] are seeing the merits of the ranking system has dramatically improved. Uh, our, our fan experience has dramatically improved. Everybody's happy. We're all working together. We're taking data again, not to point fingers, but just saying, [00:28:15] Hey, congratulations, concessions.
[00:28:17] Jeff: You guys got a great mark for the last home stamp. This is awesome. Let's recognize those staff members that are involved. So, so really it was that, uh, and there's many more tentacles to that, but that's okay. I was going to say that it's a reader's digest version, [00:28:30] but I actually talked
[00:28:30] Jeremy: quite a bit. Well, no, no.
[00:28:31] Jeremy: And leadership, I always say this and tell me if you disagree or agree. Leadership has to obviously drive the bus right. When it comes to that type of change, you know, but obviously I always think it's challenging when it's competing [00:28:45] priorities, right? Because people haven't, you know, sat down to your point and kind of.
[00:28:50] Jeremy: Well, here's what we think. Well, here's what we think. And no question, the highest functioning admissions and enrollment teams. I see out there, Jeff, when I'm doing my work, it's people who are [00:29:00] sitting down into your point. They're taking data in real time and they're analyzing it and they're not pointing fingers, but they're saying, okay, but they don't like this.
[00:29:08] Jeremy: Yup. They really liked this. Oh wait, this looks like something we need to talk about. I don't know how else you can do it if [00:29:15] you don't all get in a room together. And so to your point, And I think, you know, training obviously is something that you do with. It's something that obviously is in my wheelhouse that I do a ton of.
[00:29:25] Jeremy: So like, let's talk for a couple of minutes about hiring new staff when you interview [00:29:30] people, how important for example is like previous or similar work experience in customer service versus like Jeremy I'm looking for intangible qualities or the people that are doing the hiring, you know, I'll take a and B if they can do this really well, even if they've [00:29:45] never worked in professional sports or customer service.
[00:29:47] Jeremy: So talk to me a little bit about.
[00:29:49] Jeff: Yeah. So what I'd say, I'm going to reference this as pre COVID or maybe not post COVID. So obviously during COVID it was a challenge for [00:30:00] every, every property, every service property, right? We were everybody's short-staffed a lot of people are taking early retirement, not wanting to come into a building or a venue with COVID going around.
[00:30:09] Jeff: That was a huge challenge, actually still is a challenge. I think, as sports operators and [00:30:15] venue operators, we're down about 30%. So with that, um, I, I would say that you're, you're, you're, you're skipping some steps to just make sure that you're staffed accordingly in an ideal situation. And I'll say coming out of [00:30:30] COVID now and going towards the fall, when we started hiring again.
[00:30:33] Jeff: We're looking for energy and enthusiasm so we can teach the rest. I mean, we sell sports tickets, you know, this should be fun. And we're looking for people that will have fun with other people. [00:30:45] You know, for us in the hospitality industry and the sports venue, uh, industry, you know, for us, it's all about interaction and engagement with the fans.
[00:30:54] Jeff: So if it's someone that just doesn't have those traits, it's much [00:31:00] harder to instill those training techniques in. Are you high-fiving, what's happening to your section today? W you know, who's excited about being here. If you got somebody who's like, well, I dunno, I, I, I'm not sure. Well, that's not going to work.
[00:31:13] Jeff: We need some of that's going to say, oh [00:31:15] my goodness, I am having so much fun tonight. And the folks in my section today are having a great time. In fact, I got to introduce you to Jeremy. He's got an anniversary tonight. We should do something for him. Now we're hitting the marks. Now we're hitting the marks.
[00:31:29] Jeff: So that's it. [00:31:30] If you hire poorly, man, is it hard to overcome it? Right. You know, you just gotta hire good people. And for us, it's the energy industry.
[00:31:41] Jeff: Hey all Zach here from enroll fight. If you liked this podcast, chances are you're [00:31:45] like other enroller five shows to our podcast network is growing by the month. And we've got a plethora of marketing admissions and higher ed technology shows that are jam packed with stories, ideas, and frameworks that are all designed to empower you to become a better higher ed.[00:32:00]
[00:32:00] Jeff: Our shows feature a selection of the industry's best as your hosts learn from Mickey Bains, Jeremy tears, Jamie hunt for in Myers, Jamie Leeson, and many, many more. You can learn more about the Molefi podcast network at podcasts dot enroll, five.org. [00:32:15] Our shows help higher ed marketers and admissions professionals.
[00:32:17] Jeff: Find their next big idea. Find yours at podcasts dot dot org.
[00:32:27] Jeremy: Yeah. And I think anybody listening, obviously, if [00:32:30] you're doing relationship building, if you're doing customer service, like so many of you, are you a hundred percent in my mind? Just like you've said, I'm less concerned with, again, how much is your knowledge of all of the stuff behind the scenes [00:32:45] that we can teach you and how much of it is you understand how to treat.
[00:32:48] Jeremy: You're empathetic. It's clear you care. And this isn't something that you just are doing because it's a job and you really don't seem to enjoy it any much. I love that. And I think it's something that a lot of [00:33:00] industries, including higher ed could take in terms of how they onboard new staff. How much time, by the way, Jeff, do you spend on training?
[00:33:06] Jeremy: Like, I can't believe you're just doing one training. Like you said, when the fan experience team onboards, whatever it might be from a new employee [00:33:15] standpoint. What are you doing throughout the year, ongoing in terms of training or just sharing all that data with all these different groups that you're obviously, um, dealing with so that you can see opportunities?
[00:33:28] Jeremy: Or is it now we only do it [00:33:30] like a couple of times a year. Yeah.
[00:33:32] Jeff: So, so we'll do a large non COVID again, obviously COVID has been, you know, everybody's off kilter here a little bit. I would say planning for the fall, our normal situation. You'd have a large kickoff. He wouldn't get everybody in a room. [00:33:45] You, everybody in our building and kickoff, like, here we go.
[00:33:48] Jeff: You know, this is going to be awesome. Can't wait for the seasons. So we have. Then you have small splinter groups from there. So you might get into more specifics from there. So your ushers and guest services team might, may have another [00:34:00] splinter, meaning you might have other security team concessions and so on.
[00:34:03] Jeff: So then that's going to be probably a quarterly check-in. But then what happens is we get involved in every single pre-shift, uh, throughout the, throughout the year on every game. So every game [00:34:15] we get a little opportunity where myself and the other field experience staff will come in and jump in for anywhere from five to seven minutes, every single night into usher security concessions, custodial.
[00:34:25] Jeff: And it could be to talk a little bit about the game. It could be [00:34:30] a little bit to talk about, Hey, here's some data that we received. And we want to recognize Jeremy for doing a great job. He had six emails that came in and talking about how great he is for the fans. And then the other thing that we do is we've created a recognition program [00:34:45] where every single year.
[00:34:46] Jeff: We honor five different staff members at halftime of the game. We give those different members, four tickets so they can bring their families. So they see themselves get honored with their family. Players are all down there, you know, warming up, doing their [00:35:00] things. Sometimes they'll come in and fist bump everybody or jumping her photo.
[00:35:03] Jeff: We recognized in front of 15 to 20,000 people. Then we take a photo, we frame that up and then we present that back in a pre-shift. So the pre shifts are really good, little tight little [00:35:15] reminders for us to come in and say, Hey Jay, as we know, this is all about how we're treating their fans. I wanted to share a little article and two sentences from this article I thought were really cool.
[00:35:25] Jeff: And so it's enforcements that it's opportunity to recognize.
[00:35:28] Jeremy: Yeah. And I love that. And is [00:35:30] that how me understand? Is that something you came up with Jeff or is that something that a staff member at some point. 10 20 years ago brought and said, Hey, we need to do more to recognize these different, like how did that all come about?
[00:35:41] Jeremy: Yeah. So again, it's,
[00:35:42] Jeff: it's getting all the staff together, the department heads [00:35:45] together and asking what would be really meaningful. And so we've done a variety of different things, but I think having it become really personally. Personal where they get to get recognized in front of their peers and all the [00:36:00] fans and their family gets to come and to get a framed photo commemorating that, that, that opportunity.
[00:36:06] Jeff: You've probably seen some of my stuff on social media. I was posted that every everyday, um, that is such a big deal. Like you'll, you'll get hit up [00:36:15] throughout the night. Well, here's the other thing that we do. So it's just a lot of hand-to-hand combat as well. Every single night I'm going to get through and fist bump high five, have a short conversation with anywhere from 50 to a hundred staff members.
[00:36:28] Jeff: I might not get to [00:36:30] everybody every single night, but over the course of a home stamp, I'm going to get to everybody at least once. And it's going to be much. It's not really anything about the game. It's just like, how's your weekend, you know? So, Hey, so, Hey, I understand your, you know, your son got married here [00:36:45] recently.
[00:36:45] Jeff: Like how was the wedding and how great was it chance to ask them some open-ended questions to, again, a relationship build. If we're building relationships. Really core, good relationships with the staff. They're going to execute all the different platforms with our fans. Yeah. And one-on-one is,
[00:36:59] Jeremy: and I [00:37:00] love that.
[00:37:00] Jeremy: And one-on-one is so important. Jeff and I talk with vice presidents of enrollment and, you know, vice presidents of marketing directors, anybody who manages. I drove home. Listen, you know, number one, they have to feel like you're invested in them. Right. But number [00:37:15] two, that's not just by having weekly or bi-weekly staff meetings where everybody's in the room together.
[00:37:19] Jeremy: There has to be one-on-one right. That happens where that person feels like you're going above and beyond to make it about them and their growth. So I love that. And [00:37:30] talk to me just, just, you know, give me a minute or two real quick. What are some of the other programs that you've developed? Like the one moment program, for example, or you know, stuff you're doing with the staff?
[00:37:41] Jeremy: You know, I wrote down a couple of things that the bingo thing you're doing, I remember you talked to me [00:37:45] about at one point years ago, if I don't even know if you're still doing that, but just real quick, what are some other ways that you found. To drill in this. Hey, we want to have a culture of having people who want to work here, who enjoy it and want to continue to do
[00:37:59] Jeff: it.[00:38:00]
[00:38:00] Jeff: Yeah. So, so we, we did a couple of things this year. We went again and we, we, we asked the staff, like what's important to you to work here. Why do you like working here? And, you know, oftentimes it's, it was it's it's, it's, it's pretty close to where we're in live or I just am [00:38:15] such a basketball fan. I love being here.
[00:38:16] Jeff: So all those reasons, but we just said. What can make things more efficient or easier for you? So here's one of the craziest things. Jeremy is so funny because one of the things that came up again and again, and again, [00:38:30] was that you don't like would be really cool was when you hand out 5,000 items to the fans could be a hat, a bobblehead pennant, whatever.
[00:38:39] Jeff: Can we start getting those? And we had never done that before. So [00:38:45] it was as simple as really, you know, so, I mean, these things cost a buck 98 to two 50. This was a huge deal. So, so our, our staff was just saying, boy, if I could walk away with the hat or the pen or the [00:39:00] Bible had, that'd be really cool. And we're like, okay.
[00:39:03] Jeff: So we started adding to our order to ensure that every single staff member that worked that night got that item. And you think that a little bobblehead or a Pinot it's kind of. [00:39:15] It is a huge deal, huge deal. So we did that. Another thing is downtown parking is, is, is pretty tough. So a lot, a lot of folks were just saying, boy, you don't find in a spot to park.
[00:39:27] Jeff: And getting here is kinda kind of tough. So we went over in [00:39:30] negotiated terms with one of the parking ramps that is adjacent to target center. And we just said, would you get, if we guaranteed you parking spots every single night of anywhere from 250 to 500, would you give us a great. We'll then [00:39:45] pay for the staff to park.
[00:39:46] Jeff: So they gave us a rate of $3. We don't pay for the Parkland staff parkers. And so for them, that's just rather than paying 12 to $15 to park, it was just simply an idea that came from our staff by asking them what's important to [00:40:00] them. And now, now people are just like, man, why wouldn't I work? You know, it's, this is.
[00:40:04] Jeremy: Well, and to your point, right? Word spreads and word of mouth will always continue to be, you know, I always say king queen, however you want to think of it. But, you know, I think back to just what we've talked about here today, [00:40:15] Jeff, and so much of it goes back to. Finding opportunities, obviously, to connect with somebody, to create conversations, whether it's you as a leader with your staff, it's a ticket person with a season ticket holder, right?
[00:40:28] Jeremy: It's somebody in [00:40:30] concessions trying to learn more about the world of, you know, some other person who works at target center. I don't know if there's a better way, right. To have a successful event or organization, if you don't have all of these [00:40:45] conversations and figure out, well, what are people looking for and what do they enjoy most about this?
[00:40:49] Jeremy: And, and I just feel like in too many industries, including higher education, that's a, well, we'll do that once a year and we'll do. And so I hope everybody listening, you know, understands [00:41:00] the importance of that has to be an ongoing thing you do throughout the year. Because that consistency, like you said earlier, Jeff is so important.
[00:41:08] Jeremy: I love it. I love it. I'd
[00:41:09] Jeff: say one thing to that too, is, you know, this is what I've always challenged myself and then our staff to do. [00:41:15] And again, you know, some people remember names and faces better than others. Uh, but I always try to believe that have one little nugget about everybody coming contact. So you can share it.
[00:41:26] Jeff: So maybe it's a show that they like, or maybe it's, you know, their hometown or [00:41:30] maybe they have a favorite team or favorite player. So, so I could walk up and say, you know, Jeremy, in the past, he coached at Bemidji state. So, so I might, I might say, Hey, Jeremy, by big wind forbid you stayed last night. Those huge they're going to the goal of the tournament, you know?
[00:41:43] Jeff: And suddenly you're like, [00:41:45] oh wow, you remembered it because was involved with the mini state. Well, that's kind of cool. So just one little nugget, oftentimes.
[00:41:51] Jeremy: Yeah, literally. And I'll give you a quick story. The young man that I hired, who now is one of my coworkers, you know, Ethan Penland. I [00:42:00] met Ethan the first time I did the second ever workshop when I started working at tutor collegiate strategies.
[00:42:05] Jeremy: And I was standing in the Starbucks on campus at the university of north Georgia at the time. And here walks down, Ethan, we hadn't started the training yet. I had met any of the staff, but of course I had done my homework. [00:42:15] I had it. I literally say morning, Ethan, as he's walking down the stairs and he looked at me like, who the heck is this guy?
[00:42:20] Jeremy: And why is he saying? And obviously the training went and you know, the training went well and Ethan and I stayed in touch over the years. And even when he came on board last [00:42:30] fall and started working with TCS, he said, Jeremy, I'll never forget that story. I'll always remember you coming down the stairs and just something little as to you knowing who I was and saying, good morning, I think those things, you know, one moments or, you know, I know, you know, whatever [00:42:45] you want to call them are just so important when it comes to developing relationships with people.
[00:42:49] Jeremy: So I love it. Well, Jeff had people want to connect with you on social media. I mean, give a couple of shadows, where can they do that? Where's the best place to just check you out and find
[00:42:57] Jeff: so, so I'm kind of on all the different platforms. [00:43:00] You can see all my silly stuff I'm putting out there all the time.
[00:43:02] Jeff: It's it's under Minnesota muni. Spell up Minnesota and then add M U N N, which is short for my last name. Munich. He's so mad at Minnesota. Mune is Instagram, Facebook, and [00:43:15] Twitter. For me, those are the platforms I utilize most. And, and, uh, give me a follow on, I'll call you right back.
[00:43:20] Jeremy: All right. Well, I'm going to end with this, Jeff.
[00:43:22] Jeremy: We're going to do a signature question at the end of every podcast episode I do. And so you get to be person number one to do. I would love for you [00:43:30] just to tell me what's one important piece of advice that somebody gave you at some point in your life that has really stuck with you even to this day.
[00:43:38] Jeff: Yeah. So what I'd say, in fact, I was just talking, uh, yesterday, uh, to, to a young student about this [00:43:45] never stopped building relationships, just, just never stop. And, and, and again, I said it right there. When you're doing that, make every single person feel like they're the most important person in the room.
[00:43:57] Jeff: So I always feel like I would like to believe [00:44:00] that when people get done, then talking to me, they can walk away. Well, like, oh wait, Jeff has to have some pretty good dude. He's pretty cool. I would be mortified of as anything but that, but just network and build relationships and make people feel really important.
[00:44:13] Jeff: So it can't emphasize. [00:44:15] Totally
[00:44:15] Jeremy: agree. And it's, it's my mantra that I live by too. Right? I mean, when you treat people right, the way they would want to be treated and when it's clear, right. You're investing in them a lot of times, that's all it takes to get them to invest back in you. All right. The last thing we're going to do before we sign off, we're [00:44:30] going to do some fun.
[00:44:30] Jeremy: What I call random, rapid fire, Jeff, better dinner spot in Minneapolis, JD Hoyt's or Marie's JD Heights, true or false. You guarded Dennis Robyn in college and he scored 38 points in 26. Rebounds on you. True. Better [00:44:45] wrestler, Hulk Hogan or macho man, Randy Savage. Oh,
[00:44:50] Jeff: I'm going to
[00:44:50] Jeremy: go home. Oh, that's a very disappointed, true or false.
[00:44:54] Jeremy: You saw Karl Anthony towns drive a golf ball. 400 yards. True. A hundred [00:45:00] percent true. A hundred percent true. That that blows my mind, by the way. And as with Jim Pete,
[00:45:05] Jeff: Jim, Pete, Jim Peterson, one of our broadcasters was with
[00:45:07] Jeremy: me as well. And last but not least. Give me and give everybody listening a PGA championship prediction.
[00:45:14] Jeremy: Braemar correct. [00:45:15] I love it, Jeff. I really appreciate you being on the show. Good luck tonight.
[00:45:21] Jeff: Hey yall Zach here from enrollify. I hope you enjoyed this episode of mission admissions with Jeremy Tiers. If you liked this episode, do us a huge favor and hit that follow and [00:45:30] subscribe button below. Furthermore, if you've got just two minutes to spare, we would greatly appreciate you leading a rating and a review of this show on apple podcasts.
[00:45:39] Jeff: Our podcast network is growing by the month and we've got a plethora of marketing admissions and higher ed technology. [00:45:45] That are jam packed with stories, ideas, and frameworks that are all designed to empower you to become a better higher ed professional. But in Enrollify is far more than just a podcast network enrollify us where higher ed comes to learn new marketing skills, [00:46:00] discover new products and services and find their next job.
[00:46:03] Jeff: We're a growing learning community of 4,000 members, and we'd love to welcome you into the fold. You can access our free blog articles news, ecourses and more, or purchase our mastercourse on how to market [00:46:15] a university with Terry Flannery at enrollify.org. We look forward to meeting you soon and welcoming you into the community.
[00:46:22] Jeff: Again, you can subscribe for free at enrollify.org.[00:46:30] .
About the Episode
The what's what...
Join host Jeremy Tiers in the premier episode as he chats with Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx’ Vice President of Fan Experience, Jeff Munneke. The two discuss creating positive experiences, the importance and ROI of consistently engaging and building personalized relationships, analyzing real time data from different audiences, effectively collaborating with multiple groups or departments, as well as hiring and training new staff, and ways to make everyone feel valued.
This episode is brought to you by Gecko - a student engagement platform offering multiple modules to help institutions better engage with students and lighten the load for their staffs.
Mission Admission is a part of the Enrollify Podcast Network. If you like this podcast, chances are you’ll like other Enrollify shows too!
Our podcast network is growing by the month and we’ve got a plethora of marketing, admissions, and higher ed technology shows that are jam packed with stories, ideas, and frameworks all designed to empower you to be a better higher ed professional. Our shows feature a selection of the industry’s best as your hosts. Learn from Mickey Baines, Zach Busekrus, Jaime Hunt, Corynn Myers, Jaime Gleason and many more.
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About the Podcast
Over the past 10 years Jeremy Tiers has helped thousands of higher ed admissions and enrollment marketing professionals improve their communication, personal and organizational performance, and develop into effective leaders regardless of their title. As the Senior Director of Admissions Services for Tudor Collegiate Strategies (TCS), Jeremy leads a division that helps colleges and universities connect, engage, build personal relationships, and communicate value to prospective students, and their parents, throughout the college search. Jeremy is an experienced speaker who leads dozens of training workshops each year and has keynoted numerous ACAC Conferences. He has also spoken multiple times at the NACAC National Conference, has been a presenter at well-known marketing conferences like eduWeb Digital Summit, the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, and HighEdWeb, and is the editor of a well-known, weekly college admissions and marketing email newsletter/blog.
Jeff Munneke has risen through the ranks of the Timberwolves’ organization, serving in a number of different roles during his 33+ years. He became the organization’s Vice President of Fan Experience in 2012. Munneke oversees all aspects of fan experiences, which includes serving as the primary contact for all fan interactions with a focus on Wolves and Lynx season ticket holders and being the liaison with all Target Center partners. Munneke developed the vision of the service department(s) that he now on boards and trains to provide superior customer service through personal touches in the Friendliest Building in Sports.
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Jeremy Tiers, a well-known speaker in college admission, enrollment marketing, and leadership circles is your host for Mission Admissions. Join him every other week as he sits down with industry leaders and difference makers from both inside and outside of Higher Ed.
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