Two more seemingly-unrelated articles, with a thread in common:
ESPN’s Buster Olney, among the best sportswriters in America, and my favorite source for baseball analysis, wrote a poignant piece last Saturday – before the news of Alex Rodriguez’ positive drug test broke – in which he argues that it is a business imperitive that baseball players refocus their efforts on customer service.
Note: the above link requires a membership to ESPN Insider.
The economy has tanked, millions of people have lost jobs and 401(k) money and pension funds. There figures to be even less patience than usual for a player who fails to run out a ground ball, because whether you think it’s fair or unfair, that player is going to be viewed through this prism: That SOB has a great job and is making great money and he can’t even run hard to first base.
…The players would be well-served to think of themselves as owners of a surviving mall store, and extend themselves even more to their customers, to thank them for making the journey at a time when the journey, for many, has become difficult to afford.
Well put, Buster.
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Danielle Blumenthal posts today what might well be the article of the week, entitled ‘Getting Over the Fear of Feedback’, on her Total Branding blog. In the post, Dr. Blumenthal argues that a mature brand engages in the following three stages of conversation:
- Has a message
- Listens to feedback
- Facilitates a conversation around that feedback
She follows this assertion with a number of suggested means by which these stages can be couched for brands that might be slow to embrace the age of conversation. This is my favorite:
“Either we control the brand or the brand controls us” – meaning, “If we don’t do anything to send out a message, then we are really at the mercy of feedback. So we may as well have a voice in our own identity.”
Her entire post is far more robust than I am able or willing to reprint here. I suggest wholeheartedly that you give it a read.
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I would suggest that there exists a fourth, critical, stage in the conversation:
- Has a message
- Listens to feedback
- Facilitates a conversation
- Now what?
Obviously, Dr. Blumenthal is describing a scenario in which the next steps are part of the facilitated conversation, although I think there’s an important distinction to be made, namely:
Engendering conversation for the sake of conversation is public relations, not public engagement.
Major League Baseball has proven itself quite adroit at the former. The Mitchell Report, Commissioner Selig’s recent spate of public interviews, a steady stream of vague apologies designed largely to navigate carefully-crafted contractual clauses that punish immoral or unethical behavior – each of these is aimed squarely at public relations, certainly not at conversation.
This is, of course, not to suggest that there’s any shortage of conversation about the current state of baseball. The conversation plays out hourly on talk radio, in newspapers, on websites, in conversations among fans. The failure here is that MLB has done scant little to facilitate conversation.
Olney’s assertion that players need to take a more active role in thanking fans for their support is a good one, though, I think, insufficient. A return to previous levels of access – more handshakes, more autographs for young fans – is a good start. A new level of engagement would be a better one.
How many people would show up to a State-of-the-Game Town Hall Meeting at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field, in which fans could pose questions to owners, players, and league officials? A great many, one suspects.
Are players, managers and league officials prepared to answer questions about ticket prices and performance-enhancing drugs with honesty and openness? They had better be, because Now what? is coming, even in the absence of conversation.
If we don’t send out a message, we are, indeed, at the mercy of feedback.
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