I am looking for a new approach to managing holds. What has your organization tried? What works? What doesn't? To give some background, our organization hosts a number of small capacity events- in the range of 100 tickets. Nearly a third of our inventory is placed in department holds- Director, Artist, Performing Arts, Marketing, and Development. It creates a circular problem, wherein available tickets are quickly purchased, and departments then do not feel comfortable releasing their tickets for a "sold out" performance. The reality being that the holds themselves are the reason the event appears so in demand!
I would like to set up holds so there is less emphasis on individual departments "owning" holds. I want the ticket office to be in control of hold inventory. It is counterproductive to hold back excessive tickets, whilst turning away potential sales. Has anyone been successful setting up just one or two hold types? For instance, one hold for artist guest list, another for internal requests? How about expiring holds? I suspect that I will get support from Senior leadership if I can share examples of how other institutions organize their holds.
Hi friend
We went through this years ago and had great success. I'm not going to say anything you don't already know, but I'll certainly validate your expectations.
Historically, each department had its holds. This was all with great intentions, as I am sure is the case in your organisation. But having 10x programming holds and 8x VIP holds etc was simply inefficient.
Typically every department was good at releasing most of their holds, but they would hang on to one or two pairs "just in case".
The issue arises due to the volume of "just in case holds" at the last minute.
If you are making a business case to reduce holds, simply track the quantity which go unsold. At the same time track how many are used.
As you know, you will soon identify that only 25% of the original number needs to be held to satisfy everyone's needs
Ideally you can eliminate everyone's personal holds. But if that isn't feasible, you can reduce their "just in case holds" to one or two pairs that represents everyone's just in case provision
Thanks for the feedback. It's reassuring to know that this is a problem all Box Offices face. I have records from the last two years of hold activity. I bet if I do some research, I can use my findings to make a case for reducing holds.