Open training miscommunication - another MFC unforced error

[Moonshadow 17,673]

Soooooooo..... We can't organise a permit to sell things at Gosch's but the Demon Army can get its act together (well, sort of) to sell snags and a coffee cart can sell drinks???

Given that it was heavily promoted as a special Labour Day training session, with food and drinks, blind Freddie could see that membership and merch sales would have been a good idea, especially given the email came from MFC Membership. Fancy promoting the event to supporters and then underestimating the crowd and the potential for sales! I was there willing to spend good money, many families I spoke to said the same. Low hanging fruit without a doubt. If in fact $1000 was the cost to set up, then we made a mistake. Not to mention all the supporter good will that would have been generated, particularly amongst young fans, the future of our club.

Last post on the topic for me. I'll leave the apologist to keep at it.

[The Devil Inside 2,147]

EFA.

You have doubt about it because you can't fault the club. Ever.

The whole list could be done for growing marijauna plants in their backyard and you would excuse it because 'it raises funds for the club during the off season when they sell it instead of putting up membership tents.'

They dropped the ball. If they didn't drop the ball then they wouldn't need to apologise. Simple.

Hello darling, wondered when you would pipe up again, of course I fault the club, I just have doubts that the cost of setting up a merchandise/membership tent would have been covered by the revenue in, you need to make a profit on these things when you are inn the financial position we are in, if say it was Collingwood and 5000 turn up to an open training session then yes, but we had maximum a couple of hundred, most already signed up members and wearing club merchandise

Not disagreeing the communication was a big fail, but the club has apologised for that

Unfortunately we have posters who do the opposite of what I am perceived to do and take any opportunity to criticize the club without knowing all the facts

[The Devil Inside 2,147]

Soooooooo..... We can't organise a permit to sell things at Gosch's but the Demon Army can get its act together (well, sort of) to sell snags and a coffee cart can sell drinks???

Given that it was heavily promoted as a special Labour Day training session, with food and drinks, blind Freddie could see that membership and merch sales would have been a good idea, especially given the email came from MFC Membership. Fancy promoting the event to supporters and then underestimating the crowd and the potential for sales! I was there willing to spend good money, many families I spoke to said the same. Low hanging fruit without a doubt. If in fact $1000 was the cost to set up, then we made a mistake. Not to mention all the supporter good will that would have been generated, particularly amongst young fans, the future of our club.

Last post on the topic for me. I'll leave the apologist to keep at it.

How many young fans left, do you have a specific figure, and will it all be forgotten if they attend Family Day, nobody has anything concrete to put forward, just surmising

[The Devil Inside 2,147]

While I definitely agree YouTube would be a more user-friendly option, the club gets far more from utilising the club website and video option. More views for sponsors, and the club gets added benefits from more clicks on the club site.

In terms of this whole issue in general - yes, it's incredibly frustrating that people had to stand around for an hour. There was clearly a miscommunication within the club (what that was, I don't know - but they would hardly intentionally keep people waiting if they didn't have to).

The fact is this was a public holiday - the club's full time staff are off. I understand that - due to the public holiday - more people were able to attend training, but having admin staff work on their day off costs the club money - far more than the supposed $1000 figure bandied around regarding the permits and marquee.

While I'm sure there may have been a couple of people at the training looking to purchase merchandise or membership, I don't believe any sales would have nearly covered the costs necessary.

The issue here was the miscommunication - and that will surely now be rectified within the club.

Agreed, but I am afraid there are some that will never see this, but it is an opinion and they are entitled to theirs

[DemonOX 8,779]

Its funny cause the players are involved in the membership telethon but the club has missed not one but two golden opportunities to get memberships through the infra club match and the open training session.

Bloody stupid imo.

Pick up your game MFC.

[Gator 17,261]

Re the 1 pm training time-slot.

From Peter Jackson:

"The training session on Monday was delayed from the normal time to 1.00pm because we needed to give the players 3 full days off after the NAB game in accordance with the CBA. They arrived back in Melbourne from Perth at 5.30am and so training was put back from 10.00am. A requirement of the CBA."

[timD 994]

Hello darling, wondered when you would pipe up again, of course I fault the club, I just have doubts that the cost of setting up a merchandise/membership tent would have been covered by the revenue in, you need to make a profit on these things when you are inn the financial position we are in, if say it was Collingwood and 5000 turn up to an open training session then yes, but we had maximum a couple of hundred, most already signed up members and wearing club merchandise

Not disagreeing the communication was a big fail, but the club has apologised for that

Unfortunately we have posters who do the opposite of what I am perceived to do and take any opportunity to criticize the club without knowing all the facts

You are making things up while asking others for facts.

You place yourself between the club and critics and then deny that you do it.

You state you don't want to make things personal while making personalised comments.

You state demonland is improving when people agree with you and that it is getting worse when they don't.

This is the behaviour of a troll.

[rpfc 28,247]

Re the 1 pm training time-slot.

From Peter Jackson:

"The training session on Monday was delayed from the normal time to 1.00pm because we needed to give the players 3 full days off after the NAB game in accordance with the CBA. They arrived back in Melbourne from Perth at 5.30am and so training was put back from 10.00am. A requirement of the CBA."

Have you emailed him or are you like Lando Calrissian's personal assistant Lobot - implanted with a connection to Jackson?

[Lucifers Hero 39,490]

Re the 1 pm training time-slot.

From Peter Jackson:

"The training session on Monday was delayed from the normal time to 1.00pm because we needed to give the players 3 full days off after the NAB game in accordance with the CBA. They arrived back in Melbourne from Perth at 5.30am and so training was put back from 10.00am. A requirement of the CBA."

This is confusing ProDee.

1. This is the 2nd 'quote' you have from PJ without giving a source. You may have inside knowledge which is fine but you can mention that without giving any detail.

2. Training was not scheduled for 10 am. It was scheduled at 12 noon according to club advertising. So either PJ is confused or you contact has poor info.

3. Jennifer Watt has apologized on behalf of the club and didn't mention the travel time issue.

These points are not helping your credibility. Or could it be you are just trying to stir up the pot!!

Edited March 11, 2015 by Lucifer's Hero

[beelzebub 23,313]

Re the 1 pm training time-slot.

From Peter Jackson:

"The training session on Monday was delayed from the normal time to 1.00pm because we needed to give the players 3 full days off after the NAB game in accordance with the CBA. They arrived back in Melbourne from Perth at 5.30am and so training was put back from 10.00am. A requirement of the CBA."

but waited til the 11th hoyr ( literally) to make a decision (of change)

Sounds like bullshlt wrapped in paper for mine.

They must have known in other words.

Those trotting out the public holiday excuse re club....many ways to manage around that. And are some serious about suggesting things are left THAT late ?

[Gator 17,261]

This is confusing ProDee.

1. This is the 2nd 'quote' you have from PJ without giving a source. You may have inside knowledge which is fine but you can mention that without giving any detail.

2. Training was not scheduled for 10 am. It was scheduled at 12 noon according to club advertising. So either PJ is confused or you contact has poor info.

These are not helping your credibility.

Jackson replied to an email I sent him on Monday. I haven't read many posts on this thread; just jumped to the last page a couple of times and answered what was queried.

The website was never meant to promote 12 noon, hence the confusion and subsequent apology.

[dazzledavey36 54,197]

Im just commenting to keep this thread on top.

[angrydee 842]

You are making things up while asking others for facts.

You place yourself between the club and critics and then deny that you do it.

You state you don't want to make things personal while making personalised comments.

You state demonland is improving when people agree with you and that it is getting worse when they don't.

This is the behaviour of a troll.

Spot on.

Oh well. I just feel sorry for the inadequate little chappy and hope he feels fulfilled.

[bing181 9,193]

You don't know how many people left in disgust. You don't know how many memberships or how much merchandise could have been sold.

Nor do any of us.

[Machsy 2,858]

I suggest the communication staff better improve the internal communications at the club.

Also this may be a problem with having the admin & fd in different locations....

Salient point rjay.

That may well be rjay but why no membership or merchandise sales tents?

Seriously? This was just providing supporters with early notification of the opportunity to turn up to an open training session, after the whinging following the timing and location of the intraclub practice match.

This wasn't the family day. I dare say a large crowd was not expected.

In any case, I have friends working at other "successful clubs" and mistakes with training like this are reportedly made all the time.

[Wolfmother 182]

I'll must admit the club continues to disappoint readying this thread probably just confirms that I'm not the only one that sees the problems.

I couldn't sleep last night and wrote my first email to club just showing my complete amazement at lack of sales or respect for members.

I outlined a few concerns including that I really wonder if the club had the people with correct skills in sales as I've have a sales background and see massive gaps that the club continues time and time to miss. The club misses the basic so many times that in reality it's a cultural thing with no drive (or if they are pushed it is all hot air without substances)

These are the points I outline including personal experiences that amaze me .

- the labour day match sim, these failures show a complete disrespect by the clubs for its fans. If the club markets this event surely there is someone overseeing this to ensure it goes off. Although the football department had priority changing the training session around to ensure the thing went off at the right time for one session isn't going to destroy a pre season.

- sales; I relayed the story that I was a player sponsor a few years ago and giving about 4k to the club. I relayed that although I indicated at the last event that I might not be able to take the sponsorship next year due to a divorce I never received a phone call to renewal or even an attempt to sell me something at lower level/premium membership. It been four years and I still haven't received a call. I don't need a call to stroke my ego as I am an easy kill with a property dees group would give the club some money. If they are missing such easy sales from me how many more are they missing! (I have sponsored a local club as the mfc attitude is pretty poor and they at least approved are the funds.

Although it's an afl wide issue the fact that we turn over 10k members each year is a disgrace they need to be profile members recording their comments and calling them to put a bit or pressure (I'm talking sales here). They are wasting cash to flyers and posting the

To you le address when if they checked what was the best source of renewal it would be calling

Since I haven't had a call and members of my family haven't I seriously wonder how much the club is missing in easy sales. This is not a resources problem it's the laziness of the sales staff if all 2014 members aren't called in the off season and they should do the past two years

Anyway I sent this long email to info@Melbourne and maybe thought I would hear back as i was pretty blunt. I then saw the telethon tonight which just proves to be that they don't understand customer service which is our front office primary role. surely someone complaining about no calls in four years would get someone off there bum and go we better call this loony tonight to stop his complaining .

I love the club but the lack of skills in such a vital area(and not highly complex stuff) demonstrates this club will never get back to the powerhouse it was

[SaberFang 7,151]

Good post Wolfmother. It seems while PJ is doing an excellent job with corporate, our media/sales/public relations departments remain average at best. Just take a look at the flat-out embarrassing Nathan Jones video crowing for 35,000 members. He looks completely disinterested, clearly just pulled aside after training one day and fed lines from off-screen. Camera not stable, video not colour balanced, a motionless and generic graphic, amateurish editing, and terrible sub-Garage Band "music" to boot. And this video is meant to be the crown jewel to convince skeptics to hand over their hard earned after what the MFC has dished up for the last 8 years?

So much relies on perception with our club, and if we dish up rubbish like this (and Monday's pissweak effort at training) we'll continue along our merry path of mediocrity for many years to come.

Edited March 11, 2015 by Lamashtu

[Older demon 2,741]

Someone asked how many were there so I have posted some crowd photo's I took on Monday. The link is http://imgur.com/a/HEk6d#0a few taken at midday and then some taken once the players hit the track. There were some very healthy numbers there.

[P-man 13,366]

My belief is that media and marketing, whilst down the pecking order at the moment, may receive a greater focus once the club has something to sell other than hope.

Yes, the club seems headed in the right direction, but the less invested supporter is now waiting to see evidence of it on the field. So currently, FD spending is consuming budget from other areas. Once the results come, the club will have something more tangible to sell.

I'm not saying this approach is right or wrong, just my own theory as to their thinking. If it remains the amateur approach we have now once the club starts winning with regularity, I'll be more concerned.

[rpfc 28,247]

My belief is that media and marketing, whilst down the pecking order at the moment, may receive a greater focus once the club has something to sell other than hope.

Yes, the club seems headed in the right direction, but the less invested supporter is now waiting to see evidence of it on the field. So currently, FD spending is consuming budget from other areas. Once the results come, the club will have something more tangible to sell.

I'm not saying this approach is right or wrong, just my own theory as to their thinking. If it remains the amateur approach we have now once the club starts winning with regularity, I'll be more concerned.

I hope so, Pman.

The other way they could go if we start winning is to do even less now 'that the selling of the club is being done.'

[bluey 1,089]

In 2015 people buy their memberships online, seriously doubt that many people would see a membership tent, think it was a good plan and buy a membership at the drop of a hat, when they had no intention of doing so, or even more far fetched, don't renew ever again because they couldn't find a membership tent at a training venue.

[binman 42,560]

In 2015 people buy their memberships online, seriously doubt that many people would see a membership tent, think it was a good plan and buy a membership at the drop of a hat, when they had no intention of doing so, or even more far fetched, don't renew ever again because they couldn't find a membership tent at a training venue.

I guess that means they should review their current strategy of having membership sales at all games and should most definetly not bother having them for sale at the Family Day on Sunday

Edited March 11, 2015 by binman

[Leoncelli_36 2,264]

Anyone know whether the MFC will set up a membership tent up in Ballarat on Saturday?

[Moonshadow 17,673]

Just recieved a signed card for my kid from HL as well as a mascot toy and fridge magnet. Very well recieved. Good gesture by the club after Monday's training events. I'll buy a child membership and some more merchandise to reinforce the support. We like the excitement of doing this in person rather than online. Thanks Jane at MFC, much appreciated.

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

In 2015 people buy their memberships online, seriously doubt that many people would see a membership tent, think it was a good plan and buy a membership at the drop of a hat, when they had no intention of doing so, or even more far fetched, don't renew ever again because they couldn't find a membership tent at a training venue.

I wouldn't mind betting that 90%+ of memberships are purchased online/via phone

If it was the 1980s or beforehand, the importance of a physical tent would be relevant