I was talking with a friend and riding partner today who is now one of the top residential real estate photographers in the country. He has broken many records for earning in his regions of coverage (Portland, Oregon and the East Bay Area) by looking at the old paradigms in his field and seeing new ways of looking at them. Consequently, he does very well, because, in the words of Apple, he “Thinks Different”. He said that he was asked to give a talk after he posted the single largest jump in earnings for the Portland region after he took it over. The gist of his message to the realtors who hire him:
“You aren’t hiring me to sell this house. You’re hiring me so you get more future listings.”
This has ramifications in the orchestral world, especially as regards fund raising and increasing both donor and earned income. Think about it. We often put on concerts that will ‘sell’ so that we can improve our bottom line. And sometimes these concerts do, in fact, sell. But how many of these concerts (many of which are specials that attract very little in the way of crossover audiences) actually end up bringing more repeat customers into the concert hall? It seems like the paradigm needs to be upended a bit, in the orchestral arena:
“You aren’t programming just to sell tickets/fundraising just to survive. You’re programming/building intimate relationships to engage people in a life-long journey with your organization.”