164 - The “Always / Never” Customer Service Starter List

In this tactical follow-up episode, Jeremy Neisser breaks down how sports teams can create a more consistent fan experience by building a simple “Always Do” and “Never Do” customer service framework. Instead of chasing perfection, teams should focus on clarity, repeatability, and organization-wide adoption so every fan interaction feels easier, smoother, and more intentional.

Key Topics Covered
Why most teams do not have a customer service problem — they have a consistency problem
How inconsistency across departments quietly hurts ticket sales and fan growth
Why your list should be simple: 5–7 “Always Do” items and 5–7 “Never Do” items
The importance of same-day responses and clear next steps
Why teams should assume fan confusion is the organization’s responsibility to fix
How “Know Before You Go” communication improves the fan experience before fans arrive
Common mistakes like making fans search for information, overcomplicating offers, or disappearing after the sale
How to embed the framework into staff training, meetings, game-day operations, and daily habits
Timestamps

00:00 – Why consistency matters in the fan experience
01:25 – Most teams have a consistency problem, not a service problem
02:25 – Keep your Always/Never list simple and memorable
03:52 – Always respond the same day
04:51 – Always make it easier to do business with you
06:17 – Always assume confusion is your fault
08:35 – Always prepare fans before they arrive
09:35 – Never make fans search for information
10:32 – Never overcomplicate your offers
11:00 – Never treat every fan the same
12:27 – Never pass fans around or disappear after the sale
13:20 – How to actually use the list with your team
15:31 – The 30-minute challenge to build your own framework

Call to Action

Take 30 minutes with your staff this week and build your own list: 5–7 things your team should always do, and 5–7 things your team should never do.

If you need help creating your framework, schedule a free 30-minute call with Jeremy at Revelocity Sports.

Episodes mentioned:
154 - How to Make Your Groups Sales Page Easier to Buy From: LINK
Episode page - LINK

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Transcript

Jeremy Neisser (00:00.482)
Welcome to episode 164 of the Sports Marketing Machine podcast powered by Revilocity Sports, the show that helps you sell more tickets and grow your fan base. I'm your host, Jeremy Neistat. Last episode, episode 163, we talked about why your fan experience feels inconsistent and how that inconsistency is

Quietly costing you ticket sales and actually quietly costing you the ability to grow your fan base even faster So if you haven't listened to that yet go back I'll put a link in the show notes check it out because it really sets the stage for this episode Today we are going to get Tactical we're going to build a list the always do list and the never do list these rules that your entire organization

can actually use to create a consistent fan experience. Because remember, you don't scale great service with motivation. You scale it with clarity. Let's get going.

Jeremy Neisser (01:25.708)
Let's set the stage as we start to dive into the tactical side of things and the easiest way to do that is a quick reminder from the last episode. Most teams don't have a customer service problem. They have a consistency problem. One person is great. One person is average and another one creates unnecessary friction. Same brand, different experiences for the fans. And those fans, they don't separate your concessions department

from your parking and ticket takers and ushers or even your ticket sellers they don't typically say hey that employee wasn't great they say hey this experience was frustrating or this team is frustrating the goal here isn't perfection it's actually consistency so how do you build your always do never do list I'm gonna give you one huge takeaway don't over complicate this so before I give you the list

Let's talk about how to think about it. Because this is where I've seen some teams overthink it, they overcomplicate it, and overengineer it, and it really gets crazy. They try to build 20 rules, 30 rules, full manuals, they try to do all of these things. That's not the core piece here. What it is is you really need 5 to 7 always, and 5 to 7 never. That's it. You don't need much more than that. The goal simply is

needs to be easy to remember, easy to train, and easy to reinforce. If your staff can't remember it, they won't use it. If your staff cannot remember it, they won't use it. So clarity will always win. It needs to be easy to remember, easy to train, and easy to reinforce. So what your team should always do.

These are the non-negotiables. These are just a few starter ideas. Maybe your team's got other ideas. But at the very least, I'm going to lay these out for you. And you can say, yeah, these are great. I'm going to take a few of these. Or you know what? I see where he's going here. I'm to take a few of these and then create my own. However you want to do it, great. But don't do more than five or seven, because you're just going to make yourself even more crazy, truth be told. All right. So these are the always. These are the non-negotiables. Always respond the same day.

Jeremy Neisser (03:52.762)
Speed equals trust if someone reaches out to you and hears nothing back for a day two days a week The momentum is gone Even if you don't have the answer respond that right there in itself says hey I may not know what's going on with this, but let me tell you what I'm gonna connect you with my colleague who knows all about it Or hey, you know what? Let me get right back to you I don't know the answer, but I'm gonna go find out for you like that person feels heard

Validated whatever it may be could be a concern about something in the concessions People could be asking if you have gluten-free options like it could be a variety of so many different things But always respond the same day if possible Number two just make it easy for folks to do business with you. This is a big one Obviously, I'm in the ticket selling business and helping you grow your tickets and sell more tickets and grow your fan base clear pricing

Clear options, clear steps. I put together a couple episodes on making it easier for your group's sales pages to buy from. I'm gonna put a link in the show notes for those as well because I think this is also part of this. If you're always thinking about, how do we make it easier for folks to do business with us? Clear pricing, clear options, clear steps. If the buying feels like work, you're not gonna sell

more and more each year they simply won't do it if the person who's on there trying to buy a group or buy season tickets or single game tickets they have to hop through all of these hoops they simply will not do it they just won't do it so if you're buying feels like work they're not going to do it so be thinking about how do i make it easier for folks to buy from us always give a clear next step and this is a great one for the ticket sales side

or even the parking side as people are coming in and you're taking their parking tickets give them a clear next step where to go what to do and this is where where I see a lot of teams miss right don't end with let me know what you think end with hey do you want me to hold these seats should I send you a couple options or hey there's a spot right here park here like guide the fan forward whatever it may be guide them

Jeremy Neisser (06:17.946)
help them get closer and closer to less making decisions of things and making it easier for them to do business with you. is another one and this is one that actually gets me going and gets me on a soap box here especially in places like Walmart and some of these other places you go shopping. Always assume confusion is your fault. If a fan is confused something isn't clear not that they

didn't read it instead if they are confused you should look at yourself in the mirror and say how do we make this simpler how do we provide more clarity around this so folks understand what's actually happening if they are constantly getting lots of questions about how much hot dogs are at your arena or your ballpark or your pitch like

Like, it tells me that you probably need to put a sign up that says hot dogs cost this much. Or they can't figure out where to park and you're getting a lot of questions about parking. always assume the confusion is your fault, not the fans. Sure, sometimes they don't read. You and I know that. And me, as someone who buys tickets and goes to sporting events and do things just like you do, there are certain situations where we just scroll past it. Because our life is busy.

And so is your customers, so is your fans. They don't have time to read all the fine print and all of those things. You gotta make it simpler for them. So if something isn't clear and they're confused, that is a great opportunity for you to clean things up. Number five, always follow up with interested fans. Like this is 101 sales 101.

someone clicks and opens and asks a question on your website, submits a form, or sends an email. They're interested. teams, a lot of teams drop the ball there. Always follow it up with fans that are raising their hand and they're interested in something. Number six, idea that you could use on the always do bucket. Always prepare the fan before they arrive. This is massive. These know before you go emails are fantastic.

Jeremy Neisser (08:35.886)
Major League level NHL MLB. I've spoken to numerous for four different episodes Before this one for sure that we've talked about know before you go and educating the fans about the the Experience that they've signed up for and getting them ready for it I know concerts are starting to do this more and more as well as a lot of other sporting events So this is huge if you could tell them where to park when to arrive where to go

It's a smoother start. It starts off the experience so much better if you can tell them in advance. So there you go. We've got six always do's. Now there might be some things you want to tweak here for more inside your arena or inside your ballpark and that's totally fine. Go for it. But these are just some ideas to get you going. All right. Now let's move to the never do section here. This is what your team should

Never do Never make the fans search for information if they have to dig they're gone They're gonna leave because they have to do work and it shouldn't have to be work for folks to be able to do business with you or at the least very least rather they get frustrated and if they get frustrated you got a lot more work to do not only you have to get them unfrustrated but then you have to kind of provide them with the information that they need and provide it in a sympathetic or empathetic manner like

You don't need to do all that if you make it easier for fans to do business with you. So never make the fans search for information. Don't over complicate your offers. Too many options equals no decision. Clarity always converts. I love bringing up this example. When was the last time you went to the Cheesecake Factory? They gave you a menu the size of the Bible and you are sifting through there. There's too many options.

So it takes so long for folks to be able to place their order and to get their food because the first 20 minutes is really just going through the menu and seeing what you want. I call it the Cheesecake Factory issue here. When there's too many options, it leads to a very slow or even no decision. Clarity always converts. I mean, you look at Chick-fil-A, you look at In-N-Out Burger here in California, they're very fast because their menu is easy to read.

Jeremy Neisser (11:00.608)
and folks look at it and they know exactly what they're getting. Clarity will always convert because when you confuse people, you lose them. Never treat every fan the same. A first-time buyer is different than a group leader who is different than a seasoned ticket holder. They should not get the same experience. They definitely should not get the same messaging, but they should not get the same experience at all times.

I there's some situations you want to make sure the experience is exactly the same for everyone and I strive for that in some cases but if someone's coming to your arena or your ballpark for the first time, they've never been before, you want to make it feel like you're rolling out the red carpet for them. Same thing as a season ticket holder or a group leader rather. This is first time they've booked a block of tickets to come out or a sweet night or what have you. You got to make their experience exceptional because you want them to come back. Season ticket holders?

It's a relationship business for them. They want to have a relationship with someone in your office that makes them feel special and they build this relationship friendship and you could even say that's what they want. Right. So sometimes these experiences are going to be a little bit different from season ticket holders to group leaders to first time buyers. Never pass the fan around. And I know what you're thinking, Jeremy, you just said earlier, always do to kind of introduce right. Yes. But.

How you do it is what I'm saying. Never let me transfer you. Not my department, that's friction. Own the problem and kind of solve it. Hey, I've tagged my colleague, he's gonna help us. I'm here with you. If you need anything additionally, I'm with you. So there's a little bit of a handoff, but like I know there's a gray area here, but don't feel like the fan is getting passed around. I hate that when I'm calling a bank about some sort of credit card issue or what have you. Like it's so annoying.

You don't want to be treated that way and neither do your fans. This is a big one for the ticket sales team. five, never do. Never disappear after the sale. This is where a lot of teams fail. They make the sale, then they move on. The sale's not the finish line. It is the beginning of the experience. So don't disappear after you make the sale.

Jeremy Neisser (13:20.172)
This is just the beginning of them experiencing what it's like to be a part of your organization and have so much fun at your game or games. All right, so how do you actually use this? This is where it actually becomes real for your team. Don't just write it down and forget it. Put it everywhere. Staff meetings, training sessions, printed cards that every staff member has in their pocket, locker rooms. It's on the back of the the,

the name tags of staff that they're wearing around during games like put it in a lot of different places concession stands make sure everyone has it when you do your preseason training if you're doing a midseason update training on some things make sure you bring it up it's at the concessions when you're a concession worker because the power of this is repetition and better yet build this with your team you want to sit down with them and say okay

Here's a few ideas for the always do and the never do. What should we add? What should we subtract? What should we never do? What should we always do? Right? When you've got the team sharing ideas and they're building it and you are very concise about your messaging around these things, they're going to remember it because clarity always wins. So once you get your ideas,

And maybe you take a few of these and you bring it to the team and everyone brainstorms and you throw it together on paper Put it in the chat GPT and say hey I'm trying to do an always do never do list or Claude or any of your favorite AI that you want to use and say hey make these super simple because we know that clarity always wins and then you put it all together and then you share it out like

Everything from that the team is going to enjoy because it's going to be super simple for them to be able to know exactly what to do when to do it and more importantly How you do it as an organization? So here's my challenge to you take 30 minutes this week next week Whatever it is sometime soon sit down with your staff Or maybe you're the external relations director chief operating officer general manager take 30 minutes and build your list

Jeremy Neisser (15:31.458)
What are five to seven always do's? What are five to seven never do's? Then ask, would everybody in my organization follow this today? Because if the answer is no, well that's your opportunity because the teams that win long-term that are consistently building their fan base and are active in the community and are selling more tickets and they have sponsors that are looking to be invested even more with the organizations aren't the ones with the best promotions. They're the ones that make it

Easiest and the best experience for fans to come back to so I'm gonna wrap this puppy up if you have found value in this episode or the the last one or even any of them truth be told take a moment pop one over to Spotify or even Apple leave a rating or a review it would mean the world to me but more importantly it would get this podcast in front of people who are just like you people who are trying to sell more tickets and grow your fan base if you need help

With this always do never do and starting to put these together and you're trying to figure this out Like hey hop over to my website schedule a 30 minute call happy to chat with you completely free I'm in the business to helping you get more people to your games and grow and develop So if you're looking for some free help here pop over to website schedule a call I'm more than happy to help so until next time keep rocking keep working hard. We appreciate everything that you're doing

But looking forward to hearing all of the great things that you're doing in your arenas and your ballparks and continuing to grow to get more people to your games. Until next time.