What have the following got in common?
Answer: They use the Arts Venue Toolkit Training Programme.
Royal Court, BBC, Wales Millennium Centre and Theatre Royal Newcastle use us. Along with many others including:
Eastbourne Theatres, Mansfield Palace, Norden Farm, Maidenhead, Regents Park Open Air Theatre, Oxford Playhouse, Reading Arts, Science Oxford, Spitalfields Festival, The Anvil, Basingstoke, The Point Eastleigh, Theatre Royal Newcastle, TMA, Watford Palace Theatre, Wycombe Arts Management, Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Every time you talk to a customer, you ARE the venue
In the current economic climate, it’s more important than ever that people from all parts of your venue pull together to give your customers a uniquely positive experience that they will remember. Everyone needs to remember that when they are communicating with a customer, face-to-face, by phone or in writing, they are representing your venue.
Working in Silos
Pulling together has traditionally not come easy for arts venues. Often there are many different departments working in separate locations – either in different parts of a large building or possibly across town. Arts venues often rely on a number of part-time staff, working at different times. Each department will often possess its own unique skill set, which may be quite different from all other departments.
It is therefore not surprising that people can work in a disjointed way, working in their own silos with little knowledge or interest in what is happening elsewhere in the venue. Opportunities to support each other can be missed. Staff can become disconnected and dispirited.
Loss of Customer Focus
What we find, for example, is that Front of House may fail to see opportunities to support the Box Office at busy times. Bar and restaurant people may not see their role as delivering the venue’s customer experience and building relationships with customers (particularly if these functions have been contracted out). Marketing people may be seen as out of touch with what is happening on a day-to-day basis. Box Office people may see themselves as “order takers” and overlook opportunities to build customer relationships and upsell and cross-sell. They may lack an awareness of the needs of different customers and how they can be satisfied through using a comprehensive, in-depth knowledge of the venue and what it has to offer.
As a result there can be a loss of customer focus. Over time this can lead to a poor public image of the venue in the community, a decline in bookings and ultimately, the venue suffering.
Limited Training Budgets
Effective training can turn things around but of course arts venues often have limited training budgets. There is often the problem of how to make people available for training while maintaining service to the public. Council-owned venues may face the additional problem that their owners don’t always recognise that investing in training can produce extra revenues that far exceed the cost of the training.
The Arts Venue Toolkit
The Arts Venue Toolkit is a highly effective, targeted, result-focused solution which has turned around the performance of a many arts venues across the UK. It’s a package of fun, interactive courses delivered at your venue. You can select what you need – or take the whole package. It comprises:
Tailored to your Needs
The Toolkit works because it’s tailored to your needs. We do this by interviewing a sample of management and participants beforehand.
You Choose the Time and Place
Flexibility is the key. We can deliver at your venue – so there’s no travelling – at times to suit you – including weekends.
Maximising your Bang for the Buck
We maximise the effect of the training through:
- Getting your people to do some preparation work beforehand
- Getting your people to commit to actions for improving the way they work
- Providing free follow-up and support over the phone
- Giving you suggestions on how to keep the benefits of training alive
Making Real Improvements for Your Venue
Throughout the course we capture people’s ideas for improving the way the venue works. We encourage you to take these forward for action following the course on provide advice on how to do that. The resulting benefits will usually far outweigh the cost of the training.
Improving the Way the Venue Works at as Team
We encourage you to include people from various parts of the organisation in the training – and to include management. This can engender a significant improvement in the way your organisation works as a high performance team.
Professional Delivery
Our delivery team is Mark Arnold, Adrian Phillips and Jonathan Nash – all of whom have many years of experience in the arts sector. This means that they know your needs and understand the challenges you face.
Training Technology
We use a range of well-proven, interactive training techniques, activities and visual aids. We provide each participant with a comprehensive pack of handouts.
Low Costs
We keep costs to a minimum – at a fraction of what we charge commercial sector organisations. The daily fee is £800 (plus VAT) and includes pre-course interviews and free follow-up and support.