The Bash (Gigmasters) — An ostrich of a company.

Rob Hadley
Nov 1 · 4 min read

I’ve been supporting companies by providing workshops about confidence for sales professionals for years. One thing that soon becomes evident is that some companies take this seriously, putting effort and resources into managing sales teams and investing in their skills. Other companies tend to see this as an area they can cut corners and save a few cents.

The first group of companies are usually on the upswing. Their sales numbers grow month on month, there is enthusiasm in the company and they are on a growth trajectory. The other type of company is usually in a pattern of either trying to consolidate, or likely the are facing difficulties, a change in ownership and generally lack coherent vision. This is an observation that holds true over the years I’ve been doing these workshops.

In short, understanding sales and investing in the skills are characteristics of a company that is on a winning path. Those other companies can turn things around, given the vision to do so, but often can’t get things together in time to make coherent moves.

Now, let’s throw into this a recent experience I’ve had with a company I’ve worked with over ten years. In this case they are a supplier, an online booking agency whose service has gone from pretty good to abysmal. They are in a market in which a strong competitor has come forward and is outperforming them (in my case) with 11 leads for every one from The Bash (formerly Gigmasters). When I asked them what the issue was their response was first an attempted upsell (bad idea) and then (unbelievably) an attempted downsell. The story is illustrated here.

After doing some research I found that The Bash had indeed changed ownership recently. Indeed their new ownership (WeddingWire) is in the field of wedding services, rather than providing performers to the corporate market, which explained the downturn in corporate bookings. However, the way in which my questions were first mishandled and then basically ridden over roughshod really told me something about the company’s new culture. This has to be viewed in comparison to their competitor who is responsive, in search of client suggestions, and basically on the upswing in the market.

In this case, the client (myself) was handled by The Bash (Gigmasters) as though they were a problem — rather than someone who is an advocate of the company and has steered many clients their way. The impertinence of a client that had a serious question about the service seemed an inconvenience that didn’t merit their attention.

In my workshops I emphasise the fact that there are few better advocates for a company than a client who has had a problem, had it resolved and then goes on to become a positive influencer subsequently. Finding myself as a player in this particular instance hasn’t brought me much joy, but does reinforce the point rather strongly. A client that has been marginalised by poor customer service is not just a lost client, they are a large negative advocate — particularly in the case of someone who talks to many potential customers of a company like The Bash (Gigmasters).

My workshops emphasise positive client management. I’ve learned that myself from companies like Intrawest, Virgin Airways and Mercedes-Benz, all of which pride themselves on provision of excellent customer experiences and are companies that I’ve supported with workshops and other services. When a company that I’ve been with for so many years suffers a serious downturn in the quality of their service I can’t help but wonder what’s happening with them. It doesn’t seem entirely unreasonable that I might ask questions about why my advertising with them is failing to get even remotely comparable results compared to what it once did, and what their competitors are delivering.

Well, their response was to end the client relationship. I had an unusual call from their Annie Mezzapelle (Manager Account Services) to let me know that, rather than resolve the issue and retain their client, their idea of resolving the problem was to end the relationship. This was fine by me — in as much as it stops me wasting money. However, as a business practice it can’t really be looked at with any positive framing. Losing business is never a good idea. Failing to ask yourself why is an even worse one.

Still, in the end I suppose we have to acknowledge that some companies have cultures that are not responsive, fail to serve their clients and while in the short term they will continue to take clients money, in an economy where clients correspond with one another at a sophisticated level they are doomed to a fairly short lifespan — and rightly so.

The Bash represents 179 hypnotists. In the last 6 months only 45 made more than $2000 in bookings. When you’re looking at numbers like that you can’t really be surprised that your clients are asking questions. The answer isn’t to simply stick your head in the sand. At least, not if you’re serious about serving the clients and building your business.

And that’s where the problem lies. When a company culture becomes one of simply taking the money and not serving the client it’s headed more or less where it deserves to be.

Be sure to contact me if you’re interested in my corporate workshops. Let’s keep the scrap heap for the companies that deserve to be there.

Rob Hadley
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