Insight into CUFF’s Strategic Selling Approach during COVID-19

The Organization

The Calgary Underground Film Festival (CUFF) is a film festival and Western Canada’s premiere genre festival held annually mid of April at The Globe Cinema in downtown Calgary. Founded in 2003, CUFF is a non-for-profit that also runs the International Documentary Festival (CUFF.Docs) in November and special event screenings (Off the CUFF series) throughout the year.

The Product Sold

As the name implies, CUFF is dedicated to programming films that defy convention through the screening of contemporary independent films rarely seen in North American Theatres. CUFF’s showcases both local and international feature, documentary, animation and shorts in all genres, from horror, sci-fi and fantasy to comedies, thrillers and musicals. In addition to the festival’s films, CUFF is well known for its highly engaging Q&A sessions with ‘the people behind the lens’, both local and international indie filmmakers.

The Salesperson

It was my pleasure to interview CUFF’s Director/Co-Founder, Brenda Lieberman, on her extensive (over 20 years) of experience in the Film Industry. Part of Brenda’s role as the Director is to strategize the festival’s ticket sales (i.e. consumer-based selling), in addition to closing cash sponsorships (i.e. business-to-business-based selling) on a yearly basis. The revenue and sales goals are typically identified during the budgeting phase, however, changes are often made as needed, depending on the year, the movie lineup, and marketing optics. When asked if she thinks her compensation provides an adequate incentive for her to meet her goals, she explains her motivation has never been her compensation. Her motivation, however, is to bring more revenue so she can better distribute compensation between staff as she does not believe in a traditional pyramid scheme.

Brenda’s hours of work are typically full-time, half of the year (during the busy months of the festival) and half-time during the other half of the year. In a typical week of work, Brenda spends 30% of her time on face-to-face selling; another 30% on internal meetings; 10% on prospecting; 10% on administration (i.e. paperwork); 10% on travel; and 10% servicing accounts.

When she is working on her sales presentation, 50% of her time is spent on commitment (confirming, handling objections and closing); 30% on follow-through (servicing the account after the sale); 10% on information gathering and another 10% on actual sales presentations (meeting with prospects).

The Selling Process

Before meeting each prospective buyer, Brenda likes to first establish rapport either by phone or email. Since many of the prospects are renewals, the majority of her preparation consists of reviewing the account, past email correspondence, past agreements, survey response (if any), and having team briefings to refresh her memory. On average, it takes 3 to 5 emails or calls to successfully renew or close a new sponsorship agreement. Impressively, 100% of her sponsorship solicitation results in some sort of cash commitment.

Attributed to her success is her strategic approach to targeting organizations or key staff members whom she knows are either cinema enthusiasts or will likely feel a strong connection to a certain film. In other words, Brenda recognizes the importance of qualifying the prospect before pursuing the sale. For Brenda, it is all about meaningful partnerships — as opposed to — sponsorships. People and organizations have to genuinely be interested in the ‘product’. She explains that their interest not only leads to better engagement between staff and attendees, it also creates a more memorable festival experience for all.

This is why, she explains, cold calling is not effective. Her selling process begins after finding out someone is ‘into film’ — only from there can the conversation progress, in which she starts asking questions. Over time, as the relationship develops, Brenda tries to adjust her presentation to the prospect based on their personality, attitudes or opinions. “Every organization is different and every person wants to gain something different”, she explains. And although she has a standard framework to maintain some continuity, it is important for her that the presentation feels personalized. From a buyer’s perspective, she explains, nothing bothers her more than receiving an obvious email template.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being no stress, 10 being a great deal of stress) Brenda rates her job 7. The most stressful aspect of her job revolves around the product, that is, finding the right film. She further explains that picking the right film is what brings attendance and creates a full trickle effect — when people are passionate about the film, they will likely talk about it with their families, friends, and coworkers. Essentially their good word of mouth will result in new sponsorships, media coverage, and therefore, more ticket sales.

What It Takes

When asked what abilities or characteristics does she believes are crucial for success in the industry, her response is resilience, adaptability, but most importantly, love for movies. You have to be passionate about the movie to be able to sell it. “there is no cookie-cutter approach”. She further adds that the university course that probably prepared her the most was Public Speaking. “At the end of the day,” she says, “it is obvious when people are truly passionate about something or are just bullshitting”. She recalls how she was once told by a grants approval officer that they can truly sense the applicant’s passion in the writing and that this sincerity plays an important factor in the approval process.

In the long-run what sustains the relationship is when they like you on a personal level in addition to liking the product. How positively people view salespeople in the artistic sector, in general, also helps. Fortunately, most people appreciate how festivals help elevate their communities’ cultural and artistic landscape. The challenge, however, is when key decision-makers whom you have built strong relationships with, leave their jobs and their replacements, unfortunately, do not share the same interests or values. This explains why on average a company loses 15% to 20% of its customers every year — add a pandemic and a recession to the mix — and the challenge gets even bigger.

Strategic Selling during COVID-19

This year, like many other festivals around the world, CUFF had to postpone its April festival to late June and revamp it into a virtual festival. Part of the strategic approach was to create a live streaming event, as close as possible to CUFF’s in-cinema experience, which meant — live introductions, followed by the screening of newest independent films, live Q&As post-screenings, and four nights of drive-ins in partnership with Big Rock Brewery.

Contrary to this year, however, last year was Brenda’s most memorable achievement in terms of the number of tickets sold and partnerships for “The Secret Marathon” documentary, which included the filmmakers and none other than Calgary’s Mayor, Naheed Nenshi, in attendance.

Although strategic selling is an important aspect of Brenda’s job, it is clear she is first and foremost a Film Programmer at heart, in which she gets to watch hundreds of movies each year. But of all the unique aspects of her job, it is the audience’s response to a perfectly chosen piece that makes her job most enjoyable. “It’s the best feeling when you program a film you think is perfect for an audience and you can feel that excitement in the theatre. There is a vibe that you can’t get by sitting at home and watching a movie.”

References

Calgary Underground Film Festival. (2020). About CUFF. Retrieved from: https://www.calgaryundergroundfilm.org/

Shapiro, B., Posner, R. (2006). Making the Major Sale. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from: https://hbr.org/2006/07/making-the-major-sale

Avenue Magazine. (2009). Brenda Lieberman. Avenue Calgary’s 2009 Top 40 Under 40. Retrieved from: https://www.avenuecalgary.com/city-life/top-40-under-40/brenda-lieberman/