For 27 years, top country music DJ Tracy Pitcox and his wife Charla have run the Heart of Texas Country Music Association LINK from Brady, Texas. They put on up to 20 concerts and shows a year at three venues, while running a radio show, writing books, and maintaining the Heart of Texas Country Music Museum LINK (which features memorabilia from entertainers such as Jim Reeves, Minnie Pearl, Patsy Cline, Faron Young, Dottie West, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Grandpa Jones).
They are leading proponents of traditional country music, but as the popularity of their shows grew, they found that traditional ways of handling tickets just weren’t working.
“We are a small record label that does a lot of live shows at different venues,” Charla said. “We kept growing and adding events, but were still doing everything manually. We needed help with ticketing.”
So they were receptive when we contacted them about eReserve Ticketing last fall, and we soon had it up and running.
Their first event was held this past March, a large festival in Brady. Last year, it hadn’t gone so smoothly.
“When we sold tickets last year, we handled everything over three phones,” Charla recalled. “We double sold some tickets, we missed others completely.” She told about one couple that traveled all the way from Canada and forgot to bring their tickets. “We had to wait until all the rest of the audience was seated in order to find their seats. It was time to find an easier way.”
eReserve Ticketing made that happen. At this year’s event, everything was online. Their fans responded. Within the first 10 minutes of “going live,” they processed more than 80 transactions from all around the world. The presale for the event was over 80%! They subsequently sold out the four following events.
“That saves hassle at the door,” Charla said of the sellouts. “We just had people take tickets, there were no problems, people knew where they were sitting.”
The final test came when the same group from Canada showed up, and again had forgotten to bring their tickets. No problem this time!
“We were able to find their seats and get them right in,” Charla said. “It worked perfectly!”
One secret to their immediate success was the effort they put into informing their audience about the new online ticketing process. They made a big push in newsletter and email marketing, and in all ads, posters, and press releases.
There was some skepticism about whether their “older” crowd would buy tickets online (we hear that a LOT), but it turned out to not be the case.
“Tracy kept thinking that since we sell to an older crowd, no one would go for it,” Charla said. “But they did, with no problems. The hardest person to drag into this was Tracy. But now he takes credit for it all!”
The Pitcox’s had researched other ticketing options, but preferred eReserve Ticketing for the ease of setting up events and the instant reporting. They liked the fact there were no huge setup costs or monthly fees. eReserve Ticketing was also able to help design a custom reserved table layout for their big fundraising event. With the continued popularity of traditional country music, the couple has plans to expand.
“They are building a new civic center for us next year, so we will have more room, and more tickets!”
Let us show you how eReserve Ticketing can make your ticketing “sing!”
Phil Houseal, Sales • (830) 456-6849 • phil@adweb-ereserve.com
It might surprise you to learn that not all of our clients use eReserve Ticketing to admit people to their events. Some have discovered it is a convenient way to enter sheep, cattle, and hogs.
