You might already know this, the “Knock Tobacco out of the Park” initiative is making base hits.
The purpose of this initiative is to take tobacco out of baseball for good. The ultimate objective is to set the right example for America’s kids and protect the health of players.
Between Ted Cox’s recent article Ban on Smokeless Tobacco At Sporting Events Would Apply to Players, Fans and IAVM’s article Knocking Tobacco Out of the Park, written by Sam Dores, assistant athletics director, facilities, operations, and event management at Long Beach State, we’ve gained insight.
Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and as recently as Friday, Chicago, are now onboard to “nip the dip” at sporting events.
According to Cox’s article, the ban is “specifically intended to deter young people ‘from mimicking their sports heroes and using smokeless tobacco.”
Although smokeless tobacco has been a part of the history of baseball, as far back as the 1950s, Major League Baseball teams understand the impact this change could have on the future stars of the game.
It’s a process that might take another season or two for all teams to pass the ban. However, when that day comes, will your property be ready to enforce it?
You do not need to be a Major League Baseball (MLB) ballpark to understand the importance of monitoring and enforcing your prohibited items.
Keep reading as we are about to share a solution for any property to enable guests and staff to knock all prohibited items out of your property.
As Sam states in his IAVM article, “Just because it’s entrenched in baseball history doesn’t mean we can’t enforce and spearhead change.”
Today we’re going to show you how to accomplish both of these objectives using Text Communication.
Effects of Not Using Text Communication
Does this situation sound familiar? Are you going through this?
Let’s say you’re a ballpark that now bans smokeless tobacco. You have guests that still believe they can sneak it by without a hitch.
You have the correct signage displayed throughout the property, but plenty of guests disregard it.
They’re more worried about what’s going to happen at the bottom of the ninth, not about getting caught with chewing tobacco.
An even bigger problem is spotting them. It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack – especially if it’s smokeless.
Unfortunately, it slips through the cracks. You expose the youth of America to smokeless tobacco, and your ballpark looks bad to the public.
You have to do something. You need to make things right.
You may get lucky. You catch a person here and there. You charge fines to some spectators anywhere from $100-$250 for their first offense.
Not to mention, you hope that it’s their last one.
We all know this isn’t going to be effective in the long run.
It becomes a nightmare, leaving you with high blood pressure and a bad public image.
What’s your move? Do you have a way to enforce this ban at your property?
You can relax now.
This scenario does not have to be the future of your property – whether you’re an MLB ballpark or not.
Implement text communication at your property, now, to empower your guests and staff to not only enforce your smokeless tobacco ban but all other things on your prohibited items list.
Enable Guests & Staff to Join Your Efforts
We know there’s much stress with being charged to enforce initiatives for your operation.
You, your guests, and staff deal with others sneaking in prohibited items every event.
It’s a continuous battle. One you’re probably willing to take on but could use a little help.
Here’s the great news:
Text communication can contribute to knocking tobacco, and all your other prohibited items, out of your property.
You can put the power to report and stop offenders into the hands of everyone.
Two-way text messaging gives you the assistance of thousands of eyes to report issues and mitigate incidents as they occur.
It’s a powerful tool. We’d even call it a superpower for proactive operations.
It’s a perfect solution. Are you ready to learn everything you need to know about implementing and using a texting system at your property?
Let’s dive in.
How to Effectively Promote Your Property’s System
You must promote your system because it’s the only way your guests will know it exists.
If they know it exists, then they’ll know how to use it.
Believe it or not, they will use it to report offenders. It gives them a power they never had before and many of your guests don’t want prohibited items either and want to help you remove them.
You’ll need to make sure your signage provides the right information so everyone can take part in your efforts.
Using your system is the only way for it to provide value. It is important to understand this.
You must display visible signage throughout your property for guests to see or it’s useless.
You don’t want it getting lost amongst all the Cracker Jack boxes and peanuts and, of course, other signage. Overlooking this is the last thing you want.
Here’s how promoting your system needs to work:
- Display your shortcode and keyword on banners throughout your property.
- Information required by operations should also be included on your signage.
- Once a text message is sent to the text system, the system will automatically respond with a message to your guest. A message that you’ve customized for your property.
- This message will let the guest know your team has received the message and are in the process of responding.
Your guests will have peace of mind knowing you’re handling the issue now, not 15 minutes from now when the offender is done chewing their smokeless tobacco or with another offense.
Once you have the signage in place, and your guests begin sending text messages, you’ll realize you made a smart, proactive decision to implement this system.
The majority of the success and value generated by using a two-way text system comes from the active promotion and usage. Put your signage in place – you’ll see results!
Streamlined Communication
Once your system’s signage is in place, the text messages will start coming in.
You need to manage the conversations. You can’t have anything slip under the radar.
Your solution’s conversation thread provides your staff with a visualization of what’s happening and being reported throughout your property.
The system displays the thread of any two-way conversation in progress.
It’s in an organized format. Quickly look at all messages for vital information.
- Location of Offender
- Description of Offender
- Type of Offense
Your ability to make real-time decisions and mitigate, or stop, offenses is possible with your solution.
You have proactive operations in place, so nothing slips through the cracks. How does it feel to be proactive?
A Smart Trick to Be Proactive
You probably have several offenders around your property, which means you’ll be receiving many texts daily and during events.
Your team needs to articulate to guests what to do or what your team plans to do without wasting any time needed for mitigating other priority issues.
Response templates let your team respond to a message in one click with the exact message you want to deliver to reporting guests.
Providing predetermined responses based on the specific issue informs guests of the situation. You can let them know you have everything under control.
Do you need additional information from someone reporting an issue? Have more response templates available to ask questions that need to be quickly answered.
Not only are you eliminating prohibited item issues, such as smokeless tobacco, from the equation, but you are also increasing the effectiveness of your entire operation.
Measure Your Success
Your system is active.
You are receiving text messages and proactively responding to guests reporting offenders.
You, your staff, and guests are making a difference in everyone’s experience.
Let’s take it one step further.
Now you have tons of data to look at, right? Then, let’s use it to your advantage.
Measure vital data like this:
- What offenses are being reported the most?
- Where are people reporting most offenses?
- When are specific offenses being reported?
- How often are you receiving reports?
- During what times of the day are you receiving reports?
- When are most offenses being reported?
- How quickly are your staff mitigating these issues?
- Do you have the best resource allocation in place to stop offenders?
This information lets you better allocate your resources and reduce the time to get on scene.
You can even break this down further. For example, the last question listed above “Do you have the best resource allocation in place to stop offenders?” can be scrutinized based on specific incident types, such as smokeless tobacco offenders.
Using analytics helps you drastically improve your operation. We are talking about looking at your operation with a fine toothed comb.
Stop all type of offenders, before they get started.
Over to You
Here’s the bottom line, whether you are working to knock tobacco out of your ballpark or trying to get a handle on prohibited items at your property, you need Text Communication.
Putting a system in place that empowers your guests and staff to join your efforts takes some of the stress off your plate. It helps you maintain the quality of your operation – and ends in ‘peace of mind’ for everyone.
So, will you be deploying a text messaging solution at your ballpark to join the initiative to protect America’s youth or to only stop offenders at your property? There’s nothing wrong with leading change.
