LET'S START A FOOTBALL VIEWING CENTRE 2

When we commenced our business, people were coming to watch the matches as numbers increased gradually, day by day. We were happy to see them even though they were watching for free. It wasn’t easy to give free matches to hundreds of people for a week, but we knew what we were doing. This also helped us to observe customers likes and dislikes. It was good news to us since we found most of the answers we were looking for.

One of the problems we encountered was fighting between supporters from different parties. For that reason, we had to look for a giant bodyguard that was well built in muscles structure, and luckily for us, he was a martial arts graduate. This is for the purpose of driving the stubborn customers that were not willing to let go of their fighting easily, and as long as the match is not above half time, we do refund back their money. This is to show the customer that we are driving him because he is broke our rules. To make things clear to them, we pasted our rules and regulations in up to four open places in our viewing center.

We observed that some thirsty customers were fond of asking us if we knew where they could buy drinks. So, we had to solve the problem by building a wooden bar selling snacks and drinks in the viewing centre, which helped us to generate more income.

Some customers had to leave because they wanted to ease themselves. Just because of that, they would have to quit watching by going back home or go to the nearest possible toilet or look for hidden places close to our viewing centre to ease out. For this reason, some never got to come back. Some do come back late which was usually after the match is over. We were business serious minded and were not willing to lose daily customers. So we decided to take the responsibility of building toilets for our customers only. This encouraged our customers to come and watch knowing that they don’t have to worry about going back home or looking for where to ease themselves. We employed someone to take care of the toilet. The toilet will only be opened when the viewing centre is opened for matches to be played. It was obvious that only those who bought our tickets were allowed to use the toilet.

After one year, we decided to expand our business by replacing the ceiling fans to a central air conditioner for the hot indoor. Our ceilings were later changed to better ones that automatically absorb heat when the hall is cold, and absorbs cold when the hall is hot.

We updated our score board so that matches played were replaced by the upcoming matches. The score board was important because without it, customers will not know the matches that are coming up next. And for us to not lose some customers as a result of lack of sufficient information about when matches were supposed to be shown, we use to write it two or three days before the matches were shown. We had to get four metallic standing boards. We placed them in different streets off our soccer viewing center. So that those that were in those neighborhood can see the matches that will be played about two to three days before the matches were shown. This helped us create customers retention of the matches that will be shown in some few days before its date and time. The board entails the match fixtures, the league types, as well as the date and time.

We found out that some fanatics were interested in before/after match gossips. For this reason, we decided to start selling sport magazines. We had to learn the procedures, and looked for suppliers that will be supplying us with various sport magazines every morning. Then, we employed someone to become our vendor so that he can start selling us the soccer magazines. It sold well, and we were happy to see the superb demands. Most of the people who bought the sport magazines were busy people whom seldom got time to watch football matches, but were interested in it.

We do show some already played matches. This usually happens when it’s too late for us to show a match fixed at odd times. For example, a match that starts around 1:00 a.m. is considered too late. And if our customers are still highly interested in watching the match, despite it’s no longer a live match, we do consider showing it the following day after the live match is played. We also show some free soccer programs. Programs like UEFA Champion’s League draws, and introduction to Olympic Games.

There were no talking restrictions as everyone was free to yell, gaga, celebrate or talk as much as possible, but we had other restrictions such as: no kid younger than sixteen years was allowed to enter. We knew that some of them might lie to us about their age, but we had to use our intelligence to know the adult from the kids. Smoking was disallowed, fighting was prohibited. We do not take insult lightly; no refunding of tickets after entering with about fifteen minutes; no entrance without purchasing any ticket; and no taking of alcohol. We had experienced when a drunken customer smashed an empty bottle on another opposing supporter. The drunken customer‘s supporting club was beaten 3-0. He was angry that the opposing supporter was yelling next to him in excitement of his supporting club's victory. Then, he took the law into his hands by smashing an empty beer bottle on the innocent customer. We quickly reported the case to the nearby police station. It was really terrible because the guy that was knocked down, almost lost his life before he was quickly admitted to the hospital. We were really sorry for him. I personally kept visiting him to see how he was doing. He recovered after two months, and we gave him two tickets as a gift. The gift was actually a permission for him to watch any match of his interest, and any day he intends to do so.

Building a toilet, launching snacks and drinks joint, getting a strong and well built bodyguard, starting with free tickets for up to one week match, and selling sports magazines were all part of our marketing strategies. In response to our risk (cost), it paid off and today, it’s the best soccer viewing centre in the State where it was established. It made us lots of money even higher than we expected.

In underdeveloped and developing countries, only few people could afford a satellite cable, and that deprivation tends to increase the number of people that were willing to come to our viewing center to get entertainment. Just like how people buy tickets to watch their supporting club’s matches live at the stadium, so do they come to watch the same matches. Only that this time, it's live on Television.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you will build a better viewing centre one day.