Our Client Success team works alongside our partners to help them accomplish their goals, whether it’s by helping them set up their event pages, utilize our system to the fullest, or ensure a successful event day on-site. Today, we’re excited to introduce Steffan Langguth, one of our East Coast Client Success Managers. Since joining our team over a year and a half ago, Steffan has played a huge role in ensuring our partners’ entire event lifecycles run smoothly and efficiently by offering expert advice and working with them on-site during their event.
Steffan graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 2011 with a degree in Marketing and a minor in Economics. While in school, he worked with Chevrolet as a Campaign Strategy Specialist to promote their new electric car at the time, the Chevy Volt, by designing and implementing an integrated marketing campaign over the course of several months. For six years following graduation, Steffan worked for his hometown’s Minor League Baseball team, the Altoona Curve. There, he worked his way up the ranks to eventually become the Assistant General Manager, where he not only managed new ticket sales associates, but also took the lead on developing new marketing campaigns, acted as a liaison between vendors and sponsors, and worked to pursue new corporate ticket sales opportunities.
After working closely with the Altoona Curve’s ticketing partner, Steffan found himself drawn to the ticketing industry. Having already lived in Pittsburgh for four years during college, he happily made the move back to the city to join the ShowClix team. Today, Steffan works closely with many of our partners, assisting them every step of the way, from event creation to event day. Outside of the office, Steffan can be found exploring the different craft breweries around town!
Tell us about a typical week in the life of an East Coast Client Success Manager.
I don’t want to give the typical “no week is the same” line, but it does vary from week to week. It’s great because you’re able to get into some normal routines of checking in with partners and maintaining your existing relationships, while at the same time mixing in things that are different each week, like setting up brand new events and welcoming new partners to ShowClix. It’s always exciting when you learn about a brand new event you get to work on, but it’s also very important to make sure the partners you’ve been working with for a while still get the attention they deserve, so staying organized is key.
Your role gives you the opportunity to work closely with many of our partners through the entire event lifecycle. What’s it like being involved in such a large preparation process?
It’s incredibly fulfilling to be able to go through the whole event lifecycle with the partner. Often times we’re involved in some of the idea generation and partners lean on our expertise when finalizing their event setup. To be able to provide that assistance and help them ultimately achieve their vision of selling tickets and exciting their fans is very rewarding. As a Client Success Manager, I also get the opportunity to work across all the teams of a partner’s organization, from upper management, to Event Ops, to Finance, to Marketing, etc. This is a constant reminder of how much it takes to build a successful event and how important it is to have everyone on the same page.
You have an intimate familiarity with the ticketing and technology needs of our partners. What are some of our features that you find are most helpful to event organizers?
The ease in which events can be created and adjusted is great. I can build an event and have it on-sale in a matter of minutes if need be. The ability to segment different groups of customers and then send direct email messages to them through our Customer Segments and the Email Campaigns tools are also great resources because we all know how important it is to get your messaging out. Plus, the ability to automate certain tasks and set up notifications through Agent is a really cool feature that not every ticketing system has.
How do you stay organized to ensure tasks are completed in a timely fashion?
The key for me is to have a system and stick with it. Find whatever works for you. I’m a bit old school and tend to still write a lot of things down on pen and paper as opposed to typing out notes on a computer. So it’s important for me to make sure I’m keeping these notes organized along with everything that’s coming in electronically through email, Slack, etc. I try to work through my tasks and email inbox in the order that things come in, but it’s also important to always be cognizant of what requires immediate attention and what may not. I also think communication is key, and you should focus on transparency when communicating with partners. For me, this means doing my best to communicate timelines and letting them know when a task might take some time to complete or if there’s something else I’m waiting on.
Before coming to ShowClix, you worked in Minor League Baseball for several years managing the team’s ticket operations and ultimately serving as the Assistant General Manager. What has the transition away from the client-side of things been like?
Going to work every day at a ballpark was pretty cool, and I worked with a lot of great people over the years. I don’t miss some of the more quirky aspects of the job, though, like putting the tarp on the field when it rains, running around in a mascot suit, or picking up firework shrapnel from the field after the game. It’s great going to work knowing that you don’t have to worry about having multiple changes of clothes ready if you get rained on or muddy! It makes me appreciate the air conditioning in our office even more.