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 It used to be that the most popular musicians would pass right over Richmond en route to Raleigh or Washington. If they happened to make a stop in Virginia, booking agents were just as likely to scorn local venues in favor of hipper Charlottesville or plusher Hampton Roads. But these days that’s more the exception than the rule. That’s because two for-profit venues, Toad’s Place and The National Theater, decided there was a market in putting on shows for Richmond audiences.
Now open almost a year, Toad’s Place has boasted its fair share of packed shows. Of course some crowds are sparser than the venue can hold, but business is growing thanks to the trial-and-error strategies common to most small businesses starting out. But the public face of Toad’s Place – err, besides that toad in all the promotional materials – has departed. After four years, Jeff Sadler left his post as general manager to take a job with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. In his new position he’ll be helping small businesses all over the state succeed through the “Main Street” program and a micro-lending initiative. I sat down with Jeff last month to learn about the challenges of running an entertainment venue. Below is an excerpt from our conversation. AK: How would you say you’ve learned from the entire process – starting with an idea and steering it past all the hiccups and challenges? JS: You have to be flexible and open. You can’t get stuck on what you think is right when it clearly appears to be wrong. You can’t then go ahead and blame it on everyone and everything else. AK: Is (Toad’s) where you want it to be? JS: It’s not exactly where we want it to be, but we’re ahead of where most people thought we’d be. Most businesses of this type don’t make money for three years. We’re well ahead of that schedule. We’re encouraged by repeat business and how few complaints we get. AK: I see your ad all over. Advertising can be hard to measure, but what do you find effective? JS: That’s another thing we learned. More and more it’s direct advertising (not of the direct mail-sort). MySpace, Facebook. We advertise some other places (Style Weekly, the Times-Dispatch) to brand our venue. We also pass out fliers and tack up hanging posters. That’s been really effective. AK: How are ticket sales? JS: Pretty good. We learned what works and what doesn’t, and what ticket price people are willing to pay and what night people are willing come out. That being said, we are always trying new things. Some of them hit, and some don’t. We’re still learning. But we’ve got the core artists down in the system (which acts draw well). AK: When we talked last year you mentioned that you hoped memberships would be a source of reliable revenue. How has that played out? JS: Our memberships were a better idea in theory than in practice. We did a few but realized we couldn’t sell as many as we wanted and give them what they were expecting. So, we revamped it now and it’s like buying in bulk. AK: How about the skyboxes? How are sales going there? JS: The skyboxes for the bigger shows do really well. The smaller shows, it doesn’t make sense to have someone up there if we don’t have the balcony open. We sell them on a show-by-show basis, so they’re available for someone’s bachelor party or 30th birthday party. AK: Are you getting the sponsorship you expected? JS: We’ve just started with sponsorship. It’s looking to be a good revenue center, but not currently. It’s tough to sell somebody on what you expect to do. But now that we’re up and running we can show sponsors exactly what they can expect as far as numbers and demographics. AK: Do you think that can be a solid source of additional income? JS: It should be with the right person behind it. (Currently hiring) AK: Part of your strategy is to bring the right acts. How is the booking end of business? JS: We planned on having more shows. But its seems to fit. We expected more during the week and found that it’s more difficult to get people out on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday than we anticipated. AK: If I recall, you were planning on opening the venue for “club” nights when you didn’t have shows. Is that drawing the numbers you expected? JS: That’s been frustrating. It’s hit or miss. It’s not my background, and I have trouble relying on other people’s input and opinions. AK: What sort of challenges do you see looking forward? JS: Finding new niches that work. Maybe we’re not selling out shows, but at shows where we can get 300 people in here at a higher margin we can up-sell with VIP tables and dinner packages.
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