Whenever a tournament cuts teams from its applications, we see the inevitable grumbling, angry emails, etc, but the one thing that seems to be fairly common is something that goes like this:

I can’t believe you didn’t accept our team. Out (team, club, etc) has been supporting your (tournament, club) for many years and we encourage all our teams to apply and support your (fund-raising) efforts by going to your tournament, etc, etc…. usually followed by the recent record of accomplishments over the teams that did get accepted.

Good teams get cut for many reasons, the most common is they didn’t fill in their accomplishments on the application. But that is not my issue. The issue is one of saying things like we support you.

Our Advice: While your tournament may be a fund-raiser, your primary function is one of entertainment. You have a product/service that you are providing that either meets the needs of the guest teams or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t meet their needs, they really should quit supporting you and go somewhere else.

Look at the premium soccer tournaments. They attract teams that meet CRITERIA that has nothing to do with how much a team/club supports them and has everything to do with does the applying team meet our acceptance criteria. If you are relying on the support of another team/club for your tournament’s success, you don’t have a marketable product. Do things well, apply consistent standards and your tournament will thrive.

Recently, a tournament made a simple request to the teams that have been accepted. The message wasn’t quite as clear as it could be and created some questions. So, the responsible tournament director sent out another email, attempting to clarify the first email. Naturally, that did not clear it up; it only produced about three times more questions than did the original email.

Our Advice: Before sending out an email, read it out loud. Does it make sense? If it requires someone to do something, make sure the steps are clear by using bullet points and then attempting to do it yourself (or better, on someone removed from the process) using ONLY the directions you provided. Did you skip a step? Did you make an assumption? Chance are, you did.

And, as always, if your email contains a web address, email or phone number, copy/paste the web address into your browser to make sure it goes there. Send the email to make sure it is correct and call the number to make sure the right person/company answers. Every time.

I was reading an ad for Cingular Wireless in the New York Times this morning. You may know this campaign: The fewest dropped calls of any national network. This has always bothered me and now I know why.

Cingular is telling it’s customers that dropped calls are a fact of cell phone use. Can’t do anything about it except minimize the number of times it happens. The subtext is they aren’t even going to TRY to eliminate the dropped calls.

How many of your guest teams would come to your tournament if your marketing line was: Fewest late starts of any tournament. or Fewest number of club linesmen or even Fewest incorrect champions declared of any tournament. You get the idea.

Our advice: Don’t start off your tournament with the assumption that something can’t be done. Assume that it can be and the only challenge is to figure out how. How can you post scores immediately following the end of the game. How do we start 100% of the games on-time. How do we staff referees at 100%. You may not hit it every time, but you won’t be throwing your hands up in resignation like Cingular did.

One quick plug. if you have not already read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki, please do. It is not a book about getting rich (though it probably will help) but a book about getting past what people say can’t be done, whether that is buying and selling real estate, inventing a better mousetrap or running a soccer tournament.

Recently, I was sent over a whole bunch of links to add to a tournament web site. The assumption was that a TourneyCentral site was just like any other webmaster arrangement and that the links would go somewhere and that we would also write up the summary for what all these links were, etc, etc. I sent the email back with a polite That is not the product you signed up for email.

That got me thinking.

For a period of about a year, I did some marketing for a company that developed this equine medical device for race horses. Quite a clever device, but the one BIG thing I learned was a bit about human behavior.

The odds of a horse winning a major race, like the Kentucky Derby, are so minimal that an owner may see the winner’s circle once in a lifetime. Many never do. If you are a trainer, the owner’s accountant, the marketing PR person for the horse, your chances of being in the winner’s circle are even less. Here is the part about human nature that is interesting.

Horse people CRAVE being part of the winner’s circle. It is their dream to be photographed with the wreath, the cup, sometimes the horse. When someone wins, they instantly have A LOT of friends! EVERYONE wants to be in that winner’s circle and so they all crowd in tight, sometimes to the point of obliterating part of the owner’s face. (Yeah, it happens)

Our Advice: Don’t make your web site a crowded winner’s circle. Keep in mind that it is there to help your guest teams and the pay out there will be teams that are more prepared to attend your event. Too often, the urge is to cram every last thing the club, the city, the sponsors, the this guy’s deal, the that guy’s deal is promoting that you lose site of what the web site is all about. If the teams don’t IMMEDIATELY know where to go to apply, to look up scores, to find stuff to do, your web site is missing the mark. Keep the hanger’s-on off your web site and keep your tournament event the only thing on your winner’s circle.

We are staying at a Renaissance Grand during the US Youth Soccer Convention. First, let me say that everything in the hotel room is nice. The beds are nice, the furniture in the room is nice, everything is upper scale.

But entirely unusable. Let me explain.

The desk I am writing this from is a nice, dark cherry with carved legs with inlaid wood veneer on the top. The chair I am sitting in is equally ornate and may be upholstered in Corinthian leather. But, here is where this all falls down. The table is too narrow to use a notebook computer. The chair is very heavy and hard to roll and the arms do not tuck neatly under the desk, so I am leaning over, typing on my keyboard. (yes, it is uncomfortable and is affecting the mood of this post)

The bathroom is similarly equipped. But the really nice vanity drains incredibly slowly and, of course, the little soap and shampoo do not fit on the tray. And finally, the coffee maker is in a tray that pulls out, but the switch to turn it on and off is on the front, behind the tray lip. And to make this worse, it shares the same armoire shelf as the TV, so there is no space next to the coffee maker to set down your cup. But, it is a nice coffee maker and makes a great cup of coffee!

Our Advice: When deciding the features and amenities of your tournament, make sure EVERYTHING FITS TOGETHER! For example, you may plan a great reception for your registration, but if there is no parking, it will be a bad experience for the coaches. Take the same approach with your web site. Does everything fit together or do you have a registration system that really doesn’t work with the schedule, etc. (While we are on that subject, take a look at the TourneyCentral.com site.)

Look at everything you provide for your guest teams and make sure that they are usable as a cohesive event, not a bunch of room furnishings that looks great but don’t play well together.