SSA Group, a best-in-class provider of integrated guest services, is now providing admissions services at the Riverbanks Zoo & Garden, a popular destination in Columbia, South Carolina, US that welcomes over 1 million visitors annually.
The zoo will continue to manage its admissions guest experience staff, while SSA Group will offer strategic consulting with an emphasis on driving attendance and revenue, creating the best possible guest experiences, and collaborating across marketing and service. SSA will also focus on best practices for operations across all admissions sales channels, including resellers, group sales, and membership.
To consistently elevate guest experience contact points, the SSA Group training team will work in collaboration with the onsite staff at the zoo. The firm will also look after the technical management of the zoo’s POS Systems. The SSA team not only implemented a new integrated POS solution but is also providing continuous maintenance and support of the technology, relieving the zoo staff of that load and enabling them to concentrate on other projects.
Why outsource admissions?
Tommy Stringfellow, CEO of the Riverbanks Zoo and Gardens, comments on why he was interested in outsourcing admissions:
“Covid took its toll on our staff with labor reductions, early retirements, and added stress with new ways of adapting to the business changes COVID dictated. We lost a lot of veteran knowledge and well-seasoned staff during this time. The SSA Admissions team introduced the confidence and expertise needed with their deep level of industry knowledge and experience learned from their diverse backgrounds. “
“We felt the partnership could take our staff knowledge and performance from good to great. It also made a lot of sense to take advantage of the synergies created by working even closer with SSA’s retail, food and beverage, and catering staff with a seamless software platform across all divisions creating better communication, providing more opportunities to upsell with packaging, and instant reporting of hourly/daily activities and revenues allowing us to adapt and respond quicker to trends if needed.
“We feel that with a team approach and SSA’s industry knowledge and experience, we can increase the admissions per cap through better pricing and packaging strategies which would more than offset the investment. In addition, we found savings and synergies to lighten our IT team and infrastructure workload, better automated and instant reporting which saves our Finance department labor time in producing many reports.”
More insights for an improved guest experience
Implementing a new POS solution across admissions, food and retail was a fundamental component of this shift since it provided the zoo with a “reset” opportunity to incorporate new requirements into its operations.
Lochlan Wooten, the zoo’s chief operating officer, says: “As consumer behavior has changed over the last several years, we found that we did not have robust enough systems in place to quickly collect or analyze data that would help better inform our business decisions. This partnership, both the software and the team, are the perfect solution.”
Christie Vondrak, chief administrative officer at the zoo adds:
“This was one of the smoothest transitions, especially for a project this size, that I have ever experienced. Implementing new systems is always a headache but the onsite SSA team working alongside our team and addressing concerns right as they popped up, really put our team at ease. I was mostly concerned about all the moving pieces and parts coming together cohesively.
“With so many different business units, programs, and components to consider, I was impressed with how the team was able to make this integration so seamless. I am impressed by the team that SSA put together to work on this project. Everyone had a tremendous amount of technical expertise and experience.”
An in-depth project
Looking at the project by the numbers, SSA Group brought in 104 new POS licenses and 71 new PCs/tablets, transferring over 747,000 data records from the old POS across members, open orders and more. SSA Group trainers provided staff training for the new solution for over 150 team members over the course of 6 days.
Wooten says: “The huge amount of data that needed to be converted was a big concern. From 47,000 member households going back 50 years, to our largest fundraiser being sold in one system and scanned in this system, there was a lot of room for error. It’s all gone beautifully so far. The team behind the project is amazing. It’s clear that finding top-notch talent with a knack for customer service has been the top priority and it showed in every phase of implementation.”
Some other key project points included the addition of an integrated CRM solution for automated and targeted email campaigns across guests and members. The team also introduced an accounting export from the POS solution to reduce manual processes along with providing the zoo better access to data from a daily operational perspective, as well as providing an analytical lens. In addition, the attraction now offers an improved online digital experience, which will boost online conversion rates.
Furthermore, SSA Group is currently providing Riverbanks Zoo & Garden with strategic consulting for its upcoming Wild Lights events, as well as working on a membership refresh, product bundling and more.
A smooth transition
Lochlan Wooten concludes: “We are really excited about having SSA’s expertise at the table to help us make better-informed business decisions that not only include our own dataset but also that of similar parks around the country.”
SSA Group and Riverbanks Zoo have partnered together for over 10 years providing food and retail services. This elevated partnership that includes all things Admissions, along with collaborated marketing efforts will be key to providing products and experiences across food, retail, and all admissions channels.
Scott Lobaugh, vice president of admissions at SSA Group adds: “POS transition projects are intense, and much more than just swapping out hardware and software. The work our team did starting with the requirements process months ago to the feedback we are getting from the Zoo Guest Services team after go-live is a testament to the talent, experience, and hard work of our team.
“They are truly passionate about what we do, and it shows in the level of partnership we are able to create with our zoo colleagues.”
Kevin Eubanks, VP of operations at the zoo provided the following statement after day one, “There’s no way I can even begin to remember all the names that worked so hard to make Day 1 a success, but thanks to everyone that managed all of the intricate details and provided us with constant personal support during the day!!! These types of transitions are something you generally hope to only endure a couple of times in a career if you are lucky…but this has been such a positive experience!”
Recently, SSA Group was recognised at Gifts & Decorative Accessories’ 72nd annual Retailer Excellence Awards for its work at Maryland Zoo. The firm won in the category of Store Design, thanks to its remodel of the Wild Things gift shop at the attraction in Baltimore, Maryland.
