In an effort to try to increase margins and battle All-In Pricing, I pitched the idea that we should ask for higher margins from a show partner if we were able to deliver certain levels of tickets per show.

For example, we would get X% margin on every ticket if we sold 50 tickets per show, Y% margin on tickets sold for every ticket per show over 50 to 60, and Z% margin for every ticket per show 61+ where X > Y > Z.

From this we would have a new blended Margin % and we could set a goal of reaching a certain blended Margin or try to increase net revenue by a certain percentage.

For this show example, our historical tickets sold per performance was 223 and the goal was to increase the blended Margin to 10%. In this model the inputs are the tickets sold per performance levels and the Margin of the 2nd and 3rd level of tickets sold. Everything else is either the data or a formula that flows through the Excel.

This model allowed for us to go to the show partner and negotiate different scenarios that would benefit both parties — they were selling more tickets and making more money, but were giving us higher margins on only the 2nd and 3rd level of tickets sold per performance.

I did this for multiple shows on a individual basis allowing us to grow Margins while also maintaining a great relationship with the show partner. The partners enjoyed negotiating at different levels on the fly to see where it could be mutually beneficial. Sometimes the goal of the theaters is about occupancy depending on the product and time of year.