South Guilford News

While most people tend to shy away from confrontation and disputes, James Smith kind of likes them. The guest services manager for the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts appreciates opportunities to diffuse tension as he and his team of ushers and security personnel work with Tanger guests and performers.

As his career in theater operations progressed, Smith developed an interest in walking the “tightrope” between the guest’s expectations and those of management.

“I've always had a knack for de-escalation and handling difficult conversations with patrons and customers,” Smith said. “If I knew that there was going to be a difficult conversation, I would volunteer to have those conversations because I knew nobody else wanted to have them, and I always felt this really rewarding feeling afterward.”

Smith’s efforts to develop an empathetic and charming guest services staff have enhanced the experience of the more than 800,000 Tanger patrons to visit the facility since its 2021 opening. His attention to detail and ability to align the needs of guests, performers, and management make him an important part of the facility’s success.

Born into a military family, Smith moved around the United States before enrolling at the University of South Carolina where he studied video production and photojournalism. He worked for a television station after graduation but his part-time job at a non-profit movie theater was more fulfilling. When the theater’s director of operations post opened, he jumped at the chance. The role positioned him well for a move two years later to the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte where he served as ticketing sales manager for nearly 11 years and “learned everything about the business.”

Toward the end of his tenure at Blumenthal, Smith transitioned from ticketing into more of a guest services and training role. He interviewed for a ticketing position at the Tanger Center, but Coliseum Deputy Director Scott Johnson had something else in mind and asked Smith to hold on for a year. In 2019, Smith was hired as the Tanger Center’s first guest services manager. In addition to carefully hiring, training, and coaching staff, Smith also collects and evaluates feedback gleaned from customers through post-event surveys.

Now in his fourth year with the City, Smith estimates he’s missed fewer than 10 of Tanger’s 500-plus shows. He mostly works with customers in the “front of house” unless he’s arranging security at the backstage loading dock. During shows and performances, you will likely find him practicing his de-escalation skills, providing real-time feedback to staff, accommodating patron requests, or dealing with unexpected situations, like one he faced at a recent performance where patrons’ cell phones were locked in Yondr phone pouches.

To curb pirating and minimize distraction, some performers require the audience to lock their phones in special pouches for the program’s duration. The guest keeps possession of their phone throughout the show and afterward unlocks it outside of the phone-free zone. A patron who used his phone to monitor a health condition attended this particular performance, so Smith had to think quickly. He seated the patron close to an antechamber where the guest could privately use the phone away from the performance and other audience members.

The story illustrates a good day’s work for Smith because he successfully aligned the show’s needs with the patron’s. “I want to leave the day with a feeling of satisfaction,” Smith said. “When I get to the other side of the show and see that the show was happy, the patrons were happy, and my staff was happy, I know that my leadership's going to be happy. That turns into my best day.”

It’s not always easy to make sure everyone goes home happy, but that’s the standard Smith and his staff pursue. And four years in, it seems Tanger’s guest services team has been largely successful. The facility boasts more than 17,000 subscribers to its current series of touring Broadway productions and consistently attracts the most patrons among other tour stops. In addition, subscriptions and survey data indicate guests from the Triangle and Charlotte areas consistently travel to Greensboro for performing arts programming.

Smith can see Greensboro looking much different in 10 years due to the city’s growth and development and knows a successful and reliable Tanger Center can play a big role in that.

“The Tanger Center is a draw for the city. It generates business around the facility and will continue to do so,” Smith explained. “If this Center is a draw, then we have a reason for people to come into the building and if they have a great experience, then they’re going to come back. They’re going to tell their friends and that is just more business for the city and community.”

Original source can be found here.