Today we’d like to introduce you to Simon Horwell.
Simon, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I had worked for Chicago Indoor Sports for a number of years in another capacity (Operations Director), so I was accurately aware of the many structural and branding problems the organization faced. I had decided to leave the company 12 months ago, to pursue other opportunities, and John convinced me to stay to spearhead his revamp of the organization. Although, I am energized by the scale of the challenge, I probably would never had stayed, had it not been for my close personal affection for John, and my recognition of the scale of investment he brought into the company. I felt that I was uniquely positioned, through my working knowledge of the business and industry, to deliver on his expectations. When I took over CIS and Razzmatazz in March, I took over a failing business with huge potential. My first goal was to restructure the company to make it financially responsible. I had and continue to have, a fiduciary responsibility to the shareholders to make this a profitable enterprise, and repay the enormous faith they showed in investing in the idea in the first place. Over the last 8 months we have successfully slashed expenditure, while making significant improvements to operational efficiency. This last part was important because despite the needs to reduce costs, it was unthinkable to reduce the quality of our service. In fact, we faced quite the dichotomy because whilst expenses needed to go down, customer service actually needed a huge improvement.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the first thing I did, was pay to put our management team through management, operations, and customer service courses; and tied ongoing remuneration to successful completion of the programs.
The second major challenge we faced was addressing the myriad upgrade and repair requirements needed to make the space competitive in the marketplace. It would be an impossible task to ask customers to choose us over better equipped rivals, especially when the company had garnered an unhealthy reputation for poor customer service on social media. However, by restructuring payroll, and having a more selective and organized process for resource allocation, we were able to effectively tackle both issues, while maintaining a downward trajectory on expenses. The approach has paid dividends. Almost all our social media reviews over the past 6 months have been overwhelming positive, and we’ve received innumerable feedback from customers on how fresh and clean the complex looks.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Razzmatazz and Chicago Indoor Sports – what should we know?
On the city’s South Side, Razzmatazz is a 20,000-square foot indoor entertainment complex with the coolest games, attractions and slides for adults and kids of all ages. Open daily, Razzmatazz hosts birthday parties and event outings for any group type. This entertainment center has over 80 games, Route 66 bowling, bouncy houses and inflatable slides, as well as a full service bar and restaurant. To learn more, visit http://www.razzmatazzchicago.com/.
About Chicago Indoor Sports
Chicago Indoor Sports is Chicagoland’s premier indoor sports facility. 90,000 square feet of action packed fun for all the family. The facility has four state-of-the-art turf fields, a large entertainment, concession and bar area, a basketball court and offers programs for all ages.
To learn more, visit http://www.chicagoindoorsports.com/.
With more than 15 years of experience in Operations, Business Development, and Marketing, Horwell brings leadership experience and a dedication to service to his new role within Razzmatazz and Chicago Indoor Sports. In the longer term, I have been working with John, and our consultant Jim Cline (Goals Group), to refocus the longer term strategic intent of the company. The first step in this process was rebranding both Razzmatazz and Chicago Indoor Sports to speak to the new generation of consumer. So much of what we consume, whether it is commerce or information, is now delivered digitally, and we needed a brand that not only appealed to a broad demographic, but also one which was dynamically flexible enough to be used across a variety of digital platforms. It was also important for us to move away from some of the negative brand associations we had accumulated in the past. This didn’t mean trying to sweep them under the carpet, or abandon our identity; quite the contrary, it meant embracing our core customer base and recognizing those that were loyal to us. That’s why we made the decision to include the moniker “La Pershing” on our new logo, along with the traditional Chicago Indoor Sports. La Pershing has long been the name for our complex within the Latino community, and it seemed not only common sense, but also a mark of respect, to embrace our core customers into our core identity.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Stamina, developing a closer relationship with our customers, and constantly questioning our basic assumptions.
Contact Info:
- Address: 3900 South Ashland Avenue
- Website: chicagoindoorsports.com | razzmatazzchicago.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/chicago-indoor-sports-razzmatazz
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/chicagoindoorsportsandrazzmatazz
Image Credit:
Razzmatazz and Chicago Indoor Sports
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