Following on from yesterday’s post about uptime—and the more general theme of consistency, which I harp on about all the time—today’s post is about being ready for moments of peak stress.
After absolutely loving my first time at the Silverstone Formula 1 Grand Prix this year, I wanted to buy tickets for next year’s race.
Tickets came on sale last week, but their ticketing website had the resiliency of an inflatable dinghy in the face of a hurricane.
It was decimated.
I spent 6 hours “in the queue” and still didn’t get through to the ticketing website. They also chose this year to introduce “dynamic pricing” to cater for increased demand, meaning by the time I got through to the front of the queue, the prices were almost 30% higher than the original price.
The experience left such a sour taste in my mouth—not to mention the huge hole it would’ve left in my pocket—that I abandoned my cart.
The experience was no longer worth the money.
Silverstone prepare all year for the success of one event. It makes me wonder what’s the point when in the moment of peak stress you let thousands of people down?
Their error shows the value is doing the complete opposite.