by Deno Anagnost – April 2013
The secret to success with sales events is paying attention to detail and then follow-through, as we discussed in our first article. Now we get down to specifics of how we executed one of our sales events at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Who: We invited 150 of our top premium prospects interested in buying Stadium Club Season Passes or seats in our Legends Suite product. These potential customers were fairly far along in the sales process. Other departments involved were our:
- Events department in setting up and planning the event,
- Creative Services department for designing the email invitation for the event, and our
- Database Marketing department to help us identify the best possible leads to target.
What: This was an exclusive cocktail party for prospects to meet one of our all-time greats and to get a behind the scenes look at our state of the art training facility. The idea is to offer an experience they can’t buy and can’t get anywhere else.
When: The Mike Alstott Cocktail party was held Wednesday March 13th at 6pm-8pm. Wednesdays is the least scheduled night of the week for kids’ sports, so we scheduled it for prospects to attend right after getting off work.
Where: The party was located in the main lobby of One Buccaneer Place, the training facility and headquarters of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The main issue is convenience, but also enough space for ease-of-movement to not feel crowded, but also not too big so guests could feel isolated. We also wanted to make it easy for our sales reps to get around to all the guests.
Why: The purpose for this event was to make it easier to get face to face with key decision makers and show them the type of events they would be a part of in the future once becoming a Stadium Club or Legends Suite Member. Each event is designed to drive revenue, and create a one of a kind experience for our guests.
How:
- Invitations: Personalized attention by first inviting over the phone and then an email invitation to the event so we could fill all of our available space for the event.
- Arrival: Upon arrival guests were personally greeted and invited to enjoy appetizers, beer, wine and soda.
- Entertainment: An acoustic cover band helped transform our lobby into a high end lounge.
- Opening: Director of Sales Ben Milsom thanked the crowd for coming and provided a run down of how the evening would go.
- The Main Event: Mike Alstott took photos and signed autographs with our prospects.
- Selling: During the event we had all hands on deck. Account Executives engaged their prospects further in a sales discussion which involved asking for, and receiving orders for seats face to face at the event.
- The Takeaway: Each guest received a tour of our facility and left with a framed photo taken of them at the event and also received a Buccaneer flag.
Results: From this event we were able to close important sales in a great experiential setting. Guests were in the right frame of mind and our reps were able to listen and share the benefits of membership in the club.
