No…A Four Letter Word

kirk_wakefield 2013, Sell, Sponsorships May 1, 2013November 2, 2018clients, corporate partnerships, marketing, serve, services, sports 0 Comment

by Shane Hildreth – May 2013

Think back to your childhood.

You’re playing with your friends in the front yard and a four letter word comes flying out of your mouth just as your mom walks outside. And just like that, you’re grounded.

You knew you shouldn’t have said it, but it’s just a word…What’s the big deal?

Well, when it comes to servicing corporate partners, “NO” is a four letter word. You should treat this word as the worst four letter word you can think of. Think of your corporate partner as your mother.

Dealing with the impossible

Suppose a client asks you to run across the field during the middle of a game waving the company banner. Your initial answer should be, “Wow, that would be awesome, wouldn’t it? Let me check with our marketing department and see what we can do.”

Go to your team to discuss what the client would like to achieve and come up with alternatives. Your client probably understands the original request is unlikely and will appreciate you presenting viable options.

The role of partner services is to activate the contract in a positive and timely manner. Putting up road blocks potentially harms the overall relationship. Direct the conversation away from what you can’t do. Focus on what you can do. Turn the conversation from negative to positive.

How to say, “Yes I no.”

Every good sales person needs an alternative to the word “no” to signal you are considering the client’s concerns.

“Let me check with my boss.”
“Let me check with our marketing department.”
“Let me check with our league office.”
“I’ll need to see if that piece of inventory is available.”
“Due to another contract we might be limited in what we can do.”

These examples buy time to come up with options to help clients achieve their marketing goals.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”550px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]“Our success with athletic sponsorships is tied directly to the relationships we have with our sports representatives. We view them as an extension of our team.

My job is not merely to say “Yes” and “No” to prospective projects, but to ask, “How can this partnership be mutually beneficial?”

A good sports representative understands that and pitches projects accordingly. When we work with someone we trust and believe is truly there to help our company succeed, the possibilities for collaboration are endless.”

Brianne Bruner, Regional Sales and Marketing Manager, Wells Fargo Bank Houston[/dropshadowbox]

Fight for your client

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

When presenting an idea to a sponsor saying, “ I understand your goals you are trying to achieve, here is another solution we have seen done before that has been successful,” you add value to the partnership.[/dropshadowbox]When you know that there is no way a particular request could ever happen, you still need to show you are fighting for your client’s best interest.

If you tell your client no immediately, it means that you are not fighting for them.

At the end of the day you should be fighting for your clients to get them everything they need to make the partnership mutually beneficial. You are the internal negotiator for them with your team. You work for them just as much as you work for your property.

Just trust me

kirk_wakefield 2013, Integrity, Lead May 1, 2013November 2, 2018career, change, character, communication, Leadership Development, Life Balance, Life Skills, Personal Development, Self Help, Trust, Workplace 0 Comment

by Lolly Daskal – May 2013

Imagine

Imagine telling someone: “I’m going to be taking you on a long, dangerous, and difficult trip. There will be times you are likely to be very uncomfortable, and there may be terrible storms. I’m not going to tell you where we are going, why we are going, when we are going, or how we will get there. Just TRUST ME.”

How do you think that would make anyone feel?

When a leader implements organizational change – when a boss makes major decisions affecting employees – it doesn’t work to say “just trust me.”

Like frightened children, people will come up with all kinds of reasons to resist and refuse why they do not want to come along on the trip – even if it’s a good one![dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

The CMO’s View

Sales managers develop trust based on this basic formula:

Trust = Rapport X Credibility
Risk

The manager, or anyone in a relationship, does things to develop and build rapport and credibility, while also doing things to reduce perceived risks for the other. The relationship won’t move forward without trust. [/dropshadowbox]

Most of us do not want to take trips into the unknown and without a destination.

Telling people “just trust me” is naiveté at its worst.

It shows an enormous amount of disrespect, sometimes dishonesty, and maybe just delusional!

In the sports business today, trust has to be earned. In leadership today, trust has to be gained.

What is trust?

Trust is being congruent. Match your words with your actions; what you say you will do you do. Being trusted is being dependable.
Trust is embracing transparency. When it comes to trust, the more you reveal the more you can see. When trust is transparent it can be embraced.
Trust is honoring promises. Keep what you promised. Better yet, go the extra mile and deliver more than you promised.
Trust is a two-way street. To make someone trustworthy, you need to trust them first. The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.
Trust is risk. Trust lies between faith and probability. To risk is to put yourself out of your comfort zone. Take the risk and have the faith and trust to pull you through.
Trust is a relationship. Trust begins with the self in relationship with another. Trust others as you would wish to be trusted.
Trust is the glue helping us stick through organizational change. Trust is foundational to holding us together.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”450px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ] How am I going to lead today?

Trust my people so they can engage and be part of the change.
Trust my people so they can enroll and add value to the change.
Trust my people so they can embrace and understand and respect the change.[/dropshadowbox]

Lead from within: Any leader who says “just trust me” expecting loyalty will get a group of employees resenting the journey instead of enjoying the adventure.

Trust grasps others on your team at their innermost core of loyalty.

How Will Teams Stay Personal In This Social Media Era?

kirk_wakefield 2013, Relate, Social Media May 1, 2013November 2, 2018customer service, fans, high touch, personal attention, quick response, relationships, social media, teams, twitter 0 Comment

by Bryan Apgar – May 2013

Look at these “kids” these days; all they do is tweet, text, and Facebook each other and don’t get out and do anything together. Some even sit in the same room texting each other.

Social media can help or hinder personal relationships. You might react to these “kids” like I do sometimes. Or, you might see social media as offering opportunities for new and extensive personal relationships, especially when relating to your customers.

Let’s look at a few ways social media can be used to keep or create a more personal level with your customers.

Low touch media = High touch service

Long gone are the days of dial up internet or even DSL internet (which we used to think was lightning speed).

Everything has to be faster. We need our information faster, our answers faster, everything faster. That makes social media the perfect medium.

Several months back I was having some issues with my cable/internet company (to remain nameless). While on the phone on hold, I tweeted something along the lines of “having issues, terrible service, #onhold, @companyx.”

Within seconds I had a tweet back from a company rep asking me to direct message them so I could give them my number and they could call me immediately.

I was just trying to let my frustration out (albeit it to my low number of twitter followers), but was immediately contacted and had the situation resolved because of the instantaneous nature of social media. What we might think of as impersonal and low touch, but the immediate service response times via social media communicates a higher level of personal attention: “They must really care about me.”

Get personal

Social media gives the customer a greater sense of being “a part” of something. Especially in the sports industry, fans are very passionate about their teams and players. Fans join groups, like pages, follow certain players, teams, reports, and blogs. The list can go on and on.

Through those verticals, we can open up a community that helps bring people together and increases their connections with the team. Doing contests, tweet photos, text to win, tag yourself here, etc. are a great way to get fans to directly connect with the team. And it allows the team to show a personal connection back.

Tweeting contest winner’s names makes it personal, especially for that person who won. How cool is it to have your favorite team tweet or post your name or picture? And even those that didn’t win like it because they can see it and think, “Wow that’s cool, hope I win next time” or even “Wow, I know that person.”

Increase transparency

Social media can also open up the transparency of a team. Give a behind the scenes look that people would not normally get to see. Social media allows for interaction through Google hangouts, or Twitter and Facebook Q&A’s with a player or coach that would not normally happen. Fans love just seeing pictures or comments posted by players that delve more into their personal lives.

So whether we want to brand social media as hindering or helping in personal connections, we can probably all agree that it is an effective way to bring community, stay connected, and increase personal connection with your fans.

Some of us can’t seem to put down our phones or be away from iPads, computers, or tablets. Our world might seem to be losing the in-person-to-person connection, but properly used, social media can increase our perceptions of personal connections.

No more cold calls: Three steps to making informed calls and increasing close rates

kirk_wakefield 2013, CRM, Relate, Tickets May 1, 2013November 2, 2018buyer behavior, close, closing ratio, cold calls, informed calls, personal selling, sales analytics, seller behavior, warm calls 0 Comment

by Flavil Hampsten – May 2013

You are sitting at your desk making sales calls. But now the computer is missing. A pile of 8 x 5 cards is stacked in front of you. Each card contains only a name, address and phone number. Sliding your hand into your pocket for your cell phone, you find only lint. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over….into the Twilight Zone.

I don’t think any of us want to go back to the times of index cards and no computers. How successful would be today if all you had was a name and number on a piece of paper? Luckily for you, those days are over.

Making informed calls

Some organizations only allow salespeople to make informed calls. Analytics determine which prospects have the best chance to become customers and give these prospects to the salespeople most suitable to close.

How does this happen?

1. Data Aggregation – Collecting and centrally storing data helps the company and salespeople perform at peak levels in terms of closing ratios.

Are you on the team? This performance is not simply a function of the sales management team, but every salesperson on the floor. Sales management purchases demographic data and stores it in a system for the salesperson to use. However, each time the salesperson uncovers something about the prospect, the salesperson should also put that into the system. Failure to do so will not only hurt the current salesperson but will also hurt the ability of each salesperson who comes after them.

2. Buyer Behavior Studies – Once you have a set of data points, teams can then look to see if certain set of attributes equate to a better likelihood to close. A predictive model comes into play when management can link “like” attributes to certain buyers. For example, one may notice that most buyers of a mini-plan are males between 25-35 years of age, married, have children, and have a discretionary index of 100. Once that is identified, management can assign similar prospects to the salespeople.

In-depth analysis. Some teams, such as the Charlotte Bobcats and New York Jets have upwards of 50 data points on each person in their system. Russell Scibetti explains, “The ability to aggregate behavioral and demographic data with the insights our staff collects puts us in a position to offer the right product options for any segment of our customer base.”

3. Seller Behavior Studies – Critical, yet often overlooked, closing rates can determine which salesperson is most appropriate to call the lead. Who should get the web lead? Individual game buyer?

Jack closes web leads at a 58% margin and individual game buyers at an 8% rate.
Jill closes web leads at 35% and individual game buyers at 18%.

Analyze each lead segment. Like Jack and Jill, you will usually find a trend for each salesperson. Feed that salesperson the leads they are most likely to close and you will find that most salespeople will increase their total production. During training periods you can also help individuals improve in less productive segments.

Results

If these three elements are correctly implemented you will have salespeople making informed calls with qualified leads. This system was implemented two seasons ago in Charlotte we took our closing percentage from .5% to 4%.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”500px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

Moving your sales team’s winning percentage from say something like 2.2% to 2.5% may not sound like much on the surface. However, when you multiply that across 30-40 sales reps managing a total of 5,000-7,000 leads as a whole at a given time, that little 0.3% jump in winning percentage equates to about 10-20 more sales you are “winning” per week. If we can even move the needle a tenth of a percentage point better, it can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars to our sales campaign.[/dropshadowbox]

We’re glad we have moved out of the Twilight Zone. We said “goodbye” to cold calls and our customers are saying “hello” to our informed calls.

Are you investing enough time into training? The 3 elements of good programs

kirk_wakefield 2013, Learn, Sales Training, Sell, Tickets May 1, 2013November 2, 2018Cleveland Cavs, essentials, learning curve, ongoing, Pittsburgh Pirates, reviewing game film, sales training 0 Comment

by Drew Ribarchak – May 2013

In February 2008, Starbucks shut down all of its stores because of bad habits and inconsistency among their baristas. A sign on the front door that read,

“We’re taking time to perfect our espresso. Great espresso requires practice. That’s why we’re dedicating ourselves to honoring our craft.”

Implementing a strategic and on-going training program will avoid shutting down the sales office due to poor execution and consistently bad habits. Investing time perfecting the sales pitch and process will far exceed simply learning by doing.

A sales department must lay a solid foundation with the initial training program because

Fundamentals established in the first weeks of on-boarding determines the slope of the learning curve during continuous training.
On-going training taps the full potential of top talent and maximizes revenue.
Developing well-rounded sales and service reps provides them opportunities to learn and grow in their current roles while preparing for the next steps in their careers.

Essential Training Topics

Effective training includes variety in the way the sessions are conducted, especially if training occurs on a daily or weekly basis. Common topics include:

Scripting
Needs Analysis
Handling Objections
Up-selling
Product Knowledge & Benefits
Face to Face Appointments
Time Management
Prospecting
CRM Advanced Finds & Strategy
Presentation Skills
Arena Tour Walk-through

Some areas require more focus than others: needs analysis, handling objections and face to face appointments.

Reviewing Game Film

Role playing generic situations can get stale and monotonous after the initial training period. Call Copy is a voice recording system the Columbus Blue Jackets use to develop sales and service skill sets. Similar to an athlete watching game film, the representative and sales leader listen to real situations with clients and prospects. This tremendous tool re-enforces the strengths of the sales rep and identifies areas of improvement.

Matt Fahr and the Cleveland Cavaliers utilize iPads and video cameras to record role plays. “We have been using the iPads at our team members’ desks during calls to record conversations and mannerisms. We use a positive recording and negative recording in our weekly team training sessions where we will hook the iPads up to a large big screen TV and review film.”

Interactive Ways to Stay Sharp
CRM Brown Bag Lunches:
Jeopardy:
Arena-wide Scavenger Hunt:
Co-op Business Role Plays: pair senior & entry level rep

Takeaways

The on-going training program will be most effective when it:

Systematic: Completed on a regular basis with a diverse mix of training scenarios
Engagement: Offers the rep a high level of engagement and periodic control of the agenda
Balanced: Re-enforces strengths and recognizes areas of improvement

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”600px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Travis Apple and the Pittsburgh Pirates give the sales team more control over the weekly agenda by pairing an Account Executive with an Inside Sales Representative:

“The AE and the rep meet a few days before the session with ideas and a plan of attack. The representatives would actually conduct the training session based on what their peers were currently experiencing on the front line. All of the training sessions were very interactive and really help the management staff identify future leaders of the department.” [/dropshadowbox]

The Sales Commandments According to This Disciple

kirk_wakefield 2013, Luxury Suites & Premium Tickets, Sell, Sponsorships, Tickets April 21, 2013November 2, 2018Cal Bears, close, how to, innovation, lead, listening, outside the box, personal selling, proactive, San Antonio Spurs, Success 1 Comment

by Carson Heady – April 2013

Sales is a psychology; a profitable sport by which we engage clients, build relationships and seek the perfect balance for the holy sales trinity: customer, company and you. Without all of these entities in mind, the transaction and stability suffers.

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

As a sales person you always need to be working on your craft and being innovative. Sometimes that will involve doing things outside of your comfort zone. At the end of the day it’s the innovation and creativity that separates you from the rest of the pack.[/dropshadowbox]That said, there are certain fundamentals we must ingrain in each and every leg of the sales process; without them, our process is defunct and the results will tell that story. Remember: results do not define us, but they do not lie. If there is a breakdown in your process, your results will be broken, too.

BE PROACTIVE AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. A major area of opportunity of many salespeople is their predisposition of wanting to follow the leaders or be like others; fit in, follow the beaten path. But why be like everyone else? That makes one average. Blaze your own trail. Stand out. Reach out for more customers; do not just accept the low-hanging, less challenging fruit. Don’t get me wrong: you pick up every bit of fruit you can find – small or big. Nevertheless, always think of innovative ways to put yourself in front of new clients. Like a billboard on a busy freeway, be where your customers are looking and show them why you’re the one they need to pay attention to. Doing so puts you in position to guide the process. Not doing so puts the customer in control and your paycheck and career are in their hands.
LISTEN. Salespeople often ask me how to overcome certain objections, but they fail to realize that if they had set the right foundation they would be using the customers’ own words in the presentation, the close and any necessary overcomes. Your words and philosophies pale in comparison in the customers’ minds to their own; listen and learn their language so you can speak it. Find out what you need to know from the customer so you can diagnose their situation; where do the gaps lie? How can you plug those gaps? How are you going to make them realize that jettisoning their comfortable, familiar ways of doing business and going with you is going to be better? You can’t get there unless your ears perk up and you get them doing the talking.[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]
Lindsay Beale

The most important part of the sales process is to put the customer first by listening. If you ask the right questions they will lead you down a path allowing you to make a recommendation based on what your product can offer them. As you follow-up you that let them know your call is to help them accomplish their goals, not just sell a seat location.[/dropshadowbox]
REACT. React to everything, and know when to use your information. You can be the smartest person in the room – great. However, if you are simply unloading jargon and facts on your potential client, are you showing them why your way of doing business is better? Knowledge is power, but knowing when and how to use it is even more effective. Improve your pitch, but perfect your reaction. If you role play, don’t practice improbable scenarios; get used to setting the right foundation and knowing how to react to every objection your client throws at you. See objections before they happen and address potential hitches before your customer even can. You will see many customers, but only a few themes; master those themes and there’s no slipping one by your goalie.
FOLLOW UP. Unfortunately, no matter how effective a closer you are, the sale will not always happen on your timetable. Don’t get me wrong: you need to do everything you can to build trust and determine why specifically the customer is not doing business today. But if they leave the table for a viable reason, you must have an organized, prompt and thorough follow up process in place. Customers will “browse” or “do research” and finally get tired enough to do business and pay more elsewhere if you do not stay front and center in their universe. Follow up within 24 hours to a week and reignite the lead. You cannot win them all, but you can nurture them all to as close to completion as possible. That’s your job. If you can look back on every transaction and know you did everything you could to earn the business, you did your job. Congratulations.
MASTER THE GAME. There are ups and downs; when you’re up, ride the wave. When you’re down, make sure you behave – according to process, that is. You may get the shanks in your golf game or your baseball hitting suffers, but do you drastically change your swing to get back to desired results? Of course not. You have to envelop yourself in the process. You also must learn the playing field – how can you make money where you currently are not? What best practices are others using? Steal them shamelessly; those who execute best are the best.

Finally, refresh and recharge often. You need to make sure you are the person you were on interview day. Play for the love of the game, the adoration of the crowd and the benefit of the customer and you will be victorious.

8 Ways to Eliminate Negativity Once and For All

kirk_wakefield 2013, Lead, Sales Management April 5, 2013November 2, 2018accentuate the positive, bad outweighs good, Debbie Downers, eliminate, let go, plug holes, remove obstacles, respect, sales management, secret of success 0 Comment

by Dan Rockwell – April 2013

Bad weighs more than good

One bad experience outweighs one good. A gallon of bad weighs more than a gallon of good.

Setbacks nag; success whispers.

You overemphasize what went wrong and minimize what went right. Down is easier than up.

Small setbacks increase frustration more than small successes enhance satisfaction.

One negative defeats one positive. It’s worse! One negative defeats two positives. It takes three positives to off-set one negative. It takes 2.9013 gallons of positive to sweeten one gallon of negative.*

One gallon of positive won’t sweeten one gallon of negative.

Now you know why negative environments are easy.

Boats with holes

There’s a hole in your boat. Bad experiences gush in; good experiences jump ship.

Find the good before the bad sinks you.

Thank more. Cheer more. Pat on the back more, much more.

Plugging holes

When boats are sinking you can bail water or plug the hole! Or jump ship. Assume you’re in for the long haul.

Preventing one bad creates more buoyancy than appreciating one good. Why? Because bad outweighs good.

Do more good by eliminating one bad.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”500px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

Eliminate negative employees.
Remove obstacles. Organizations create hoops, sign offs, and regulations that make work harder. Ask, “What’s slowing you down?” When you find out, remove it or smooth the way.
Stop belittling. Work that isn’t valued isn’t meaningful.
End frustrations. Explore frustrations with employees, don’t ignore them, end them.[/dropshadowbox]

Throw out bad – good comes back

Still more:

Focus on progress not failures. Constantly. You’re falling behind if you don’t. Better wins.
Transform setbacks into progress by making them learning events.
Respect. Welcome ideas. Don’t dismiss suggestions, explore them. Off-handed rejection belittles.
Agree on outcomes then let go. Freedom energizes; control drains.

The pursuit of excellence is fueled by positive environments.

Positive environments aren’t accidents, leaders build them.

Eliminate bad.

Shout the good.

Whisper correction.

Team Discussion

How can leaders counteract the pull of negative gravity?

How does how you act away from work affect how you act at work?

* Research on the bad outweighs good.[dropshadowbox align=”none” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Who else can benefit from eliminating negativity? To dump the bad and load up on good? [/dropshadowbox]

Top 20 Tips for Blogging and Writing Good

kirk_wakefield 2013, Digital Strategy, Relate, Social Media April 5, 2013November 2, 2018blog, blogger, blogging, how to, John Grisham, The Pelican Brief, tips, top 10, top 20, what sells, what works, write, writer 0 Comment

by Kirk Wakefield – April 2013

Why you should be blogging

Your profile picture may be ridiciously good looking and you may already write good like Derek Zoolander. But why should you write anything for others to read? Because you have something to say–and if you work for a team you have a built in audience. [dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Little known fact about John Grisham

John and I were church ushers together in Oxford, Mississippi. Some time after getting to know John, The Pelican Brief was published with a character named F. Sims Wakefield. Unfortunately, F. shoots himself. So, I was never certain if his outcome was just because he was a lawyer or maybe the impression I left on John. [/dropshadowbox]

You may not think of yourself as a writer. But, if you follow these guidelines, in time, you’ll be as popular as my friend John Grisham.

CEOs from major corporations use blogs as a way to build personal and corporate brand equity. You can follow some of the best here.

Top 20 tips for blogging

Adapted from McGraw Hill’s Online Marketing book, we share the Top 20 Tips for writing ideas.

Note: Read this book if doing anything in digital marketing.

Write as simply as possible. Like that.
Keep it short. See?
Plan a writing schedule and keep it. See #5.
Make a list of topics to cover. Think about your target market.
Look at the calendar. What’s in season?
Create editorial departments. Like a magazine.
Stay informed. Try www.google.com/alerts.
Look to the key phrases for inspiration. What is trending?
Take advantage of inspiration. Write down clever thoughts during the day. Or night.
Plan “think pieces.” Provide background, analysis, and opinions. 400-500 words.
Slice the onion thinly. Divide longer pieces into part 1 & 2. Stay tuned.
Author how-to articles. Like this one.
Include educational articles. Be authoritative. Research and facts help.
Share your checklists. What works for you? Make a list. With numbers. Like this one.
Try a Top 10 list. Or even 20.
Interview people in your industry. Now you have an excuse.
Embed videos from YouTube or elsewhere. Videos engage. Try it.
Link to podcasts. Then add your opinion.
Outsource to experts. Get a guest blogger. Day off!
Get the best blogging advice everyday. Where? Here.

What sells?

According to the same Online Marketing book, six things:

Comparisons between two competing ideas or products.
Problems solved. How have people made mistakes doing something? Show pitfalls and how to do it right.
A better way. Sure, that’s a good way, but have you tried this “cool trick”?
New uses. People forget what used to work still works. Or maybe it’s used elsewhere (corporations), but not here (music, sports, entertainment).
New features, new prices, and, well, news. What’s new?
User stories. (No, not drugs.)People trust people like them. What have you or others you know used and it worked?

Looking for something to write for the S3 Report? If you work in professional/collegiate sports or affiliated agencies/brands, pick a topic from one of the six that sell and you can start today. Or in the off-season. Either way, let me know.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]S3 Editor Contact Info: Kirk_Wakefield@baylor.edu or connect via LinkedIn.[/dropshadowbox]

Do you need a blueprint for executing sales events?

kirk_wakefield 2013, Sell, Tickets April 5, 2013November 2, 2018entertainment, invitations, Mike Alstott, NFL, premium sales, revenue, sales event, selling, stadium club, suites, VIP 0 Comment

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 13^th 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.