The Sports Strategy & Sales (S3) Program Expands!

The Sports Strategy & Sales (S3) Program Expands!
S3 in LA circa 2009

When the S3 program launched in 2004 we were—and are—the only academic program in a business school devoted to developing talent aimed specifically at generating revenue in the business of sports. After placing more than 270 professionals in sales and analytics positions we see even greater demand for Baylor S3 graduates. Notable S3 alumni in management and executive positions at scores of professional teams, corporations, and agencies now mentor, train, hire, and advise students right alongside us, as do many outstanding professionals from coast-to-coast.

As we look forward to the next 15 years we must set the stage for success for those who follow. Much has changed in the past 15 years. Think about it. After the first graduating class of S3 majors in 2006, the iPhone was introduced in 2007. This mobile revolution transformed how fans search, buy and go to the game. Augmented and virtual reality are changing how fans engage with our experiences and sponsors. Venues are beginning to use facial recognition as admission.

With the onslaught of data and digital selling, properties and brands recruit and pay for the talent to manage and analyze data to more effectively and efficiently reach fans where they are—which is mostly (online) on their phones, tablets or desktops. The most productive organizations invest heavily in technology capabilities (in-house and/or outsourced) to enable the salesforce to connect and engage with fans in ways we couldn’t even imagine even 10 years ago.

Our position has always been at the forefront leading the way into the future. In keeping with our WINS values, we need more hard-working, integrated, relationship-driven, spirited people to join us.

Missing Talent

The advantage and disadvantage of the S3 major in the Hankamer School of Business has been its exclusivity. The most successful students consciously committed to a career in the business of sports no matter what the costs. That is still the case. As a side note—conscientious commitment to excelling in your craft, to your career, is still the price to be paid for success no matter the business. Companies still buy from people who know where they are going.

At the same time, S3 missed potential sales superstars. Great salespeople love to keep options open. Not wanting to be constrained to sports, they didn’t take the chance to be sold themselves. The Vice President of Sales at the San Antonio Spurs, along with many executives at other teams, often say, “Hey, just let me have a chance to talk to them!”

S3 missed out on problem-solvers keen to manage and analyze data to answer big questions businesses have in a digital-first marketing world. Marketing majors with a double-major with MIS, Accounting or Finance took their talents elsewhere. The Wide World of Sports has been slow to get up to speed. But, like every company today, they now demand more highly skilled analytically-minded graduates to close the gap.

Opening the Doors

S3 majors have always been well-rounded. Salespeople understand analytics and analysts understand sales. All understand the importance of living lives of integrity. Having integrity means having the courage to face the demands of reality. The reality is sales-oriented students thrive in the sales courses. Analytic types want the freedom to build out technical and quantitative skills.

Recognizing these realities, and the realities of marketplace demands and opportunities, the S3 program has moved to open courses to all Marketing majors. Students may choose an emphasis in S3 Sales (MKT 3310 and 4341) or S3 Analytics (MKT 4342 and 4360), plus an internship, for a total of 9 hours. They can still take all S3 courses (15 hours) if they use additional upper-level business electives. All S3 students selecting one of the two areas of emphasis will complete an internship in sales or analytics in the summer after the junior year. Read more here.

Internships

Our stock & trade has always been internships at the highest levels of professional sports, as well as associated brands and agencies. As Colin Faulkner, Senior Vice President of the Chicago Cubs, famously said in our first S3 promotional video, “In sports, to get a job you need experience. But to get experience you need a job.” Internships provide the job that provides the experience that gets you started in your career in sports.

We will continue placing students in internships for those that declare an S3 emphasis and take the sales or the analytics courses in succession during the junior year. Others may take the courses and interview for internships and positions as available, with priority going to declared S3 program students.

Graduates in the 2021 class and beyond may submit their declarations as S3 program members by completing this form.

The S3 Club

S3 Mentors

Further priority for internships and positions is given to those active in the S3 Club. The S3 Club will continue under S3 faculty advisement but will be wholly and completely run by students, supported by an S3 Alumni Advisory Group. The objectives of the club will continue to be to network with sports business executives and to learn more about relevant careers.

The End Goal

With the end in mind, our vision continues to be to instill integrity in the business of sports & entertainment. What’s changed? Nothing, except we want more students to catch the vision, to consider the opportunities, and to join us! We’ve removed every obstacle to keep superstars from exploring business careers in sports. Want to talk some more?

Interested in sports sales? Contact Darryl_Lehnus@Baylor.edu

Interested in sports marketing analytics? Contact Kirk_Wakefield@baylor.edu

November Newsletter

by Will Evans – November 2018

S3 Alumni Spotlight

Vishal Nagarajan

Vishal Nagarajan (S3 2018), KORE Software, Junior Associate

Tell us about your experience at Data Strategy Day?

“S3’s Data Strategy Day was a great experience. For the students there, being exposed to the information the various speakers provided is invaluable and will go a long way to jump start their careers. For alumni and other business professionals in attendance, it was a great opportunity to reconnect, network, and learn how other areas of the industry are growing and advancing. Very much looking forward to next year’s Data Strategy Day!”

S3 UPCOMING EVENTS

Premier Partner Day

  • When: November 9th, 2018
  • Where: Foster 143/144, Baylor University
  • Why: To introduce S3 seniors and juniors to the best sales career opportunities and internships in the sports industry.
Brand Strategy Day

  • When: January 25th, 2019
  • Where: BBVA Compass Stadium (daytime) and Toyota Center (evening)
  • Why: To engage, educate, and recruit students interested in careers in brand strategy and partnership sales, service and activation in sports & entertainment.
  • Register: baylor.edu/business/s3/brand

Data Strategy Day Speaker Highlights

S3 Alumni at Data Strategy Day Top: Colby Conner, Matthew Burke, Chase Kanaly Bottom: Vishal Nagarajan, Leslie Horn, Brooks Byers, Alex Karp

Leslie Horn (S3 2012) – StoneTimberRiver and SSB
StoneTimberRiver, now a part of SSB, is a third party vendor for CRM solutions serving over 60 professional sports teams and entertainment events. Horn serves as the manager for Client Services. At Data Strategy Day, Horn spoke about the importance of proper training for using CRM at teams and organizations. She noted that the biggest problems she sees with teams are bad data and bad usage of data.

“CRM can be an amazing tool to increase the efficiency of your organization. However, you get out what you put in. If you have bad data, you are going to have bad results, no matter how good your salespeople are.”

Grant Bills – (S3 2009) – FISH Technologies

FISH provides strategy and services to derive optimal results, and derive meaningful insights from events and conferences. Fish has worked with hundreds of events including the NBA and NHL All-Star Games and the 2018 College Football Playoff. Fan interaction at events begins with gaining data through app-signups and tablet registration. All data is tracked through the fan’s app, and gamified experiences engage fans and reward them for active participation. As Bills explains,

“The FISH Platform ensures that the entire event ecosystem is connected and measurable. This ensures fan engagement is tracked throughout the entire event footprint: understanding where they engage, what they collect, what they share, and how that behavior applies to a refined Unified Fan Profile.”

Thank you to our guest speakers from 4FRONT, StoneTimberRiver/SSB, and FISH Technologies!

Want to get involved with S3? Click here or email Ian_Young@baylor.edu

S3 September-October Newsletter

S3 September-October Newsletter
by Ian Young – October 2018

S3 Alumni Spotlight

Blake Pallansch

Blake Pallansch (S3 2015), Phoenix Suns, New Business Team Manager

How did S3 prepare you for a sales management position?

“S3 did a great job of preparing me for a management role. I felt very knowledgeable about the structure of an organization and the amount of time and hard work associated to make a move into leadership. S3 also prepared me for how to succeed in the role early on with a high level of integrity.”

What is one piece of advice you have for S3 students looking for jobs or internships in sports sales?

“Learn as much as you can at every event and opportunity you have to meet people through S3. Fully utilize the platform S3 provides to you. You have so many opportunities to meet with and learn from some of the best leaders in this business. S3 provides the groundwork for students to gain a head start on long-term success in an exceedingly competitive industry.”


S3 UPCOMING EVENTS
Data Strategy Day

  • When: October 5th, 2018
  • Where: Foster 250, Baylor University
  • Why: To engage, educate, and recruit students interested in careers in data science, data strategy, or digital marketing.
  • Register and find details online at www.baylor.edu/business/s3/data.

S3 Internship Spotlights

Collin Kensinger – New York Mets

“What we learn in adaptive selling is a great foundation for what you do as an intern with the Mets. Dr. Lehnus’ class equips you to apply what we learn much more in-depth once you are on-board with a MLB team. The highlight away from work was taking a sunset cruise around New York to see so much history and amazing sights like Ellis Island & the Statue of Liberty, One World Trade Center, and the Brooklyn Bridge.”

Tatum Lowe – BBVA Compass

“I learned how to effectively manage partnership relationships and evaluate those partnerships and the ROI from partnerships like the BBVA Compass Stadium and the Houston Rockets. S3 more than prepares you for internships. Dr. Wakefield and Dr. Lehnus gave us all the necessary skills to succeed in the workplace to build relationships and exhibit a strong work ethic. So many people don’t understand these two basic issues. Having these skills definitely gives us (S3 majors) a leg up on the competition in the sports industry.”

S3 Summer Internships

 

 

Want to get involved with S3? Visit www.baylor.edu/business/s3 or email Ian_Young@Baylor.edu

Do you have your P’s in order?

Do you have your P’s in order?
by Kirk Wakefield – January 2018

People. Purpose. Performance. (Pictures.)

S3 2018 Board Meeting

Paul Epstein challenged the room of executives, managers and students to truly put people first. With over a decade of managerial experience in pro sports, most recently as Director of Sales at the San Francisco 49ers, Paul shared how their sales organization was transformed by helping people “find their WHY.” When organizations put people and purpose first, performance takes care of itself.

Tim Salier, Vice President of Franchise Operations at Spurs Sports & Entertainment, shared how the Austin Spurs G-League team faced high sales force turnover and low productivity. Putting people first, the sales structure was flattened, base salaries of account executives increased above $30,000 and career planning began with stretch assignments to strengthen skill sets in other areas. The results? Revenue rose 300% and more sales reps stayed in place after rampant turnover in the years prior.

Putting Your Money Where…

Chase Jolesch, Director of Ticketing & Premium for the Vegas Golden Knights, stated, “If people truly come before purpose and performance, we must act upon it. We can’t say we care and then ask people to work for less just because it’s sports.”  Shawn McGee, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Homestead Miami Speedway added:

U.S. Compensation Across All Industries

I’ve seen both sides—low base and high commission and higher base with less commission. In the past, I fully subscribed to mitigating risk by paying a lower base and providing a more substantial commission, as well as forcing the salespeople to drive revenue in order to increase compensation.  However, at my current company, we pay a higher base and little commission.  At first I thought it would lead to lazy salespeople and lack of urgency to hit numbers. We actually found it allows us to source better talent who are still driven to reach the goals…and we can retain those sales people.

Research from the NBA suggests sales reps accept positions with a team for the potential career path and that a lack of clear career path is the main reason for leaving. We agree. Millennials, like most of us, want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. We want to see a future and purpose in what we do.

Some studies report compensation is rarely a reason for entering a sports sales career. That’s because starting salaries are often far below other industries. The table (right) offers pay comparisons to similar positions across all industries (i.e., not sports). If we want the top talent, will we get it by paying under market rates? If we want to maximize revenue, can we do that by offering the minimum?

Those on the brand, data and agency side of sports are largely competitive with the general market. We look forward to those responsible for ticket sales to lead the way in attracting and keeping top talent.

Leadership Style

As leaders it comes down to our own personal purpose, values and approach to managing and leading others. Do we see our relationship with employees as more parent-child (Theory X) or adult-adult (Theory Y)? Which do you think achieves the best results with today’s generation? (Hint: Same as when this first came out in 1960. You have to know your Y.)

People are different. Some more different than others. We think most S3 graduates are ready to perform, but variance exists. Learning new skills requires more direction, but once learned need more support and coaching. Research shows over half of leaders use the same leadership style regardless of situation or person, which translates into not meeting the needs of employees at least half the time.

Situational leadership adjusts to the person-situation. The best leaders know when to delegate, support, coach or direct, based on the employee’s skill development. (See Situational Leadership Model below.) Managers who put people first focus on knowing individuals, what makes them tick (their why) and adapt to meet their needs. Results follow.

Source: KenBanchard.com

The Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SSE) organization puts situational leadership into action. When Allen Schlesinger took an innovative approach to social selling that gave up on cold-calling leads, SSE unleashed Allen to become the leading revenue generator in the NBA’s developmental league (now G-league).

The Cost of Leadership Failure

Replacing a sales rep takes 3-4 months and typically costs at least 150% of the reps’ compensation in lost revenue and added recruiting & training costs. We might have a different view of turnover if we pictured $75,000 walking out the door each time one leaves.

Average turnover in sales across all industries generally hovers around 25% each year. Common thinking is (a) if turnover is over 25%, the problem is management not the employees, and (b) employees leave managers not companies.

Why do employees leave managers? In the sports industry, not unlike others, we promote the best salespeople to become managers. Unfortunately, great sales people make terrible sales managers, as about 1 in 6 suited for sales are good fits for management. We know this is true in sports–the best players are rarely good coaches or managers–so why do we think it works in business?

The Secret of Success

The good news is other ways work. Members of the S3 Advisory Board, like Eric Platte at the Atlanta Hawks, have sales management training programs that identify quality candidates with the right mixture of sales competency and openness to servant leadership to develop into future managers.

The 49ers Sales Academy is a result of a culture shift based on People–Purpose–Performance, in that order. How did they transform the sales force?

First, the focus changed from a “manage up or out” to a retention approach. They asked, “How can we find people who have not only the basics to succeed but whose strengths can shine in the organization for years to come?” The search is for great talents, great people–those who want to do something special.

Second, they took the external sales philosophy of “every seat has a story” for customers and applied it internally to employees. In recruiting, that means taking deep dives into why they are in this business and their values that determine how they do what (sell) they want to do.

Third, once a part of the team, management continues the process of starting with WHY to engage and listen to employees to identify themes to incorporate systems and behaviors to accomplish purposes important to employees. (See diagram, right.) Performance is not the objective, but the result of a people→purpose orientation.


Thanks again to Paul Epstein for bringing these words and illustrations to life–and who now continues his journey to inspire others at the BW Leadership InstituteAre you interested in learning more about the Center for Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) at Baylor? Do you identify with the WHY & HOW of what you’ve just read–and want to join us? Visit www.Baylor.edu/Business/S3Thanks to those who traveled to Waco to experience record-breaking cold. Check out your pics below! Click on one to begin the slide show.


Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) Newsletter: The Relaunch

Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) Newsletter: The Relaunch
by Kirk Wakefield – May 2017

S3 Newsletter

May marked the relaunch of the S3 Newsletter–and the next issue could be starring you! Sign-up here to receive each issue via email, as well as to share news, such as:

  1. Moving: From one sports/entertainment related position to another
  2. Shaking:
    1. Promotions,
    2. Awards, or
    3. Other stupendous feats of possible interest to readers.

In in this month’s newsletter we learned of:

S3 Track Rebranding & New Faculty

To better align the curriculum with the needs of the industry, Baylor S3 now offers three tracks:  Ticket Sales, Strategic Partnerships & Branded Content, and CRM & Analytics. After completing her Ph.D. at Rutgers, Dr. Tyrha M. Lindsey-Williams joins the faculty in the Department of Marketing this fall to teach advertising & digital marketing as part of the partnerships track.

S3 Club Record

The S3 Club includes all junior & senior majors and underclassmen interested in S3. With 138 active members, we surpassed the previous high membership set the year before by over 50%. Thank you board members and alumni for your support!

S3 Placement

Thanks to our partners for another great year placing S3 students in careers & internships. See who went where here.

Want to be involved next year? Register now for January 2018 Pro Day & Board Meetings!  We are currently accepting new supporting and leadership partners.

AT&T Challenge Winners

As part of Pro Sales II with Dr. Lehnus, juniors teamed with AT&T to create strategic partnership solutions for the Dallas Mavericks to reach fans in Mexico. This year’s winners of the competition were Diane Siri, Dodge Bludau, Courtney Ulrich and Ian Young.

Special thanks to our judges: Bill Mosely (AT&T), Eric Fernandez (SportsDesk Media), David Peart (Root Sports), Travis Dillon (The Marketing Arm), George Killebrew (Dallas Mavericks), and Jason Cook (Baylor University).

 S3 Bright Futures Awards

In partnership with BBVA Compass Bank, S3 honors the female and male outstanding seniors with the #BrightFutures Award at the Senior Banquet. This year’s winners are Erika Moulder (SSE) and  Grant McLaughlin. Thanks to our guest speakers Sheiludis Moyett and Tuck Ross from BBVA Compass!  #LiveBright!

The Bright Futures Award goes to the male and female seniors who best exemplify the S3 values of WINS: Work ethic + Integrity + Networking + Spirit. Winners are honored at spring events, awarded plaques, and receive $1000 toward attending the Daniel Summit after completing one year in their careers in the business of sports.

 S3 Movers

  • Mitch Mann (2009) – Associate Athletic Director, Baylor Athletics
  • Tommy Wright (2011) – Marketing Sponsorship & Partnership Manager, Houston Space Center
  • Travis Gafford (2011) – Inside Sales Manager, Spurs Sports & Entertainment
  • Alex Karp (2012) – Senior Business System Analyst, Utah Jazz
  • Twila Mulflur (2015) – Client Support Coordinator, Stone Timber River
  • Hayley Di Naso (2015) – Hospitality Sales, San Francisco 49ers
  • Anthony Potts (2015) – BI Manager, Houston Dynamo

 S3 Shakers

  • Austin Flagg (2010) – Senior Manager, Business Development, PGA Tour
  • Blake Pallansch (2015) – Premium Account Executive, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • Austin Dinnes (2015) – Premium Account Executive, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
  • Nick Buckley (2016) – Account Executive, Membership Sales, Houston Rockets

Next month we will feature the Movers & Shakers of S3 Board Members–so share your news here! 

Special thanks to our premiere Leadership Partners, StubHub (Geoff Lester), Phillips 66 (Tami Walker) and Eventellect (Patrick Ryan)!

An Internship Model for Sports Sales, Marketing, CRM & Analytics

An Internship Model for Sports Sales, Marketing, CRM & Analytics
by Kirk Wakefield – January 2017

After arranging & supervising hundreds of sports internships for the last dozen or so years, Dr. Darryl Lehnus and I devised a system that works well for us.

Ideally, partners provide the internship with the same objective of developing and evaluating talent in view of future employment there or elsewhere. Our partners see intern successes as their successes, as it reflects on their abilities to train, motivate, and model excellent performance.

Among others, the Pittsburgh Pirates B.U.C.S Academy and the New York Mets are ahead of the game in organizing internships and recruiting to careers. While many teams and companies provide summer internships, the Houston Texans (sponsorships) and Houston Astros (CRM) provide 9-12 month postgraduate internships specifically for our graduates to gain more in-depth training before launching careers.

Our best-in-class partnerships do five things:

  1. Budget for internships.
  2. Show up every year to interview.
  3. Provide awards or incentives. (Examples: See StubHub & MLBAM.)
  4. Serve as mentors.
  5. Initiate follow-up with interviews to (a) hire or (b) refer for hiring.

Five Not-So-Easy Steps

From a process standpoint, partners follow these five steps. We’ll explain each in turn.

  1. Prepare students for careers.
  2. Determine parameters & responsibilities.
  3. Define, communicate and evaluate on criteria that predict success.
  4. Hold students responsible.
  5. Review insights & follow-through with students.

Prepare students for careers

Ask employers what they want. Continue to ask.

Too many prepare students for sports marketing or sports management jobs. The only problem is no entry level positions exist for “sports marketer” or “sports manager.” Entry level positions do exist in ticket sales, sponsorship sales & service/fulfillment, CRM, and analytics. Design coursework and programs accordingly.

Business schools have courses in professional selling, database management, statistics and predictive modeling, and data visualization (Excel, Tableau, etc.). Take advantage of these courses in planning curriculum requirements. When employers see you take them seriously, they’ll line up for your students.

Determine Parameters & Responsibilities

Once employers agree, we send them a link to an online form to identify the supervisor, time frame (start, finish, hours per week, pay or course credit), and responsibilities. Most likely you’ve already discussed this, but best to not be surprised at the end of the term that the internship didn’t include a vital part of what they needed to experience.

After selecting the type of internship, the employer completes the appropriate section for what the intern will do. Our forms are below.

Define, communicate and evaluate criteria for success

Every year the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE) publish a list of attributes most desired of new hires. These could differ among some, but odds are they are the same. With a little adaptation, we use these for midterm and final evaluations by the intern’s direct supervisor.

Responses on the primary criteria (below) are shared with the intern in a meeting with the academic advisor. We also ask about punctuality, attitude, performance, and overall grade from the direct supervisor of the internship at the employer. The entire form may be downloaded here.

Sports Internship Evaluation Criteria

Specific to our own preparation and values, we ask students to be 2nd milers. When asked to do something (walk a mile), go above and beyond expectations (go the second mile). Supervisors rate the intern accordingly (below).

Hold students responsible

Students should perform well in the internship. We expect that.

We also expect them to reflect on what they learn. Keeping a daily or weekly journal is recommended.At the end of the term, students must submit the S3 Internship Report Form (click to download) regarding a weekly log of hours, assignments, volunteering, accomplishments, application of class material, issues (problems or challenges & resolutions), culture, behavioral adaptation, recommendations, and net promoter score rating for the internship.

Review insights & follow-through with students

Meet with each student to get his or her take on the evaluation provided in Step 3. Usually there are no surprises. Employers do a good job of picking up on areas for improvement that you’ve likely noticed in class. So, it’s nice to have someone else see it and say it.

Generally, these are great times to encourage students in careers. On occasion, you can use these to give appropriate kicks in the pants. We’ve seen these have fairly drastic effects on capable students who needed to get with the program. On occasion, you find some who need to find another program. The wide world of sports, perhaps the same as other industries (but we think more so),demands a high level of commitment. We help students by holding them to a high standard.

Conclusion

Providing good internship experiences takes effort on the part of the academic advisor, student, and employer. But, working together, internships are the foundation for successful careers. No class, book or assignment can substitute for on-the-job reality training.

The very best part of what we do is to see students succeed in their careers.

Feel free to borrow, steal, or adapt any or all of the attached materials! If you’ve found other things that work well, please let us know!

Branding You in the Business of Sports

Branding You in the Business of Sports
by Drew Mitchell – January 2016

Who are you?

What separates you from everyone else in your business? How is your brand perceived by others?

“Branding you” was the topic of our panel discussion held at the new Foster Campus for Business and Innovation at Baylor University. The audience consisted of students from the Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) program as well as sports industry executives. The panel included Tami Walker, Head of Brand Management for Phillips 66; Derek Blake, Vice President of Partnership Marketing and Military Programs at La Quinta Inns & Suites; and, Greg Grissom, Vice President of Corporate Development at the Houston Texans.

The discussion yielded important insights on how to brand yourself in any business, but specifically in the business of sports.  We each have a personal brand that makes each of us unique, as the iconic Dr Pepper brand reminds us, we are “Always One of A Kind.”

The Four Pillars

Derek introduced four key underlying principles of who you are and how others will see you.

  1. Connecting – Be a networker. Help people meet other people, which in return broadens your network.
  2. Humility – Unless you are an entrepreneur, you will always have a boss until you become CEO. And then you will have a board of directors. Always have the mindset of WIT–whatever it takes. Be willing to do anything, even if it means taking out the trash or making the coffee, no matter your seniority level.
  3. Integrity – “Don’t shift with the wind.” Do the right thing, even when no one is watching. During hard times don’t stray from core principles and values.
  4. Giving – Set yourself apart by giving back, regardless of how much money you make or what your position. Plenty of people know how to take. Being a giver means you are a service to your peers, business, society and the community.

Why Ration Passion?

Tami talked about how it was important to have a framework for your personal brand. First, you must develop expertise. Whether it’s through education, experience or a combination of other learning opportunities, expertise sets you apart from others. Know what skills and talents you possess and what skills you need to acquire. Second, you must have passion that distinguishes you from others.

Mike Libeckimike libecki is an example of someone who pursues his passion. Life is sweet–the time is now–so, why ration passion? Don’t hold back who you are and showing others what you love. Being passionate is being human. Don’t place a limit on your passion. Combining passion with expertise is a great combination.

Relatedly, Greg emphasized three ingredients to your personal brand:

  1. Passion – See a common theme here? Passion can change and evolve as you experience life, but decide what passion really makes you tick now.
  2. Competitiveness – Compete. Be bold. Make decisions. As a young adult and student, this is the perfect time in life to be bold and take a risk with your career.
  3. Trust – Your personal brand reflects those who surround you. Others see who you trust and those who trust you. Building trust with the right people in your network is important in building your brand.

Market your Brand

After you understand your personal brand, the next step is to market your brand. What good does your brand do if nobody knows about it? Here are a few pointers from the panel:

  1. Use the Power of Who – One of the commonalities among panelists was the power of your own personal network. Who you know influences the content of your brand and how you market it. Bob Beaudine has a great book titled “The Power of Who.” Read it if you want to grow your brand. One point Beaudine emphasizes is to use your “who” to market you.
  2. Get Involved – Involvement in a variety of activities places your brand across a wider market. I joined St. Jude as their Corporate Chairperson this past year. I am passionate about the cause. I wanted to share my talents. Serving introduced me to a totally new network of people. Get involved to serve. Don’t overlook the opportunity to build your network while you serve.
  3. Be Different – Being your own brand means being different. For example, since everyone is so consumed with social media and email, we forget about the power of postal mail. Executives may (dis)miss an email, but every hand-written note gets read. When you meet someone new, send them a hand-written note. That makes you different.
  4. Promote –Promoting your own personal brand is as easy as coming up with a username and password. LinkedIn is a free platform to share your talents and skills and connect with others. One approach–sometimes required by corporate policy–is to create separate professional Facebook and Twitter accounts. Use social media and digital strategically. Be careful. Most future employers will review before hiring.

Develop your Brand

Now that you understand what your brand is and how to market it, develop your brand. Notes from the panel include:

  1. Risk-taking– Green paper buys things. We like it. But don’t let money get in the way of your passion. Use the time early in your career to take a risk while responsibilities are low. Go deep on why you are passionate. Then ACT on that passion without caring about the financial compensation. Now is the time to set the momentum for your career. Money will follow.
  2. Learning Agility – Be a “seeker of knowledge.” The number one predictor of career success is learning agility, which includes people agility, mental agility and strategic agility.
  3. Power of Mentors – Mirror others that have success. A proverb provides, “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.” Identify seasoned veterans as mentors. Each executive you see today still has mentors who offer advice and serve as a mirror for the future self. Find someone who shares the same core values to help lead along your journey.
  4. Build your network – You always have room to add to your network. The bigger your network, the more visible your brand. It is still true: Who you know gets you the job. What you know keeps you there.

Derek Blake sums it up, plain and simple, “My name is all I have.” At the beginning of the day and at the end of the day, people buy you, not the product you sell. Be intentional–have a plan–on how to market your brand. Be the brand others can’t live without.

Want to know how to find your perfect employer in sports? Read on!

8 Tips to Getting Promoted in the Sports Industry

8 Tips to Getting Promoted in the Sports Industry
by Rocky Harris – October 2015

Managing expectations

I get asked all the time what it takes to get promoted in the sports industry. Over the last 15 years the industry has encountered rapid growth, which has provided more professional opportunities and raised expectations for getting promoted faster.

When I got my first full-time job with the San Francisco 49ers, I felt lucky to have an entry-level position. It was highly competitive. No one seemed to get promoted or leave for other jobs. Upward mobility was more aspirational than realistic. Today, people enter the industry expecting to become athletics director, president or general manager by the time they are 30. Somewhere along the way, we stopped worrying about excelling at our current jobs and only focused on reaching the next step.

How to advance in 8 easy steps

Instead of trying to reverse the course of the industry, I have some direction for those looking to advance their careers.

  1. nickbakerExcel at your current job: Many people think all they have to do to get promoted is meet the minimum expectations for their current positions. I always tell my staff that the first step is to excel at what you were hired to accomplish. AEG Senior Vice President Nick Baker, who started at AEG as an intern and worked his way up, explained: “You have to have proven excellence in your current role before you can be considered for additional responsibilities and opportunities.”
  2. Impact other departments: Once you effectively manage all current responsibilities, the next step is to positively impact and contribute to other departments. It shows you are a team player. Other leaders within the organization will notice your contribution in helping them reach their goals.
  3. Focus on solving organizational objectives: I was told early in my career to solve the problems of the most senior decision-maker in the department (president, athletics director, owner, etc.). After perfecting the job you are hired to do and helping other departments reach their goals, spend your spare time figuring out ways to solve organizational problems. Delivering a solution to an issue that keeps the team owner up at night will help you get noticed and promoted.
  4. Know your strengths and weaknesses: Focus on using your strengths to deliver short-term results. Develop and display a skill set relevant to the objectives of the organization. Example: If your boss is a luddite, and you are tech-savvy, your technology skills can deliver value to the organization that no one else can that sets you apart.
  5. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have: One employee asked for a promotion because he felt he was ready to take on a more senior role. I told my boss about his desire for advancement and we were considering it. The next day, the employee walked in to the office with tennis shoes and his shirt un-tucked. My boss said he refused to promote him, regardless of the work he produces, until he learns professionalism.
  6. Find mentors: I wouldn’t be where I am without the help of others. It is critical to your professional development. Mentors can help you develop your personal plan and provide much-needed guidance.
  7. Build relationships: Have a positive attitude. Be the kind of person people want to work with. Leaders can easily identify divisive people. Dividers will not be promoted regardless of the results they drive.
  8. stevewebbBe open to change: Executive Director of Compliance at Arizona State University, Steve Webb, has lived in four different states to pursue his goals in the sports industry. Webb said, “In the sports industry, you have to be willing to change jobs, move and take on new roles in order to grow. The more flexible you are, the more likely you will move up the ladder quicker.”

 

These steps do not guarantee you will fast-track to the top of an organization. But, if that is your goal, these pointers will give you the best chance to reach your career goals.


Cover photo courtesy of Pascal.

 

You Got the Job in Sports; Now What?

You Got the Job in Sports; Now What?
by Justin Pipes – July 2015

You graduated from college. Networked with all the right people. Beat out thousands of other candidates. You landed a job in sports!

Now what?

With all of the articles out there about what to do to get a job in sports, I thought it would be helpful to share some of the things I have learned in my first year of working in sports full-time.

Out of college, but not out of class

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]harry truman“Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers.”~Harry Truman[/dropshadowbox]College is just the beginning of the true learning journey. You’re still in class, being evaluated compared to your peers. You just may not realize it. If you are content with just being in sports, no need to read any further. But, if you are interested in management and eventual executive leadership, learning will help separate yourself from your peers. Typical resources (SBJ or IEG’s Sponsorship.com) help you stay up-to-date on sportsbiz news. Pick up the local business journal. Read a leadership or sales philosophy book. Learning about the local community and improving your sales and leadership skills will separate you from the rest of the class.

Group projects aren’t over

Whether on an inside sales team, interning in corporate partnerships or working in another department at a sports property, collaboration and working together are critical. Remember those peer evaluations? They’re even more important here, because if you play well with others, you get to stay in the game. But, if not, you may be looking for another team soon. I interact with other departments to get partner activation plans executed. Our plans for new initiatives will affect multiple departments.  As a student-fan, I had no idea how much teamwork went into executing partnership plans, but suffice it to say you must be able to perform effectively in a team.

Dress for success

dwddRemember all of those times you dressed up for career fairs or special speakers in class? You wanted to make a great first impression. You wanted to communicate your professional approach to whatever opportunity might become available. If you came in t-shirt and shorts, trust me, they noticed. That’s a tough first take to overcome. Professional dress is still important. You want to impress upon new co-workers, supervisors, clients, and prospects that you mean business. Studies from the Harvard Business Review show that dressing well is associated with success. They advise you don’t have to buy the most expensive clothes, but that a switch from Dwight Schrute (The Office – my favorite TV show ever) to Don Draper (Mad Men) might be in order.

Be willing to ask for advice

We can’t make it in this business without some help from others who have been there and done that. With only a year under my belt, I found it fitting to ask some other industry professionals what newly minted sports business professionals should do to be successful.

Go the extra mile!

Eric Sudol, Vice President, Corporate Partnership Sales & Marketing with the Dallas Cowboys, offers this great advice:

“One of the most important keys to success for a recent college graduate in the sports industry (and arguably any industry) is to be willing to do anything.  This means not being above any job to garner a foot in the door, going the extra mile to assist wherever, and maintaining an exceptional and humble attitude.”

Don’t be afraid to ask questions!

wesWesley Streitenberger, Manager, Affinity Sales at FC Dallas, shares that to learn you have to ask questions:

“The two things I think that can really help a recent college grad in any industry would be (1) Not being afraid to ask questions and (2) Realizing that the best way to learn is from experience.  The more you do and the more you ask, then the more knowledge and experience you gain, and will continue to!”

What about you?

We haven’t covered everything you need to do after you get the job, for sure. We’d love to hear more from you. What advice would you give to someone that just got a job in the business of sports?

9 Ways to Best Use Time to Build Your Sports Career

9 Ways to Best Use Time to Build Your Sports Career
by Jeff Eldersveld – June 2015

The most valuable thing any sports professional can give is time. It doesn’t matter what stage in the career – looking for a job, recent hire at a job, or a seasoned veteran – because how time is spent defines one’s self and, ultimately, one’s career advancement.

Time management is often not formally taught in school or even at jobs for that matter. Yet it is directly mentioned in a vast majority of sports job descriptions. Entering college, students are thrust into an environment where they have to balance a workload of multiple classes, assignments, and extra-curricular activities. So, they become self-taught time management enthusiasts. Some students figure it out. But, what worked in college may not equate to success in the sports industry when it comes time to get a job, start a job, or continue as a seasoned veteran in this industry.

How to Best Use Time to Get a Job

Let’s focus on first-time job seekers.

  • 1. Intentional Internships: To get a job you have to have experience and to get experience you have to have a job. So, the most important use of your time should be finding an internship that directly translates to a desired occupation, rather than just accepting whatever will give course credit. Sometimes that means pursuing & creating an internship where one didn’t exist. You must intentionally commit scheduled time to develop relationships & connections. Your university, as well as the sports organizations in your area, often provide opportunities to network with executives. You should be first in line and last to leave after getting their business cards.
  • 2. Navigate Patience vs. Persistence: College students work their way through four years of school (or more) and have a job waiting for them when they graduate. Wrong. Not in sports! In a perfect world, sports administration programs would have rolling graduation dates to coincide with the off-seasons of the four major professional sports. Because that is not a reality, most first-time job seekers must be patient. The hiring cycle in sports does not always fit with recruiting practices of corporate America.

While patience is necessary, persistence is required to make sure your resume floats to the top of the pile when a job opens. Time must be spent reaching out to prospective employers letting them know about a related school project, something you saw in the S3 Report (duh), or some form of warm and NOT random conversation. Then when a job does open up, the decision becomes much easier on who the employer should reach out to first.

How to Best Use Time as a Recent Hire

Too many want to rush this stage without taking the time to develop their skill sets, instead diverting focus by looking for the next promotion or better job opportunity.

Figure1-Candour1
Linking Candour to Leadership
  • 3. Train like it’s a marathon, not a sprint: Rarely does someone become General Manager or Vice President before the age of 30. Developing leadership competencies (see right) don’t happen overnight or even in a few years.  Marathon runners are known for superior endurance and mental toughness. Half of running a marathon (other than the 26.2 miles) is believing it can be done. Time must be devoted to training, learning how to crash through “the wall,” and sacrificing momentary pain for long-term accomplishment.

Recent hires need to work like this. Impress the person who hired you by showing a high level of commitment and ability to accomplish delegated tasks. It may seem tough to endure while wondering if that promotion is ever going to come. That is a mental block or wall to overcome. Stay focused on the task at hand. Gradually earn more responsibility as you train, ready to go the entire distance. Don’t be the one who stops halfway and hops on the bus for the easy ride back home.

How to Best Use Time as a Seasoned Veteran

As you develop leadership skills and are in a position to lead and help others, two of the best ways to use your time are to give back and to work with the right people.

  • 4. Give Back: To become a “seasoned veteran,” others had to help along the way. Devote time to the next generation of up-and-coming sports industry superstars. These superstars could be looking for internships, first-time jobs, or taking a step to further their careers. But one thing is the same: a knowledge transfer from a veteran is what will help pave the way for the superstar’s future success.
  • 5. Hire the Right People: There is no better way to spend time than building a highly functional team. The trick is to identify resources during one’s career that produce top talent either by coming up through a highly reputable organization (led by seasoned veterans) or college students who have been given a superstar skill set by their institutions. Once these areas have been identified, finding the right people becomes much more efficient. And with efficiency comes better productivity and more time to train – making the team that much better.

Time is Always Needed for This

Here are a few exercises to practice no matter what career stage.

  • 6. Say Thank You: Handwritten notes are still king because they take time to write. But, don’t neglect a verbal thank you, either. Whether in the office or over the phone, saying thank you preaches humility – which is also why this act should be done to subordinates as much as superiors.
  • 7. Learn More to Teach More: Take time to find your inner curiosity. Discover something new like learning HTML or attending an online seminar. Better yet, gain new knowledge and disseminate that knowledge amongst peers and coworkers. It doesn’t help anyone when knowledge is concealed.
  • 8. Call Your Family: Whether it’s a special occasion like Father’s Day or just the start of a new week or month, make a point to reach out to your family – especially Mom and Dad. They are, after all, the ultimate seasoned veterans.
  • 9. Find Your Happy Place: Everyone goes through difficult days where stress pops up in unforeseen ways. Powering through it some days may work but use these opportunities to “take a lap” around the office. With most teams, a lap means walking around the arena to clear the mind and refocus but it could also be in the form of a physical workout.

Cover photo courtesy of Jeff Davidson.