S3

Baylor S3E Advisory Board Responsibilities

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Advisory board members for the Center of Sales Strategy in Sports & Entertainment (S3E) and the Mike Curb S3E Program in the Hankamer School of Business at Baylor University agree to support:

  1. Values: Practice and promote the S3E SIC’EM values: Spirit + Integrity + Commitment + Empowerment + Motivation
  2. Recruitment: Facilitate recruitment at the advisor’s organization for S3E students to interview for internships and/or full-time positions.
  3. Meetings: Prioritize the (a) bi-annual one-hour Zoom meetings with the advisory board and S3E faculty & staff and (b) annual S3E Awards Banquet in April.

NCSAC FAQs

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NCSAC FAQs

View the National Collegiate Sports Analytics Championship, powered by GOAL, frequently asked questions and answers below. Send other questions to Heather_Grover@Baylor.edu and we’ll add answers here.

The NCSAC Bracket is here.

Upload presentation by noon Wednesday to this link.

Network Challenge

What is the NCSAC February 21-22 schedule?

Getting ready to go to Dallas (February 21-22, 2024) and where to go

  1. How should I prepare? Judges, participants and professors should carefully read the new Study Guide to know what to expect. Students–use the practice sets to get ready because the Finals data sets will be similar but with a few more variables and cases.
  2. Parking? Free parking is available in the Lexus garage located on the Northeast corner of the AAC at 2620 N Houston Street, Dallas, TX.
  3. Entrance & registration? Check-in and enter the East side lobby on Houston Street. Meals and business sessions will be in the East side lobby. See below.
  4. What to wear? Professional dress (read: suits) for students. Daily business or professional attire for judges & professors.
  5. How many are competing? We have at least 20 schools and over 60 students competing. Deadline is January 31, 2024 to register. A registration link is located here.
  6. Should we follow on LinkedIn so we can see the latest announcements? Yes, click here to follow the NCSAC page.
  7. Can other faculty or graduate students from participating schools come to observe? Yes, but please register ($50) as we need to account for space, food, and who’s in the building. Deadline is January 31, 2024.
  8. Where are the heats for each round? On the Admiral Level. At 1pm, round 1 will be on the East side in Suites 1356 to 1347 (Heats 1-10 undergrads; 41 students) and Suites 1346 to 1341 (Heats 1-6 Grads; 23 students). Rounds 2 and 3 are scheduled for the top of the hour.

The Competition

  1. Can we use the internet, ChatGPT or other AI to complete analyses in the championship? No. Please have everything you need loaded on your laptop. Do not connect to the internet during the championship from 7:30-Noon Wednesday until you’re ready to upload your presentation.
  2. Can we use online chat or text on phones during Wednesday morning when we do the data analysis? No. You may listen to music if your phone is in your pocket/purse.
  3. Why? Judges will ask if you worked independently and how you ran your analyses. With integrity at the forefront of the NCSAC you want to be able to demonstrate your personal analytical skills.
  4. How will we get the dataset and NCSAC PowerPoint to use for presentations? Each student will receive a USB stick with the data and the NCSAC PPT template at 7:30 am, February 21. You will bring the USB stick with your presentation to use during the heats in the championship.
  5. Can professors or others watch the presentations? No, only the students and judges assigned to the heats.
  6. Do students work together? No. This is like the Olympics where each person competes as an individual in the event. Judges will ask questions to determine if the student worked independently as part of the integrity component of the competition. Judges are then able to evaluate who can analyze and present well.
  7. Can a student graduating in December still compete in both competitions? Yes, as long as the student is not employed before the championship.
  8. How do teams win? Among teams with at least 3 students, the average scores of each student’s last heat are used to determine the team winners.
  9. Is the data the same as the preliminary round? No, it will have new variables and a different prompt related to GOAL objectives. See www.goalstandard.com.
  10. Can professors watch the presentations in each heat? No, but the Final 4 includes everyone.
  11. Will students, professors and judges have color-coded name tags so we know who’s who? Yes, that’s the plan. Feel free to bring your own school colors lanyard if you’d like. We’ll have plain ones available.
  12. Is there free WiFi? Yes, with no need to login at the AAC.
  13. Do students bring their own laptops to do the analysis? Yes. You may bring an extra screen if feasible. There will be places to plug-in but be sure to fully charge in advance in case you want to sit away from available plugs.
  14. Where will students analyze the data? A large work room with tables and outlets will be available on the Admiral Level in the Admiral Meeting Rooms. Students may also choose seats or tables in the Platinum Level near the Lexus Club but those lack electrical outlets.
  15. Where will the Final Four Presentation be held? In the Admiral Room on the Admiral Level.
  16. Can students use other materials/notes while analyzing the data? Yes. The main point of integrity is that the student prepares and completes the analysis independently. That includes no texting, messaging or other interaction with others from 7:30 am until Noon on the Wednesday of the competition.
  17. What is the presentation format? Students will be placed in heats of 4 in a suite. Each will present for five minutes to the judges in the suite one after another while the others wait in the hallway. The top two in each heat advance. In the 3rd round, (a) the undergraduates will have 10 students in two heats with two students in each heat advancing to the Final Four and (b) the graduates will have 6 students in two heats with two students in each heat advancing to the Final Four.
  18. How will the Final Four be judged? All four students in each division will present in turn. All judges will evaluate the Final Four and the average scores will determine the winners.

Virtual preliminary rounds (November 1-15, 2023)

  1. When will the data be ready to download to analyze? Wednesday, November 1, 8am.
  2. When is the 5-minute PowerPoint presentation due to be uploaded? Friday, November 3, midnight.
  3. How many teams and students from a school? One team (up to 4 students) for undergrad and one team (up to 4 students) for each program/dept. Students may compete independently without a team.
  4. What if we have multiple programs? Schools like Baylor have a team from a business school program (S3E) and another from the statistics department, unrelated to the business school program. Distinctly different programs at a school might want to be involved and that’s great.
  5. Will we need to record the virtual round? No need to record, but one could. These are Zoom calls arranged between one student and one judge at a time.
  6. What do the virtual round scores have to do with the in-person finals? The virtual round determines seeding for the finals in Dallas. Finals participants who do not compete in the prelims will be unseeded in the NCSAC brackets at the in-person event. The virtual round provides practice for the Finals.

How to leave a job without burning bridges

kirk_wakefield 2022, Integrity, S3 , , , , , , , 0 Comment
How to leave a job without burning bridges

By Kirk Wakefield and Chris Morales

In the middle of the Great Resignation–the Big Quit or the Great Reshuffle–no better time exists than now to emphasize the best way to go about resigning without looking like a quitter.

Let’s start from the time you first take a job until the time comes to move on.

  1. Establish an open-handed relationship with your direct supervisor:
    1. Openly share your career goals.
      • Be realistic. Look at career paths on LinkedIn to see how long it takes others to get where you want to go.
    2. Plainly discuss areas you need to grow.
      • Focus on 1-2 at a time. You have 40+ years of your career to grow.
      • Be patient with yourself.
    3. Schedule review meetings even if the supervisor doesn’t.
      • Be proactive but not overbearing.
  2. Find a mentor:
    1. Who has at least 10 years more experience than you.
    2. Who is in a place or role you would someday like to be.
    3. Who has your best interest at heart.
    4. Who will tell you the hard truth when you’re wrong.
      • Respect them for saying it. Truth is a rare commodity. Treasure it.
    5. Who will meet with you on a regular basis.
  3. Keep in touch with your professors (and mentors):
    1. Whatever you’re going through, they’ve heard it all before.
    2. Since they’ve no stake in the matter they can give unbiased counsel.
    3. Odds are they know your supervisor or others in that role and can provide insight.
    4. They can help you if/when you are ready to move.
  4. When issues arise that make you think about quitting:
    1. Talk with your supervisor about it.
    2. Don’t identify a problem without offering a solution.
    3. Look for ways to help others.
      • Be an answer.
      • Leadership will notice.
    4. Don’t complain to peers or others. It makes you part of the organization’s problem.
    5. Remember all companies have their problems.
      • Learn to manage frustrations.
      • Learn to navigate political waters.
      • Make learning instead of leaving your first choice.
  5. When you see opportunities to go elsewhere:
    1. Discuss the pros and cons with your supervisor.
    2. Run it by your mentor.
    3. Run it by your professor.
    4. Your supervisor, mentor and professor should never be surprised to learn you’re moving on.
  6. If you ultimately decide to make a career change:
    1. Provide at least two weeks notice.
    2. Be organized and helpful. Provide detailed notes so others know what’s going on after you leave.
    3. If you leave to a competitor, expect to be asked to leave immediately.
      • This is not about you.
      • Organizations have a business to run and have to protect clients, colleagues and intellectual property.

Professional courtesy, communications and grace go a long way on how you are remembered. Since the sports industry is small and everyone talks to everyone else across every league, all of these count double.

These same tips fit for almost any other big decision, like switching majors, churches, or other organizational commitments.

Other tips for how to manage careers in transition? Comment below.

 

What does it take to get to the c-suite of Major League Baseball?

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Note: This data was collected in 2018.

How long does it take to get to top of the business side in sports? We researched how many years from graduation to making it as CEOs or Presidents, and CIOs (or equivalent), among MLB teams.

Quarter of a Century

The average time from leaving school to first stepping into the role for the 27 CEO’S and 21 CIO’S included in our study was 25.4 years for CEOs and 17.69 years for CIOs.  CEOs in MLB make a livable wage, typically into the seven-figure range.

The range was 13 to 46 years for CEOs and 3 to 34 for CIOs. Stan Kastan took 13 years to get to the top of the Los Angeles Dodgers, while Ron Fowler of the San Diego Padres took the longer route (46 years). In technology, Corey Kmichik of the Milwaukee Brewers, reached the CIO spot in 3 years and Don Brown of the Chicago White Sox took 34 years.

We also wanted to visualize where these major players received their education. As you can tell from the following the large majority did come from D1 level schools for both CEO’s and CIO’S.

Proportion of D1, D2 and D3 schools for each path.

Position Other D1 D2 D3
CEO 1 22 1 5
CIO 4 11 3 4

We found a few interesting facts about the types of degrees that these leaders received. All CEO’s have bachelor’s degrees, but the spread of degree type is more varied than CIO. You have anything from psychology and American history to business and economics. Some CEO’s have MBA degrees, with one from Harvard and one from Wharton. Of the CIO’S, seven of the 29 have master’s degrees. The majority of the bachelor’s degrees are in engineering, with a few in MIS and computer science. There is even one CIO, Scott Swist, that has only a high school diploma and a lot of technical experience.

If you want to be a CEO the chances are higher if you have a law degree and come from a D1 school. To become a CIO, engineering degrees from a good school is a likely starting point, but other paths exist to get to the top of tech.

The students POV on interviews for internships & careers

kirk_wakefield 2021, Analytics, Learn, Recruiting, Research, S3, Sales Management, Sales Training, Sponsorships, Tickets , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
The students POV on interviews for internships & careers

After the first round of the Baylor S3 Pro Day of virtual recruiting with 30 interviewers, 54 of the students rated each of the interviewers, selected their favorite two interviewers, and commented on one that didn’t go as well as hoped. After the second round of S3 Pro Days on March 5 (click here for more info), we will distribute information to interviewers (who also get the chance to rate the students on their interviewing skills). The S3 Best Interviewer Awards for S3 Sales and S3 Analytics will be announced for the S3 Awards Banquet on April 14.

These evaluations are much like teaching evaluations. We certainly prefer students enjoy the experience. Admittedly, sometimes learning experiences can cause user discomfort. So, good on you as professor or recruiter if you can do both: Supply enjoyable learning experiences that serve the welfare of all parties for both the short and long term. To that end, we offer 45 comments about what students liked best about interviewers, which thankfully outweigh the 24 comments on areas of improvement. Learn as you will from these.

Student POV

Interviews for Sports Sales & Analytics Internships & Careers

45 Areas of Excellence

1.       Intentionally listened and asked good questions.
2.       Asked very thoughtful questions and really answered my questions well.
3.       Most enthusiastic and didn’t make it feel like there was a power difference between him and me.
4.       Most willing to show me things like what they do in Tableau.
5.       Just fun to talk to.
6.       Really easy going and easy to talk to.
7.       They stood out above the rest for their openness while discussing their roles and the company culture at their respective teams. They came across as completely genuine, giving me their unfiltered opinions on their workplace instead of telling me any kind of pitch.
8.       Made me feel instantly comfortable during both conversations I had.
9.       Super genuine and friendly; They were not intimidating at all and very helpful in explaining their role and answering my questions.
10.   Very easy to talk to and did a great job answering any questions I had. I very much enjoyed talking and felt at ease and was disappointed when our time was up.
11.   Asked unique and challenging questions that kept me on my toes.
12.   Was genuine and kind while also getting down to business without any unnecessary conversation.
13.   Very personable and made a hectic time feel relaxed, calm and helpful. Made the conversation feel mutually beneficial which was great. Super informative and helpful.
14.   We had a really great conversation about just life. We shared a lot of similarities; was informational, and I got to walk through my resume.
15.   Took an interest in me beyond my job qualifications and wanted to get to know me better on a personal level. They made me feel like they wanted to speak with me and told me I could reach out any time in the future.
16.   Asked great questions and directed good conversation! Awesome at engaging and made me feel really comfortable.
17.   I was able to see how well they enjoyed not only working in their field but with each other too.  I also felt relaxed in the interview and it was one of the ones that I actually had fun being interviewed.
18.   They were the two most enthusiastic people I talked to.  I made really good connections with both of them. They also were very interested in making it clear that if I were hired that they would invest in my career to the fullest extent.
19.   Was very specific and had the 30 min interview laid out in sections of what to accomplish. I got to do a mock phone sale and a 45sec pitch.
20.   Genuine and engaging during our talk.
21.   Very open to answer any and all questions and truly share passion for the job and role as a manger. Provided an open and transparent look at goals for those new to the organization and what managers seek to get out of them.
22.   They made the conversations really smooth and easy and showed a genuine interest in me.
23.   Was very open and had great energy. Seemed very invested in our interview and even joked around a little bit. Overall a great interview and I was incredibly impressed with the organization.
24.   They gave great insights on what their companies did and gave in-depth analysis of the field of analytics, especially CRM and BI. Also, they made the effort to personally connect with me.
25.   Asked challenging questions and, in the interview, pushed me to do better. Charismatic and has good leadership.
26.   It felt like they were actually interested in getting to know me.
27.   They had amazing humor and personality and seemed really interested in talking to me! They acknowledge all of what I said and asked follow-up questions accordingly. They made the speed dating a lot of fun because it may have been an interview, but it seemed more like catching up with an old friend!
28.   Seemed very interested throughout our entire call and even asked for a second interview to better our connection in order to be a future reference for myself.
29.   Discussed the many ways they took care of employees during the ongoing pandemic, both with their mental health and with their paychecks. Detailed how the team handles the social issues that have become as prevalent as ever in recent times.
30.   Open, friendly, and honest. Made me feel more comfortable.
31.   Extremely genuine and excited to hear about why I want to get into sports. They asked very good questions and went into detail when answering questions that I asked about their organizations. Both came across as wanting to help me in my journey in any way they could.
32.   Very interested in me and my future goals, very engaging.
33.   Super high energy and gave me an awesome description of time with the team. Super helpful and seemed genuinely interested in my career growth.
34.   Asked questions about my personality and we were able to chat and have a great conversation!
35.   Gave me a whole lot of advice on how I could answer interview questions better. Offered to connect me with other people within the organization, which was awesome.
36.   Truly took the time to know me and understand what I was looking for in a future job opportunity.
37.   Very encouraging.
38.   Let us know that no matter what happens they were here to help us. Even if that means we go for a decision and it does not include their organization. That is admirable.
39.   Took the time to know me knowing that I am only a sophomore yet was intrigued when looking at my LinkedIn profile. So kind and just wanting to help.
40.   Extremely kind, was prepared with knowledge about me, insightful answers to my questions, willing to help, relatable.
41.   Very interested in what I had to say and gave me great advice.
42.   Very kind and helpful.
43.   Gave great advice, flowing conversation, tremendous insight into job and analytics in sports. Willing to help.
44.   Seemed very genuine in wanting to get to know us. Gave me some valuable advice and perspective.
45.   We had a fantastic conversation about the importance of mental health in the workplace (and in general) and the emphasis put on it.

24 Areas of Improvement

1.       Really didn’t have much of an interview experience. It was too casual.
2.       Questions were very vanilla. Couldn’t get a good read off them.
3.       Didn’t really seem like they wanted to be there.
4.       Wasn’t easy to talk to.
5.       I sort of felt like I had to lead the conversation, where with the other recruiters, they were the ones guiding it.
6.       Seemed not to take our 10-minute call seriously. Never made eye contact and was constantly looking around the room. Gave cookie-cutter monologue and nothing more.
7.       Asked very structured concrete questions. I heard from others that they kept people over time and shorted others. Didn’t appear open.
8.       Informational but it was very cold. It wasn’t a natural conversation like the rest of my 10 min talks.
9.       Rapid fire questions, less conversational interview (granted, we only had 10 minutes).
10.   Asked a lot of questions that didn’t pertain to anything important and also not related to S3 or internships.
11.   Did not feel a connection with the organization or interviewer specifically.  Nothing against, is a great person.  I just did not find myself enjoying the interview or the chemistry.
12.   A stand-in for my interview didn’t seem too ecstatic to be there. Seemed very dry.
13.   Not very engaging and didn’t show a lot of emotion.
14.   Had one short interview where I was asked very off-topic and slightly offensive questions.
15.   I was confused on the style of the interview. Seemed harsh.
16.   Seemed very distracted; like the focus was elsewhere from the start. It threw me off a little bit and it felt like we never really got into the interview at all.
17.   Didn’t have a lot of emotion and didn’t seem that interested in talking to me. It felt like more they were just doing this to put a check mark on their calendar.
18.   Felt more like an actual interview and less of a conversation. It was intense, which is fine, but I enjoyed some other conversations more since they were more chilled.
19.   Conversation was not engaging and was not very interested in me or what I was saying.
20.   Didn’t really seem very interested in being at the event. Wasn’t super open about time with organization, which made the interview pretty difficult to stay engaged with.
21.   Not all that open to talking much about the organization and the conversation was hard to get through.
22.   Impersonal and mechanical conversation. Improved in the second round of interviews but felt like they were checking boxes rather than trying to make a connection or be a resource.
23.   Typing the entire time.
24.   It was so awkward; I was given short answers to questions that I asked.

Baylor S3 Welcomes New Director | Kicks-off S3 Zoom Class Reunions

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Baylor S3 welcomes Lane Wakefield as new S3 Director

Welcome to the new S3 Director

S3 Alumni + Business Professionals: Would you like to be involved in S3 this coming school year? Dr. Lane Wakefield invites you to let us know how! Click here.

With co-founder of the S3 program, Dr. Darryl Lehnus, retiring close of Fall 2020, Baylor University’s Hankamer School of Business is bringing in Dr. Lane Wakefield (Baylor MS ’11) as the incoming Director of the Center for Sports Strategy and Sales (S3). Lane followed in his father, Dr. Kirk Wakefield’s footsteps to create a program patterned after S3 at Mercer University after completing his PhD at Texas A&M in 2016. After a national search, Lane was selected as the incoming S3 Director.

At Mercer University (Macon, GA), Lane helped build their Sports Marketing & Analytics program and launched the National Collegiate Sports Sales Championship. He has published research in prestigious marketing journals, including the Journal of Service Research and Journal of Interactive Marketing, as well as upcoming articles in the Journal of Advertising and Journal of Advertising Research. At Mercer, Lane worked closely with the professional sports teams in Atlanta and throughout the Southeast, as well as with companies and agencies, to educate, train and place students.

With two Dr. W’s in the Center for Sports Strategy & Sales in the Marketing Department, Kirk will continue as the Executive Director, while Lane is the Program Director. As Marketing Department faculty members, both report to the Department Chair, Dr. Chris Pullig, and together will continue the innovative efforts initiated by Dr. Lehnus and the senior Dr. Wakefield.  As Lane noted,

“We have always worked well together. Not only through childhood, but even the last few years on research papers. The potential synergy is exciting. It usually takes years to get to know your colleagues, to develop trust and an understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses—we’ve got that in spades,” Lane said.

Lane added how it will be an honor to follow the leadership modeled by Dr. Lehnus,

“There should be another version of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary ‘Doc and Darryl’ to share what Baylor S3’s Dr.’s Kirk and Darryl accomplished. Most everyone in the sports business world knows and respects S3. A key reason is the Center’s mission to instill integrity. Darryl shared with me how central integrity is to his S3 courses and relationship-building with students. It’s an honor to have the opportunity to build on what he’s done through the Values-Based Leadership course and how the two together established integrity as a hallmark of the program.”

S3 Zoom Class Reunions with Dr. Lehnus

As Professor Lehnus enters his final semester at Baylor this fall, we schedule S3 Class Reunions on Zoom to chat with Dr. Lehnus, each other, and we’ll save a little time to meet the old and new Dr. W’s.

Each meeting will start at 5pm, Thursdays, as follows, with designated class captains helping us get everyone Zoomed in. Click here to register. You’ll need the Eventbrite (free) ticket to access.

  • September 10 | Classes 2006-2007 | Todd Pollock + Brian George
  • September 17 | Classes 2008-2009 | Mike Vogelaar + Lauren Ward
  • September 24 | Classes 2010-2011  | Chase Jolesch + Evin Martinez
  • October 1 | Classes 2012-2013 | Michael Hurley + Sarah Proctor
  • October 8 | Classes 2014-2015 | Austin Avery + Blake Pallansch
  • October 15 | Classes 2016-2017 | Julio Pineda +  Erica Moulder
  • October 22 | Classes 2018-2019 | Ali Harman + Tanner Clark

Other previous or current advisors and friends in the professional ranks are invited to join any of the class meetings.

 

S3 News Fall 2019

kirk_wakefield 2019, About S3, S3, The S3 Program , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
S3 News Fall 2019

New S3 Center Space

The new Center for Sports Strategy & Sales (S3) on the second floor of the business school offers great opportunities to engage with students on a daily basis. With three offices and visiting area, we can readily welcome students, guests, and families. Come by to visit us anytime!

S3 Free Fridays

To take advantage of our location we are launching #S3FreeFridays. We invite teams, corporations and agencies to promote themselves to Baylor students by providing branded items (caps, shirts, etc.) and/or a prize (signed jerseys, 2-4 tickets, a cruise to the Bahamas 😊) to distribute to office visitors on a Friday devoted to the organization. Click here to request a week!

For the team, corporation or agency, we will (a) run your PPT or videos on our office and classroom video board (located in main hallway on the first floor of the business school) all week, (b) collect the names of students interested in interviewing for internships or careers, and (c) facilitate recruitment via phone, video conference and in-person on our S3 recruitment days in January & February (see below).

S3 Save the Dates

Are you interested in recruiting S3 Sales or S3 Analytics students? Mark your calendars for:

1. S3 Analytics Careers Conference on Thursday/Friday on January 31 and February 1, 2020.

2. S3 Sales Careers Conference on Thursday/Friday on February 13-14, 2020.

We will host S3 alumni and guests for meals, conference sessions, and recruitment spaces to interview juniors for internships and seniors for careers. Premier Sales partners are welcome to schedule days in the fall to coincide with S3 Free Fridays to conduct virtual or in-person interviews.

Corporations and agencies associated with S3 can select which conference best suits their interests and attend one or both. As Kelly Roddy shared, demand for talent in analytics continues to rapidly grow for brands and agencies. At the same time, S3 has always produced graduates that excel in sponsorship activation, selling and measurement. Those with that interest may choose to attend the S3 Sales Careers Conference where others in partnership sales & activation will attend.

S3 & BU Athletics Official Partnership

The brainchild of Ryan Eklund, in a one-of-a-kind groundbreaking agreement, the Baylor Athletic Department is partnering with the Center for Sports Strategy & Sales (S3) to place S3 sales and S3 analytics students into paid positions working on the business side of the Athletics Department.  Thanks to the vision of Jeramiah Dickey, Jovan Overshown and Cody Gougler, the top students in S3 Sales and S3 Analytics will have the opportunity to gain two years of work experience in Baylor Athletics in one or more of the following roles:

  1. Analytics: CRM Campaign Management, CRM Campaign Analytics, Direct Marketing, Website/Google Analytics, Digital Applications/Yinzcam, and Data Engineer.
  2. Sales: Season memberships, ticket plans, group sales (Fan Engagement), and sponsorship sales (Baylor Bear Sports Properties)

The net result will be highly seasoned, experienced graduates ready to assume greater responsibilities and higher compensation than other recent graduates competing for jobs in the business of sports. Read more here from Baylor University about the announcement.

S3 Leadership Partners

Are you a leader? Does your organization develop strong leaders?

S3 Leadership Partners are committed to improving the industry through education and talent development. Financial support goes directly to place S3 students into paid sales & analytics positions in the Baylor University Athletic Department. Leadership Partners receive preferential treatment with prominent displays in the S3 classroom, S3 office suite, S3 materials, S3 website, and first crack at recruiting and event registration.

Let us know if your organization would like to join the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, Texas Rangers, Baylor Athletics, Phillips 66 and Eventellect in this prestigious circle of S3 Leadership Partners.

In addition, our S3 Premier Sales Partners offer qualified S3 Sales graduates entry level positions as account executives with compensation and benefits competitive with other corporate professional sales positions. Read more about these partners here.

S3 Director Search

As we chart the future for the S3 program, we seek an innovative faculty member to come alongside and shepherd the students in the S3 program to continue the legacy Dr. Darryl Lehnus has set for us. Dr. Lehnus is officially retiring in December of 2020, but will always remain connected through our S3 Alumni Network and Friends. We look for someone similarly like minded dedicated to following Christ in service to others, with experience and motivation to continue the growth of the S3 program. Please help us spread the word! A Masters is required and a PhD is preferred. The full job announcement and application is located here. Initial interviews begin in August 2019 at the AMA National Meetings in Chicago and can also be arranged via video conference.

How Sales Management in Pro Sports Can Catch Up to Corporate America

kirk_wakefield 2018, About S3, Integrity, S3, Sales Management, Sales Training, The S3 Program, Tickets , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Why do parents, teachers, politicians, managers and salespeople continue bad practices? Four reasons and the ways we express them are:

  1. We do what was done to us and assume it was best practice.
    • “Look at me, I turned out OK didn’t I?”
  2. We lack the depth and breadth of relevant education to recognize bad practices.
    • “See, you can succeed with any background!”
  3. We judge outcomes based on the exception rather than the rule.
    • “Look at her, she started here and is now vice-president!”
  4. We lack the courage to meet the demands of reality.
    • “I know this isn’t working, but I can’t change what I’m doing now.”

Sports sales recruiters often ask applicants, “Why do you want this job?” The wrong answer is, “I just love sports.” The irony is when it comes to pay, work hours and benefits, they literally bank on the applicant’s love for sports to compensate for, well, real compensation.

How Do We Know the Sports Sales Management Model is Broken?

Sales 101

First, consider some basic 101 principles of sales management. These quotes are directly from a leading sales textbook 1

  1. To attract and keep the best talent compensation must be uniform within the company and in line with what competitors’ salespeople receive.
  2. Salespeople who perceive the system as unfair may give up or leave.
  3. A constantly changing system may lead [salespeople] to constantly change their activities but never make any [more] money.
  4. Companies that do not emphasize service or do not anticipate long-term customer relationships typically rely heavily on commission plans.
  5. Salespeople working primarily on commission have little company loyalty and certainly are less willing to perform activities that do not directly lead to sales.

Inside sales reps in sports do not receive compensation in line with what they can get anywhere else. Top salespeople often see the system as unfair (given effort & reward) and leave as soon as a client sees how good they are (and offers multiples of current pay). Teams frequently “play with the lights” changing compensation systems in ways that rarely favor the rep by making the rep more money. The shift toward service-only reps leaves inside sales reps relying heavily upon commission and sacrificing customer welfare and service. As a result, few have loyalty and are certainly unwilling to do non-sales related activities.

Turnover

Second, consider the effects and costs of turnover. Average sales turnover across industries annually hovers around 25%. 2 Typical sports sales practice is to recruit a new class of inside salespeople every 4-6 months, suggesting something closer to the average turnover among car salespeople (~70-75%). 3 Some are promoted (internally or externally), but most leave the industry voluntarily or involuntarily.

Costs of turnover are estimated between $75,000 to $200,000 per salesperson4, taking into account recruiting, training, and lost sales. You can calculate yours here. The NBA estimates third-year reps generate 3.4 times the revenue as first-year reps. Unfortunately, relatively few get to the third year.

If I fail over half of my students each year, you wouldn’t say I’m a good teacher. In our program, we can’t blame the students. We recruited them. The same is true for teams. If annual turnover is anything much more than the non-sports corporate average (25%), at some point we must have the courage to start looking at the system and grasp the reality.

Training

Most sports sales managers are interested in training. The problem is the low proportion of these with any professional training in personnel management, compensation structure, leadership, and other sales management responsibilities. Many make great effort to learn to compensate for the lack of formal training (i.e., business management-related degrees). A few have had professional selling courses. A few have MBAs. Most were selected on the basis of being great salespeople, rather than management skills–which are two quite different things.

Sales students not taking the sports route are often hired by companies like Oracle, IBM and other major corporations who offer starting pay closer to $100,000 than $30,000, even while spending months in training before ever making a sale. We don’t expect teams to be on par with Oracle. But, $10-$20 an hour and first year commissions won’t attract the best talent among graduates who just spent tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars getting an education and accruing student loans.5

A New Model

Sales executives and managers (in sports) routinely bring in motivational sales speakers and hold weekly pep talks. Why? Because the nature of the role and associated benefits of the job aren’t intrinsically motivating on their own merits.

One of our partners, Spurs Sports & Entertainment, decided to do something about it with the support of leadership, including Frank Miceli and Tim Salier. Lindsay Beale, Director of Business Development at SS&E, walks us through the four steps they undertook.

Step 1: Look at the hard truth

We studied our sales work force and realized we were recruiting talent, investing resources into their professional training and development and they were leaving our organizations for other local corporations in sales roles.  We thought we had the hiring and recruiting figured out. We found individuals who really wanted to sell. For years we felt our compensation was competitive to other sports organizations. This helped with recruiting, but when you hire talented salespeople, they have opportunities outside of the sports & entertainment business.

Corporations look for talented salespeople from reputable organizations. They use aggressive recruiters, signing bonuses, high base salaries and competitive compensation packages to attract them.  We realized we couldn’t compete with them–specifically with our representatives with under 3 years of tenure.

We worked with finance and HR to evaluate our current sales structure to establish a plan to address our top concern of retention.  Through our research it was also clear compensation wasn’t the only place sports sales are behind the corporate sales world.  We are currently in the process of addressing sales retention by reviewing three areas: compensation, sales enablement and culture.

Step 2: Create competitive compensation

Teams may think their compensation is competitive with other teams, but that is the wrong comparison point if the goal is to retain talented salespeople. We restructured in four ways.

  1. Supplement commission in the first few years with a higher base salary to provide stability while the sales representatives build their books of business. [Among S3 partners moving in this direction, this ranges from $30,000 up to $42,000 for base pay.]
  2. Restructure commission to reward all sales revenue. We realized our commission structure heavily rewarded products that more tenured representatives were selling but weren’t incentivizing newer representatives.
  3. Provide a strong upside for top sales representatives, with clear rewards and recognition for high achievement.
  4. Hire sales representatives at a full time, full benefits position. No seasonal positions.

Step 3: Give them the tools

We established a Sales Enablement strategy applying digital tools, analytics and strategic processes to allow our sales team to excel in their jobs.

  1. Utilize data and analytics.
    • Lead Scoring
    • Appending data to sales leads to target individuals for specific campaigns
      • Examples: Outer markets for weekend plans or high net worth individuals for premium events.
  2. Invest in technology to improve sales efficiency.
    • Conversica, artificial intelligent sales assistant
    • Zip Whip, texting platform
    • ZoomInfo, business to business prospecting tool
    • Linked-In Sales Navigator
  3. Train and develop adaptive selling skills.
    • SS&EU: Classes are offered during work hours, are hands-on, and cover a variety of topics. They are facilitated live by in-house experts to encourage the cultivation of ideas and relationships across departments. SSEU is supported at the highest level of the organization and every executive teaches a different course.
    • Internal and external sales trainers
    • On the job sales training

Step 4: Create a people first culture. Really.

  • Provide a clear path for internal promotions.
  • Recognize each seller has an individual selling style. Coach, develop and set metrics to fit each representative.
  • Promote work life balance for everyone.
    • Eliminate the following phrases from management vocabulary:
      • Grind.
      • First one in, last one out.
      • Outwork everyone else.
    • Focus on quality of work and their commitment to the sales process, goals and team.
      • Commitment (you want) vs. Compliance (you must)
  • Allow flexible hours that still meet business needs.
  • Increase self-empowerment. Encourage reps to make their own decisions on how to manage time and activities to reach goals rather than micromanage to the numbers.
    • Coach reps to improve each day and strive for stretch goals they set for themselves.

Conclusion

We believe the S3 program can recruit more and better talent to the major the more teams buy into the new model aimed at development and retention. Just because teams can recruit people to fill each sales class with low wages and benefits doesn’t make it the right thing to do–either for the candidate or the team’s welfare. Basic sales management principles show us how we can do better.

Some teams are taking the lead. Since word has gotten out, others have reached out to say they are following suit. Do you want to join them? Are you in?

  1. Selling: Building Partnerships, 2014, Castleberry & Tanner, New York: McGraw-Hill. Quotes straight from the book are in italics. ↩
  2. https://www.ringdna.com/blog/work-to-retain-sales-reps. ↩
  3. https://www.wardsauto.com/dealer/maxdigital-out-stem-74-turnover-rate-among-dealer-salespeople. ↩
  4. Sales Management: Analysis & Decision Making, 2012 Ingram et al., London: Sharpe. ↩
  5. Even if it isn’t a private school (average ~$35k/year), public school still costs at least $10k/year for tuition/fees alone. ↩

November Newsletter

ian_young 2018, About S3, Careers, Learn, S3, The S3 Program 0 Comment
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