The students POV on interviews for internships & careers

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.

Want a QUICKWAY for a great activation strategy?

Want a QUICKWAY for a great activation strategy?
by Itzayana Aguirre – February 2018

Sponsorship Shorts: QUICKWAY

Wesley Abercrombie (S3, 2017), the General Manager for Partnership Sales at Southeastern Louisiana University Athletics, shared this creative partnership activation strategy:

If the basketball team makes eight 3-point shots, everyone at the game wins a free slushie from our local convenience store partner, Quickway. We keep track of it by hanging up letters on a wall. Once it spells out “QUICKWAY” everyone knows they win slushies. We call it our “Slushie 3-point shot tracker.”

How successful is the promotion?

Wes explained,

Tonight, there was 30 seconds left in the game, and the team hadn’t hit the challenge yet. It spelled “QUICKWA” and we were just waiting for the clock to run out to win the game. The other team wasn’t even playing defense at this point! Fans were literally standing up yelling “one more three” at our team from the stands and our coach heard it!

So as our team was waiting for the clock to run out, coach told our point guard to just go ahead and shoot it, to try to complete the challenge for our fans. He missed the shot, but it was really cool to see the fans react to our promotion the way they did and to see our coach acknowledge it instead of just letting the clock run out to win the game. The best part was, the partner was at the game, and texted me saying that the promotion was the best form of marketing he has ever seen.

Share your story

Wes worked with Quickway to develop a powerful partnership platform that engages the team, coaches and fans for an ultimate experience. Share your Sponsorship Shorts story if you would like to be considered for a feature on the Baylor S3 Report!


Wes Abercrombie is an employee of Peak Sports Management, which manages sales & marketing for Southeastern Louisiana Athletics. 

Spurs Share Values & Insights with Baylor Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3)

Spurs Share Values & Insights with Baylor Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3)
by Brad Sherrill – September 2017

What can we learn from the Spurs organization?

The Spurs were the first organization contacted before the S3 program launched in 2004. We often say that the Spurs organization is “Baylor South,” because so many of the 250+ S3 graduates started careers in San Antonio.

Nine members of Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) engaged in a series of small group panel discussions with over 100 S3 students at the September S3 Club meeting. Among these nine were Joe ClarkLaura DixonDavid ElkinsJustin Wynter and S3 alumni Stephen GrayLindsay BealeTravis GaffordAshley Johnson and  Erika Moulder.

These professionals discussed how S3 Values play out in day-to-day life in successful careers. 

Take It Personally

Justin Wynter, Manager of Corporate Partnerships for the Austin Spurs, shared a story in support of the S3 Culture tenant to always “take it personally.” Wynter spoke about how he and his associates rose from underachieving to become a top of the league organization. This hard work came to fruition when the team received 8 of 10 year-end NBA G-League awards after receiving zero only a few short years before Justin Wynter and Stephen Gray (S3 2011) decided to take personal responsibility for business performance.

Act with Integrity

Joe Clark, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service, encouraged students to interview teams and companies. He highlighted the importance of making sure that an organizational culture is strong and a positive fit. Finding those organizations that care and do things the right way is an integral part of experiencing long-term success in the sports industry.

Go the 2nd Mile

Laura Dixon, Head of External Relations, exemplified the broad landscape of positions available across the sports industry. S3 Club members heard about her journey from working on an Olympic bid proposal to her current position where she works to strengthen stakeholder relationships on behalf of Spurs Sports & Entertainment. In going the “2nd mile,” Dixon does a little bit (or a lot) of everything in this role, going beyond the job description people typically associate with the sports industry.

Group Sales Representative Ashley Johnson shared a story of how Sales Representative Erika Moulder’s group were recently given a goal of making five in-person sales appointments for the week. Ashley noticed on the sales board that Erika set 19 appointments, going the second, third, and practically the fourth mile.

Redefine Success & Failures

S3 Club Member Tatum Lowe spoke highly of the insight she gained over the course of the evening. Lowe said she learned, “the idea of redefining our successes and failures . . . focus on the small victories that you achieve every day, before you know it these will add up to major successes.” She was inspired by how visibly passionate SS&E executives, managers and employees are about their careers, exemplified by the core principle of going the 2nd mile, in San Antonio as much as it is in Waco. In fact, they traveled 200 miles each way to freely share their time with S3 students.

How to Choose Among Job Offers

Lindsay Beale, Senior Manager of Group Sales, shared a common theme to the Spurs and S3: Pick your next position based primarily on the character and values of the manager who will directly supervise you. This person plays an integral role in developing your abilities and determining the opportunities for success. When they move up, you’ll have chances to move with them.

Next Up

Our next S3 Club outing with the Texas Rangers is on Tuesday, September 26! We will join Nick Richardson and four more S3 alumni at the Rangers, Taylor Bergstrom, Mike Segoviano, Jeff Brown and Jonah Erbe, as the Rangers take on the Astros from Globe Life Park in Arlington.

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!

How sponsorships can add to the fan experience

How sponsorships can add to the fan experience
by Lynda Carrier-Metz – December 2015

What is the first sponsorship question?

The first question we ask as we develop each partnership with a sports team is: How can our involvement benefit our customers? The second question quickly follows: Will this partnership ultimately drive sales for our company?

When I was in college (quite a while ago), the athletic director needed to ramp things up. He brought in camels to race during the half-time entertainment.  I don’t recall a sponsor. It was a desperate act to get fans in the stands.  It was high on the shock-level, but not very interactive.

That was then…

When we signed our first sports contract a couple of decades ago, stadiums had limited sponsor signage. Game time sponsor entertainment was sparse. Sponsors were less sophisticated about how to leverage opportunities with sports teams.

Fast forward to 2016: Schools push back on sports management companies. They say there are:

  1. Too many signs,
  2. Too many (2-3) promotions in each break, and
  3. Too many spectators numbed to the exposure overload.

How can a sponsorship add to the fan experience?

What can we do? How can we add to the fan experience–rather than add to the over-commercialization of sports? Both seller and sponsor are responsible for assuring they enhance the overall event.  Otherwise, everyone loses.  Fans stop paying attention. Sponsor messages don’t cut through the clutter. Contracts aren’t renewed.

This situation happened to us with a long term partnership. We nearly walked away from future sponsorship. The cost was high. We didn’t believe the impact was what we once had.  Both parties reviewed what we were doing. We saw what was working and what wasn’t.  After months of discussing solutions, we found new events fans would enjoy with ways to focus our media to cut through. How?

  1. Own the opening game segment. Own the beginning of the game, both on TV and in-stadium.  During our post season review we determined the in-stadium activation was a really fun promotion. The kid-fans experience was great. But, awareness was low.  The promotion ran prior to the game before many spectators were in the stands to see it.  Rather than ditching a good idea the kids enjoyed, we did the promotion and ran a recorded “recap” immediately prior to the game.  Fans now in their seats see kids having a great time. Our brand is associated with that fun fan experience that can only occur by attending the game.
  2. Activate post-game purchases by tying it to the results of the game.  While supporting their team, fans know if the team wins. When they do, they win a way to buy our product for less.  We increased views and received only favorable comments on Facebook throughout the football season. We used social media and traditional media to promote. The sales results are great. (We lucked out with a near perfect season. If the team isn’t expected to win many games, make the tie-in connected to points scored or some other favorable outcome.)

These kinds of approaches work because we connected the promotion with (a) a clearly identifiable event that happens every game and (b) an enjoyable consumer (re)action. As a sponsor, align your brand with the team to offer a better product by focusing on how to make the fan experience more enjoyable.


Cover photo courtesy of Dustin Holmes.

5 Best Practices to Create Loyalty with Corporate Partners

5 Best Practices to Create Loyalty with Corporate Partners
by Lauren Ward – August 2015

Fan loyalty is at the forefront of every team’s objectives.  Loyalty is defined as “having or showing complete and constant support of someone or something.” Teams build loyalty in many ways: social media, events, player appearances and, of course, winning. Season ticket holders are a prime example of fan loyalty. They are the super fans.

Building loyalty with corporate partners presents a bigger challenge. They aren’t the super fans. In fact, they may not live in your city, or state, and could be fans of another team. So the question is: How do you create fan loyalty with corporate partners?

Listen

Listening is important in all aspects of life: school, work, relationships (trust me on this one). When it comes to corporate development, both sales and activation, listening builds the foundation for loyalty. What are your partners telling you? What is important to them? What are they hoping to get out of the partnership? How do they measure ROI? Who is their target audience? At the same time it is equally important for you to ask the right questions to assist in uncovering these answers.

Doug Mraw
Doug Mraw

“Partnerships that stand out are with teams that take the time to understand our needs and the needs of our brands. We work together to create programs in and out of the game day experience and we make sure that our programs make sense for both parties. We are simply not filling a round hole with a square peg.” – Doug Mraw, Anheuser-Busch

Understand their business

In corporate development you are not only working for your team, you are working for your client. Your client’s goals are your goals. Understanding the client’s industry will help you to accomplish this.

Do research on the company and stay up-to-date on industry news. I have found that social media is one of the best ways to stay informed. Follow your client and others in the industry on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. You’ll be surprised how much you can learn about the client as well as be in the forefront of industry news. Is there a platform they are focusing on? For example, how can you build off of State Farm’s “assist” platform? Is there a new product they are pushing in the market? Anheuser-Busch’s big push of their new brand, Montejo is another great example. Understanding their business will help you bring new ideas to the table and make a huge impact on your client.

Creativity

Now for the fun part! Use the information you gathered to come up with creative and unique activations. Be creative and stand out from what other teams are doing to separate you from their other partners. Always be sure to keep their goals and objectives in mind.

Ashley DelValle
Ashley DelValle

“We created a monthly newsletter for one of my biggest clients. We wanted to keep both the client and us as an organization engaged together throughout the season. Recapping their involvement with SSE each month reinforces our commitment to each other’s goals. The newsletter also makes it easy for their company as a whole to be looped in on what they’re doing with us throughout the season.” – Ashley DelValle, Partnership Activation, San Antonio Spurs

Relate

It is easier to sell  and retain clients with whom you have a close relationship. Meet with your clients face to face on a consistent basis. Find out what is important to them personally. Do they have kids? Pets? When are their birthdays? Surprise them by remembering this information. If a birthday is coming up, send gift. Stop by the office with breakfast, cupcakes, or team gear on game days. It will make them feel important and make a big impact! If they aren’t local, call them on their birthdays or mail them gifts. Get creative! Go above and beyond!

ROI

At the end of the day, what your client is looking for is a return on investment. How this is measured will vary on the client. It could be growth in sales, brand awareness, capturing leads, driving traffic to their website, and much more. Customer surveys are a great way to capture this information. Do fans recognize the partner as a sponsor of the team? Are your team’s fans more likely than non-fans to be aware of, consider, buy from, or visit the website of the partner?How does that make the fan feel towards the partner? Are they more likely to recommend to a family member or friend? If you can give your client the return on investment, you’re going to have a good shot at increasing loyalty and building a successful partnership.

Eric Sudol’s 3 Lessons From a Career in Sports Sales

Eric Sudol’s 3 Lessons From a Career in Sports Sales
by Brooks Byers – April 2015

S3 Board Member Spotlight: Eric Sudol, Dallas Cowboys

Eric Sudol, the Dallas Cowboys’ Senior Director of Corporate Partnership Sales & Service, has worked for the Cowboys organization for eight seasons. Mr. Sudol completed his undergraduate work at Cornell College, before earning joint masters degrees from Ohio University in Business Administration (MBA) and Sports Administration.  After starting his career in corporate partnership sales for the Memphis Grizzlies, Mr. Sudol came to Dallas intrigued by the opportunity to sell suites for the new AT&T Stadium in 2007.  Since joining the Cowboys, he has been promoted five times, moving from suite sales to Manager of Premium Sales, Director of Sales, Director of Sponsorship Sales, to his current position as Senior Director.  As a member of the Baylor S3 Advisory Board, he enjoys sharing his experience and advice with students.   Some of his key takeaways from his years in Memphis and Dallas include:

1.       Discipline is the key to sales.

  “The job is daunting. If you bat .300, then you’re in the Sales Hall of Fame,” says Mr. Sudol.  “It’s tough to do this job if you’re not very disciplined in your approach.”

2.       Sales and business acumen go hand-in-hand.

“You can’t go wrong with a first job in sales; if you want to be a leader in your company, then you have to understand what it takes to make money.”  Mr. Sudol came to Dallas to learn a different aspect of his industry.  He believes that his experience selling suites made him a better leader and manager because all areas of revenue generation are important and related.

3.      Selling sponsorships lends itself to creativity.

“You can allow your entrepreneurial spirit to run in sponsorship.  We’re always looking to innovate and create new ways to generate revenue.  We want to be at the forefront and look to invent the next sponsorship category,” says Mr. Sudol.

Mr. Sudol is proud to be a part of the S3 program because its curriculum recognizes the importance of sales as an entry point to the sports industry and gives students hands-on experience in call centers to prepare them to excel in their careers.

4 Keys To Successful Communication

4 Keys To Successful Communication
by Briggs Webster – March 2015

NRG, the parent company of Reliant Energy, based in Houston sponsors eight NFL teams, as well as the Texas Rangers, Houston Rockets, and the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. As a part of sponsoring 8 of the 9 most valuable NFL franchises, we vie to be a relevant part of the football experience while leveraging assets to create an authentic connection for fans.

An ongoing task for brands with such corporate partnerships is to leverage hospitality assets. With NFL teams stretching from San Francisco to New York, our 8-person Houston-based team must balance the hospitality (aka ticket request) needs of executives and upper management. With over 10,000 tickets to distribute and allocate over the course of a year, you might think it’s an easy job that makes plenty of friends.

But, please don’t call me. Because, frankly, it is tough to keep everyone happy. In fact, we keep a motto front of mind to help keep everyone happy, from the highest executives, to the smallest entry level associates. The easy 1-step process to keeping everyone happy:

  • Understand that you cannot and will not keep everyone happy.

If you are in this role, it is your job to try to keep folks happy. But, when you can’t meet everyone’s request, what should you do?

Taking an active role in communication

Instead of passively reacting to requests, take an active role in communicating. Explain what assets you do have available and what you can do with what you have. How can you improve the way you communicate? Through my experiences with NRG, I have learned four techniques to effectively communicate with colleagues, bosses, clients, or executives.

#1. Listen.

It’s that simple. Focus fully on whoever is talking and simply show interest. If you are attentive, it’s going to be a lot easier to clarify information and avoid conflicts. Since so much communication is done via e-mail, you may need to make a call so listen. But, first, read carefully so that you have all of the details.

#2. Be aware of nonverbal communication.

How body language influences outcomes
How body language influences outcomes

The way you look, listen, and react to another person through your body language tells others more about how you feel and what you think than words ever can. You can improve effective communication by using open body language—arms not crossed, sitting on the edge of your seat, and maintaining eye contact.

#3. Manage stress.

It’s easier to communicate, respond to email, or pick up the phone to call someone when you have nothing on your plate on a slow workday. But, for most of us, those days are few and far between. So how can you manage stress? First, recognize it. When you’re becoming stressed, immediately capture that moment by taking a deep breath to calm down. You may not be able to go on a midday run to de-stress, but you can take deep breaths and re-evaluate. Before reacting in a stressful situation, take a deep breath and a few seconds to imagine the issue from the other person’s perspective.

#4. Follow up.

radio silenceOne of the best pieces of advice I have received at NRG was from our Director of Sponsorships, Christine Brown. She said that “Radio silence is your enemy.”

Even if you don’t have an answer to a question, inquiry, or problem, you should proactively update people on progress and steps you are taking. Christine used an analogy that stuck with me. Avoiding radio silence is, “kind of like a waitress coming by your table to say that the food is coming and the kitchen is a little backed up. You might still be hungry, but you aren’t annoyed and you aren’t wondering if the waitress forgot about you.” Following up, even if there is really nothing to be updated, is better than “radio silence.”

Conclusion

Effective communication enables you to communicate even negative or difficult messages without creating conflict or destroying trust.

Effective communication combines a set of skills including attentive listening, nonverbal communication, the ability to manage stress in the moment, and the simple recognition of following up. While effective communication is a learned skill set, it is more effective when spontaneous rather than robotic. The goal is to incorporate these skills into habit, so that is a part of who you are. Just like a speech read from notes has less of an impact than speech delivered from the heart, spontaneous communication is the same way. You can start by writing these four tips on a card by your phone or PC. Eventually, you’ll lose the card, but keep the practice and instinctively and spontaneously communicate with others.

Why the NFL is Lifting the Blackout Rule

Why the NFL is Lifting the Blackout Rule
by Eric Fernandez – March 2015

The NFL announced yesterday (3-23-15) that for 2015 they will lift the 30+ year blackout rule.  The blackout rule has been in effect to “protect” season ticket holders.  Teams that couldn’t technically sell out the game 72 hours before kick-off would have the game blacked out in their local markets.  The change for 2015 is driven by two simple reasons:

  1. Pressure from the TV Networks, in particular CBS and FOX, to remove blackouts
  2. Teams no longer have an incentive to sell out games

#1. Pressure From TV Networks

The current TV agreements, that kicked in before the 2014 season, increase each teams annual TV money to between $200 – $220M.  Or said another way, before each team plays a down, TV money pays for salary cap and team operating expenses and leaves each team $10+ million dollars in the black.  That’s a nice business model – do nothing and make millions.

Make no mistake, TV drove this decision.  Local market viewers are 50% – 75% of the local market TV rating.The NFL can’t justify crippling their largest revenue source, which is now the overwhelming majority to revenue for each team.  Expect the TV viewing experience to innovate and improve as networks seek ways to recoup their investment.

#2. No Incentive to Sell Out

Read point #1, read it again and then read it a third time.  This is no different than a pro athlete who ups his game in a contract year, makes a financial windfall, then gets a bit fat and happy with a large contract.  Teams have no incentive to sell the last 10% of tickets.  If anything you’ll see a shrinking of future stadiums with a model that’s focused purely on premium seating and season-tickets, sold well in advance on long-term contracts.  We’ll witness the conversion of stadiums to “sound stages” with made-for-TV experiences.

As journalists are taught in J-School, the secret to uncovering a story’s truth is to “follow the money.”  The same can be said for the NFL’s blackout lift.

Getting in the game: Removing and replacing the fear of rejection

Getting in the game: Removing and replacing the fear of rejection
by Carson Heady – March 2015

Those moments prior to dialing, pulling that door or entering the board room are like stepping in the batter’s box or breaking the huddle.

You formulated a semblance of a strategy, thought (or over-thought!) and now you have to execute the play. But what if I whiff? What if the pass is intercepted? What if they say no?

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]I have found that rejection is a natural human reaction to changing status quo. Most people don’t like change, and most of the time your product or service is asking them to do just that, change for a perceived value. Overcoming this obstacle is purely a numbers game. By knowing exactly how many contacts, calls, demos, presentations, it takes to close a deal, you effectively establish a process. The numbers dehumanize rejection by making it all part of the end game. Celebrate the losses along with the wins, they are all part of the process. ~David Woodbury,  Venture Builder/Rev7.co [/dropshadowbox] A fear of rejection can prevent us from playing the game effectively, if at all, spelling D-E-F-E-A-T from the start. We may be confident in our knowledge of the product or service we represent. We may have prior success or failure we’ve learned from. But, facts are facts: no one enjoys being told “no.”

So, how does one eradicate the trepidation surrounding rejection?

Overcoming “No”

1. Be Prepared.

The more ready you are to confidently present your product, service and yourself, the less likely you can be deterred from that path. Knowledge and the ability to delicately drive through the selling process are what lay the foundation for the successful sale. Preparation builds confidence because it’s one less thing to worry or think about. Arm yourself with as much as you can in the situation. Go in with your intended qualifying questions, plans for rebuttals and confidence to close.

2. Name the fear.

Recognize the fear and work to dismiss it. You have more control over it than you think. If you have a fear of rejection, acknowledge its presence and contemplate why it exists. Are you afraid of not selling because you fear repercussion? Do you feel unsure of yourself or your pitch? Similar to the “release the mechanism” scenes from the Kevin Costner baseball flick For Love of the Game, you hone in on your directive and drown out everything else. If you allow yourself to deviate from the game plan because of desperation or fear, you certainly will hear “no;” so it’s all the more reason to ensure you remain undeterred.

3. Focus on process.

The real “fear” you should have, if any, is that you leave out a crucial step or do not give customers a clear picture of why they need what you have. Replace the fear you have of being told “no” with a focus on simply sticking to steps. You cannot control what your contact will do, but you certainly can control what and how you deliver. When you leave the conversation, your goal is to have a signature or a clear-cut reason as to why the customer decided against buying with a specific plan to follow up or move on.

4. Learn from the rejection.

Customers may decide against buying for reasons completely out of your control. That said, what worked during your presentation? What did you say that you may want to omit next time? Are there ways to tweak your product offerings or strategy based on the reason for opting out? It is very possible to lose the business today only to regroup, retool and revisit with a better solution that your customer will choose to use.

5. No isn’t forever.

The customer who decides against change today may feel differently given some time or change of circumstances. Leave a solid, lasting impression: Stand apart from those simply trying to get a sale at any cost. Earn the relationship. Stay in touch. Offer to help in any way you can. Find a way to be valuable, even if it brings no immediate monetary gain. When they have a need you can fill, you’ll get the call.

Bottom line

Never even think about the “no.” Your focus should be to control what you can in the selling process. We spend too much time worrying about what never comes to fruition. You control truly learning your customer’s needs, formulating a plan to address those needs, and addressing any concerns. You won’t win them all, but if you leave each conversation knowing the specific reasons your customer did not purchase, you did your job and can learn, grow and get ready for the next “yes.”