CRM

Three things I’ve learned in starting a new collegiate ticket sales center

kirk_wakefield 2014, Sell, Tickets , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Three things I’ve learned in starting a new collegiate ticket sales center
by Chase Jolesch – August 2014

In the last five years, colleges have started outbound ticket sales centers modeled after professional sports. After spending nearly three and a half  years working with the San Francisco 49ers and Legends Premium Sales, I received the opportunity to go back to my alma mater and start an outbound ticket sales center at Baylor University.

I’ve been working the past eight months to develop Baylor’s program. The three important things I have learned so far are (1) create a positive relationship with the ticket office, athletics foundation and marketing department, (2) implement a CRM system to help manage fans more efficiently and (3) hire and lead the right employees.

Create Positive Relationships with Other Departments

The ticket office, athletics foundation and marketing department all work with tickets in a variety of supporting roles. I connected with each department to learn how they work and be able to implement productive changes.

Matt Rousso
Matt Rousso

Creating these positive relationships between departments is built on communication. As Matt Rousso, Director of Ticket Sales & Service at the University of Southern California, shares,

“At USC we work closely with our ticket office on all ticketed athletic events leaning on their expertise to help improve overall processes as well as the fan experience.  There is no doubt that we will continue to improve our synergies in this respect as our tenure together increases.”

Each department has a variety of objectives, but the overlapping goal is to provide a great customer experience to each fan.

Implement an Effective CRM System

We recently implemented a CRM system that our ticket sales center, ticket office and athletics foundation all access. This helps internal communication so we know what is going on with our fans as we document calls, sync e-mail lists and make notes in the system. The ticket sales center uses CRM to prospect leads and turn them into specific sales opportunities.

Rich Wang, Associate Director of Analytics & Fan Engagement at the Minnesota Vikings, has over eight years of experience in the database world, believes

“having the right information is key in today’s world. CRM provides the level of detail and insights a sales center can act on in real time.  Further, CRM can provide data that allows an sales organization to form tangible relationships between existing clients and prospective targets.”

For a CRM system to be a productive tool, every department needs to be involved, and for that to happen you need the right employees.

Build the Right Team

We have taken a methodical approach to building the Baylor ticket sales center. The culture we want to create is one that cultivates talent, but also challenges and pushes. Finding the right candidate can be difficult, so we look for candidates eager to learn, work well in teams and want to be challenged.

Jared Kozinn
Jared Kozinn

Jared Kozinn, Director of Business Development-Premium Seating at the Detroit Lions, has experience building sales teams in the NHL, MLB, & NFL. Jared says he likes to, “look to hire passionate candidates with positive attitudes that want to learn and are open to constructive criticism.”

While finding talent through a variety of sports networks, including the Baylor S3 program and referrals, our sales center is beginning to take shape.

It has and will continue to take some patience to get things where they need to be to make it an overall success. Through positive internal relationships, CRM collaborations with fan experiences, and training the right employees the Baylor Ticket Sales Center is well on its way.

 

10 Things Newbies Need to Know About the Sports CRM World

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10 Things Newbies Need to Know About the Sports CRM World
by Chris Zeppenfeld – June 2014

I get this call/voicemail at least once a week from other sports teams…it goes something like this:

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”350px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]“Hey Zep! We’re looking for someone to manage our new CRM program. Do you know anyone who would be good for this CRM opening for my team?”[/dropshadowbox]

I’ve had this conversation hundreds of times, so I thought it would help to summarize those talks in one spot:

1.  The job market for CRM is growing rapidly.     If you’re an aspiring CRM wanna-be for a team, that’s terrific news.

    • Over ¾ of the NBA teams have CRM currently in place.
    • By the end of the 2014 calendar year, I expect 90% of the teams in the league will have implemented a CRM system.
    • Almost all of these teams have at least one person dedicated to CRM but many of them have hired or are looking for a coordinator underneath them.
    • Over half of the teams in the 4 major sports have CRM right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if every team in the “Big 4” has a CRM within the next 2-3 years.  It’s a matter of when, not if at this point.

2. CRM Departments are starting to become their own recognized departments.    Over the last 2 years, we’ve seen teams start to branch CRM/Analytics/Business Intelligence into their own departments separate from Ticket Sales, Sponsorship, or Marketing. What do these departments look like?

    • Many  have a Director (3+ years of experience with a team) overseeing the department,
    • One or two analytics personnel (3-5 years of experience), and
    • One or two CRM Coordinators (entry-level).

If you’re coming out of college in the next 12 months, the entry-level CRM Coordinator job is starting to become a regular posting on the job boards (check TeamWork Online regularly!).

3. There’s not a large pool of experienced “Sports CRM” people.    The job is relatively new to sports in general.   When I started with Charlotte in 2009, I was one of the first 10 people to be fully dedicated to CRM in all of sports. That means in sports most have only been in CRM roles for 1-2 years.   Therefore, hires often come from outside the sports industry.

4. Teams want to get smarter on how they make business decisions.  [dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]brett kahnkeCRM has become a terrific gateway into sports analytics. It is the core function of most business analytics departments. And because its greatest strength is its ability to consolidate information, it naturally becomes the gateway to learning related business skills, such as database management & integration, business intelligence software, email marketing, consumer profiling and customer segmentation. ~Brett Kahnke, VP of Analytics & Technology @MNTimberwolves [/dropshadowbox]As recent as 5-6 years ago, sports teams were light years behind regular business when it came to database and analytics tactics.   The teams’ thirst for getting smarter has evolved quite rapidly in the last few seasons.    The amount of new technologies has increased tenfold.   I dedicate at least one day a week to researching new technologies, programs, or improvements I can make to my CRM just to keep up with everyone else!

5. Most teams with CRM have (by now) integrated all revenue generating departments into their CRM.    Three years ago, most teams with CRM only had one department at most in their CRM (usually Ticket Sales or Sponsorship).   At the recent NBA Analytics Summit, a quick show of hands revealed that most teams have Ticket Sales, Email Marketing, and Sponsorship corralled in the CRM world.   Being in charge of the program that controls the world of the three biggest sources of revenue makes the CRM people more valuable to the organization….and further exposes the CRM personnel to a wider range of areas of the team’s business.

6. If a team is hiring for their #1 CRM position (head of department), they will look for experience.    Usually a team just getting CRM will also look to hire their very first person in CRM around the same time or after implementation has finished. Personally, I think this is backwards…you should hire the CRM expert first, then go buy the CRM, but I digress.

What kind of experience is needed? This person must have a solid foundation of the technical aspects of a CRM database. They should:

    • be comfortable moving large data table sets, customizing forms, entities, fields, etc.,
    • have experience creating user interfaces, and (most importantly)
    • have experience training people on software.

I can’t stress enough the need for CRM Directors to be skilled “teachers” as user adoption is the #1 reason CRM implementations fail. It won’t be the technology that causes it to fail.  I’d put more emphasis on the candidate who has experience teaching people how to use a software and working with high-level management on analytical reports than the world’s most knowledgeable CRM person.

7. If a team already has a #1 CRM person, the skillset for their #2 and #3 CRM people is more about potential to grow than past CRM experience. The 2nd and 3rd in-command CRM people should be groomed to eventually take over the #1 role within 2-3 years either for the team (when the #1 perhaps moves on) or for another team who is looking for a #1. We’ve hired two coordinators in my time here in Charlotte, and both times, I was much more interested in their potential than their actual database knowledge. And so should you.

8. The entry-level CRM job is like an apprenticeship. I’ve often said that being my CRM Coordinator is like being in an apprenticeship.   I’ll teach them all I can about CRM for 2-3 years; then they should know enough to be as successful as they want to be in this field for their careers.

As a newbie, it’s OK if you don’t know Microsoft CRM or Salesforce very well. My concern is that when I show you how to do (insert task here) in CRM that you can pick it up quickly, learn it, and remember how to do it in the future.   Both of my coordinators have been excellent hires, yet neither one of them had more than a semester or two of database internship experience.

Here’s what I look for in order of importance:

  1. Can you quickly pick up what I teach you?
  2. Do you have the maturity to eventually run a department in a few years?
  3. Are you an extremely organized person?  Are you nearly obsessive with having things in a neat, organized fashion?
  4. Are you self-motivated? Do you want to be in front of a computer for up to 12 hours a day?  Do you see CRM as a career?
  5. Do you have at least some basic idea of how databases work? Have you worked with contacts, opportunities, accounts, etc.?  If not, have you ever done any kind of importing leads into a database?

9. Not everyone has to do ticket sales to get into sports; there’s a spot for the analytical yet creative type out there. Ask yourself these questions:

  • Do I consider myself to be a creative person?
  • Am I a person who tends to make data driven analytical decisions in my life choices?
  • Am I the type of person to get annoyed when some messes up my alphabetized DVD collection?

If you answered yes to all three of these questions, the ticket-sales-make-100-calls-a-day path is probably not for you. A lot of college students choose the ticket sales path simply because it’s the most prevalent way to “get your foot in the door.” Just because it’s the most common way, doesn’t mean it’s the best fit for you. Creative, outside the box, analytical personalities typically do not make great sales reps. They do, however, make great CRM Coordinators.

10. There are plenty of Sport Management majors, but not a lot of people who “majored” in running CRM. There’s a ton of sport management programs around the country, but an overwhelming majority of these focus on marketing and selling. They churn lots of good candidates for future marketing and ticket sales positions for sports teams.  These candidates have experience being in a CRM environment (namely making calls within the CRM), but that’s honestly not all that helpful. While I’d still value personal traits over experience, I admit one reason why I value candidates from Baylor University is I know these students have direct experience assigning leads to reps through CRM, making customizations in the CRM, and analyzing data. So, if you’re still undecided, check out the S3 program here. Or, start getting CRM experience at your university or the university’s contacts.

Digital CRM is the New Ticket Sales

kirk_wakefield 2014, CRM, Digital Strategy, Marketing, Relate, Sell, Social Media , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Digital CRM is the New Ticket Sales
Eric Nichols
Eric Nichols
by Neil Horowitz – April 2014

The most eye-popping statistic shared at this year’s National Sports Forum (February 9-11, Dallas) came from Associate Athletic Director and Chief Marketing Officer at the University of South Carolina, Eric Nichols (@ericnichols):

A $38,000 digital media budget realized $922,000 in track-able ticket sales.

That number is astounding to be sure, but the point isn’t so much the level of success, but that taking shots in the dark in digital should be a thing of the past. Data is the new & reigning king in making marketing, sales, and activation as efficient and effective as possible. Companies like the Property Consulting Group who executed the digital CRM campaign for South Carolina are the wave of the future and the now.

Where do you start?

Before investing in some expensive data mining software or hiring an agency, the first thing to do is commit to integrating social, digital, partnerships, & sales. This means insights and ideas are shared across channels and inform best practices:

  1. Is the sales staff ready for a new marketing campaign and the messaging coming from the team to its fans?
  2. Does the marketing team know what questions, concerns, and suggestions are coming from sales leads and fans?
  3. Are sales and leads acquired tracked by source so the value of digital dollars spent can be assessed?
  4. Are analytics from social media content used to optimize messaging, campaigns, and calls?

    social crm
    Social CRM with Microsoft Dynamics
Ali Towle
Ali Towle

Integration = Sharing

“We’ve gotten better at incubating ideas for web and social media that sales can use in the future,” said Ali Towle, San Francisco 49ers Director of Marketing. A similar sentiment came from Jeff Meyer, Senior Vice President of Event Marketing and Sales for Feld Entertainment. “Our marketing and sales people are one and the same in our organization.”

That sounds all well and good, in an abstract kind of way. But, as is the common refrain in sports, it all comes down to execution. And execution begins with one simple concept: sharing. Sharing data, that is. We may be tired of hearing it, but as long as it’s true we must keep reminding ourselves to eliminate “silos” within our departments.

Understanding what drives sales, what works in marketing, what could be useful for partnerships – all of this data, and the insights drawn from it, should be consistently shared.

Start small and build

Jeff Meyer
Jeff Meyer

We can easily be overwhelmed with the amount of data available. Start with those on your team with the talent and willingness to share and collaborate to reach a common goal. Then begin to utilize big data to get more nuanced with:

  • specific marketing campaigns
  • targeted sales programs
  • sales lead scoring
  • customer relationship management
  • web and email marketing analytics
  • equipping partnerships with data to sell and renew clients

Every action a fan takes to interact with the team is a signal of intent, an insight about their personality, desires, lifestyle, activities, or opinions. The interaction with the customer is where it all starts.

You have a choice: lead or lose

David Peart
David Peart

Leaders in the field of sports recognize that mass marketing campaigns and ticket reps pounding out calls to single-game buyers lists from 2009 are old-school.

As David Peart, Senior Vice President of the Pittsburgh Penguins, shared, “There will be a digital transformation. In the next five years,  we see marketing as primarily digital and social media and ticket sales relying more heavily upon CRM and analytics, as we interact with fans on a 1-to-1 basis where they are and in the way they want to be reached.”

Those clinging to the status quo will be left hanging by a thread. Those who see the future of digital and big data have already begun the transformation. Where will you be?

 Cover photo courtesy of the Digital Traffic Squad.

What do college graduates have to offer the sports industry? Fresh Legs!

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What do college graduates have to offer the sports industry? Fresh Legs!
by Laura Cade – January 2014

Fans today demand access to a second screen experience to stay connected during the game, rather than just sit there and watch the entire event. So how can organizations respond to this trend with a changing viewing audience? They need some fresh legs: Young adults who bring an innovative, creative energy to the sports industry.

With kids coming out of college looking for their first job in sports, the market for sales men and women has gone up. Most organizations are beginning to see the value in recruiting college grads to bring a new perspective to the sports world in ticket sales, sponsorship activation, and CRM. Lynn Wittenburg, SVP of Marketing at the Tampa Bay Lightning, said, “Most sports organizations are looking to reach a younger audience, so [young adults] usually have great ideas on how to get more young people engaged and coming to games.”

Lynn Wittenburg

As soon-to-be college grads completing majors in this field we have the opportunity to bring “fresh legs” and fresh ideas to the sports industry for three reasons.

Mobility

First, young adults are mobile. We should not be averse to moving away from home to begin a career.  Besides, industry stats tell us that we can expect to change jobs/organizations/employers many times. If we want to seize the opportunities, we can’t afford to have an emotional attachment to a given place. Instead, we  breed a “front-runner” mentality that maximizes potential instead of settling for what’s comfortable.

Technology

Young adults accept technology as part of everyday life. Immediate gratification/access to information is desired, if not required.  This generation feeds on new content on a frequent basis to maintain interest and to connect with others. Younger people are more adept at multi-tasking and dealing with a broad range of inputs and managing despite distractions. Whereas older individuals may require peace and quiet to work, the younger set can easily incorporate new technology and interruptions and move ahead. This is where we have some of the greatest opportunities to stand out.

Katie Morgan, Director of CRM and Corporate Services at the American Airlines Center, said, “College grads need to improve on new technology once they get into their job. Step up and take the lead.”

www.linkedin.com/in/katiecrawford12

Selling the Experience

The game is the focal point but is marketed more for experience and atmosphere rather than a sporting event.  Even inside the stadium or arena, the presentation is chock full of pulsating music, cheerleaders, dancers, pyrotechnics, and gigantic video screens. Some people come just to see the in-venue charades rather than the actual gameplay. Compared to traditionalists, college students know that the experience of going to a game has become just as important as the event itself.

Overall, young adults in the sports industry can bring new life and a new approach to sales, sponsorships, and CRM. We enjoy the ever-changing atmosphere of sports and we want others to experience the same thrill we do as we start a career in sports.

Cover photo courtesy of BaseGreen.

Is your CRM team paying enough attention to data quality?

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Is your CRM team paying enough attention to data quality?
by Katie Morgan – September 2013

With insights from the Texas Rangers, Milwaukee Brewers, Oakland A’s, and San Diego Padres

Whether you work with Microsoft Dynamics, Sales Force, or any other system, the key to maintaining a quality database system lies in the validity of data.

Teams constantly struggle with data from different sources.  For example, at the Texas Rangers, we import data with a variety of formats and quality levels including:

  • a nightly ticketing feed,
  • secondary market buyers,
  • appended demographic information for purchasers, and
  • leads generated from a variety of sources.

What does that mean on a daily basis? We must:

  • verify the accuracy of personal information,
  • find and remove duplicated records,
  • find existing records and update or add additional information, and
  • verify revenues and other sales numbers.

In case you forgot…

Without the proper measures the data quality suffers and the organization misses revenue opportunities.

Diny
Diny Hurwitz

Diny Hurwitz, Data Analyst for the Milwaukee Brewers, works with Microsoft CRM throughout the year in Major League Baseball.  Diny explains the critical issues,

“The general purpose of CRM is to get a 360 degree view of your customers. If that view is not accurate, your reps will spend time selling products that are not geared towards your customers’ needs. By having accurate data (e.g. rolling up duplicate account information into a single contact), you will be able to target correct products using whatever purchase criteria your organization chooses. Plus, you will have better match rates appending demographic data.  By maintaining a clean database, you will also see cost savings if you do any direct mail.  You will avoid sending multiple mail pieces to the same household/business and you will again be targeting the correct product to your customers.”

As Diny points out, data quality is important for several aspects of your business processes.

  1. Use the database to target specific products. The more well-rounded view of the customer allows your sales representatives the ability to create personalized sales pitches for each potential buyer they contact.
  2. Increase ROI from your database.  You save money on direct mail campaigns if the addresses for potential buyers are up to date and accurate.
  3. Increase sales volume and efficiency.  Better quality leads distributed to sales representatives equals more sales.

Building confidence

Data quality builds confidence in the system. If we want our team to use the system we need buy-in.

Mark Bashuk
Mark Bashuk

Database systems can also be used to report revenues to ownership and management when needing quick and easy reporting methods.  If your data quality is up to par you won’t have any reservations reporting these numbers out of your respective database, and can rest assured you are reporting accurate numbers.

Mark Bashuk, Database Services Manager with the Oakland A’s, speaks more to this point,

“They key benefit of a successful data quality initiative is confidence. If the ticket history and other details on each account are correct, the sales reps and other system users will trust what you are telling them and use the system as designed. They won’t waste time double-checking the ticket history or previous activities on each account. When management and other departments (especially finance) are able to use and trust CRM-based reports – it reflects positively on the entire department.”

Quality vs. Quantity

One common mistake teams make is focusing more on data quantity than quality. Without quality data it doesn’t matter how much data you have in your system. You won’t be able to build a successful environment for your data, users, or organization.  

Ben Roller
Ben Roller

Ben Roller, Director of CRM & Ticket Analytics with the San Diego Padres, touches on this,“There is virtually no difference between 100 records or 10 million records if the quality of data is lacking.  Analysis of such data only provides mediocre and sometimes false information leading to poor business decisions.  Compiling a CRM database with quality information, not only about who your customers are but their behavioral tendencies as well, will provide more accurate forecasting to better predict sales, retention, and possible customer service issues ultimately resulting in a better fan experience and increased revenue.”

The bottom line: Make or break

When beginning to work with a database or implementing a new one, keep data quality at the forefront of your mind.  Data quality can make or break the success of your implementation and usage of the system if the proper measures are not taken to ensure high levels of correct information.

 

 

Cover photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/sineimago/

 

Sales training for CRM: The 3 sales rep types & how to reach them

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Sales training for CRM: The 3 sales rep types & how to reach them
by Chris Zeppenfeld – June 2013

How can CRM fail?

Numerous studies estimate that somewhere around 50% of all CRM implementations ultimately fail.   That’s scary.  Why do CRM implementations fail?

User adoption is usually at the top of the list of most of the articles on the subject.  The recurring theme is reps and managers need ongoing CRM training to fully benefit from the installation. That brings up questions like:

  • How often do you train?
  • How long are the sessions?
  • What measurables should we use?

But, the most important questions is:  HOW am I going to treat each rep in the training session?

Typical sales responses

Tell me if any of these sound familiar among sales reps:

  • motivated by instant gratification
  • want things to be fast and quick
  • paranoid about protecting leads
  • concerned about how they will be judged by their manager
  • hates anything that slows them down from selling
  • dislikes having to put info into CRM for the sake of putting info into CRM
  • expects something to happen immediately whenever a button is clicked

After training roughly 2,000 people in my career in software, I’ve boiled it down to three types of reps you are likely to encounter in CRM training sessions. The major challenges are 1) getting buy-in and 2) keeping their attention. Achieving these goals requires different approaches with each type of rep.

THE QUESTIONER

Symptoms: 

  • always asks if CRM can do something that you haven’t built yet in CRM,
  • often the most engaged reps you have,
  • potential to be managers someday, 
  • most likely to be curious about something in CRM you never trained them on

Diagnosis: Questioners aren’t your typical rep. They want to know WHY something is the way that it is.   You may only have one or two of these people on your entire sales staff.

Treatment:

  1. Important to develop good relationship since they can be your best source of ideas for new things in CRM
  2. Focus on how CRM can make them smarter than the average rep
  3. React quickly when they complain since they can “poison” everyone else with their vocal barbs
  4. If you do create a new tool in CRM based off their suggestion, make sure to give them credit so they feel engaged
  5. Spend more time explaining the logic behind the new task and less time having them repeat the task over and over again in the training session

THE SOLDIER

Symptoms: 

  • rarely raises an issue about CRM (but if they do it’s all of them at once)
  • not curious at all about the other things in CRM outside of their world,
  • uses CRM as a means to an end rather than a tool to help them improve as a sales rep

Diagnosis: Soldiers are your typical rep: Here’s what the world looks like, put your head down, and sell it!

Treatment:

  1. Focus on showing them that CRM makes them faster and more efficient
  2. Use them as showcase examples to your staff to reward good CRM habits
  3. Engage them and ask for their input when considering adding a new feature to CRM
  4. Tell them to click where and when, and they will do it (as long as it is fast)
  5. Try to get as many repetitions as possible during the training session of the new task you are showing them

THE OLD GUARD

Symptoms:

  • usually most tenured reps consistently selling at high volume,
  • stuck in their ways,
  • struggle to get notes in CRM,
  • think their way (spreadsheets, note cards, outlook, etc.) is “good enough” to do the job,
  • often say things like, “I sold XXXX without CRM then, so I don’t need to learn this new CRM thing”

Diagnosis: Old Guards are usually skilled salespeople, but are a mixed bag when it comes to CRM adoption.

Treatment:

  1. Show them indisputable statistics that using CRM helps their winning percentage
  2. Show them that the time it takes to put in a note in CRM is less than what they are doing now (literally conduct a time trial session – if his method is quicker/better, you have a design issue)
  3. Focus on the bare essentials (put your notes in) of CRM rather than all of the bells and whistles
  4. Lean on managers for enforcement of CRM when you get non-compliance
  5. If you have to resort to threats of taking away sales for lack of CRM notes, make sure that comes from the sales manager not you!
  6. Much better to have 5 CRM training sessions over 5 days that last 10 minutes each vs. 1 training that lasts 60 minutes straight

Empower your players

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Empower your players
by Eric Kussin – June 2013

Corey Gaines, head coach of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, runs a fantastic clinic each season for local coaches. A great college and pro player himself, Corey always talks about leaders he played for and the effect they had on him.

pat rileyOne of Corey’s favorites is Pat Riley. With Riley, the devil was in the details – it wasn’t about “standing out wide” or “on the wing” or “in the paint” on a particular play.  Instead, if you were asked to be in a spot in the offense, the EXACT location was repeatedly drilled into your head: “Less than the distance of a dime between your heels and the baseline, precisely one foot outside of the lane.”

Every coach taught from a similar play book, but Riley wanted his players to run “his” plays better than anyone, creating more floor space than any other team, providing an opportunity for a greater percentage of uncontested shots and ultimately made-hoops on every single possession.

Running our plays

We all have similar play books and technologies to help us track how and how many times our reps run “our plays”  in a given day, week or month.  As managers, when we meet at conferences and workshops, we end up talking very macro – comparing minimum rep requirements on categories such as calls, opportunities, appointments, etc.

How can we learn from Riley and apply the same logic to how we lead our teams?  What tools do CRM and other technologies provide that enable us to dive deeper into the details of the plays we are asking our reps to run? We run four plays that have worked well for our team.

1. Turn Over New Stones

Just about every CRM system enables you to track the number of calls reps have made, per day, by campaign. With the Devils, where we use Microsoft Dynamics, the source campaign for a particular call could look something like this:

14DH- SGB 1/14/13 =  2013-14 Devils Hockey; Single Game Buyer from the January 14, 2013 home game

The approach we use remains the same across all departments: The only way to build your business is to ensure you get comfortable making the “uncomfortable” calls. Every day. This is how we manage that:

  1. Reps put the number of the call (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) in the subject line of every call into our CRM system as the rep moves the prospect into an opportunity.  
  2. Reps must make a minimum number of “FIRST TOUCH” calls each day to ensure new prospects constantly flow into the sales funnel.
  3. The number of required first touch calls vary by day based on rep product focus (seasons, groups, premium, etc.).

crm screens

2. Manage the Sales Cycle

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Nats“Today’s business world is entirely too customizable moves way too fast to be reliant on 3×5 cards and excel spreadsheets. If we demand excellence out of our sales representatives, we must supply them with the tools necessary to maximize their daily effort. Utilizing an integrated CRM system is one of the easiest and best ways we can ensure that our reps have the power of instant and real-time information to drive sales results.” ~David McElwee, Sr. Director of Ticket Sales and Service, Washington Nationals[/dropshadowbox]Our sales cycles begin in February.

  1. We offer fans “Early Access” to full season tickets.
  2. Partial ticket plans are not available during this sales cycle.  
  3. First-touch calls with legitimate full-season objections are assigned as a “re-approach” call in another sales cycle.
  4. Re-approach calls are never considered a “FIRST TOUCH” again during that “14DH” sales season.

The goal is to ensure a minimum number of real first touch calls are made each day by all the reps.  It’s not enough to make X number of calls in a day.  We want to know what types of calls are made. Specifically, we want new prospects worked into the mix every day.

3. Define & track opportunities

An opportunity is a prospect:

  1. whose needs have been assessed,
  2. has formed a relationship with the rep,
  3. at least been invited down for a tour, and
  4. has received a specific product recommendation. 

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]devils“In using Microsoft CRM on a day-to-day basis, I’ve found my time-efficiency improved dramatically due to the system’s ability to strategically pinpoint the length and nature of calls during the sales process. By utilizing the information previously entered into the system to monitor exhausted calls and outstanding opps, I’ve been able to concentrate my energy on more fruitful opportunities. Simply stated – meticulous tracking of calls within the system simplifies the process for the reps and saves time better spent on new business.” ~Brian Proctor, Fan Development Consultant, New Jersey Devils [/dropshadowbox]The challenge with most reps is holding onto these folks for way too long without a successful close. They are afraid to give them up. Reps commonly pile these up well beyond a month.

We track opportunities based on duration since opening into three categories: 0-2 weeks, 2-4 weeks and 4+ weeks. We’ve found a qualified opportunity (all 4 above) that takes over a month to make a decision or return a call isn’t likely to close. When we meet with reps, we have them leave a “break-up” message with these folks. This message informs the prospect that despite the early interest they showed this will be the last time the rep will be reaching out to them. 

The “break-up”:

  1. allows reps to “move on” from prospects taking up their physical and emotional energy,
  2. clears out time to bring more Call #1 prospects into daily outreach, 
  3. prompts a % of the prospects to call back, knowing the rep will no longer be contacting them, and
  4. ultimately gives the rep some form of closure. 

To make the reps even more comfortable with the process of “breaking up,” if a broken up account calls back and buys something from anyone in the department within the next 60 days, the sale is credited to the rep who left the break-up message.

4. Empower Your Players to Call Their Own Plays

It’s great to have a system. It’s even better to have a system your reps believe in and follow.

Each morning reps are asked to pull up their virtual “Hustle Boards” from CRM and send an email to our management team. The email contains an evaluation of the previous day’s outreach:

  1. First touch numbers
  2. Multi-touch  numbers
  3. Other opportunity calls
  4. Opportunity break-ups
  5. Appointments set

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Madison_Square_Garden_logo“CRM allows me to track all touch points throughout the sales process from cold outreach to warm opportunities, and stay completely organized. This allows me to maximize my time and effectively manage each prospect.” ~Jared Schoenfeld, Director at the Madison Square Garden Company[/dropshadowbox]By having reps evaluate their hustle boards each morning on each bullet point, we ensure reps stick to a strategy they believe in.  If first touch calls are low on a particular day, they know they need to pick it up the following day. 

Managers could review the hustle boards on our own, but asking the reps to pull up their boards and email key learnings ensures they understand how our system works. Our system becomes their system. They can understand and run and make changes effectively on their own without our having to tell them what to do.

Winning

Riley  succeeded at every level in the NBA from coaching to the front office:  Showtime Lakers, Bruising Knicks, and now the Big Three Heat.  At each stop, the players and their individual styles have changed. Yet the attention to detail has not. Riley’s consistency resulted in NBA Finals and Championships.  Sales people change year to year. The real question is how will you use CRM and technology to pay attention to the details to ensure your team’s success?

Evolution of analytics in sports: What’s next?

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Evolution of analytics in sports: What’s next?
by Aaron LeValley – April 2013

There has always been the adage that professional sports teams are 5-10 years behind the ‘normal’ business world in terms of technology, business practices, and strategy. Are we starting to see the sports industry close that gap? After seeing some of the topics discussed at the 7th annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference, it seems we’re heading in the right direction.

Money got the ball rolling

The movement began in the early 2000’s with the evolution of “Moneyball” on the personnel side. Baseball led the way in utilizing complex statistical analyses to determine personnel and in-game decisions.

On the business side, teams and leagues explored the database marketing and CRM frontier by hiring individuals to help sales teams manage clients and prospects. We then saw the evolution of the database marketing role into deeper, more complex analyses with lead scoring models, retention models, and more.

Russell Scibetti
Russell Scibetti

Russell Scibetti, Director of Relationship Marketing for the New York Jets said, “From when I first began over three years ago to where we are today, the Jets have seen the benefits of taking a deeper look at our season ticket holders and fans.”

Recently, we’ve seen organizations create roles extending beyond database marketing into business analytics. Aggressive teams are hiring individuals who:

  • can help price tickets to maximize revenue,
  • build complex reporting and marketing queries, and
  • dive into sponsorship valuation.

Catching up

Which brings me back to this year’s Sports Analytics Conference. Rather than just focusing on sales and marketing, we saw research on topics like

  • multi-model neuroimaging to analyze the batter’s recognition of a baseball pitch,
  • an NFL presentation explaining how the time of day and gender affect the way sales teams should approach a sales call, and
  • great panels on how analytics influence social media, sponsorship, and customer loyalty.

All of these demonstrate how the sports industry is putting a greater emphasis on being more business savvy, using analytics to catch up to the ‘normal’ business standard.

Vincent Ircandia
Vincent Ircandia

Vincent Ircandia, Vice President of Business Operations for the Portland Trail Blazers, “We are using analytics within all aspects of our organization from finance to sponsorship, to broadcasting and beyond, and have buy-in from the top on down.”

Ideas for analytics projects

As your organization moves forward in this area, here are three projects implemented at various teams that can help:

1)      Sales & Service: Build a model that predicts a season ticket holder’s likelihood to renew

2)      Ticket Operations:  Create a new reporting structure with tools like EXCEL and advanced SQL reporting services

3)      Finance: Work with management and finance to build 5-10 yr pro forma financial models forecasting  revenues and expenses

What types of analytics projects are your organization working on?  What’s next? We would greatly appreciate your feedback in the comments below.