by Kirk Wakefield – June 2017 What is Grit? Angela Duckworth made an industry out of her own passion and perseverance toward a long-term goal–her definition of grit–and measuring it in others. Controlling for other factors (SAT scores, IQ, self-control, and the Big 5 personality traits), she and her colleague’s research[ref]Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews & Kelly…Continue Reading Does Grit Lead to High Performance in Sales?
by Kirk Wakefield -October 2016 Nationwide Study of Recent Online Ticket Buyers Efficient and effective salespeople convert ticket buyers into season ticket holders and serve their needs. However, the secondary market is the primary market for many fans who do not differentiate between buying from StubHub, TicketMaster or the team’s website. What do these buyers look…Continue Reading The Online Ticket Buyer: By the Numbers
by Alan Seymour – March 2015 The sports fan redefined? Are sports fans changing? Recent history and experience suggests they are, for two key reasons: The power of social media enables the fan experience to enhance the future prosperity of sports brands and properties against competing pursuits. The integration of social media with sporting events…Continue Reading Redefining the sports fan
by Kirk Wakefield – August 2014 Back in the early 1990’s, I started out with my Baseball Almanac contacting major and minor league teams to conduct research. Being at Ole Miss during that time, just an hour south of Memphis, I made quick friends with every pro franchise that came through town–among them the Memphis Chicks,…Continue Reading Why the best teams and brands partner with academics
by Justin Pipes – February 2014 Bill Glenn is President of The Breakout Group, a boutique consulting firm that creates sales and marketing strategies to challenge norms and produce breakout results for brands and sports/entertainment organizations. His thinking is built on a foundation of deep sales and marketing expertise and both an agency and client-side perspective…Continue Reading S3 Spotlight: Bill Glenn Explains–How to Expand your Skill Set to Advance Your Career
by Kirk Wakefield – January 2014 Is sponsorship more about media or meaning? Why should brands pay for the rights to be an anchor sponsor of an NFL, MLB, or NASCAR property? Can these properties defend their rate cards that afford brands the rights to communicate with their fans via the property’s venue, television, radio,…Continue Reading How can properties support sponsorship rate cards?
by Kirk Wakefield – August 2013 Brands highly prioritize social media engagement when partnering with sports properties. But who are these social media fans? Who are we reaching with the team’s social media? Earlier this year we sampled registered users from a professional franchise (N = 469). The chart below displays the results of a…Continue Reading How would you describe your social media fans to sponsors?
by Kirk Wakefield – July 2013 Preparation is the key to selling efficiency Preparation is on anyone’s top 10 list of what makes successful salespeople. Successful preparation is based on asking the customer the right questions. Knowing the right questions is one thing. But knowing the right answers can lead to more sales and more…Continue Reading 3 basic questions you should ask premium seat buyers
by Shawn Achor – June 2013 What is the connection between happiness and sales? Most salespeople tell me it’s an easy question: “When I’m selling then I’m happy.” How could so many salespeople possibly be wrong? Undeniably, we feel happier after a sale, but that common answer is actually holding down our happiness and lowering…Continue Reading Which comes first: Happiness or success?
by Jeannette Salas – February 2013 We covered how to get the interview here. Now you’ve made it to the face-to-face (virtual) interviews. What do you need to do be prepared? Preparation Research. Thoroughly research the organization prior to interview. How is the team marketing and advertising? How are they involved in the community? Who…Continue Reading Part 2: How to interview with the pros