San Antonio Spurs – BaylorS3E

How a Team’s Values Can Shape Lives

kirk_wakefield 2016, Integrity, Lead, Learn, Personal Development, Work ethic April 12, 2016October 31, 2018career, caring, coachable, Greg Popovich, NBA, practice, San Antonio Spurs, Success, values

by Joey Harvey – April 2016

HOW THE SPURS’ VALUES SHAPED MY CAREER LIFE

Spurs Sports & Entertainment operates its business on a daily basis under the umbrella of three primary values: integrity, success, and caring. The aim is to make every decision while upholding each value. These three values have led to growth not only in my career, but my personal life.

Start with integrity

It begins with integrity. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich has said multiple times that he looks to bring in players and coaches that are “over themselves.” That is, people who are able to put aside their own egos and realize the betterment of the team is the most important.

On the business side, the people that stick around and build good careers do so while doing things the right way. Treating coworkers with respect, avoiding office drama, rumors, and politics, and focusing on being the best person at your job are the simplest ways to uphold your integrity and build a name for yourself.

Add attitude & effort to get results

The order or formula of what leads to success was taught to me as: Attitude + Effort = Results. When you combine a positive attitude with maximum effort, the results will come. Effort isn’t all about repetition, but it’s about repeating (or practicing) the right way. It’s not about making 100 phone calls a day, but rather perfecting your technique on those calls and using each one as an opportunity to make yourself better.

The right attitude and effort leads to success. You can be the nicest person in the world and have the highest level of integrity, but if you don’t effectively do the job you’re hired to do, there is no place for you with the company. We are a business, after all.

Ticket sales is much like a sport. Regardless of success rate or revenue you’ve brought in, the landscape constantly moves forward. You have to adjust. If you don’t adapt and think ahead about what’s next, you’ll fall behind. Always be open to sharpening your skills and learning more. Take something from each trainer or manager you come across and figure out how it could apply to your own approach. Never stop learning and striving to become better. The more open you are to being coached, the more success you will have.

Give a care

Most importantly, to me, is caring. When I approached a few of my managers to discuss some personal issues that might cause me to miss some time at work, the response was “We love you man, and we are here to support you.” Do you know how powerful that is to hear? You don’t find that level of care at just any company.

We don’t try to force caring; it’s just who you are. I sat in on a session led by Spurs General Manager RC Buford a few years ago. He said it simply: “A company’s culture is developed by the kind of people you bring in.” When the right people are brought in, the culture essentially develops itself.

My closest friends now are current coworkers or have worked for the Spurs in the past. I’m in a wedding in June between two former Spurs coworkers. The groom’s bachelor party? Mostly members of our 2010 inside sales class. Many of them live in different states now across the country. When you have a culture that treats employees like family, it allows you to invest in each other as people, develop lasting relationships, and create a network of support that only translates into more cohesiveness in the workplace.

I can’t help but believe that the values of integrity, success and caring have led to so much success for the Spurs on the basketball court. I can say with certainty it’s what’s led to my personal success in the business office.

Floor or Front Office: It’s all the same at Spurs Sports & Entertainment

kirk_wakefield 2016, About S3, Integrity, Lead, S3 April 9, 2016October 31, 2018caring, culture, integrity, leaders, leadership, San Antonio Spurs, SS&E, Success, values

by Kirk Wakefield – April 2016

Values-driven

What values drive your organization? What values drive you, personally? If you had to choose one word–one value–to describe what is most important to you, what would it be?

Integrity–doing the right thing–is the most important value of the San Antonio Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) organization. You can’t miss it. The values of the organization are posted throughout all the offices, meeting rooms and on the desks of the over 250 employees, which is sure to grow as SS&E recently added a fifth franchise, San Antonio FC, in the USL.

The success of the Spurs on the floor and front office is no accident. From ownership to the coaches and players to the interns, the values are clear. As Frank Miceli, Senior Vice President, Sales & Franchise Business Operations, shared, “They are openly discussed and shape everything we do from our ownership down to every member of the staff. We have a common vision, engage in transparent communication and everyone has a voice. We are deliberate in our decision-making and are open about questioning everything in an attempt for continuous improvement.”

How do values shape the culture?

The three values of integrity, success and caring are the basis for daily operations. The same respect you see on the court you see in the offices, as employees are encouraged to collaborate, display humility and demonstrate a team orientation where no one person is more important than the team.

As Mr. Miceli points out, “Asking for help is not a sign of weakness, but of strength, to utilize the many talents and resources of SS&E.” Employees are more likely to ask for help and achieve personal and professional growth in a place where they know caring, respect, sincerity, support and compassion are part of the DNA of ownership and management.

Success is important at SS&E, but the process is as important as the outcome. An individual may have great personal success, but it must not come at the expense of the team. Rather, the team achieves targeted goals together, each pulling together and demonstrating care for others in the process. It’s not all about work for the sake of work; employees are encouraged for being creative and innovative and having fun along the way as they enjoy the journey together.

Baylor S3 success stories

Thanks to the leadership which began with Russ Bookbinder and continued thanks to Rick Pych, Frank Miceli, Joe Clark, Tim Salier, and Lawrence Payne, SS&E has hired the most graduates from the S3 program than any other partner.

Lindsay Beale (S3 ’10) started as a summer intern her junior year and joined SS&E after graduation as a group sales account executive. Mr. Miceli observes that Lindsay consistently exhibits all of the traits valued by the organization and climbed the ladder with patience and humility from account executive, to senior account executive, and now Group Sales Manager for all the SS&E properties.

Stephen Gray (S3 ’10) joined the SS&E inside sales department after graduating from the S3 program. Stephen’s hard work led to a promotion with the organization’s AHL team, the Rampage. Stephen did very well selling, setting Rampage individual sales records. But, more importantly, as Mr. Miceli points out, “Stephen really understood the sales process and how to motivate others. He became Manager of Ticket Sales for our NBA D-League franchise in Austin and has really helped turn the franchise around.”

True Partnership

Many of the teams and companies who partner with the Baylor S3 program do so because of shared values. The relationship between the Baylor S3 program and SS&E operates as a true partnership, where the values of both organizations closely match. Issues and opportunities are discussed with transparency. Each is concerned for the welfare of each other, but most importantly, for the welfare of the young people entering and growing in the industry.

As Mr. Miceli shares, “We are honored to be members of the Baylor S3 Board. The relationship with the program and students has been very valuable for us from the standpoint of meeting(and hiring many) well-trained students ready to join the sports world in sales and customer data management.” In return, Baylor is deeply indebted to the leadership of the SS&E organization and their contributions to the school and the program.

The Baylor Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) program is the only academic program housed in a business school with a complete major focused entirely upon sports sales & analytics. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about the Baylor S3 program by visiting www.baylor.edu/business/S3.

Cover photo courtesy of Chris Covatta, SS&E and USL Soccer.

Making CRM What Your Sales Staff Wants

kirk_wakefield 2015, CRM, Learn, Relate, Sales Training March 3, 2015November 1, 2018adapting, Charlotte Hornets, CRM, how to train sales reps in CRM, KORE Software, Microsoft Dynamics, San Antonio Spurs, training, Utah Jazz 0 Comment

by Brooke Gaddie – March 2015

Get to know your staff

No two sales staffs are going to be exactly the same. No two reps on your staff may be the same. In order to achieve the level of acceptance that you want, you have to make the system do what they want. That means getting to know your salespeople.

My job is to make sure that 60 reps across three franchises in both sales and service utilize CRM. Roughly four months into our CRM implementation I would by no means say that we have it all figured out, but we’ve made some huge strides.

Get help. Get Ready.

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”300px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Excel can sometimes be the frenemy of CRM. It provides a great blueprint on what is important to the rep (if a sales rep is going to take the time to make an excel sheet, it must be pretty important stuff for them to track). However, Excel is that safe, familiar security blanket that reps coming running back to at the first moment of indecision or doubt with CRM. If you can convince the reps that organizing in CRM is better than their own Excel sheet, you’ve won. ~Chris Zeppenfeld, Charlotte Hornets[/dropshadowbox]We are fortunate to work with some extremely smart people at KORE Software to help make our system the best it can be. They offer a sounding board to bounce off ideas to see if what one rep wants is feasible and will help others achieve goals. We talk frequently with the Charlotte Hornets (Chris Zeppenfeld) and Utah Jazz (Adam Grow), who have plenty of experience and offer great ideas.

If you’re just starting to implement a new CRM solution, don’t expect to be done when launch day arrives. We spent months thoroughly preparing and thought we were in pretty good shape, but since Day 1 have adapted almost daily to tweak things to work the way the reps want. Some days it is as simple as adding a box for favorite player. Other days it’s sitting down with a rep to figure out how to put everything they once had in Excel in CRM.

Train, Train, Train Again

If I have learned anything in the last four months it is this:

You can’t tell a room full of people something one time and expect them to remember it.

Train, train often, train one topic at a time. When we began training we did it in each department’s weekly meeting. That can quickly turn into a conversation with one person about one really weird situation while the rest of the room tunes out. What does work?

Pick one topic.
Go to the area where that teams sits.
Walk them through what they need to do.
Explain how it helps reach their goals.
Send a follow-up email with the links to screenshots for reference.

While this takes more time on the front end, it gets results. The reps retain the information much better. Once we began these 30 minute sessions in the department’s area, reps started to buy-in and become more productive.

Conclusion

Changing the way someone operates is never going to be easy. It will take work; a lot of work. But when you find the way to train and motivate employees to do something that helps them reach their goals, we all enjoy the outcome. The thing to remember is that not everyone, or maybe anyone, will want to look at something the same way or to complete the task the same way. You have to learn and adapt with them.

Cover photo courtesy of Andrzej.

How to Get Into Sponsorship Sales

kirk_wakefield 2014, Careers, Learn, Personal Development, Sell, Sponsorships October 21, 2014November 1, 2018Baylor IMG, career advice, corporate partnerships, Dallas Mavericks, Fox Sports, job search, San Antonio Spurs, sponsorship sales 0 Comment

**S3 Club Winners**: Lauren Bacon, Turquoise Early, Colten Renner

by Brooks Byers – October 2014

The Dallas Mavericks’ George Killebrew, the San Antonio Spurs’ Jeanne Garza and Baylor IMG’s Brian George shared advice and experiences in the sponsorship field at the Baylor S3 Club meeting on October 8th. Courtesy of Fox Sports Southwest and Fox Sports 1, we also provided some lucky Baylor S3 club members with court side seats at the Dallas Mavericks preseason game against the Pacers.

Why should students pursue a career in sports?

All three panelists spoke about the “diversity” of opportunities that selling sponsorships affords people. Sponsorship sales takes people outside the office, learning the inner workings of a range of businesses from “mom and pop stores to traditional giants” as Brian George put it. George Killebrew said it was great for people who enjoy “learning something new” every day.

On the other hand, the group warned of the long days that come with the job. Jeanne Garza said it’s important to remember that “it’s not what you see on ESPN.” Killebrew reminded everyone that “other jobs are more of a nine to five, Monday to Friday deal, and sports can always be a hobby. But, when the team schedule comes out for the year, it pretty much plans my life for the next few months.”

Getting into corporate partnerships

Killebrew’s advice for those interested in selling sponsorships was to gain experience in “multi-dimensional sales” like in the media field, where packaging groups of inventory for clients is more complex than selling individual products. Jeanne Garza suggested selling air at radio stations, since it’s more promotion-driven than TV, hence more like selling sponsorships for properties. Brian George underscored the need to be able to think outside the box. “We sell ideas, concepts and beliefs. Clients must know you have their best interests at heart.”

Women in sports

Jeanne Garza believes that opportunities for women in the field have grown significantly. She cautioned that women still have to be particularly careful in how they present themselves and in separating their professional and personal lives.

George Killebrew believes the talent pool today is much larger, and that the leadership teams he’s seen that included women were much more effective.

Career advice for students

Killebrew said that those wishing to enter the field need to be comfortable “introducing themselves and telling people what they want to do.”

He also said that a good resume is simply a “blueprint for telling your story, and a guide for our discussion” in the interview process.

Jeanne Garza made a case for cover letters because they’re a great way to show why you’re unique and a great fit for a position. She also added that any errors in the resume or cover letter are reason enough to not consider a candidate.

Brian George emphasized the importance of building relationships, especially in a small industry like sponsorship sales. Even if you just meet someone new and go to dinner with no immediate job prospects, you should still write a hand-written thank you note.

Cover photo source: Courtside Jones

The Sales Commandments According to This Disciple

kirk_wakefield 2013, Luxury Suites & Premium Tickets, Sell, Sponsorships, Tickets April 21, 2013November 2, 2018Cal Bears, close, how to, innovation, lead, listening, outside the box, personal selling, proactive, San Antonio Spurs, Success 1 Comment

by Carson Heady – April 2013

Sales is a psychology; a profitable sport by which we engage clients, build relationships and seek the perfect balance for the holy sales trinity: customer, company and you. Without all of these entities in mind, the transaction and stability suffers.

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

As a sales person you always need to be working on your craft and being innovative. Sometimes that will involve doing things outside of your comfort zone. At the end of the day it’s the innovation and creativity that separates you from the rest of the pack.[/dropshadowbox]That said, there are certain fundamentals we must ingrain in each and every leg of the sales process; without them, our process is defunct and the results will tell that story. Remember: results do not define us, but they do not lie. If there is a breakdown in your process, your results will be broken, too.

BE PROACTIVE AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX. A major area of opportunity of many salespeople is their predisposition of wanting to follow the leaders or be like others; fit in, follow the beaten path. But why be like everyone else? That makes one average. Blaze your own trail. Stand out. Reach out for more customers; do not just accept the low-hanging, less challenging fruit. Don’t get me wrong: you pick up every bit of fruit you can find – small or big. Nevertheless, always think of innovative ways to put yourself in front of new clients. Like a billboard on a busy freeway, be where your customers are looking and show them why you’re the one they need to pay attention to. Doing so puts you in position to guide the process. Not doing so puts the customer in control and your paycheck and career are in their hands.
LISTEN. Salespeople often ask me how to overcome certain objections, but they fail to realize that if they had set the right foundation they would be using the customers’ own words in the presentation, the close and any necessary overcomes. Your words and philosophies pale in comparison in the customers’ minds to their own; listen and learn their language so you can speak it. Find out what you need to know from the customer so you can diagnose their situation; where do the gaps lie? How can you plug those gaps? How are you going to make them realize that jettisoning their comfortable, familiar ways of doing business and going with you is going to be better? You can’t get there unless your ears perk up and you get them doing the talking.[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]
Lindsay Beale

The most important part of the sales process is to put the customer first by listening. If you ask the right questions they will lead you down a path allowing you to make a recommendation based on what your product can offer them. As you follow-up you that let them know your call is to help them accomplish their goals, not just sell a seat location.[/dropshadowbox]
REACT. React to everything, and know when to use your information. You can be the smartest person in the room – great. However, if you are simply unloading jargon and facts on your potential client, are you showing them why your way of doing business is better? Knowledge is power, but knowing when and how to use it is even more effective. Improve your pitch, but perfect your reaction. If you role play, don’t practice improbable scenarios; get used to setting the right foundation and knowing how to react to every objection your client throws at you. See objections before they happen and address potential hitches before your customer even can. You will see many customers, but only a few themes; master those themes and there’s no slipping one by your goalie.
FOLLOW UP. Unfortunately, no matter how effective a closer you are, the sale will not always happen on your timetable. Don’t get me wrong: you need to do everything you can to build trust and determine why specifically the customer is not doing business today. But if they leave the table for a viable reason, you must have an organized, prompt and thorough follow up process in place. Customers will “browse” or “do research” and finally get tired enough to do business and pay more elsewhere if you do not stay front and center in their universe. Follow up within 24 hours to a week and reignite the lead. You cannot win them all, but you can nurture them all to as close to completion as possible. That’s your job. If you can look back on every transaction and know you did everything you could to earn the business, you did your job. Congratulations.
MASTER THE GAME. There are ups and downs; when you’re up, ride the wave. When you’re down, make sure you behave – according to process, that is. You may get the shanks in your golf game or your baseball hitting suffers, but do you drastically change your swing to get back to desired results? Of course not. You have to envelop yourself in the process. You also must learn the playing field – how can you make money where you currently are not? What best practices are others using? Steal them shamelessly; those who execute best are the best.

Finally, refresh and recharge often. You need to make sure you are the person you were on interview day. Play for the love of the game, the adoration of the crowd and the benefit of the customer and you will be victorious.

The Chevrolet S3 2012 Awards

kirk_wakefield About S3, Lead, S3, S3 Spotlight October 18, 2012November 2, 2018Bill Boyce, Eric Fernandez, integrity, Joe Clark, Medialink, networking, S3 Awards, San Antonio Spurs, Temple University, Texas Legends, Todd Pollock, work ethic 1 Comment

by Kirk Wakefield – October 2012

Thanks to Chevrolet and S3 Board Members Dave Nottoli, Steve Flynn, and Jeff Busch, the 2012 S3 Board Meeting marked the first year of the S3 Awards for Outstanding Board Members (Corporate & Team), Outstanding S3 Alum, and Outstanding S3 Writer. Selections were based on those who exemplify the S3 motto of WIN (work ethic, integrity, and networking) and their contribution to the program.

Steve Flynn presented the awards, a bronze Baylor Bear, along with S3 faculty Dr. Darryl Lehnus and Dr. Kirk Wakefield. The names of each winner will be placed on a perpetual award plaque located in the S3 classroom.

This year’s winners: