sales management

Professional sales

proactively making communication with a prospective customer to engage in dialogue to sell them a good or service 

consultative selling primary process

• Sellers conduct a needs analysis to determine the best way to sell their product to that prospect

  • This process is also referred to sometimes as discovery because it is when you discover what interests and motivates the other party

• The seller asks open ended questions to learn more about the prospect before presenting a customized solution that is specifically tailored to that specific individual prospect 

Sponsorship sales 

• selling advertising space with a sport property (such as a stadium) to another outside company 

  • Jersey patches, backdrop of interviews, title sponsorship, brand logos

inbound calls

communication with people who already have tickets 

outbound calls

outbound communication with the intent to sell tickets

ticket office structure

• Ticket operations 

• Premium sales

• Group sales, season ticket sales, sales and retention

• Inside sales (entry level)

entry level ticket sales department

• Typically anywhere from 6-20 employees hired at roughly the same time

• Hiring tends to be in the offseason

  • NBA/NHL: starts in May or June

  • NFL: starts in January- April

  • Baseball: starts in November- January 

• Can be viewed as a “one year job audition”

  • At the conclusion of the first season, most representatives are either hired or let go 

inside sales representative

• Entry level ticket sales job for professional sports team

• Selling tickets to consumers B2C

• New employees hired as part of a new sales “class”

• 60-100 sales calls per day 

  • Warm vs cold calls

• Load of training 

• Lots of growth opportunity 

• Average salary: $38,000

account executive

• After successfully completing the insides sales program, employees move up to an account executive position

• Full time permanent positon 

• Account executives will usually be placed in one of these areas: group sales (B2B and B2C), season tickets (B2B and B2C), STH servicing (B2B and B2C)

• Still high volume calling but more face to face meetings and presentations

• Can expect to work in those roles for 3-5 years

• Average salary: $60,000

career salesperson path

• Stay working as a sales person by moving on to premium seating (suites) sales, which is more lucrative sales area

• A lot of meetings and presentations

• Renewals

• Relationship based

• Average salary: $86,000

managerial path

• Move into a managerial role (direct of ticket sales, ticket sales manager) where they run the ticket sales department 

• Responsible for recruiting, hiring, training, coaching the new entry level sales employees 

• Think of themselves as a "coach"

• Average salary for manager: $85,000

• Average salary for director: $100,000

activation

used to describe someone responsible for executing all of the terms of a sponsorship deal: Executing promotions, making sure digital graphics are formatted correctly and run during their allotted time 

Overpriced= lower sales volume 

If you price your product too high then not as many people will purchase it

Under priced= potential lost revenue 

If you price your product too low then you may be leaving money on the table 

business to consumer (B2C)

• Selling a product to a person for their own personal use

• In this exchange, you (as the sales person) represent a business and your prospect is the consumer 

  • You are the “B” and the prospect is the “C”

• Needs and wants are dependent on personal preference

• The prospect is likely the final decision maker or is very loosely related to the final decision maker

• The prospect is likely using their own money to fund the purchase 

business to business (B2B)

• Selling a product or service to a person representing a business for the purpose of benefitting their business

• In this exchange, you (as the salesperson) represent a business and your prospect is also representing a business consumer

  • You are the “B” and the prospect is the “B”

• What are the prospects motivations for making the purchase

  • Helping their business

• Needs and wants are unique to the prospects business model

• The prospect is likely using their company’s money to fund the purchase

B2C and B2B similarities

• Communicate with prospects in a variety of ways

  • Telephone, social media, email, in person meetings and presentations

• Managing relationships with clients

• Importance of sales skills

  • Communication, knowledgeable, building trust

• Personalized and customized strategy for each prospect

  • Must cater to their own unique needs, wants, and motivations

B2C and B2B differences

• Purpose of the product/service

  • B2C will cater to a prospects preferences while B2B will be more business driven

• Length of sales cycle 

  • B2C is shorter than B2B

• Decision  maker is harder to identify and harder to reach in B2B

• The price points for B2B will tend to me higher due to the overall quantity of units sold

• The funding of the purchases

  • B2B it is the company’s money while B2C is the individual personal money 

Sport sponsorship

When an external organization or company pays for advertising time/ exposure at or with a sport property  

Sports property

• A professional sport team

• A minor league sport team

• A college athletic department

• A high school athletic department

• A league or conference 

• A bowl game 

• An organizing/ governing body 

• A business or nonprofit organization

inventory

broad term used to describe anything that currently is or could potentially be sold as part of a sponsorship package, can also be called assets

inventory examples

• Naming rights to a sports arena or stadium 

• Signage in the arena or stadium 

  • Static: signs are "permanent" and stay up on a year to year basis, fixed structure or billboard 

  • Digital: these signs are typically LED and rotate between several different sponsors per game 

• Giveaway items 

• Backdrop for press conferences

• Social media posts 

• On field promotional contests

• Playing surfaces 

• Uniforms, jersey patches 

• Logo usage rights

  • Brand association

  • Opportunity for a corporate brand to associate their logos with a sport entity’s logo

  • Often times “the official _____ of”