Ask any entrepreneur, salesrepresentative or professional andthey will tell you that the best source ofbusiness is referrals. These little nuggetsof business gold are far more reliable andfar less expensive than any other sourceof business. Ask these same business people and theywill also tell you that finding a reliablesource of referrals, however, can be oneof the biggest obstacles to growing asuccessful enterprise – probably secondonly to finding good help. This is not tosay that referrals never occur. They do.But they do not always occur with theconsistency upon which one can rely.
The initial problem for today’sbusinessperson is that our society tendsto be more transient. Our grandparentslived in a world where everyone wasintimately tied to the same few cityblocks for literally generations. Peoplewatched the young child grow, marry,become a parent, and then a grandparentall in the same neighborhood. Today, wecan live in a house for years and haveneighbors we will never meet.
Additionally, society is now naturallymore disconnected. Years ago, businesswas conducted on Main Street America,where the attorney, banker and baker allwere in tune with everyone’s lives. Today,with improved highway systems andconsolidating businesses, our lives – bothpersonally and professionally – tend tobe ‘far flung.’ Business people can wakeup in a bedroom community and, aftera quick cup of coffee, scatter to the fourcorners of the compass without knowingthat potential business is two doorsdown.
Frank Agin is the founder and president of AmSpirit Business Connections, an organization that empowers entrepreneurs, sales representatives and professionals to become more successful through networking and developing stronger business relationships. He is the author of a book entitled Foundational Networking: Creating Know, Like & Trust For A Lifetime of Extraordinary Success, and the co-author of LinkedWorking: Generating Success of the World’s Largest Professional Networking Website, which is one of the first books to set forth a strategy for being successful with social media websites.
Pro athletes always seem to have an abundance of resources at their disposal; whether they need to make a cross country move, assess their personality and skill level, get their financial picture in order, or simply find a post-sports career job or business. A multitude of businesses clamor for the athletes’ attention but which ones can they trust? I found two businesses that really put their heart and soul into helping pro athletes manage their career and life.
One such business is Sportsdrive. The highly educated, synergistic team performs various levels of athlete assessments using a scientific approach specifically developed to evaluate sports performance and sports behavior.
Annika Olofsson, a sports psychologist with Sportsdrive, works with athletes on the German Olympic squad. I caught up with her via email last week and asked how Sportsdrive can help not just the pro athlete but their supporting cast. Annika stated, “Sportsdrive helps coaches select the right athletes; those who are not only physically strong but mentally fit and committed to achieving greatness on their specific sport. Assessment results will reveal the following to coaches; potential for development, talent, and the internal fire of the athlete as well as the best way to support the athlete in reaching his goals.”
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
Last week former tennis star and current broadcast analyst, John McEnroe, was right when he said that the three-day, 11-hour record-blasting Wimbledon match between John Isner of the United States and Nicolas Mahut of France was “the greatest advertisement for our sport.”
The event lasted 186 games and broke nearly every Wimbledon and Grand Slam record each of the three days it was played. Officiating was near pristine. Even the head lines judge was wowed by the competition.
Change channels to World Cup soccer where referees became the story. Players, coaches and analysts seemed to question calls at every turn. Fans, particularly in the United States where soccer popularity remains infantile, have been outraged. Video replay isn’t used and officials do not have to explain their calls as in the National Football League and other professional sports with which we’re more familiar. In addition, former professional soccer player Alexi Lalas said on SportsCenter that FIFA (Federation Internationale de Football Association), international soccer’s governing body, believes that controversy is good for soccer because it keeps the game in peoples’ discussions. [click to continue…]
Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.
Social media has opened up the doors for fans to have a voice like never before, this is something which in my experience scares some teams but also offers great opportunity.
The upcoming free agency, or Decision 2010 as the NBA have branded it, has lead to many fan led campaigns telling stars like LeBron James why they should come to their team, this summer could change the face of the NBA for years to come.
But, there’s a fan led campaign kicking off over here which could change basketball across Britain forever; Back British Basketball was started by basketball fanatic and Editor of Hoopfix.com, Sam Neter.
Ash is the co-founder of FundSport.com a grassroots sports community providing sports clubs and athletes from around the world with professional, easy-to-understand advice and articles on all aspects of grassroots sport including sponsorship, fundraising, the Internet, social media, club management, PR and marketing. As well as being passionate about the development of grassroots sport Ash also has a keen involvement in the sports social media industry. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14
Technology helps us do a lot of things; it saves time, saves lives and is now beginning to save the careers of sports executives. With sports being a multi-billion dollar industry, professional teams, and more specifically scouts are looking for anything that can give them the edge over their opponents.
Enter technology.
Traditional scouting methods meant a scout had to be out on the road, staying in hotels and costing teams money. Today, scouts can sit on their couch watch their latest prospect. Even if they can’t watch him or her on live television, they can get a DVD made up of highlights and watch that instead. With technology allowing us to become more mobile than ever, why should teams go out to the world, when the world now comes to them?
In 2006, Major League Baseball’s draft lasted 50 rounds, and had over 1500 players picked. The National Football League’s draft lasts for only seven rounds with 256 picks typically made. With sports executives being put under time constraints more than ever, how can they effectively research all these prospects? [click to continue…]
Those who originally wanted to get involved with the businesses side of sports normally did so because of the simple fact that that they love the game. The majority of the people in the industry were at one time athletes themselves but quickly found out that there was a slim chance that they could make a living out of hitting a baseball or shooting a basketball. So now what were these individuals suppose to do whose lives constantly revolved around sports? Well I guess for them there was only one other option; it was time to join the business side of the industry. [click to continue…]
Matt Clark is currently an intern for Sports Networker, studying sport management and public relations at York College of Pennsylvania. He has an extreme passion for learning about new trends in social media and technology and how it is revolutionizing sports. He has contributed as sports editor for the York College newspaper, been an event manager for collegiate sporting events, intramural supervisor, contributor to the sports information department, and executive board member on the Sport Management Student Association. Matt is heading into his third season as part of the game-day entertainment with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees. Connect with him on Twitter @mattgclark
There is a lot of drama on and off the pitch at this year’s World Cup, and the following nine stories are some that have managed to make the headlines so far.
France’s Saga
How do you go from last World Cup’s runner-up to failing to win a game in this one? Ask France, who decided to focus on playing out a soap opera off the field instead of focusing on Uruguay, Mexico, and South Africa. There are several interwoven conflicts that make this situation complicated and so severe that French striker Thierry Henry will meet with France’s president this week to discuss the collapse in South Africa. The saga in a nutshell: France’s coach Raymond Domenech expels Nicolas Anelka from the team after a verbal altercation at halftime of game, players defend Anelka by refusing to train in preparation for their game against South Africa (which is like not taking batting practice before Game 7 of the World Series), cue comments from former French star Zenedine Zidane and cap the episode with a deflating loss to South Africa and you have a legitimate “téléroman”.
Here is an interview with Robert Wuhl, writer, comedian, and actor who starred as a sports agent in the HBO show Arliss. Wuhl shares with us his thoughts with the current state of sports and how media has changed the presentation of players. Wuhl is an Emmy Award winner and also starred in Cobb, a story based on the life of baseball’s great Ty Cobb. See who he think is huge in sports.
Gregg Marc Miller is the creator and host of the new blog and sports web show Who’s Huge in Sports? Gregg sits down with major players in sports, and related entertainment, in a relaxed environment discovering who they think is huge. Gregg cultivated his on camera skills as a performing artist in New York and Los Angeles. Through work in commercials, television and film he established relationships with various influential people in the Media Industry. He honed his technical skills working for years in video production, and sound engineering. Gregg can be reached through his website www.whoshugeinsports.com and by Twitter @whoshugesports or email. [email protected]
The year is 2010 and the economy is not only a burden for those searching for jobs but also those searching for internships. The process of finding an internship has never been considered easy, but currently it is unbelievable the amount of people fighting for work experience and those normally of which go unpaid.
Over the past 10 years the target audience of prospective interns has seen a dramatic shift. Interns used to predominantly consist of college students, normally juniors or seniors, who either through the design of their college program or through there own good will, were looking to gain experience in their field before taking off for the work force. Surely that same concept still holds true with collegiate students, but now not only are they competing against one another, but it is not uncommon for a slightly older generation to be competing against them as well. With the unemployment rate in the United States currently at staggering heights, whether a college student or a college student’s parents, everyone is looking for a way to get his or her foot in the door.
Matt Clark is currently an intern for Sports Networker, studying sport management and public relations at York College of Pennsylvania. He has an extreme passion for learning about new trends in social media and technology and how it is revolutionizing sports. He has contributed as sports editor for the York College newspaper, been an event manager for collegiate sporting events, intramural supervisor, contributor to the sports information department, and executive board member on the Sport Management Student Association. Matt is heading into his third season as part of the game-day entertainment with the Scranton-Wilkes Barre Yankees. Connect with him on Twitter @mattgclark
In years past, the crucifixion of Barry Bonds in the baseball world brought steroid use to the public eye in a powerful way. Is it my imagination or does it seem more of an accepted practice in the world of football? Even the true confessions of Lyle Alzado (1980’s) and Bill Romanowski (2005) didn’t really make a dent in the media frenzy that ensued with Barry.
Perhaps the fans don’t want to see sluggish football players trot lazily across the field. Fans are more and more demanding of a fast-paced, challenging match-up with athletes at the top of their game. But is it really all about what the fans want or simply that steroid use is more accepted in football than in other sport?
Pro football, in the past several years, has seen a dramatic rise in steroid use among its athletes. Athletes know their career could be short; complicated contract agreements, free agency, and/or injuries (NFL = Not For Long), create the need to be the most powerful and explosive athletes they can be. [click to continue…]
Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com
Ask any entrepreneur, sales representative or professional and they will tell you that the best source of business is referrals. These little nuggets of business gold are far more reliable and far less expensive than any other source of business. Ask these same business people and they will also tell you that finding a reliable source of referrals, however, can be one of the biggest obstacles to growing a successful enterprise – probably second only to finding good help. This is not to say that referrals never occur. They do. But they do not always occur with the consistency upon which one can rely.
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