The role and compensation of a sports agent is often misunderstood by the public. A sports agent’s job is to market the athlete or the products associated with that athlete to promote the athletes career. The agent works to negotiate contracts that are in the best interest of the athlete. What we don’t see is the incredible amount of personal sacrifice it takes to acquire and manage each client.

A sports agent is available 24/7/365 for his clients. Hundreds of phone calls with players, their families, physicians, and sponsors. Countless meetings with team owners, managers, and coaches. NFL sports agents in particular spend an enormous amount of time negotiating contracts, including player injury provisions and public relations presence. Networking is a huge part of a sports agent’s daily life – it never stops.

And it’s not all about schmoozing the client. An agent must possess extraordinary communication and negotiation skills as well as the energy to work long hours at the bargaining table. A sports agent must keep abreast of sports trends.

People often question the obscene amount of money that sports agents command but it’s no different than any other workers union. An agent takes care of a player so they’re not taken advantage of. An agent educates and sometimes that involves telling a client what they need to hear verses what they want to hear. An agent works practically around the clock to get the best possible deal for his client.

Agents give their lives to keep clients informed and prepared. Often, the agent’s family suffers from the simple fact that they’re rarely at home or are constantly interrupted due to client conversations and demands.

William Johnson of Pro Start Sports International informed me that his entire family sacrifices for his career as a sports agent. As a family who’s been involved with pro sports for many years, they understand what it takes to be successful in this field and that integrity tops the list. William considers his clients as extended family members and is often on the phone in the wee hours of the night, discussing playing time during games, team dynamics and other player concerns. William stated that he makes a strong, proactive attempt at keeping a healthy family/work balance.

Many people get the idea, especially from movies like Jerry Maguire, that sports agents are slimy, used car salesmen types who lurk in the shadows, waiting for an unsuspecting, gullible athlete to sign on the dotted line. They do exist but the signposts are large and bold for the most part. The ‘Bob Sugars’ talk of short-term, ‘let’s get you signed and I’ll make you a star’ rhetoric. There’s no mention of long-term plans and post-football life. They are ego-driven and are often in the news. Unscrupulous agents can ruin an athlete’s career before it even starts.

This causes people to believe they are the ‘norm’ in the sports agent world but it’s not so.

All pro football sports agents have to be certified by the NFL Players Association. Teams that deal with agents who are not certified are subject to fines.

I recently caught up with Jack Bechta. He’s a seasoned and well-respected sports agent, representing 15 active NFL clients, some of which are the highest paid in the league. I asked Jack what first motivated him to become a sports agent. “I wanted to stay close to football and use my skill set acquired from my business background to help young athletes achieve their goals and dreams, and make sure they’re never taken advantage of.”

Both Jack and William stressed the main objective of a sports agent is to protect a player from negative outside forces, empower them to make good, informed decisions, and encourage them to surround themselves with high quality professionals. Each weighed in on some important tips that young athletes should look for when searching for an agent:

• Jack – the agent should have the big picture in mind and be able to guide the player in a long-term plan as well as an exit plan.

• William – integrity is an essential ingredient in a good sports agent. Make sure they’re certified; don’t be afraid to ask for credentials.

• Jack – the nuts and bolts beyond the sport should be in the agent’s conversation: insurance, life skills, pr, and preparing for the future.

• William – ask how many active clients the agent has and how they are working for their clients. Call current and former clients. Research your agent.

A sports agent’s ultimate dream is to have clients who value and appreciate him for what he brings to the table. He desires an athlete who thinks in the future, not just in the present. He craves the excitement of pursuing athletes loaded with potential. He thrives on athletes who are willing to listen and learn how to develop their potential on and off the field. That’s a sports agent’s job.

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About Michelle Hill

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

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So you’re not having the kind of success you’d like. Your calls are more difficult, you’re not closing as many sales as you’d planned, your manager is supportive but insists on results. Your check isn’t enough to do the things you want to do.

This sports thing wasn’t what you thought it would be. This is way too stressful.  Where’s all that fun and excitement you thought would be coming your way? This is more like…a JOB!

If you’re feeling this way, here are several things to consider:

Look at how you’re spending your time each day. Do you talk a lot with your co-workers about how bad things are?  It’s a natural thing to do, but it’s not doing anything to move you forward. In fact, psychologists say that peer group reinforcement of a particular negative belief can actually hold you back.  Is it worth feeling good for a few moments just to stay where you are?

Look at the number of calls you’re making. An obvious measure of your effort is your call volume, but some reps choose to make fewer calls in a slump.  They put them off, thinking it’ll be better to call them at a later time, an earlier time, etc.  FACT: The more calls you don’t make today, the fewer sales and appointments you’ll make today.  It’s that simple.

Look at the way you’re conducting your calls. How are you opening your conversations?  Is it the best it could be, or are you just going through the motions?  If you’re frustrated, desperate, or robotic, your prospect will pick up on it.  Freshen up your opening so that you’ll deliver it with a renewed sense of enthusiasm and sincerity.

Look at the way you’re prepared to answer objections. What are the top 3-4 objections you’re faced with each day?  Are you prepared to answer them with clarity and logic?  The best reps mentally prepare to answer each of their prospects’ most common objections, followed by a closing question.

Look at the way you’re leaving voice mails. More than 70% of your calls are directed to a voice mail system of some kind.  Do your voice mails sound interesting, compelling, and time-sensitive?  Are they too long, too predictable, or just plain boring to listen to?  Spend a few moments preparing a voice mail that gives people a compelling, intriguing reason to call you back.

Look at the time you spend in-between appointments. Many new reps will schedule appointments in the northern part of the city at 10:00, and another in the south at 11:30.  That’s unrealistic. Think about the time you’ll spend getting from one appointment to another, and schedule them accordingly.  Make your Tuesday appointments in one section of town, and your Wednesdays in another.  It isn’t always possible, but if you don’t ask your prospect if they’re more flexible, you may be stressing yourself out needlessly, and saving yourself precious hours in non-selling commuting time.

Look inside. Can you be honest with yourself?  What you signed up for is a SALES job.  All sales reps are experiencing challenging times, so you’re not alone.  Sales professionals have several choices when faced with a challenge; they can keep doing what they’re doing, change what they’re doing to be more successful, or look elsewhere for something that suits them better.  Decide which course of action you’ll take.

There are people who want what you sell. If you choose to improve on at least one or two of the points above, you will see a change in your results.  Now get on the phone and start selling!

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About Bill Guertin

Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a dynamic sales training and consulting company whose list of blue-chip clients includes the ticket sales departments of dozens of teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer.  He is the author of the Gold Medal-award-winning book Reality Sells, and The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales: How to Dominate Your Market.  Subscribe to his Sports Ticket Sales Newsletter at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow Bill on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla. 

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Sports agents who take any and every athlete who contacts them on their website will not last very long in this industry.  Representing athletes is much like playing the stock market; you have to make a rather large initial investment in order to have a chance to make any significant profit.

You could load up with a bunch of penny stocks that are high risk, do not cost much.  One or two of those athletes break through and you could be generating a solid profit.  On the other hand, you could invest big money into a guy with proven skill and high ratings from scouts.  Unfortunately, the main difference between stocks and athletes is that stocks are not going to leave you mid-investment.  An athlete can.

A big decision for agents, especially in the offseason, is figuring out a list of players to recruit.  There are people who are high up on the list because of talent and factors that lead the agent to believe that he would be an easier guy to recruit, whether it be due to proximity, relationships with current clients, etc.  There are also “reaches”, guys agents would like to represent, but will cost a lot of time and money to get in front of, and most likely will not go with you.

On to some of my methods of research.

1.    Scouting services:

Some services are free and some you have to pay for.  In basketball, one of my favorite services is DraftExpress.com.  A site developed by a fellow Gator grad, Jonathan Givony, DraftExpress provides up to date scouting reports on a variety of talented basketball players and hits up almost every showcase on the planet.  In baseball, my pick is Perfect Game Crosschecker (pgcrosschecker.com).  They provide thorough rankings of future draft classes, break it down state-by-state, hit up the major showcases, and provide detailed information for top prospects.  Want to know a prospect’s parents names?  They have you covered.  BaseballAmerica’s Prospect Plus program is also strong, but it stops covering players once they graduate from high school.  In football, I am a fan of the old NFLDraftScout.com.  Since it was acquired by CBS Sports, I have been looking for a suitable alternative.  While it is not strictly a scouting service, I enjoy Neil Stratton’s InsideTheLeague.com, which highlights player movement, which agencies are going after which players, and provides draft expectancy for the next class of players, by school.

2.    Scouts:

Scouting services are the 2nd best option to actually talking to scouts.  This is something hard for new agents to do, because their rolodex may be thin in this area.  Over time, and as an agent picks up more players within various organizations, these contacts develop.  Hold them near and dear.  In baseball, the scouts not only tell the organizations who to draft, but are also often in charge of presenting the offer sheet.

3.    Facebook:

Want to know a kid’s character?  You are not going to find that out through a scouting service.  Nothing beats meeting the player and his family in person, but sometimes money and time get in the way.  Also, Facebook can be a way to weed out some guys on your list so that you do not have to waste the time of traveling to visit them in the first place.  Check the player’s interests, see what types of videos and pictures he is posting.  Are his status updates worrying you?  Only take players who will allow you to sleep well at night.  Facebook helps.

4.    In-Person meeting:

If a player passes the Facebook test and you talk with him and his family over the phone and through email, it is very important to meet them in person.  Living in an area where you base most of your recruiting is important so that you are able to save on the valuable areas of time and money.  I dress differently depending on the setting of the meeting.  If I am going to an athlete’s game, I won’t wear a suit and tie.  I’ll dress comfortable, especially since it is usually 90+ degrees in the state of Florida.  A Dynasty t-shirt and jeans work.  If I am visiting a player at his home, a button down with slacks is more appropriate.  Impress the player and his family, but don’t scare them off, either.

5.    Use your current clients:

Your current clients are invaluable sources of information.  Many of them have either played with the guy you are recruiting or have heard things from others who have played with them.  In fact, you may not even know that one of your clients knows the guy personally, and would be happy to put in a phone call to him to supply praise for your agency.

6.    Use other guys you are recruiting:

Perhaps you have already decided that you will recruit another player at the same school.  Talk to him and ask him what he thinks of this other guy you are thinking about recruiting.  It may lead to a package deal, or you may realize that you want to only stick with the first guy since their personalities don’t mesh.  The original player may say that in no way will he sign with an agency that his teammate signs with.  This is important information to garner.

7.    Talk to the player’s coach:

This will accomplish two things: 1) The coach may know the player more than the player’s own family.  He knows the player’s work ethic, potential of growth, and personality on and off the field. 2) Building a relationship with the coach will help you recruit more of his players down the line.  Additionally, if you do a good job with his players, the coach may ask you to represent him!

8.    Use intuition:

When it comes down to making a decision on if you want to spend your time and money to recruit a player and then a lot more time and money to actually represent him, you have to take everything that you have learned in the points above and then really make a decision that is best for you and your company.  Sometimes, you need to ignore some of the negative statements you read or hear because you truly believe in the athlete.  Intuition is probably the most valuable component of this list.

About Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner is a CEO, sports agent, journalist, entrepreneur, and innovator. Darren created the first sports agent blog on the internet, SportsAgentBlog.com, which receives upwards of 5,000 unique visits per day from sports agents, athletes, media sources, and the general public. In the blog, everything from contract negotiations to endorsement deals are examined, providing the framework for a great deal of information upon which he has been able to depend. In 2009, Darren created EntertainmentAgentBlog.com, which has the same purpose of SAB, but focuses on the entertainment industry. Darren is also the CEO and Founder of Dynasty Athlete Representation, a full service sports and talent agency that handles contract negotiations, marketing endorsements, financial planning, legal services, etc. Darren graduated from the University of Florida in May 2007 with a Political Science Major and was valedictorian of his class. He is a member of many Honors Societies including, Florida Blue Key, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi. He is now in his third and final year at the University of Florida Levin School of Law, where he is serving his second consecutive term as the President of the Entertainment and Sports Law Society.

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In roughly four months, Bob Ruxin and I will be releasing a new book: An Athlete’s Guide to Agents, 5^th Edition.  The book will cover everything from NCAA rules and regulations to turning pro early…and it even discusses the agent selection process.  That process is not a one-way street.  The principal is the athlete, who has control over his agent; however, the agent also has to agree to represent the athlete.

Athletes are often asked, “What influenced you to pick the particular agent/agency you chose for contractual and/or marketing representation,” but a question that is rarely asked of an agent is, “Why did you choose to recruit that particular player to be your client?”  Some agents, especially those first starting on their own, do not have the luxury of being picky.  But once an agent has a firm client-base, he is not going to go after twenty players in all fifty states.

About Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner is a CEO, sports agent, journalist, entrepreneur, and innovator. Darren created the first sports agent blog on the internet, SportsAgentBlog.com, which receives upwards of 5,000 unique visits per day from sports agents, athletes, media sources, and the general public. In the blog, everything from contract negotiations to endorsement deals are examined, providing the framework for a great deal of information upon which he has been able to depend. In 2009, Darren created EntertainmentAgentBlog.com, which has the same purpose of SAB, but focuses on the entertainment industry. Darren is also the CEO and Founder of Dynasty Athlete Representation, a full service sports and talent agency that handles contract negotiations, marketing endorsements, financial planning, legal services, etc. Darren graduated from the University of Florida in May 2007 with a Political Science Major and was valedictorian of his class. He is a member of many Honors Societies including, Florida Blue Key, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi. He is now in his third and final year at the University of Florida Levin School of Law, where he is serving his second consecutive term as the President of the Entertainment and Sports Law Society.

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