Have you ever been ‘frozen’ in a ticket sales conversation?

We all get that sinking feeling every once in a while.  You’ve either lost your place in the conversation, got distracted, or reached a verbal dead end.  It’s been called “Salesheimer’s Disease”; your brain goes numb, and it feels like there’s nothing left to say that would make any sense.

What do you say when you don’t know what to say?

Fortunately, there are a few phrases you can get to know and memorize that can get you out of sticky situations like these, and save the call in the process.  Have these responses handy next to your phone, just in case you may need them:

• “Tell me more about (the last thing you were just talking about).”

Ask your prospect to GO BACK to a previous, recent place in the conversation. It could be their kids, their past experience at the arena, the new draft pick you just got, their group, or anything else that was just previously being discussed.  Whatever it was, ask them to elaborate; they’ll talk for several seconds, which will allow you to regain your composure.

• “How did you get started in (the work you do)?”

Same principle here; this question shifts the mental focus of the conversation onto the prospect, allowing you the precious time you need.  Remember to keep listening during this “rebooting” time; they may be telling you something that’s critical to discovering which of your team’s programs would be perfect for them!

• “I’m so sorry… I was distracted here in my office.  What was that you were saying again?”

Most people understand office distractions.  It’s happened to them, and it’s really OK to come out and tell your prospect what may be happening behind the phone call.  Some prospects actually enjoy that kind of up-front admittance, and as a result will become more forthcoming with the information you need to sell them.  (Go figure!)

• “What’s the biggest challenge that’s on your desk right now?”

This may seem like an odd question to ask.  It’s not one that people hear often.  But it’s one that gets a B-to-B prospect thinking in a way they hadn’t been thinking before.

Most decision-makers have at least one or two critical challenges literally in a file on their desk at that moment; an employee HR issue, a proposal that needs to get out, a brochure from the competition that just came in the mail with an offer that needs to be addressed.  If our product is going to solve a problem for our prospects, we need to find a problem to solve, or else there’s no sale.

If you get a legitimate answer to this question, be prepared with solid suggestions as to how a solution including your team can help.  (If you’re stuck for what solutions your team offers, this subject is covered in detail in my Sales Dominance training program for sports ticket sales reps.)

Salesheimer’s Disease isn’t fatal.  It’s happened to everyone in the business, and it becomes less and less prevalent with experience and knowledge.  The good news is that there’s a cure; the antidote for all professional sales reps, no matter what the industry, is to be fully prepared.

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Bill Guertin has spent over 25 years in becoming one of the most dominant sales professionals. He serves on the board of advisors for the newly launched Sports Executives Association (SEA). Learn more about Bill and check out his ultimate sports ticket sales mind set when you join the SEA today.

Image by charlesonflickr

Image by orphanjones

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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Lewis asked me to highlight some of the most influential sports business people on Twitter, and I’m all about making Lewis, and more importantly the Sports Networker audience happy. But when I sat down to make that list, all I could think about was BORING!

Those people aren’t hard to locate, in fact if they’ve done a good job providing great content then chances are you already know about them. If not, then you can start here or perhaps here with this list I made awhile back (it certainly needs to be updated.)

So instead of giving you the same old list of names, I thought I would share some under the radar sports business people that you should be following. For the sake of having a criteria, these are all people with under 1,000 Twitter followers, but that I consider to have interesting/valuable tweets about the business of sports.

Without further ado…

@JasonSprenger – Jason is PR/Marketing professional in the tech industry (I think), but his passion is sports, and it shows. He tweets about sports and unselfishly tweets good content about sports, PR, and marketing. He’s a former award winning journalist and blogs at The Sports Ace.

@JoshFeinberg – Josh is a networking champion (like Lewis) and is currently working for the Lakewood Blue Claws. He’s made an immediate impact in the organization (though I get the impression he would do that anywhere), especially with his recent Nine Innings of Networking promotion. (Heads up, it is a PDF.)

@Spiewak – The national football editor for CBS Max Preps.com, Stephen is constantly chatting with half the names mentioned on this list. He also has his finger firmly on the pulse of the prep scene, which is fortunate for us, because most people don’t follow it that closely.

@KatieBailey – Katie Bailey is a free lance sports writer, and ACC hoops fan. She blogs about sports at Sports Kate, and aside from sports you can catch her chatting about food (Krispy Kreme donuts in particular.) She has a master’s degree and is currently seeking an advertising/PR gig in DC. Hook a girl up.

@DMFreedom – David is the CEO of Pilote Media. He specializes in sports marketing, partnership and activation, as well as the use of emerging technologies and how they fit into the picture. He’s great about highlighting other users and leaving insightful comments on blogs.

@TimNATC – Tim is the coordinator for the Sport Management department at York college. What a great way to learn from a professor without having to pay to enroll in his classes. Like David, Tim always provides well thought-out insight that adds value to the conversations at hand.

@JackieAdkins3 – Jackie is an extremely diligent intern at Sports Media Challenge. He’s about to finish his senior year at UNC and is well versed in all things marketing, not just sports. I’ve really enjoyed getting to know him. He shares his thoughts on marketing on his blog here: That’s All I Have to Say About That

@BgcDuke7 -Danny may have eclipsed the 1,000 Twitter followers mark by the time this goes live, but don’t hold that against me. He’s worked for all kinds of sports entities and is one of the most conversational sports peeps on Twitter.

@SportMktgProf – Like I mentioned, with Tim, I’m a sucker for soaking up knowledge from professors. Julie is a professor/entrepreneur who blogs about very engaging topics in the sports stratosphere. Not to mention her blogroll is a GREAT resource for those interested in sports/marketing blogs.

@BrianGainor – Brian is one of those guys that just “gets it.” Like me, Brian lives the double life. He’s an account executive at GMR by day, and runs his own diddy, Sponsorship Activation in his spare time. Make sure you check out his resources page for some real gems like, 25 Ways Sports Organizations can use Twitter.

@MMahoney13 – Mark is a sports marketing, sales executive for the Carolina Panthers. When he’s not cutting a rug with Sir Purr he’s helping serve the Carolina’s by connecting with sports companies and agencies to explore partnerships and sponsorships. His sweets are very high in sports concentrate.

@SportsInfo101 – Charles is a sports executive with an emphasis on new media, branding and technology. His tweets cover sports of all kind, sports management, and he blogs at The Sports Info Business, which features all kinds of relevant info including some great interviews with prime time players in the sports realm.

And finally, I’m throwing in a bonus just for good measure. This last person isn’t really a sports business/marketing professional, but she’s awesome so I’m adding her to the list.

@LoisHeilig – Lois has been dubbed the “Sports Granny.” She’s a 75 year old Syracuse fan who loves Women’s basketball. For some more insight into Lois check out her fan spotlight here.

What is best about all of the people I’ve listed here as that not only are they extremely knowledgeable, but they’re also all very friendly so take a few minutes to add them to your Twitter network and start engaging them about the sports topics that interest you.

Finally, there’s no reason why this list has to stop at 13 names. Besides, isn’t that considered unlucky. Please use the comments section to include other sports business people we should follow, take the time to recognize, give a shout out to, etc. Ah what the hell, go ahead an include your own Twitter name so that we can make this post a destination for all this passionate community of sports professionals. What are you waiting for?

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Ryan is an Associate Media Analyst at Sports Media Challenge where he helps champion social media strategies for sports, lifestyle and entertainment brands. In his spare time he serves as a social media consultant who is passionate about the power of web 2.0 and its ability to cultivate conversations, build relationships and spread of ideas. Feel free to leave your thoughts on his article in the comments section below, connect with him on his blog at Ryan Stephens Marketing or on Twitter @ryanstephens, and read the rest of his bio here.

About Ryan Stephens

Ryan is an Associate Media Analyst at Sports Media Challenge where he helps champion social media strategies for sports, lifestyle and entertainment brands. In his spare time he serves as a social media consultant who is passionate about the power of web 2.0 and its ability to cultivate conversations, build relationships and spread of ideas. Feel free to leave your thoughts on his article in the comments section below, connect with him on his blog at Ryan Stephens Marketing or on Twitter @ryanstephens, and read the rest of his bio here.

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