“Columbia Pictures’ Moneyball was nominated for a handful of Academy Awards on Jan. 24. At Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, across town from the studio where this box office hit about the Oakland A’s was filmed, an ongoing drama of a different kind is playing out.”
“Even when the deal was finalized and the lockout lifted, the details of revenue sharing were not finalized and unclear. But now they are starting to come into focus. ”
“All indicators are pointing to the growing importance of storytelling in the intertwined social media, PR and advertising worlds. In fact, one could go as far as claiming that storytelling is one of the current buzz words in online and offline marketing as proven by the recent attention it has drawn from sources as varied as Hubspot, Simply Zesty, Fast Company, Social Media Today and many other quality blogs and publications. All predictions are indicating that digital storytelling is on the way up as one of the most proven and valuable tactics and techniques to engage with communities and improve the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.”
“In the 40th anniversary year of Title IX, the federal law intended to bring equality to men’s and women’s athletics, Peg Brand sees at least one measurement of the remaining disparity.”
“I immediately contacted Jim Gallagher, Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at IMG Worldwide. Gallagher quickly put the rumor to bed. ”There aren’t ANY conversations going on with Lagardère, or any other company or individual for that matter, regarding a purchase of IMG,” said Gallagher.”
“Television contracts and the money generated from media rights fees have become a crucial factor in how baseball teams are run. Along with ticket sales, they are a team’s primary form of income, and in recent years the fees across sports have skyrocketed. The Lerners have never had a say on their arrangement with MASN. Until now.”
“Participants will gain insight into careers in sports through presentations by successful sports executives, including GM’s, front office executives, Scouts, Sports Agents, player personnel, and well known media currently working in football. This event includes networking, information on breaking into the sports industry and advice on advancing your sports business career. College credit available for attending. ”
“Recently, Facebook introduced a few new features that will help someone who wants to use their personal profile for personal branding purposes. If you want to use the world’s most popular social network to promote what you do professionally, here are a few tips to get you started. ”
It’s common knowledge that sports sales is the easiest path to start your career in sports, but as you can probably assume its also the hardest task. Sales in any industry is a challenge, so it should come as no surprise that it’s just as rough in sports. Not only are you selling the professional sporting event, but the players, atmosphere, and perks. You’ll encounter a lot of objections, excuses, and hang ups. Sports may be the career for you, but are you ready to take on sales to get there?
Sports Sales – Things To Consider
Don’t let the introduction scare you off. Everybody’s reaction to the sports sales experience is different. Here are some personal things to look at within yourself if you’re thinking about starting a career in sports sales.
Are you an aggressive person? The key to getting a sale is being aggressive. You can’t take no for an answer but only as further reason to convince the client why they need this product.
Can you handle rejection? Imagine breaking up with your significant other every 5 minutes when working in sports sales. You’ll spill out your best pitch only to get an “I’m not interested, please stop calling.” Then you’ll hang up and make another call. Can you handle that for an 8 hour shift everyday?
Are you confident? Sports sales is not for those who are shy. You will be in an office making calls for everyone to hear. You will make mistakes and stutter and everyone will hear you.
Do you have a competitive nature? You’ll succeed more in sports if you’re competitive. You will be surrounded by co-workers who are making sales. Although you’ll be happy for them, their success is supposed to drive you to want to make sales and beat them. Nobody wants to be at the bottom of the sales lists.
Are you a self-starter? You will receive a call list to start off, but if you really want to be successful, you will have to prospect on your own. Are you the type of person who will branch out and find leads without someone assisting you?
If you answered yes to all of the above, then you may be ready for a career in sports sales.
Do you have any other tips on how to excel in sports sales?
Some teams are knee deep into playoff ticket sales, renewals for next season, and a rush of new season ticket sales to reserve their priority numbers for next season. That’s great! However, this may not be the case for the rest of the teams in the NBA, NHL, or NLL.
Great seasons have come to a close and the focus already is on next year. What are you doing in your front office in the off-season to continue to engage a greater fan base, those hard-core fans, and businesses that use season tickets for employee or client entertainment? [click to continue…]
Kristen Sonsma has spent most of her sports career in ticket sales with experience in the AFL, MLS, and NHL. Connect with her on LinkedIn or on Twitter
Tiger Woods delivering his 13-minute speech was finally what hundreds of millions of people were waiting to hear. “I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you,” said Woods. “I have made you question who I am and how I could have done all the things I did. I am embarrassed I have put you in this position. For all that I have done, I am deeply sorry. I have a lot to atone for.”
Tiger screwed up, and he finally was doing what anyone who screws up badly should do; take ownership for your mistakes, and let people know what you plan to do to fix them.
As responsible salespeople, we can learn from Tiger’s example. On occasion, we’re going to screw up an order, type in a wrong seat number, forget some paperwork, or fail to follow up with a phone call we promised to make. Rather than run and hide, the sooner we can recognize our mess-up, the better off everyone will be.
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.
As the old saying goes, “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and this can’t ring more true than in the wide world of sports, specifically sponsorships sales. We are out there everyday trying to get in the door somehow and we have all heard the phrase, “Oh, I know someone I can call or email”.
Well, speaking from the trenches, it’s best to build on that network as much as possible. Networking now isn’t always about hitting the latest local networking event, which we all know is filled with the same sales people trying to sell each other and vying for the for real buyers in the room. It’s more about reaching out to our peers on a national level trying to develop a bond there that will someday pay off. Let’s face it we got into sponsorships because we want to get paid. So however you can achieve that should be your goal.
I had the pleasure to meet with fellow SportsNetworker.com writer, Bill Guertin, during one of my business networking events that I hold around the country. This event happened to be in Cleveland where Bill was doing some ticket sales consulting with the Cleveland Cavs and meeting with the Cleveland Browns as well.
I already knew that Bill was a great writer and had a wealth of information on how to boost ticket sales, and I was pleasantly surprised when we met in person and I realized he was a great guy to be around. Check out this brief video below where Bill shares with you a few of his tips on how to increase ticket sales.
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It’s common knowledge that sports sales is the easiest path to start your career in sports, but as you can probably assume its also the hardest task. Sales in any industry is a challenge, so it should come as no surprise that it’s just as rough in sports. Not only are you selling the professional sporting event, but the players, atmosphere, and perks. You’ll encounter a lot of objections, excuses, and hang ups. Sports may be the career for you, but are you ready to take on sales to get there?
Tiger Woods delivering his 13-minute speech was finally what hundreds of millions of people were waiting to hear. “I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you,” said Woods. “I have made you question who I am and how I could have done all the things I did. I am embarrassed I have put you in this position. For all that I have done, I am deeply sorry. I have a lot to atone for.”
(This is a guest article by Cabe Flesher)
I had the pleasure to meet with fellow SportsNetworker.com writer,
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