With cell phones, call forwarding, and the death of the land-line in the home, most often we have no idea where our prospects might be when we’re calling them about our sports ticket opportunities. They could be in the car, the supermarket, out on a date, or anywhere else you could imagine.
Wherever your prospect happens to be, chances are they’re near a piece of paper and a writing instrument of some kind. It’s your chance to engage them in your conversation – IF you’re good enough with using information that can lead to a sale.
While you have someone engaged on the phone, try this: ask them if they’re near a pen and paper, and ask them to write down a few things you’re going to dictate to them. This subconsciously gets them to begin thinking creatively and positively in your direction, because they’re writing down something about you, keeping an informal “record” of your conversation, and they have a pen in their hand… which is a close cousin to signing a deal. (Many people also think better when they have a pen in hand and are writing!)
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.
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?
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.
When someone has decided to call us back before making a buying decision, there’s a good chance (despite all their good intentions) they won’t follow through. It doesn’t make them liars or bad people. It’s just the law of averages. We know people get busy and have other priorities come up in their lives.
Are you kidding? Something else is more important than getting back to you about their awesome seats? C’mon! You don’t have to take that crap! Push the odds in your favor!
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.
The holidays have passed us by, it’s 2010, and for those of us who hibernated for several days, it means it’s time to get back to work. Over the years I’ve seen an inordinate number of people give me excuses why it’s not the “right time” to sell someone right after the holidays:
“Everyone’s hung over.”
“People are hitting the ground running, and they’re too busy to talk to me.”
“Their budgets have just been set for the year, and there’s no money for me.”
“People have more important things to do, and I’m the last person they want to talk to right now.”
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.
I always take the opportunity to reach out to a customer and show off a brand I represent. I won’t lie, I had a college professor that pounded this into my head for a semester. Working in ticket sales a few years later, I searched for ways to capitalize on this point.
In today’s ticket selling environment some of the most frequent “reaching” out to customers is often through an e-mail blast or annual phone call of some sort. These customers receive the same treatment from companies across all industries, not just ticket sales people. I search for new ways to build rapport and trust with current and hopefully future customers. I’m trying to differentiate myself along with the brand I represent!
Tyler Johnson is an innovative thinker inspired by the likes of Bill Veeck, Jon Spoelstra, Pat Williams & Brooks Boyer. Currently working for Kroenke Sports & Entertainment as a Group Sales Account Executive for the Denver Nuggets. Prior he worked as the New Business Development Executive with the Chicago White Sox. Tyler has also worked directly with the inventor and creator of Arena football and also for Mike Ditka’s former Chicago AFL franchise. As a former collegiate athlete and business sensed individual Tyler ventured to combine his passions to get into the business side of sports.
1. Ask yourself, “Why do I want to be in sports ticket sales?” If it’s because you’ve always wanted to work for a sports team, consider that you may have wanted the job for the wrong reasons.
2. Be in love with success as much as you are in love with the job. Don’t take the job simply because you wanted to see your name next to the team logo on a business card.
3. Understand that you’ll have all kinds of people you’ll need to interact with effectively, including some that you wouldn’t want to necessarily hang out with. Look past your own personal bias, and treat everyone the same: Like Gold. [click to continue…]
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.
There’s nothing that strikes fear in the hearts of men and women quite like the icy grip of the COLD CALL. Even the name sounds like a bad B-movie: “You never know who’s on the end… of a COLD CALL!” (Cue terrifying shriek, bad music) “Rated “R” for Run Toward Another Job Right Away.”
The reason we hate them so much is because we know how we feel when we RECEIVE them!
Think about your feelings when someone calls or visits you out of the blue looking for you to buy something. You’re thinking about all the negative words that people use to describe salespeople, and don’t want to be thrown into that same category. Right?
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.
Ticket Sales are tough to come by these days due to the economy and other excuses people seem to come up with. I was lucky enough to attend a Cubs game with Tyler Johnson (who happens work for the White Sox, but the team was out of town that weekend we watched the Cubs).
Tyler talked to me about the challenges he faces trying to integrate social media with the Sox, due to the stipulations MLB.com has on all of the teams. Watch this brief video below to hear his thoughts, feel free to add your own in the comments section, and tweet about this video on Twitter.
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With cell phones, call forwarding, and the death of the land-line in the home, most often we have no idea where our prospects might be when we’re calling them about our sports ticket opportunities. They could be in the car, the supermarket, out on a date, or anywhere else you could imagine.
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.
When someone has decided to call us back before making a buying decision, there’s a good chance (despite all their good intentions) they won’t follow through. It doesn’t make them liars or bad people. It’s just the law of averages. We know people get busy and have other priorities come up in their lives.
I always take the opportunity to reach out to a customer and show off a brand I represent. I won’t lie, I had a college professor that pounded this into my head for a semester. Working in ticket sales a few years later, I searched for ways to capitalize on this point.
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