Group Sales Basics: Reward Programs

As the name implies, reward programs (sometimes called “push-pull” programs) are those that reward accomplishments, like getting good grades or reaching a fundraising goal. Many teams offer a game ticket as the reward.

WHY REWARD PROGRAMS MAKE SENSE

Reward programs are great for sports teams because they move large volumes of tickets, can vastly grow your database, can develop fan loyalty at an early age, are simple to implement, have a high redemption rate, help generate interest from outer-market areas, are independent of team performance, and they are repeatable (from season-to-season and multiple times within a season).

The programs make sense for outside organizations because they can help to accomplish goals (like motivating people to reach fundraising thresholds), can serve as a way to show appreciation, can encourage desired behaviors (like reading more or having good attendance), are an easy way to align with a respected brand, are simple to activate, and there are usually no (or very low) costs.

WHAT DOES A TICKET OFFER LOOK LIKE?

There are different approaches, but most teams offer one complimentary ticket with the purchase of at least one additional ticket. It is not a BOGO because only one ticket is complimentary; all others are at a designated rate. This format ensures that revenue will be generated from every sale, that an adult is part of the redemption process, and it protects your seating inventory.

WHAT PROGRAMS WORK BEST?

Large Groups - To sell a high volume of tickets you need to work with groups that have large databases to draw from. For example, our Attendance Matters offer goes to every elementary school in our marketing area. We also work with several prominent non-profits with expansive networks. As a general rule, a group must have a network of 500+ people to be considered for one of our programs.

Organized Groups – It is critical to work with groups that are organized and able to communicate directly with all of their members (even the best program will fail if no one knows about it). Schools are perfect. Boy Scouts are also good because the incentive can be communicated at a multitude of levels: Council, District, Troop/Pack, and to individual families.  

Kids Groups – The redemption rates for programs aimed at elementary school kids are exponentially higher than programs with middle school and high school students. Likewise, the number of additional tickets purchased is vastly higher by the families of elementary school kids. If you can include an additional experience, like getting on the playing surface, then sales will likely surge.

SPECIFIC EXAMPLES

Rewarding Good Behavior

• 3.0/Honor Roll Club – Offer is given to all students that attain a defined level of achievement, like a 3.0 grade point average (we leave it up to the schools to set their own guidelines).
• Safety Patrol – Offer is given to all students that complete the Safety Patrol program in their school.
• Attendance Matters – Offer is given to students that receive perfect attendance for a designated time frame (our program applies to students with perfect attendance in the month of February). 
• Reading Challenge – Offer is given to students that complete a goal, like reading a defined number of books or pages.

The Bucks Reading Challenge order form also includes a bookmark. There is a thermometer on the back that to help track the number of pages read. Photo Credit: Milwaukee Bucks

Rewarding Results – Several non-profits will include the ticket offer as an incentive for reaching a certain threshold in their fundraising or collection campaigns.

• American Heart Association – Hoops for Heart and Jump Rope for Heart fundraisers
• Boy Scouts - Popcorn fundraiser
• Girl Scouts - Cookie fundraiser
• Feeding America (food bank) – In our market, schools collect jars of peanut butter and jelly. The ticket offer is given to students and/or entire schools that collect a certain amount.
• A few other non-profits that have participated: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund (JDRF), and American Cancer Society.

Tips for Success:

Reward the group leader - The more your show appreciation to the group leaders, the more likely they are to champion your programs. For example, offer a pair of complimentary tickets to principals that enroll their school into a program. The revenue lost on two complimentary tickets is more than made up for in the ability to have your program shared with hundreds/thousands of families.

Set timelines - Success hinges on people getting the information in a timely fashion. Make sure to set defined dates for inventory management, collateral creation, distributing collateral, order processing, event facilitation, and follow up.  

Add value - The more enticing the offer the more likely people are to take advantage of it. Examples:

• Fan Experiences for all participants. We try to put most of our reward program games on the nights where the kids can go on the court and shoot a free throw after the game. It doesn’t matter how late the game goes, we always have families lined up to shoot on the same hoops as the NBA superstars.
• Fan Experiences for smaller groups. For some of our programs centered on fundraising or collections, we invite the top producing groups to participate in our pregame recognition ceremony and to get their photo at center court. We have one program that invites their top 100 fundraisers to attend a special clinic held at our training facility.
• Corporate Partners. Some of our restaurant partners generously provide a free meal card as part of the package for a few of our reward programs. When you bundle the meal card with the game ticket and a Fan Experience, it makes for a very attractive offer. 

Meal cards are a great value add for reward program offers. They also increase traffic and brand loyalty for corporate partners. Photo Credit: Milwaukee Bucks

• Promotional Nights. Leverage your biggest promotional nights as another reason for people to take advantage of the offer.

Giannis Antetokounmpo jersey give-away night was one of the games offered for a few of our reward programs last season. Photo Credit: Milwaukee Bucks

Know your audience - All of our reward programs are aimed at elementary school kids and their families, as such, we try to offer as many weekend games as possible.  

Be more inclusive than exclusive - To move as many seats as possible the offer needs to get to the largest audience possible. It’s a numbers game (just like all sales). When working with fundraising groups, we encourage them to offer the ticket incentive at a level where 80-90% of participants will be able to earn it. 

Protect your inventory and your revenue - Like most teams, we have variable pricing and dynamic pricing. Variable in that the group pricing is based on the opponent, day of week, and time of season. Dynamic in that our pricing is subject to change. We have five tiers of variably priced tickets and only allow reward programs to choose games in the two tiers with the most affordable prices. This serves two purposes: the lower cost of entry is appreciated by our customers and it protects our inventory for games with the highest demand. Speaking of inventory, we only allow reps to reserve tickets for reward programs with a proven track record of success. All new programs must pull from best available inventory.

Offer Upgrades - Some assume that groups are always looking for the cheapest seats. NOT TRUE! For many families, the reward program game is the only one they attend all season, as such, they may be looking for better seats. To accommodate, we offer upgrades that allow families to pay the difference between their complimentary ticket and the upgraded location. More than 50% of our revenue comes from upgraded seats (limited inventory prevents it from being higher).

Have proper resources in place - Despite our best efforts to move all ordering online, we still get hundreds/thousands of families that still prefer to mail or email their orders. For some of our larger programs, we might get 100+ orders a day. From a processing standpoint, this is simply too much for one rep to handle. To address this, we have our interns build all of the accounts in our ticketing system so that the rep and/or ticket office can expedite the processing of orders faster. On top of all of the orders, be prepared to get bombarded with phone calls. For example, the ordering window for one of our programs is only 3 weeks. Last season, the rep in charge was averaging more than 50 inbound calls a day. To service every call properly we had our interns do the initial screening. If it was something they could answer then they called the customer back, otherwise they transferred the call to a rep that could assist.

Ignore the haters - Critics of reward programs usually have two complaints:

1. Complimentary tickets devalue your product. In a perfect world, you’d be sold out every night and would have no need (or ability) to issue complimentary tickets. Most teams, however, have large gaps to fill and reward programs can help with this. Additionally, the families that do purchase are great prospects for ticket plans, which can help you get closer to filling the house. These programs can also increase your value over time because the kids will grow up being lifelong fans.  
2. Season ticket holders will be upset. In my 15 years of experience with these programs I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've encountered a season ticket holder that was upset by a reward program. The overwhelming majority of people do not object to rewarding good behavior and working to help non-profits, especially when they are centered around kids. Most see these as beneficial to the community and we’ve had many season ticket holders tell us that they participated in one of these programs when they were a kid. One strategic way to limit potential objections is to restrict the seating options to areas with the least number of season ticket holders or to the last few rows in designated sections.

I’d love to hear from you: What are some of the successful reward programs in your market? Any additional advice?

Carl Manteau

Sr. Director of Group Sales

Milwaukee Bucks 

The opinions expressed in this article are my own and may not reflect those of the Milwaukee Bucks or the NBA.