Ideas from Sports Sales Teams to Stay Engaged and Effective at Home

Thank you to all the sports executives who reached out with their responses to my question: "What are you doing to keep your sales teams actively engaged during this time?":

Dennis O’Connor, VP/Ticket Sales and Service, Memphis Grizzlies (NBA):

We were finishing up renewals when we started working from home so we had our service staff working on renewals. We have since postponed our renewal deadline until we know more details on next steps. All crews - service, groups, premium and sales - are now focusing on doing "check in" calls with all current clients. We've seen some success with engagement from these emails/phone calls some of which have resulted in moving the sales process further along. New sales are a little bit slower but having similar calls- just checking in to make sure we are staying top of mind and have a relationship to build on once things start to get back normal. We are also doing ongoing training sessions - some rep led, some manager led and some outside of the organization. Really ramp these efforts up this week. 

Eric Grundfast, VP/Sales, Iowa Wild (AHL):

We are doing several things: -professional development (book club, sales and service videos) -calling all Wild 365 members to see how they’re doing in this unprecedented time -preparing to call for guaranteed dates for assets and school day game -each day we have a daily huddle in the morning with a little twist to it. Right now I send out an employee's baby photo and each person has to guess who it is. ("LOVE this idea!" - BG) We also have themed meetings such as favorite hockey team, college sports team, etc. -weekly brainstorming sessions broken down into small groups of 5 to serve two purposes, interact various departments and come up with new programs and sales assets 

Kristoffer Dolen, Sales Manager, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL)

It's been a challenge not having everyone in the same room but I'm trying to keep them as engaged as possible. We have a group chat set up through Microsoft Teams which we use daily. We also have video conference calls a few times a week to send updates, share success stories, and address and areas of improvement. We voted to also to a virtual happy hour after work one of the days this week. That should be fun!

Ben Cobleigh, VP, Ticket Sales and Service, Philadelphia 76ers (NBA)

We're helping our staff to "sharpen the saw" by doing a few things. 1. Sales Training 2. Personal Development Trainings 3. Prospecting, Prospecting, Prospecting 4. Salesforce Pipeline Clean Up 5. 2020-21 Business Plans 6. 8-Week Personal Business Plans

Kris Katseanes, VP/Ticket Sales and Service, FC Dallas (MLS)

We are still selling, and have come up with creative packages/ways to try and get commitments...we’re also asking our reps to send a daily plan each morning, which includes the following: - a 15 minute discussion with another rep on staff each day - a 15 minute discussion with a manager each day *both designed as just personal interaction and may/may not be work related - 30 minutes of sales training - 1 hour of personal professional development (reading a book, learning a language, etc). Not working out or going for a run. Those things are after hours, but something that’s professionally growth driven. - 15 minutes at the end of the day to write a journal entry for their day It’s been good and has had positive reports from our reps and managers. ("LOVE the idea of a personal journal!" - BG) It keeps them engaged, keeps them selling, but also recognizes that there needs to be some variance based on the circumstance.

Chris Gargani, VP/Sales and Service, Jacksonville Jaguars (NFL)

We've been managing remotely and working from home since Friday March 13. We did feel that if we could make the right call, we'd continue making calls. Primarily "renewal" calls but also some polite new business calls. All around the premise of, "when the time is right.....". We've had to not only coach our Managers how to manage remotely but our staff on how to work from home. A real nuisance for those that have never done. I was fortunate in working for Live Nation where I worked and managed remotely for 3 years. It's a real discipline. Our pillars are built on the following: ? Wake up at your regular time, shower and dress (business casual) ? Make your bed!! ?? ? Do everything in your power to avoid blending your personal with your professional life ? If and where possible, dedicate a spot in your home as your work space that’s not the couch or your bed ? Develop a written “List of things to do” or better said “Things to accomplish” ? Get outside for fresh air, to clear the mechanism and to exercise intermittently We've have a staff regroup on Tuesday's at 4pm. Idea was to let them get their week started, then check in end of day Tuesday. We do another full staff meeting Thursday's at 9:15am. Great touchpoint. Our Managers are holding daily, sometimes multiple daily staff calls w/ their reps. We're recapping at the end of each day. We've been big users of Microsoft Teams for video calls, chats, etc.. we've also tapped into our phone system, Ring Central remotely, so we can have the general line open and ringing through to reps phones. Our volume and revenue is of course lagging behind but we are renewing and selling seats every single day. Our staffs tell us that if the call is made the right way, the recipients of those calls are really grateful to chat with us as we act as a diversion from the news. 

Sam Bays, VP/Sales and Service, OKC Energy FC (USL)

What I’ve done is I’ve taken our usual morning briefing to Zoom so we can still go over the priorities for the day, what everyone is working on, etc. I’ve also set up individual 1 on 1 meetings with each rep through Zoom. Those are typically short 10-15 conversations, but it’s important to keep them focused and head off any issues quickly. I also have them working on dedicated prospecting time for new B2B contacts as well as researching and prospecting different group categories outside of where historically our success has been (schools and youth sports) since those are not likely to produce like they have in the past. Technology wise, we’ve made sure that all our reps have office phones at home (easy since our system is all VOIP) so that we can still receive inbound calls normally and still see our usual call system reports for each rep. We are also using Slack for internal communications. Since it’s more text like than emails, we’ve found it to be more engaging and see more person to person interaction than through email. I’m also doing training sessions through the (Zoom) platform. Some traditional role play training sessions just to keep everyone fresh as well as scheduling some guest speakers for them through some of my contacts in the industry.

Fred Mangione, SVP, New York Jets Football (NFL)

I have been trying to keep all my staff fresh by having other leaders of the org jump on calls and talk about other parts of the organization. Also having people from the league engage in some Q and A, besides the norm or prospecting and checking in. ("Good idea to ask others from around the league as 'special guests' on virtual calls with teams." - BG)

Jake Vernon, VP/Ticket Sales and Service, Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA)

Our approach to work from home, like everyone else, has been a bit of a mixed bag of items as we try to navigate giving clients / prospect time to adjust and deal with what is happening in their lives, while also trying to move the business forward.  From a client interaction standpoint here are a few things we are doing: - Single Game buyer touch points - calling every single game buyer to make sure they understand the info we sent out and give them a point of contact throughout the situation - Virtual happy hours with our premium clients - Self Prospecting goals each week to identify business leads From a staff engagement and culture stand point: - Teammate of the day initiative - we are pairing up two people randomly each day to have a 10 minute call to check in with each other and keep everyone connected ("Really like this 'partner accountability' idea!" - BG) - Virtual face to face meeting role plays -Sales script training - We have started to transform out sales script to be a little softer in our sales approach. These role plays are designed to showcase what clients might be telling us during these difficult times and how to react - Virtual TGIM - we are hosting Monday morning meeting as usual, but also throwing in some fun interactive games to get people excited about the week - Bingo, Kahoot quizzes etc. -Daily gratitude logs submitted by each staff member highlighting what they are grateful for, success of the day, idea of the day and teammate of the day ("A variation of the daily Journaling that is also very positive; a great idea!" - BG).

Bob McLane, SVP/Ticket Sales, Lakewood (NJ) Blue Claws (MiLB)

We're trying to do a lot of little things to keep people engaged, both staff and fans. Our team is conducting "check-in" calls with our fan base (from group and season ticket buyers, to single game fans, to fans on social media), simply wanting to see how everyone is doing and make sure they are all safe and staying home. Our message is that our team cares about everyone in Monmouth and Ocean Counties (and beyond) and to let them all know that we are here for them in whatever way we can be during this unbelievable time. If sales opportunities happen, so be it, but our main focus is making sure the people of NJ know that we are here for them now, we will be when this is all over, and that we will get through this together! we're hearing a lot about how people are cancelling/postponing vacations, having to put life on hold because of professional changes, or missing out on experiences like youth sports, fun activities, etc., so letting people know that we are here is important. If we can help in a greater way, we will, but if we can reassure folks that we are here for them now and will be when the dust settles, that's only a good thing. Then, when this is all done, they can spend a small 3-4 hour vacation with us! ("Really like the verbiage of 'having a 3-4 hour vacation with the team' once this passes... brilliant picture-painting!" - BG)

Justin Petkus, VP/Ticket Sales and Service, Sacramento Kings (NBA)

I’m extremely proud of our managers and the way they’ve engaged our staff during this challenging time. We’ve run a myriad of role-play competitions through our awesome new call coaching software, Chorus; in addition, our reps have been leveraging our OneMob video technology to create customized videos to send to their clients. We’ve also created a competitive points system where reps can earn points for daily activities, including, but not limited to: - chorus role play calls - OneMob videos recorded - Ted talks viewed - TMBO Playbook exercises completed - leads prospected And so on...

Do you have something to add? Please put it in the comments below, or reach out to me at [email protected]. Let's all become more productive together!

- Bill Guertin, "The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales Performance", is Chief Learning Officer of ISBI 360, the first and only digital training network created exclusively for sports and entertainment professionals. Watch the recent FREE broadcast with Bill and co-ISBI 360 faculty member Brett Zalaski, "What to Sell When You Don't Know What to Sell" by clicking here.