Inside Sales In Sports: What It’s Really Like, In 6 Words

Ultimately, a job in sports sales accelerates your career, builds confidence, and gives you leadership and strong earnings opportunities.

When you go to search for a job in sports, you continually see job postings for “Inside Sales.” To the point where you wonder “Is this the only job available in sports?”

If you’re wondering what an Inside Sales role in Sports is really like, you’re in the right place. For right now, let’s put you in the shoes of an Inside Sales rep.

Here are six words to describe this entry-level sales program:

1. Enlightening

As an Inside Sales rep, this is likely an entirely different experience for you. It’s likely that you don’t have?any?sales experience and that it’s your?first?job in the real world. Boy, is there a lot to learn!

The foundation of any Inside Sales program is training…constantly. Your first two weeks might be solely consist of trainings.?You might be told you’re not going to make a sales call until week three. For some that may be a relief.

Overall, you’ll find that even after the first month you’ll have training?at least?once per week. You will practice role plays, review product knowledge, and work on overcoming customer objections. Oh, and you’ll likely be given a sales “Playbook” – a thick binder full of sales material – that will be your everything for the foreseeable future.

You’ll come in eager and ready to contribute, and your Inside Sales manager will put every ounce of effort into preparing you to be a great salesperson. Your Inside Sales Manager will have been a top performer in their sales class, and they’ll have endless energy to help you every step of the way.

The foundation for learning will be more than you bargained for, in the best way possible.

2. Dynamic

When I say dynamic, I mean things can change on the fly. For the most part, your job is to generate revenue for the company. You’ll do this through?a lot?– and I mean?A LOT?– of outreach. Cold calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, you name it…

While your primary responsibility is to sell season tickets and other ticket products, you’ll find yourself being asked to do many other things.

At the end of the day, you are at the bottom of the corporate totem pole. So, if there’s a sales table opportunity at a local chamber event, you might be called upon to step up. If one of your teammates is sick and can’t fill a game responsibility, you’ll be called on to fill in. Or if 20 cases of water are delivered to your office…yep, that’s you helping the team out, lugging them into the kitchen.

All in all, the dynamic nature of an Inside Sales program will be refreshing for some and difficult for others. Just be prepared to step up for duties other than selling and know that it’s for the greater good of the team.

3. Challenging

This shouldn’t be a shocker. Selling, and cold calling specifically, is arguably the toughest thing to do in the business world. There are numerous challenges for an Inside Sales rep, but it really boils down to a few things: rejection, work hours, and selling.

If you’re in sales, you know what I mean by rejection. You might have to make 100 cold calls per day, or you might rely on a good mixture of calls, emails, LinkedIn messages, and texts. Regardless, you will hear “No thanks” quite a bit. Whether it’s a first call or a 10th?call and you feel good about closing a sale, you’re going to hear “no” nine times out of ten. Be prepared for rejection and move on to your next opportunity.

As with a lot of professions, work hours can be grueling. You may have multiple games per week that you’re working in the evenings. On game days, it’ll be 9PM before you know it, and you’ll be exhausted by the time you step foot back in your apartment.

On top of this, as an Inside Sales rep, it’s not only the number of hours you’ll be working, but the stress that comes with it. If other people are crushing it in a given week, and you have a goose egg on the board, you’ll feel obligated to stay at the office until you make a sale. Even without a game that night, you might get to the office at 8AM and leave at 7PM for stretches at a time.

Just know that the mixture between having to sell and having to work game nights will create some long hours. It will be challenging, but your attitude will determine your longevity.

4. Collaborative

If you get hired into an Inside Sales program, you may be part of a six to 12-person class. Could be less, could be more. It’s these “classmates” that will help create your unique Inside Sales experience.

My first job was with the Tampa Bay Rays, as I was hired into a nine-person Inside Sales class. I vividly remember the first month or two being an absolute?grind. Due to the unique timeframe we were selling in, it was very difficult to get fans to bite on any season ticket product. We barely sold anything the first couple months.

We questioned our talents and what we were doing in the program. However, one thing helped us along the way, and that was teamwork. Through our tough first stretch, we made time to arrive early on Wednesdays to work on role plays together. We shared best practices and “winning statements” from our calls, never too selfish to keep them to ourselves.

And to no surprise, we hung out on weekends, grabbing dinner and drinks or kicking back at our house…where five of us split rent…

Overall, the point is that you’re going to have peers that will rely on you for help and vice versa. An Inside Sales program thrives on teamwork and collaboration, so expect to be the ultimate team player if you’re considering this role.

5. Competitive

In my opinion, this is?the?“realest” way to describe an Inside Sales program. Generally speaking, when you accept an Inside Sales job, you want to succeed and make it to the next step as quickly as possible. How do you do that?

You compete. You do everything you possibly can to be at the top of the sales board…while still being a team player.

Competing could mean making more phone calls than anyone else. It could mean having the most meaningful conversations with fans or having the highest “talk-time.” And it could also mean setting more appointments than anyone else.

Long story short, you have to find your niche, and work your tail off in finding a way to be #1 on the sales board. Learning product knowledge, practicing role plays, and averaging X amount of cold calls per day. If you keep your foot on the gas pedal and come up with a strategic plan – and have meaningful conversations with customers – you put yourself in a great position to be at the top of the board.

Inside Sales is a competition and you have to find a way to bring you’re A-game every step of the way. Find your biggest motivator and commit to the competition.

You do everything you possibly can to be at the top of the sales board.

6. Rewarding

As challenging as the Inside Sales experience may sound, the best part is how rewarding it can be.

At the end of the day, there are countless people who would?love?to be in your shoes, working for a sports organization. While you’ll spend a lot of time persevering through your new venture, you’ll also have many rewarding nights, gazing at screaming fans who are creating an electric stadium atmosphere.

“Do I really get to do this for a living?” Yup!

Soon enough you’ll earn that one big sale you’ve been waiting for, and you’ll breathe a sigh of relief. One of your new clients will thank you for finding her and her son the perfect seats, and it’ll make your day. Or your manager will give you praise for all the hard work you’ve been putting in and it’ll mean everything to you.

In the end, if you hustle and become a student of sales, the reward will more than pay for your uphill climb.

By now, you should have a good idea of what an Inside Sales gig is really like. Whether you have extensive sales experience or not, now you know what to expect of the popular entry-level sports job.

One of my favorite episodes from?The Learning Leader Show?by?Ryan Hawk?was?Episode 217?with NBA star, JJ Redick. My favorite quote was: “You’ve never arrived. You’re always becoming.”

I think this is fitting for any Inside Sales program. Coming into this type of role, you are going to learn a lot and have to adapt to changes. It’ll be challenging but if you thrive in a competitive environment and work together with your teammates, you’ll be rewarded in the end.

Happy Selling!

–Anthony