advanced theory and practice in sport marketing - Marshalls University

questions provides the sport consumer with the information they need to make
an informed decision about purchasing the sport product or service.
Organizational skills apply to planning and managing the sport product and
service information in an efficient and effective manner. Sport salesperson often
deal with multiple sport products and services. For example, ticket inventory
can range from individual game tickets to group tickets, to partial plans to season
tickets, and vary in costs based on quantity or location. The sport salesperson
must have the ability to keep this information organized by keeping it in an easy
and useable format so they can service the customer quickly and accurately.
Time management skills refer to the ability control time. In general, the salesperson
spends a limited amount of time with a customer. The way in which that
time is used is crucial to the decision making process of the buyer. Earlier in the
book we discussed the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule, where 80% of a sport
organization’s business comes from 20% of its customers. Salespersons learn to
spend more time with individuals to maintain the relationships, however they
cannot forget about the other 80%, as they represent future potential sales.
Knowledge skills are the collection of gathering, organizing, and sharing information.
The knowledgeable salesperson will be able to answer most of the questions
of potential and existing sport customers. This knowledge includes knowing
the sport product and service being sold, understanding the sport consumer, and
having an intimate awareness of the industry, the competition, and the company
itself.
Managing the Sport Sales Force
The managing of a sales force for a sport organization is an elaborate process
that starts with the recruitment, selection, and training of salespersons. When training
the salesperson, it is important that they have a significant knowledge about the
company, their customers and products, the industry the company operates in, and
the competition present. In addition, training should focus on selling skills. New
salespersons may have a range of selling skills – from none at all to expertise from
previous employment. Regardless, the sales manager is responsible for ensuring
that the salesperson has the selling skills required for the individual organization.
These skills are most often taught through on-the-job training and job shadowing.
Some organizations will also utilize classroom training, role playing, case studies,
and experiential exercises to articulate the desired selling skills to salespersons.
When working with salespersons, it is important that the sales manager communicates
a clear purpose for the selling methods utilized, and motivates them to
succeed. Practice and repetition are the most important methods for improvement,
and reinforcement provided by the sales manager helps keep the salesperson
on task. The sales manager may also use incentives to entice salespersons to
reach predetermined levels of productivity. However, it is important to remember
that those sales goals need to be realistic, as setting the bar too high is a recipe
for disaster and failure.
As stated earlier, the sport manager is a crucial part of the evolution of the sales
force by developing sales territories, forecasting the potential to sell sport products
SALES MANAGEMENT IN SPORT 159