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Page 1
Always Be Closing
By Bill King
Presented By:
Chris McCarthy
Danielle Schechter
Michael Souliere

Page 2
Intro: Overview of Article
• The famous words from the 1992 classic
“Glengarry Glen Ross” hold true today as the
pressure builds to increase tickets sales in
professional sports.
• Here’s how teams are schooling their sales staffs
and giving them the tools to close the deal.

Page 3
Meet the Sales Professional
• Chad Estis
– Vice president of sales and marketing for the Dallas
Cowboys
• How did he get his start in the business?
– Sales Representative for the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Promising career?
– $18,000 in wages, plus 3% commission

Page 4
How do you get in the business?
• Start at the Bottom!
– Hundreds to Thousands of stories similar to Estis’ story
• Department heads, vice presidents, and presidents of teams
• Best way to Start!
– Ticket Sales Department

Page 5
Ticket Sales are the Lifeblood of
Most Sport Franchises
• Importance of Ticket Sales:
– Make up more than half of a franchise’s local revenue
• Make up to 80% for some teams
– Ripple Effect:
• Higher attendance = More concession revenue
• Fill the house = Bigger sponsorship deals
– Ticket Sales under-appreciated in the past?

Page 6
• Bernie Mullin
– Principal at The Aspire Group consulting firm
• Former CEO of the Atlanta Hawks/Thrashers
• Former senior vice president of team marketing at the NBA
– Mullin’s view on ticket sales:
• At least $3 in ticket sales for every $1 in sponsorships
• Teams in the past were investing more into sponsorships
• Where were the ticket sales people?
– Cubicles in the bowels of the stadium
– The back of the ticket office

Page 7
Why are Ticket Sales Important Now?
• Technology:
– Allows teams to be more efficient in finding ticket
buyers
– And getting those who buy to buy even more!
• Economy:
– Reduced attendance in most stadiums
– Made teams pay more attention than they did when the
economy was flourishing

Page 8
Changes in Ticket Sales
• Back-house operation to being just as critical as
sponsorship at the team level
– What has changed?
• The way teams sell
• The way people perceive the sales managers
• The compensation and role within the organizations
• The revenue has increased dramatically
• And how teams go about obtaining that revenue
– “It used to be a few guys in the cubes in the back of the office area.
And it’s just not that way any more,” Estis said.

Page 9
• Vic Gregovits
– Senior vice president of sales & marketing for the Cleveland
Indians
• How did he get his start in the business?
– Indoor soccer
– Account executive with the Cleveland Cavaliers (1987)
• Color coding index cards
– To describe the interest level of his prospects
• Times have changed… Uncharted waters
– Hard for Gregovits to rely back on his experiences in the past

Page 10
Pricing and Relationships
• Selling tickets in the current economy:
– Though tempting, taking a hatchet to prices is almost always
a mistake.
– While cutting prices frequently is a bad idea, giving more for
the price is a good one.
– The sort of relationship building that long has been valued in
the sponsorship world is possible, and now essential, in the
ticket world.

Page 11
• Bill Sutton
– Consultant and university professor
– Former NBA executive
• “There is no entertainment dollar anymore, just dollars. You’re no
longer just trying to convince them to spend it with you. You have to
convince them to spend it at all. The way you do that today, you will
hear again and again and again, is to produce value, and then make
sure you’re putting that value in the hands of a staff that is trained to
sell it,” Sutton said.

Page 12
Example of Ticket Changes
• The Indians last year had their attendance drop by 5,000
per game (18.5%)
– Ticket revenue decreased by 20%
• Who to blame?
– Bad team play
– Poor Economy
• What to do now?

Page 13
Changes Needed to be Made
• The Indians gave their ticket sales staff more weapons
– Variable Ticket Pricing
• During April & May, discounted tickets by as much as half
• Team eliminated online service fees for fans who bought the “value” games on the
first day they went on sale.
• Also received free parking for any of five dates
– Expanded their menu of partial plans
• Adding a Pepsi-sponsored 12-pack to a list that included 40-, 20- and six-game plans.
– Upped incentives to season ticket holders who renewed early
• Adding $1 to $5 in concessions or merchandise per game to every ticket
• Those who re-upped early also received a 16-seat suite for one game

Page 14
Gregovits’ New Sales Strategy
• Adding perks
• Adding variable pricing
– Recognizes that all games are not created equal
• When the fans open their wallets, they expect
more than just a ticket!

Page 15
Lower Ticket Prices?
• Teams are feeling pressure to re-examine price
– If attendance drops by 20% each year, the quickest way to fix that
may be through heavy discounting right?
• WRONG!!!
– The additional fans rarely make up for the drop in average price
– In-season price cuts typically upset season-ticket holders who have
been undercut
– Teams that cut prices find it’s difficult to regain that ground

Page 16
Mullin’s Pricing Strategy
• So long as prices are set reasonably to start with, teams should
implement a cost-of-living increase every year.
• Prices in a stadium or arena should be set based on their relationship
to what he calls “oceanfront” property – courtside for basketball, the
50-yard-line for football, down low in the infield for baseball – which
should be re-evaluated and increased as aggressively as possible each
year.
– Don’t push the panic button!

Page 17
Mullin as CEO of the Hawks/Thrashers
• In 2004, the Atlanta Hawks were selling floor seats along the baseline
for $150
– Which was about $300 short of the league average
• Mullin immediately bumped it to $250
– Planned to increase to $350 and then $450 the next two years
• Make sure prices increase on the seats that are in the highest demand
• Implement cost-of-living increases of about 2.5% in most markets
– “I don’t think you can make bold pricing moves in the current economy because it’s
so much under the microscope. But I do believe you can still put on cost-of-living
price increases,” Mullin said.

Page 18
• Derrick Hall
– The president and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks
– Started with the franchise about 4 years ago
• Had to make changes in the Sales Department

Page 19
Personal Touch
• “We weren’t selling tickets, we were answering phones. We needed to
get more aggressive and be more proactive,” said Hall.
• Hall dramatically increased resources
– Expanding a sales staff of 15 into a sales and service department of 50
– Brought in three new managers
• Implemented the typical NBA model
– With a service representative assigned to each season-ticket account
• Constant interaction – E-mails & Phone Calls:
– Is everything ok?
– How are your seats?
– Can I do anything else for you?
– Can we help you with road trips?

Page 20
Personal Touch
• Use the phone as a starting point to find information about the
prospect
• To close, they’re making sales calls and inviting targets in for tours
• Hall estimated that the close rate on the phone is down about 40%
• “People aren’t going to make purchases over the phone anymore.
They’re not going to commit. We’ve got to get them here, and then we
have success,” said Hall.
• Did Hall’s sales tactics work?

Page 21
Personal Touch
• Season-ticket sales were up 20%
– 2,000 new full-season tickets sold
– Revenue increased by 27%
• The Diamondbacks are on the right track!

Page 22
Personal Touch
• In 2005-06, the Washington Capitals in the NHL ranked 3rd
from the bottom in average attendance (13,905)
• A year later the Caps hired Jim Van Stone
– NHL and NBA veteran as vice president of ticket sales
• Van Stone expanded the staff from 25 to 43
– Including an inside sales staff of 15 with its own director
– Funneled individuals into specialties
• Including groups and account services
– Improved training and made rewarding and retaining experienced
account executives a priority

Page 23
Personal Touch
• In his first season, the Caps increased average attendance
by 1,500
• Then last season, they started winning and filling the house
• They’ve been sold out ever since!
• Building their season-ticket base to 12,000
– And placing fans on a waiting list for the 1st
time in team history
• The Caps turned the corner not only because they began
winning, but because they were positioned to take
advantage of it.

Page 24
Words of Wisdom
• “Ticket sales is a grind-it-out business. No matter if you’re in a
stadium like the one I’m in or working for a team at the bottom of one
of the three leagues, the tactics and the success factors are the same.
• You have to have a focused, dedicated, skilled, well-trained, highly
professional sales team approaching the market in a strategic way,
working out of a database that has been well thought out, representing
your organization in a very professional way and building
relationships, and making sales that if you didn’t do all those things
right would not be made.”
– Chad Estis, vice president of sales and marketing for the Dallas Cowboys

Page 25
Key Lessons
• Ticket Sales are the Lifeblood of sport franchises
– Prospecting is the Lifeblood of selling
• Continuous supply of new customers
• Systematic process of locating potential customers
• Careful planning
• Sales technology
– Advances in information technology has increased the speed we acquire and process
information
• Importance of developing a Relationship Strategy
– Salespeople establish, build, and maintain relationships is a major key to success in
personal selling
– Partnering emphasizes building a strong relationship during every aspect of the sale
– Partnerships can be strengthened when salespeople use value-added relationship
strategies

Page 26
Key Lessons
• Sales Departments are more important in today’s industry
– Sales Staffs are increasing
• Do NOT lower prices, add value!
• Add value through the sales staff
– Personal relationships
• Add options to create individualized product solutions

Page 27
Works Cited
King, Bill. "Always Be Closing." Street & Smith's
SportsBusiness Journal (2010): 1-5. Street & Smith's
SportsBusiness Journal. Street & Smith's Sports Group, 15
Mar. 2010. Web. 26 Oct. 2010.
<http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/65062>.

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