Group outings: How to increase your organization's group sales numbers

The group sales process is entirely different than the path of selling season tickets because anyone and everyone is a considered a potential group sales prospect.

That should be considered the good news.

The challenging news for team marketers is that while everyone is considered a potential group sales target, the difference between one group sale and another is as different as the promotion or opponent scheduled for each game.

The aim of this Report is to showcase successful group sales initiatives from teams of all levels by highlighting how to increase group sales revenue by managing and identifying unique assets, attracting corporate dollars and understanding what makes a solid group sales prospect and a effective group sales executive.

Asset management
By uncovering available assets outside of the traditional gameday experience, the Orlando Magic generated $50,000 in incremental sales for a January game against the Los Angeles Clippers by hosting a cheerleading competition before a game.

The Cheer Classic is a half-day competition for cheerleaders under the age of 18 years old to compete at the TD Waterhouse Centre for four hours prior to a Magic game. The entry fee is $40 per participant that includes registration, a ticket to that night’s game and a T-shirt. Friends and family members can purchase a ticket to the game for $15.

Trophies are awarded during a pre-game ceremony and the top two cheerleading teams have the opportunity to perform during halftime of the Magic game.

“From a sales perspective, you can’t rely on the quality of team to sell tickets and you have to look at the available resources that you can package into a group sale offers,” said Van Leventhal, Assistant Director of Ticket Sales for the Magic. “We are finding that there are so many folks that will come out for other reasons than the game. The challenge is to recognize this and to stay committed to a pricing structure and value formula for these reasons.”

The cheerleading competition is just one example of how the Magic are using their available assets to use as drivers for new group sales revenues.

Including among the myriad of available group sales opportunities are using the court for prior to the game or standing in the tunnel with the players before they enter the court.

Magic Trick
Min. required	Reward
100 tickets	60 minutes court time
75 tickets	10 minutes court time
50 tickets	Stand in tunnel with players
20 tickets	Picture on the court

“The number one thing to do is a lot of listening not only to your prospects but what is relevant in the marketplace,” Leventhal said. “The hardest part is to come up with an idea and it will all flow from there.”

For example, Leventhal mentioned a “Home School Night” planned for later this year that will create a group of students and parents who home school their children that grew from some discussions of the increase in home schooling in the area.

“The group sales business is all about selling the assets that we have and customizing them to meet the needs of specific groups.”

Palace Sports & Entertainment, operators of the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Fury, share the same philosophy of utilizing non-traditional assets as the impetus for a group sale.

“With group sales, the number one rule is to sell what the customer wants and not what we want to sell them,” said Craig Turnbull, Vice President for Palace Sports & Entertainment. “The group sales business is all about selling the assets that we have and customizing them to meet the needs of specific groups.”

Much like the Magic, the Fury offer unique experiences for groups with minimum ticket packages.

For example, groups with at least 25 people can line up in what the Fury call the “Tunnel of Pride.” During the player introductions, these fans line up on the field to greet the players as they enter the field.

“It is so important to give fans, especially in groups, these unique experiences because you are letting them touch-and-feel the product in an intimate way,” said Dave Weemie, Director of Operations for the Fury.

Weemie said it is critical to have policies in place to set minimum purchase requirements for these experiences not only for internal purposes but for external reasons as well.

“By setting the minimum purchase requirements, you are assigning a specific value to the extras that instantly becomes a very powerful sales tool for groups to increase their size,” Weemie said.

What makes a good group sales prospect
While defining assets is the key to incremental group sales, an idea is nothing without a prospect to sell to.

The makeup of a group sales buyer has some strikingly different characteristics than any other ticket buyer.

“The group sales business is so much different than selling season tickets because anyone can potentially be a group buyer where you could never say that about season ticket prospects,” said Jeff Sedivy, General Manager of the Kane County Cougars. “This realization could be considered both a strength and a weakness.”

The Cougars have been among the top 10 ticket sellers in minor league baseball for the last decade and a lot of their success has to do with their perseverance in annually identifying new prospects while maintaining relationships with existing group customers.

The team annually separates their group sales prospects by segments. For example, two categories the team is focusing on this year are manufacturing plants and youth baseball leagues.

The team’s sales manager provides lists for prospects from these segments located within a 20-mile radius and assigns these organizations to the sales staff.

Each sales executive is armed with a customized video CD showcasing the Cougars group experience that is tailored to the segment.

“Little touches like these are worth the effort because they allow the decision-maker to interact and understand the group experience if they have never attended a game with us or been part of the group experience,” Sedivy said. “It is proving to be a great door opener and relationship builder that is leading to sales.”

The relationship component of the group sales is a factor that is used almost universally at all levels, including at the Palace.

“Group sales are all about the relationships and being flexible with the buyer.”

“The season ticket holder buys the tickets largely because they are emotionally invested in the team,” said Sara Daniel, Director of Group Sales for the Palace. “The group buyer is more tied to the person on the other end of the line and their ability to create a memorable one-time event for them. Group sales are all about the relationships and being flexible with the buyer and it is the sales executive’s client to lose at this point.”

Pin-pals
The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are taking relationships and flexibility to new heights for a group sale after the team created its team-branded bowling league thanks to a strong relationship with the Southern California Bowling Association (SCBA).

The group sales program disguised as a bowling league helped the team sell 3,000 group tickets this year while receiving a strong presence in the community.

Approximately 30 bowling centers participated in the program that gives league participants two tickets to three Mighty Ducks games, a team-branded bowling pin, magnetic schedule and team hat for $15 per week over an 10-week period.

“When you stop and think about it, the league is really more of a promotion than a group sale,” said Bill Chapin, Director of Ticket Sales for the Mighty Ducks. “It doesn’t really matter how you categorize it because it is driving large groups into our games and that is what group sales is all about.”

The league is having so much success that the SCBA has started a league with the Anaheim Angels and has been contacted by other teams in the area.

Chapin advises teams looking to start similar leagues in their market to consider three points. First, a team should be organized and prepared to handle all of the orders and have the proper forms in place to fulfill the orders. Secondly, there should be a clear message to the offer, game and league dates and other benefits. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the ticket offer needs to be strong.

“This is one of those great promotions that can work in any market because it is locally driven,” Chapin said. “It will be exciting to watch it grow and determine how many new group sales will be created from the group of league participants wanted to coordinate opportunities on their own.”

Propects under your nose
The AHL Bridgeport Sound Tigers Director of Corporate Sponsorships Ian Boyle said it best when he proclaimed, “Once the season starts, we’re not just sponsorship or ticket departments, we’re all in the revenue-generating department.”

This is just one reason the Sound Tigers are discovering new group sales dollars through a number of the team’s existing sponsors for traditional and non-traditional group sales opportunities by simply breaking down the invisible wall the separates a large percentage of team’s ticket and sponsorship departments.

General Electric is one of the team’s major sponsors and the company added “GE Family Nights” to its sponsorship investment this year. The nights are group sales outings that the company purchased after a discussion with the team focused on showing employees that the sponsorship of the team can benefit them as well.

The GE Family Nights give the company access to have their internal chorus perform at the game, have employees participate during in-game promotions and be recognized throughout the night.

The success of the GE nights has led the Sound Tigers to pursue similar deals with other sponsors, including banks and gas companies.

Southern Connecticut Gas is extending the offer for special group nights to its 165,000 area customers through bill stuffers.

“You couldn’t buy that kind of exposure and it is proving to us daily that corporate sponsor dollars can lead to group sales revenues,” Boyle said. “We already knew these companies are our best supporters so it only makes sense to approach them with group incentives as well that only further enhance their reasons for being involved with the team.”

Who makes an effective group sales executive
Ideas and a sales prospect are key components to the group sales equation but almost every executive interviewed for this piece stressed the need for the right group sales person coordinating the sale.

The AFL Los Angeles Avengers are among the league leaders in group sales numbers and average more than 3,000 group tickets per game. The team attributes its relationships and management of their sales executives as a key component to their group sales success.

Avengers President Todd Merkow said they look for staff members who are experienced in identifying the right people within an organization and encourage them to stay committed to establishing and maintaining a first-name relationship with them.

“The biggest point we stress is the group sales executive’s responsibility to be on a first-name basis with high school football coaches, youth group leaders and principals,” Merkow said. “You can’t expect to be successful if you don’t have that connection with these people. If they can do this, these decision-makers will look to us when they need a fundraiser or a group outing. It is that simple.”

While managing a need to the process is critical, the challenge to approach a group sale more like a event is what can quickly separate a group sales executive from another employee who might be more fit for another area of the business.

“The job description of a group sales executive should be in line with a party planner.”

“They have to be detail-oriented and creative because the group sales is never black or white,” the Magic’s Leventhal said. “The job description of a group sales executive should be in line with a party planner because there is so much maintenance and organization involved that the wrong person can drown under the pressure.”

The pressure of a sale can also be difficult for a sales executive because the group sale can sometimes take more time to develop than other sales.

This is just one reason that the MISL Baltimore Blast continues to preach and look for employees that understand not only relationship-building but patience when approaching group sales.

The philosophy appears to be working as the team is the current league-leader in ticket revenue.

“Some employees get it and others don’t,” said Mike Conway, Assistant General Manager for the Blast. “They have to be the type of person who trusts and values relationships, both in the long- and short-term because deals don’t happen overnight. It takes a special person to understand this and that is the type of person best primed to be successful selling group ticket packages.”

This story was originally published on March 1, 2004.

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