There is a “get it” factor in our business. No matter how many times you tell people, some just don’t get it. No matter how long you have been in the industry, or no matter how much success you have had, sometimes your staff, or your owner just won’t listen.
I arrived in Cleveland just a few weeks ago, and what I found was extremely refreshing.
I found a group of people who completely understood the need to sell tickets first, who are willing to put in the extra work to make sure it happens, that are coachable, and have a level of professionalism needed for this type of work.
All they needed was some training.
In our business, nothing happens until someone sells a ticket. During training, we explain it as follows:
In Egypt, the pyramids have stood the test of time because of one thing. They have a strong foundation or base.
Think about your own business. What is the one thing that is your base or foundation? For me, it’s tickets.
Tickets are the foundation for which all other success comes. Without ticket sales, sponsorships are worthless. If there are no tickets sold, nobody is paying to park, buying merchandise, food and beverages are not consumed and likely, there will be no television revenue – after all, if they are not coming to your arena, they are probably not watching on television.
I had an owner once that could not get past the fact that tickets were the most important -the most critical – inventory that we needed to sell. He saw the large dollar values associated with corporate partnerships, and thought that was the fastest way to bring down the significant deficit the team had enjoyed for years.
The problem with that logic is simple; you can sell a million dollars in sponsorship for one year, and if there is nobody in the arena to watch the games, you will never get that million dollars back. It’s not rocket science, but for some reason people just don’t get it.
When I finally sit down and finish my book one day, that chapter will be titled “don’t let this happen to you.”
As a business owner or manager, you must decide what your foundation is. Only you know what you can build your pyramid on, and then you must become the best at building that foundation. Better than your competition, better than anyone else. Only you know what that is.
As for me, our sales team and I have tickets to sell, a lot of tickets. We are building the best ticket sales team in the world, and nobody is going to stop us.
Cory Howerton
Chief Operating Officer / General Manager
Cleveland Gladiators
Endeavor Sales Blog 