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Abstract
Ticket sales are the lifeblood of nearly every sport organization. Not only do ticket sales generate revenue, outbound sales programs charged with selling tickets aid sport organizations in the development of customer relationships and distribution of marketing materials and messages. Despite the importance of sales in sport, minimal scholarly research has been conducted within sport management literature to determine the effect of sales training on sales performance, as well as perceptions of sales training effectiveness by employees. The current study addresses this gap. Data collected from 140 ticket sales professionals reveals not only an alarming lack of sales training being conducted, but also a statistically significant relationship between the amount of time spent in certain sales training methods and attainment of sales goals. Further, sales managers and sales representatives differed in perceptions of which training methodologies were most effective.
Keywords: sales training, ticket sales, sales effectiveness
Introduction
Revenue produced by ticket sales continues to sustain the majority of spectator sport organizations. As such, it is imperative for those sport organizations to consistently maximize selling opportunities, no matter the environment in which the organization operates. While sports teams typically see an uptick in ticket buying with on-field success or the construction of a new venue, these factors represent unreliable long-term marketing tools. Team success is often fleeting, and the honeymoon effect of new stadia on attendance not only deteriorates rapidly (Howard & Crompton, 2003; McEvoy, Nagel, DeSchriver & Brown, 2005; Zygmont & Leadley, 2005) but is also an expensive venture. On the other hand, implementing an outbound ticket sales force has been shown to provide more consistent ticket sales results and excellent return on investment (Carter & Meitin, 2014; Fischer, 2016; King, 2010; McEvoy & Popp, 2012; Wanless & Judge, 2014). In fact, nearly every North American major league team employs such a department and the trend is quickly growing in popularity among NCAA Division I university athletics departments and minor league sports teams.
Outbound ticket sales programs employ individuals who proactively call on potential ticket buyers in order to cultivate relationships, disseminate marketing information, and provide customer service, while asking for prospects to purchase tickets. Sport organizations now employ dozens of individuals in these roles. As the popularity of such outbound ticket sales...