Sales Management & Leadership Development Course

Sales Management & Leadership Development Course
“From the sales trenches to the Managers office”
Bi-weekly 4 session online course- spread over 8 weeks “at your pace” best practices.

Director’s of Ticket sales know the importance of sales rep training.  Yet, most Sales Director’s receive little Management Training of their own.  Directors have typically been promoted to the Management office because they were great at sales. However, mastering sales and becoming a great sales manager are two distinct skill sets.  The new Director of Sales Development course provides currently employed Director of Sales an opportunity to enhance their sales management skills, which will help them achieve team revenue goals. This course will help first time Sales Director’s sharpen management skill across ALL key areas of top sales management. Revenue generation for sports teams and collegiate properties starts with confident, trained, and experienced DOS. This is a premiere, one-of-a-kind, online training course and mentorship program

Sales Manager & Leadership Development Course Content includes:

• Recruiting and training
• Revenue goals, quotas, and sales activity
• Teambuilding techniques
• Leadership skills
• Methods to create positive energy and build a strong sales culture
• Employee retention techniques
• Hiring and Firing strategies
• Establishing accountability and expectations for Account Executives
• Sales Contests that work
• Effective and dynamic sales meetings
• Generating maximum revenue from full season and partial season sales
• Bringing out the best in your sales force
• Compensation, forecasting, and budgeting
• Lead generation and management
• Time management for reps
• New business generation and ticket sales plans

Pre-requisite: Participants must be employed full time as a Director of Sales, Sales Manager, or sales leadership role with a professional team or collegiate property.

Length: This program is 8 weeks long, with 4 unique live audio chats every other week.

Format: Taking into consideration the busy schedule of the typical Sales Director, this course will allow participants to share via the online classroom. Director’s will interact with the class facilitators, guest speakers and via the SMWW E-Arena will build relationships with other team Directors develop a true sales leader “buddy system” Teams will not be asked to disclose financials but will be expected to share techniques, skills and strategies and learn not only from the Trainers and the top teams in the industry, but also from one another.

Live Audio Chats: These will be held on Wednesday evenings at 8pm eastern time, 5pm pacific time for 75 minutes. Headset, microphone and passwords for the online live audio chat are included in the course fee. For the session starting April 21st, 2010 the live audio chats will be on the following dates:

• April 21st, 2010- Discussion Topic will be Ticket Sales Structure and Accountability
• May 5th, 2010- Effective Recruiting Tools and Effective Sales Meetings (Guest- Michael Hitchcock – Playbook Management Int’l/former FC Dallas) GM)
• May 19th, 2010- Elevating Sales Cultures/ Incentive Plans & Sales Contests  (Drew Young- Philadelphia Eagles)
• June 2nd, 2010- Sales Training & Retention – (Guest- Ryan Robbins- Oakland Raiders)
  
• June 9th, 2010 - Wrap up session

Best Practices Discussion Board Postings: At the convenience of the Sales Director, asynchronous learning will be taking place. Each Sales Director will be responsible, on their own schedule to post items to share to enhance the bi-weekly discussions. This will vary based on the bi-weekly live audio chat topic, but may include sales contests, sales meeting agendas, recruiting ideas, incentive plans, etc. In addition, the online classroom will include modules and a resource library with examples from successful teams.

Weekly Readings: Two books are included in the course fee and will be integrated into the unique aspects of the sports industry. Quizzes to enhance learning are offered in the online classroom.

Goal: For each Sales Director to improve their overall sales culture, increase revenue, enhance employee retention, and have access to resources and networking options while maintaining their busy schedule. We know sales people are motivated by comparing numbers, therefore we also know, top Sales Directors will be motivated and challenged by fellow Sales Directors's.

Training facilitators and Mentors:

Mark Washo and Chris Keeney- (a combined 40 years of team ticket sales expertise!)
Chris and Mark started in Ticket Sales, and have made the successful transition from sales, to sales management, to team General Managers

Mentors help a person to do a job more effectively and to progress in their career. To act as a “mentor” you must have "been there, done that"! A successful mentor has many personal experiences in their “tool box” to share, guide, and advise. They utilize different resources collected from years in the business, and a variety of approaches including coaching, training, discussion, motivating, and intuition from practical knowledge.

Mark Washo is the President and General Manager of the Washington Freedom, (Women's Professional Soccer). Mark has more than 18 years of professional sports experience, most recently as the Executive Vice President of the Chicago Fire Soccer Club, (MLS) where he oversaw Ticket Sales, Ticket Operations, Customer Service, Marketing, Community Relations and Public Relations. Prior to joining the Chicago Fire, Mark was the Senior Vice President of the New York-New Jersey MetroStars. (Now the New York Red Bulls). Mark joined the MetroStars after spending the previous five seasons with D.C. United as the team's Senior Director of Ticket Sales. Mark has seen success in every sports franchise that he has worked for. After a small stint working in insurance and the rental car business, Mark decided his passion was sports. He started with the Buffalo Bison Baseball and then the Washington Bullets (Wizards) and worked his way up to Executive VP. Having experienced the success and rewards of working in an industry he loved, Mark published "Break Into Sports Through Ticket Sales." His quest is to help you break into a career you love and have a passion for. Mark is currently the President of MMW Marketing, a sports and entertainment consulting firm, that works with professional sports teams and University Division I School Athletic Departments to improve customer service and ticket sales. Well known in sports industry, Mark is a huge asset to your sales team and you will enjoy getting to know him in the live audio chats.

Chris Keeney joined the Lone Star Sports and Entertainment (LSSE) staff in 2008 after 13 successful years working in Major League Soccer culminating with his position as Vice-President of Ticket Sales for the Columbus Crew. Keeney currently serves as the General Manager of LSSE which is a special events division of the Houston Texans of the National Football League. As general manager of LSSE, Keeney oversees major events including the Texas Bowl, neutral site college football games, international soccer matches, and stadium show musical concerts.  Further, LSSE has played key roles in the success of the Shell Houston Open (PGA), Pro Beach Volleyball (AVP) and is serving on the World Cup Houston Local Organizing Committee.  LSSE’s 2010 event calendar includes a Pre-World Cup match with Mexico in May, the Major League Soccer All-Star Game in July, a college football kickoff game between Rice and the University of Texas in early September, the Battle of the Piney Woods, the 2nd oldest college football rivalry in the state of Texas, between Sam Houston State University and Stephen F. Austin State University in October and the fifth year of the Texas Bowl featuring the new match-up between the Big 12 and Big Ten in late December.

Prior to joining LSSE, Keeney spent 13 years working for various Major League Soccer organizations, such as D.C. United, Real Salt Lake and the Columbus Crew. During his time with D.C. United, Keeney was awarded the Inaugural Commissioner’s Sales Person of the Year and the Commissioner’s New Business Leadership Award honors.  With Real Salt Lake, he served as the Senior Director of Sales. Under Keeney’s leadership, Real Salt Lake saw a 44 percent growth in season seat sales. As Vice President of Ticket Sales and Services for the Columbus Crew, he led the team towards revenue that exceeded its goal by 25 percent, due largely to an overall ticket sales growth of 29 percent and was awarded the 2007 Employee of the Year.

Fee for course: $495 (plus shipping)
Fee includes all course materials, books, passwords, headset and microphone. All participants need, is a computer with internet access.

Prerequisites: Must be currently employed as a Director of Sales or equivalent for a professional team or collegiate property

Payment: Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover

Call 877-SMWW-Now (503-445-7105) and ask for PJ Savage. Or email PJ@smww.com with your resume and job title to see if you qualify for this course.