1. Chapter 5

2. Studies have been reported in various publications that 84% of a graduating class from Yale (or Harvard) had no goals; but the 3% with written goals earned 5- 10 times as much when studied years later. This is an urban legend. You can often verify such things at www.snopes.comwww.snopes.com A real study was conducted at Dominican University

3. What are your goals? Write them down. This semester? This year? Next 3-5 years? Next 10 years? What is the value of writing them down? Of sharing the goals with someone who will hold you accountable?

4. Current & prospective season ticket holders can be segmented according to four broad categories that influence likely ticket purchases: Demographics Media-related behaviors Barriers to attendance Incentives to attend

5. We will use role-plays as a means to understand and apply the concepts. For each of the chapter sections, a team of students will devise a role play wherein one team member plays the part of a fan who may or may not be interested in buying some form of season tickets (mini-plans, partial season ticket plans, or complete season ticket plans). Student teams will be given 15 minutes to devise the role play. Give careful thought as to how an actual buyer might respond to the power questions provided. Have fun in creating your fictional fan for the role play, but also be realistic. Feel free to adapt the questions and add questions to fit the conversation. After learning the fans responses, the sales rep should attempt to close the sale by offering tickets (single tickets, mini-plans, group, partial season, full-season, game experience) that best fits the fans needs. (You may use the ticket options on the following slide.) The buyer can decide to buy or not, dependent upon how well the seller does in listening & adapting the ticket offer to the buyer.

6. Full Season - Dedicated Account Executive (AE) Exclusive Season Ticket Customer Communication Services Priority for tickets to NBA Playoff Games Discount (15%) on Mavs Merchandise at American Airlines Center Fan Shops and NorthPark Center Store Prepaid Parking Option Guaranteed seats for EVERY home game Priority for your seat during ALL NBA Playoff games Complimentary Media Guide Premium seating areas reserved for full season plans only Half Season Plans – Dedicated Account Executive Exclusive Season Ticket Customer Communication Services Priority for tickets to NBA Playoff Games Discount (15%) on Mavs Merchandise at American Airlines Center Fan Shops and NorthPark Center Store Prepaid Parking Option Mini Season Plan--iDedicated Account Executive Exclusive Season Ticket Customer Communication Services Discount (15%) on Mavs Merchandise at American Airlines Center Fan Shops and NorthPark Center Store

7. Role Play CategoryStudents Assigned Demographics Media-related behaviors Psychic costs & venue convenience Popularity with family & friends & hometown acclimation Perceived ticket value & availability Involvement, loyalty, identification & similarity

8. Demographics

9. 1. How many times each month do you go out for entertainment ? What kind of places do you go? (Try to discern spending levels) 2. Tell me about your family living at home with you. (Listen for marital status and kids.) 3. Where do you live? How far is that from the stadium/arena?

10. Media-Related Behaviors

11. 1. How often do you listen to our games on the radio? 2. Do you find yourself talking with others about the team/game? 3. Did you see any of the games on TV last week? 4. Did you read the article in the paper about _____ this week?

12. To overcome entertainment inertia, barriers to attendance must be addressed: 1. Psychic costs 2. Venue convenience 3. Popularity with friends & family 4. Acclimation to hometown 5. Perceived Ticket Value

13. Step Psychic Effort Required Fan: Buy ticketKnows the best way to go about buying tickets for events. DriveIs familiar with the traffic routes around the venue. ParkIs familiar with the parking options around the venue. Find seatKnows way in and around the venue. Watch gameKnows what youre supposed to do at an event at the venue. Drive homeKnows the best traffic routes out of the venue. Overall Comfort Going to the Game Feels very comfortable about going to a game at the venue. What is entertainment inertia? Psychic costs are high until the fan becomes familiar with the game experience.

14. Psychic Costs & Venue Convenience

15. How many events have you attended here before? (dependent upon response, follow-up with questions 2-5) If you were to come to an event: …how would you get here? …where would you probably park? ….which side of the [venue] would you be likely to enter? …do you know where to pick up tickets at will- call?

16. Direct: Is there anything about going to the game itself that makes it inconvenient for you? Indirect: If someone gave you tickets to the game, would there be any chance that you might stay home to watch the game on TV instead?

17. Popularity with Friends/Family & Hometown Acclimation

18. Who else of your family or friends would like to go to the game with you? This is also a useful time to consider the possibility that the prospect might not be able or willing to buy season tickets alone, but might be willing to share season tickets with others. In that case, ask these two questions: Is there someone you know that might like to share season tickets with you? If there is someone, follow up with: Would you mind if I contacted them to see if they are interested?

19. What % of the population are likely to be transplants in these age groups (p.95): 20-34 35-44 45-54 How long have you lived here? Where do you call home?

20. What % of the population are likely to be transplants in these age groups 20-3475% 35-4430% 45-5420% How long have you lived here? Where do you call home?

21. Perceived Ticket Value & Availability

22. 1. Have you ever bought season tickets for any sport? Follow-up if yes: Tell me about it. For what you paid for the tickets, was it a good value? What did you like or dislike in the package? Follow-up if no: When was the last time you bought tickets to a game? For what you paid for the tickets, was it a good value? What did you like or dislike? 2. If you were to buy (season) tickets here, what price range per game interests you? 3. Have you ever attempted to buy a ticket to the game and couldnt find what you wanted?

23. LowHigh Perceived Ticket Value Most sports fans perceive higher value for higher priced tickets….and the more they attend the more they prefer the higher priced tickets.

24. Options to renew same seat or upgrade to other seats as they become available. Guaranteed playoff seats Invitation to special team sponsored events & other private functions Team store discounts Personal account executive assistance First right to purchase tickets for all other arena events Improved seating comfort (wider, softer, etc.) Guaranteed promotional items Parking passes Access to private club lounge and other Goldmember privileges In-seat wait service Access to private club-level restrooms Coupons for free/discounted events with team partners (ice skating, golf, movies, etc.) Ticket Exchange Programs (unused tickets transferred or sold to others) Assistance buying road game tickets Exclusive email offers for various ticket or merchandise discounts Subscriptions to team magazine or newsletters Some teams are tempted to cut prices to compensate for poor performance on the field or court. But what happens when the team performs well? Will fans react well to the price increases? Instead, try increasing ticket value with added services and other benefits. Which of these would add value to your local teams season tickets?

25. Salespeople should determine how committed the fan is to the team in terms of: 1. Involvement with the sport 2. Loyalty to the team 3. Identification with the team 4. Similarity with the team

27. Involvement, Loyalty, Identification, & Similarity

28. On a scale of 1-10, how much of an (NBA) fan are you? Across all sports, who is your favorite sports team? Within this sport, who is your favorite team? On a scale of 1-10, how loyal would you say that you are to our team?

29. Who are some of the players on the team that you are familiar with? What players on the team do you follow? How do you feel about the players on this years team?

30. 1. Radio listening 2. Age (older more likely) 3. Times going out per month and spending $25+ each time 4. Household Income 5. Perceived ticket availability 6. Psychic Costs 7. Involvement with sport 8. Game-talk: Frequency of talking about the game with others 9. Marital status (married more likely) 10. Hometown acclimation 11. Popularity with friends & family 12. Perceived ticket value In order, these are the best predictors of frequent game attendance among 5000+ NBA fans.

31. Contact non-attenders Executive communication Focus groups

32. Proactive listening means that you seek to maintain high levels of communication and interchange between clients and sales associates as an ongoing process throughout the season after the sale. Whats the difference between proactive & reactive listening?

33. Why do you need to contact non-attending season ticket holders? In what ways can the team engage in executive communication programs? For what types of decisions should the team make use of season-ticket focus groups?

34. Management ActionConsequence The University of Utah moved from an open seating policy for home soccer matches to reserved, assigned seating for the final game of the season (which was to determine the conference championship). Faithful fans who had attended every other home were not aware of the policy change and many were unable to sit in the same seats that they had occupied all season long. In 2002, organizers for the FIFA World Cup in Seoul, South Korea, designated blocks of tickets for sale to specific global markets, so as to allow fans from all countries to attend the matches. Unfortunately, some markets did not respond and the tickets were not made available to other markets. Matches were announced as sold-out, despite the fact that TV camera shots showed entire lower bowl sections empty. As many as 20,000 seats went unused in the opening round. Japanese and South Korean fans were unable to purchase tickets to these matches. Students who pay $135 for basketball season tickets at Michigan State cannot miss more than two games and must wear an Izzone shirt to be eligible to use their own tickets. Students can avoid losing their seats if they have a doctor's note, death notice of a family member or paperwork showing a class conflict. Students have protested to the Student Alumni Association, written letters to the school newspaper and started a Web site to oppose the policy. When the Cincinnati Reds moved to the new Great American Ball Park, fans were only allowed to buy opening day tickets via phone or the internet. No tickets were sold at the Reds box office. Phone and internet sales allowed non-Reds fans (including people from Great Britain) to buy up tickets online and resell on eBay and ticket outlets at multiples of face value, leaving many locals out of luck. Ways to upset season ticket holders

35. There is no such thing as a worthless conversation, provided you know what to listen for. Questions are the breath of life for a conversation. ~ James Nathan Miller