THE SOLUTION

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 IMG LEARFIELD TICKET SOLUTIONS EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER MONDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2013

AN ALARM FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL

by Eric Fisher

Sports Business Journal

A national survey has delivered

a sobering view of college foot-

ball, finding it lacking in areas

such as customer service, game

-day experience and afforda-

bility.

The findings are among the key

results of an extensive look by

Turnkey Sports & Entertain-

ment and Ohio University into

the satisfaction level of college

football ticket buyers. They sur-

veyed more than 75,000 fans

representing 68 schools from

the Division I Football Bowl

Subdivision and every major

conference in the sport over the

past several months.

The effort is thought to be the

largest single study into college

football attendance, which

among FBS schools has fallen

three of the past four seasons.

The study looked at both season-

ticket holders and ticket buyers

of all types.

The survey put ticket buyers’ sat-

isfaction level far behind the lev-

els for fans of many other com-

peting sports properties. College

football ticket buyers produced a

Net Promoter Score, a customer

loyalty measurement gauging

how likely a brand is to be pro-

moted to others by its consum-

ers, of 19, roughly one-third the

comparable figure for the NFL.

(ALARM continued on page 4)

IMG LEARFIELD TICKET SOLUTIONS IN ACTION!

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 THE SOLUTION PAGE 2

NOVEMBER NUMBERS ARE IN!

$1,510,641.86

NEW TICKET REVENUE

$1,602,172

TOTAL REVENUE

(NEW SALES + RENEWALS)

77,170

OUTBOUND CALLS

General Manager, Eric Vasquez of Air Force Colorado win vs. Kansas!

Sell out game! NC State vs. Clemson Sell out game! South Carolina vs. Clemson Sell out game! Auburn vs Alabama

Lady Vols hosting the Texas Longhorns! Gators host the Jayhawks! Group outing at Penn State WBB game!

That number is also a mere frac-

tion of the score for leading con-

sumer brands such as Amazon

and Southwest Airlines, and far

less than many individual teams,

properties and events in the sports

industry.

Net Promoter Score operates on a

scale of negative 100, in which

every customer is a detractor, to

positive 100, in which everyone is a

promoter.

Among the specific levels of con-

cern: Fans lack a feeling their spe-

cific program is committed to win-

ning, they don’t feel sufficiently

valued by their program, and many

game-day amenities in college

football are not keeping up with

those found in other sports. In to-

tal, the respondents averaged a

7.1 on a 10-point scale on their

overall satisfaction with their col-

lege football ticket purchase ver-

sus their expectations.

Any response less than a 9 or 10 is

seen as being passive or a detrac-

tor to the brand. As a result, the

findings in the college football

study showed at best lukewarm

support for the current fan experi-

ence. The composite figure takes

into account an array of related

purchasing factors, such as pric-

ing, customer service, facility

amenities, and game-day experi-

ence.

“We’ve simply got to make games

more enjoyable for fans,” said Dan

Butterly, Mountain West Confer-

ence senior associate commis-

sioner and an adjunct professor at

Ohio University. “The expectations

that fans have, particularly in light

of what costs now are, have gone

up measurably.”

Three major factors were seen as

contributors to the relatively low

satisfaction score for college foot-

ball ticket buyers: price, height-

ened consumer demands fueled in

part by the improved TV viewing

experience at home, and college

football holding less of a unique

position among many fans.

“Before, college football was more

of a thing unto itself. But now, it’s

competing like everything else

against all the other entertainment

options out there,” said Len Perna,

Turnkey president and chief ex-

ecutive.

The survey did not filter between

internal ticket sales and those

schools that outsource their sales

efforts, which in recent years has

become increasingly popular in

the collegiate ranks. The study did

find, not surprisingly, a direct cor-

relation between fans’ intent to

renew their ticket purchases and a

sense of feeling valued by the or-

ganization.

The participating schools in the

study have received access to the

findings in an extensive dashboard

presentation that shows their own

scores versus those of their con-

ference and the survey at large.

The research findings are free for

the participating schools this year,

but will carry a cost of $4,900 per

university next year.

Normally Turnkey has required

weeks, if not months, to compile

and present data from net pro-

moter surveys such as this. But

the company turned around the

data finding in this project in

roughly a week.

Among the individual schools that

showed particularly high scores in

the survey, Baylor University

posted the highest measures of

overall satisfaction by season-

ticket holders. The University of

Central Florida posted the highest

score for customer service satis-

faction, and UNC Charlotte, a pro-

gram in its first year of play,

posted the highest scores among

season-ticket holders for game-

day experience.

“A big takeaway for us from this

was the need to stay focused on

the fundamentals. Parking, your

traffic flow, core game experience

and so forth,” said Zack Lassiter,

University of Central Florida sen-

ior associate athletic director for

external operations.

“When you’re working to convince

fans to consume the in-person ex-

perience versus staying at home,

it’s not necessarily the next new

gadget or marketing trend that’s

going to win, but rather those fun-

damentals. And you need to keep

your resources and spending pro-

portionally aligned against that.”

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 IMG LEARFIELD TICKET SOLUTIONS EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER PAGE 3

AN ALARM FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL

(Continued from page 1)

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 THE SOLUTION PAGE 4

I’m sick of hearing salespeople, or

just employees for that matter, play

the blame game. They blame their

spouse, they blame their leads,

they blame their territory, they

blame their employer, and so

on. In essence, they hold everyone

else accountable except for them-

selves. They blame others for their

failure or mediocrity. They let oth-

ers dictate their brand.

Believe it or not, you are a

brand. Sometimes it’s referred to

as a reputation when speaking to a

person, but I believe that it’s bigger

than that. I believe that people are

a brand that can add value to them-

selves regardless of the situation.

You build a solid brand by making

yourself better, by accomplishing

tasks, and by building a reputation

as an expert. You can’t do it by sit-

ting in your cubicle, so get busy

with the steps below.

Don’t Settle on the Leads Given to

You: this may be the number one

gripe of sales professionals. If you

don’t like the leads you’re given, go

out and get some better

ones. Good salespeople close the

leads they’re provided. Great

salespeople close the leads they’re

provided and network to get better

leads. Join multiple networking

groups, canvass office parks, and

keep an open eye for leads. Why

would you let someone else dictate

how successful you can be? With-

out numbers it is hard to be a

brand. If it is the leads holding you

back, then go get your own. Take

control!

Get a Mentor, or Five: Search out

someone that has established

themselves as a brand. The beauty

of all of this is that you don’t have to

do it by yourself. There are hun-

dreds of executives who have done

this that can give you priceless ad-

vice. Me? I have seven mentors

that I go to on a regular basis.

Brag a bit: Don’t take this the

wrong way, don’t put up a sign that

reads “I’m the greatest”, but you

need to tell your story. If you are

number one on the sales board,

make sure people know. Put it on

your resume, post it to your

LinkedIn account (you better have

one), post it on the bio of your Twit-

ter, and incorporate it into conver-

sations with high end execu-

tives. Also, explain how you did

it. This is more important than the

actual revenue generated. Did you

do it by selling premium items, by

selling businesses, by generating

your own leads, etc? This is how

you can carve out a niche for your-

self. There are a lot of #1 sellers

out there, there are not a lot of #1

sellers who generate their own

leads, sell very high end inventory

to very high end individuals, all

while building great relationships

and establishing themselves as the

expert through continuous learn-

ing.

Have Others Tell Your Story: More

important than you telling your

story, is someone else telling your

story for you. Do you have a net-

work of professionals out there

telling your story? People instruct-

ing others who are looking to be-

come experts that they need to call

you. Probably not because you’re

too busy complaining that the com-

pany didn’t send you to the industry

workshop.

YOU ARE A BRAND, CONTROL IT

by Matt Smith

Regional Manager (West)

“...people are a brand

that can add value to

themselves regardless of

the situation...build a

solid brand by making

yourself better, by ac-

complishing tasks, and

by building a reputation

as an expert. ”

VOLUME 1, ISSUE 4 IMG LEARFIELD TICKET SOLUTIONS EMPLOYEE NEWSLETTER PAGE 5

Shannon Crawford

December 8th

Account Executive

Duke

Greg Huff

December 16th

General Manager

Pittsburgh

Brandon Gilson

December 11th

Account Executive

Boston College

“A season ticket sell out in

Coach Doeren's inaugural

season continues to show

how passionate and loyal

our fan base is for Wolf-

pack Athletics. Their sup-

port for the all of our stu-

dent athletes is something

we can always count on

from them. We want to

thank our outbound sales

partners IMG in helping us

achieve our goal of a sell

out. We look forward to

an exciting season."

Brian Kelly

Assistant AD for Ticket

Sales and Operations

NC State

"The IMG Learfield sales

team has generated

broad-based interest,

record ticket sales, and

created goodwill with

our fan base. Their

patience with individual

requests and follow-up

are superb. Through

their work ethic and

energy, the ticket team

has built a solid founda-

tion that will result in

increased ticket reve-

nues for years to

come. We cannot say

enough good things

about our relationship

with IMG Learfield

Ticket solutions, and we

have only begun to reap

the benefits of our asso-

ciation."

Bill Bradshaw

Former AD

Temple

Anthony Di Fino

December 3rd

General Manager

Penn State

Congratulations to Brendan

Jones, Sr. Account Executive

at NC State University for be-

ing selected as the December

Employee of the Month!

Brendan began working for

IMG Learfield in September

2012. He has accomplished

major sales milestones since

joining the staff. Brendan is

recognized for generating

more than $158K in Men’s

Basketball new season tickets

and more than $168K in new

season tickets for Football.

EMPLOYEE SPOTLIGHT!

Brendan Jones

Sr. Account Executive—NC State

One of Brendan’s customers says that he

is “always so helpful and it makes the

process seem seamless when trying to

order tickets or decide what options are

best.” Carly Venick, General Manager of

the NC State property states that

“Brendan displays not only a tremendous

work ethic, but a positive attitude that is

infections to those who work with him.

He takes full advantage of every opport-

Unity presented and is al-

ways looking for new leads

to drive sales.

A graduate of Clemson Uni-

versity, Brendan’s hobbies

include playing with his new

puppy (Layla) and watching

the Atlanta Braves and Mi-

ami Heat.

Brendan’s motto to live by is

“You don’t know unless you

ask!” Kudos to you Brendan

and keep up the great work!