JOB DESCRIPTION

Associate, The CORE
Sports are a focal point in the lives of many worldwide, but especially in the United States. In grade school, the most popular dream job tends to be a professional athlete. Yet like many others, I realized early on that I don’t have the genes and skills necessary to hear my name called under the bright lights. Because of this, I looked to combine my passions for sports and business in a training heavy role in the Oakland Athletics CORE program, an innovative sports sales and business development academy.
An Associate within The CORE is a person responsible for maximizing revenue for the Ticket Sales Department through sales of season tickets, group tickets, and suites. Associates also closely interact with high-level executives and perform projects under other departments. These are two aspects of the position that separates this program from the sales academies commonly found around the country. The open nature of high-level executives goes to show the supportive culture necessary to fuel the growth of Associates, not just within the Oakland Athletics organization, but in the industry as a whole. These business development projects are great because they help me learn about that vertical and determine my area of interest, if not Sales.
My role is best explained when dividing it into two components:
·      Traditional Sales
·      Business Development
Traditional Sales
Like a standard position within a pro sports team’s inside sales program, I am expected to sell season ticket memberships, group tickets, and suites to clients. On a daily basis, you will find me personally engaging clients via:
·      Outbound phone calls
·      Face-to-face appointments
·      Offsite networking events
·      Incoming inquiries which are requests for more information that are sent in by those interested either through our website or email.
Imagine that you’re a business owner who’s wanting to surprise your staff with a company trip to the ballpark. You send me an email requesting more information about group tickets. I would call you to present any promotions or dates that meet your needs and complete the sale. After this, I’d create a profile using the customer relationship management system, adding information like conversation touch points, preferences, gifts, or activities. This is very important as these notes can help me improve your experience now and in the future.
Game days are unique to sports; therefore, my responsibilities change as I am out of the office and at the ballpark. Pro baseball seasons contain 162 games which means that each team will host 81 games. My duties for those 81 games include:
·      Client visits
·      Managing sales tables
·      Assisting with department and organization events
These traditional duties under the Ticket Sales Department make up about 70% of my Associate responsibilities.
Business Development
“CORE activities” make up the other 30%. These are those special projects under verticals outside Ticket Sales. As an Associate, I have completed projects with these departments:
·      Community Engagement
·      Corporate Partnerships
·      Marketing
·      Strategy
For example, let’s say that my next project will be with Corporate Partnerships. To start, I’ll sit down with Greg Rieber (Senior Director of Corporate Partnerships) and we would try to find potential industry categories that can either be newly introduced or current categories that can be better exposed from a partnership standpoint. I will then look more in-depth by searching the industries’ companies that want to be marketed in pro sports. The status of current sponsors must also be checked, as they may want more or improved exposure. Finally, I take this information and build a partnership proposal, which means creating a PowerPoint and Word document. These would then be turned into the Corporate Partnership team and could be chosen for me to present.

Readability Statistics
Flesch Reading Ease              50.2
Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level  10.9

Passive Sentences                  0%

Comments

  1. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2019 at 4:28 PM

    Hi Scott,

    I can relate to being curious about the business of sports after growing up with sports as a kid. It's awesome that you were able to have face time with clients in your role. Working in cross functional jobs seems to be the best way to figure out what kind of career path you would like to take after graduation

    PS: Did you come up with your blog name from Barstool?

    -Allegra

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kuniFebruary 4, 2019 at 9:55 PM

      Hey Allegra,

      I didn't even know of Barstool Rundown. I had a few ideas like '411' or 'inside scoop' and thought 'the rundown' sounded the best.

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 27, 2019 at 8:11 PM

    Hey Scott,

    It seems like you are going to be able to challenge yourself while working in an industry that you are passionate about. Also, seems like you will have a lot of fun going to all the games as well!

    --Khalil

    ReplyDelete
  3. James Yun BlogJanuary 27, 2019 at 8:45 PM

    Hey Scott,

    It's great that you have passion for what you do. I have also worked in sales and so have an idea of what you do. As a sales person, I'm guessing you face a lot of rejection. Does it ever discourage you and if so what do you do to overcome those feelings of discouragement?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. kuniFebruary 4, 2019 at 9:56 PM

      Hi James,

      Yeah definitely. The worst someone could say is "No." Can't knock the hustle.

      Delete

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