By Derron Steenbergen
Sometimes, it all begins with sports…
After going to college to be a school teacher and realizing I could not do that the rest of my life, I found myself in the broadcasting business. I began selling and doing play by play for high school sports. Honestly, I knew nothing about radio and television and less about selling. But I did feel like I knew sports. My father was a longtime successful basketball coach and I had grown up in the gym and on the field. Plus, I had played nearly every sport out there at one point and time in my youth. This clearly, however, did not make me qualified to have success!
Sports, though, gave me the lifeline to begin to figure it out. I understood teamwork. I understood practice. I understood success followed effort, energy and enthusiasm. So, therefore, I built what has become a very rewarding career on the back of sports. I called games on the radio while prospecting the crowd for potential clients. You see, if they are the game, they like sports or in many cases, someone playing it. They were all there…Parents, grandparents, business owners, etc.
I was a young kid who didn’t have much common ground yet with the business community. Sports helped me find it and use it to connect with the community. It helped me start building my brand as someone who not only could describe the action but show you how to build a brand for your business through it. Sports became my common ground with businesses across my community.
So, for each of you and your media properties, perhaps you should incorporate sports into your plan. It can be high school, college, the pros or even getting connected with youth sports and little league. The most difficult thing to get our clients to do with us at times is open up. We just need them to talk with us, to tell us about their business. People want to talk about things that they are passionate about. Let sports be the common denominator for you and them.
It might just help you start to “win more games”!
Don’t miss “Emotional Selling With Sports”, a live event on the Ten-Minute Trainer Network, July 16th at 11am CST, where we’ll dive into strategies you can use to propel your sales game!