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As the first day of classes approached hesitantly awoke and walked to campus. I enrolled In a total of four marketing courses that included Marketing Research, Personal selling, Brand Management and Sales Management. Each of these pertained to the expertise required for my future career goals. This said, I finally felt that I could gain industry knowledge that may be used in real life scenarios. When assigned a personal selling project that included either signing up golf players or receiving a corporate sponsorship, I gracefully accepted the challenge.
When I found out that I was also assigned another Field Project in my Personal Selling course that required students to meet a quota of two hundred dollars to be raised for the golf tournament I began to worry. The two courses provide this assignment individually and we cannot “double dip” in sales meaning that I had to perform at an even higher level than other students. At first I regarded this as a set back but in time I came to deduce that this concept made me a more determined and aggressive salesman. Being that I am an active member of
Tech Marketing Association, the process of selling sponsorships for the golf tournament was already a priority on my list of things to accomplish. Not only did this give me an advantage in the sense that I am “killing two birds with one stone” but as well I possess more knowledge on the event itself and can provide potential participants with information without having to memorize a selling technique and relay it to them. The fact that I was a bronze member last semester and am shooting to be a gold member this spring is also an incentive that I have in selling sponsorships for the spring event.
First and foremost, I began to narrow down my options as far as the people to call who would potentially have an Interest In the tournament due to the fact that they played golf. This market segmentation technique was useful in selecting a few players who were family friends or acquaintances. However, this was not so useful In the sense that the majority of the contacts listed lived In or around the Houston area. The fact that the tournament takes place In Lubbock, Tx at Shadow Hills Golf course presented Itself as my first difficulty In the selling process.
As the weeks progressed, I continued to think about attention candidates to play in Tech Marketing Associations Spring golf tournament. I ran into a few problems in contacting family friends throughout the day as my school these individuals. I attend classes 9:30-pm most days and did not think it was necessary to call at am nor after pm. After a few calls and no responses, I began to leave detailed vocalism messages. I received a few calls back but again it was conflicting due to the fact that I was in class and missed them.
One Friday afternoon I was released from class early, I decided it would be a convenient time to make a few hone calls during the lunch hours. An old friend of my stepfather’s, who is also a Tech graduate, was first on my list. Matthew Hammed was a great prospect because he fit the criteria of being within the area where the event is to take place in April and possesses an interest in the sport of golf. The underlying fact that he owns his own business in Southland was also a factor that made him a potential buyer.
When he didn’t answer, I left a vocalism on his answering machine detailing not only how his participation in this event would prove beneficial to the brand name of his products ND his company but as well how it would benefit myself as well as the other members of Tech Marketing Association. The following week I received a phone call from Mr.. Hammed and he expressed an interest in the tournament but said that he had been very busy with business lately and had to check his schedule and get back to me at a later time.
A week passed and I decided it was time to close the deal and regard Mr.. Hammed as a participant or start calling other prospects that may peak an interest in the tournament. I called around lunchtime on a Friday afternoon again knowing that he would be available. After a short conversation, Matthew Hammed agreed to sponsor the tournament, as he could not attend the event due to prior commitments he had already made. Emails with the attached documentation were sent to his business email and detailed instructions were included in my message.
Although, I had sent him all of the information promptly I was still slightly worried that he may somehow forget to either include my name or make the payment on time. Once again, I decided to make a follow up sales call to his office and try and discuss a time and location for us to meet and fill out the required documentation to analyze the corporate sponsorship. With both of our busy schedules, finding common grounds in which to meet became quite the difficulty. His business is located in Southland and he resides in Post. This fact made interaction an even timelier event when distance was considered.
All factors considered, I decided one Monday morning that I would make the trip to the Gag Production facility and pick up the documentation at Mr.. Hammer’s convenience to release the burden of him emailing the paperwork to the wrong recipient. I looked up the location of Matt Hammed Gag Products on Google Maps and set out to make the sale. Before I left the parking lot, I called Mr.. Hammed to confirm that the timing was appropriate to meet with him and pick up the paperwork. As he agreed, I drove to Southland and had some difficulty finding the production facility yet found it eventually.
Keeping in mind the various sales techniques that I have been learning these past few weeks of class, I opened the car door in a confident manner. As I entered the office, I very kindly introduced myself to both his secretary, who appeared to be his wife, and his assistant manager Jacob. After discussing the event and how the proceeds would benefit TAMA members I handed the owner for his time in the sales process and let him know that I would email him pictures of his sponsored hole at the event and be more than willing to gratitude for their kindness, I shook the staffs hands as I left the facility bright eyed with a smile.
The things that I found most relevant to sales courses at Texas Tech were the fact that it is very important to be customer oriented and necessary to maintain a great relationship with prospects. Although I had met Matt Hammed once before I continued to keep a professional relationship with him and showed him the utmost respect in every phone call as well as the final encounter.
I completely understood how keeping in contact with him and respecting his time was a very important element to him. In doing this I was attempting to gain his trust so that he’d feel comfortable sponsoring an event that I was involved with. After the contract was signed I also showed an interest in his facility and asked him to take me for a small tour. This was my way of showing interest in “the customer’s business,” which relates to a common sales follow up technique that Vive learned.