Off-Season Selling - Pt. 1

Right when a sport’s season ends, I tend to get 2-4 write-in requests from reps of that sport. They all seem to go like this:

Our season is over. How am I supposed to make sales when there is no urgency from our buyers?

Or…

How do I sell tickets when no one’s even thinking about our team right now?

Selling in the off-season is really difficult. I’m not about to say it’s easy. So we’re going to tackle this topic in two parts. This blog will focus on the mentality you need to take to be an elite off-season seller, the next will focus on tactics you can take to maximize the off-season.

Elite salespeople are always looking for advantages. Small ways they can be smarter or more efficient than their peers. In fact, the best salespeople I’ve been around are obsessed with it.

Good salespeople maximize the moments when it’s easy to sell. When a premier opponent comes into town. When we go on-sale with a product. When we face the close of a pricing window. Etc. This is when good salespeople are at their best. Everyone may be selling, but they’ve prepared for the moment and are ready to maximize it. But there’s always a limit on what you can sell in specific moments…so it’s hard for good people to separate themselves from other good salespeople.

Good salespeople struggle in the months of the year when it’s tough to sell. Elite salespeople, then, see those months as the opportunity to create an advantage. And they attack.

So the dirty secret to being an elite salesperson?

Selling when selling is easy will never separate good salespeople. The easiest way to differentiate yourself is by selling when no one is selling.

This JJ Watt quote is a little corny...but it's very, very true...and relates perfectly to the right off-season sales mentality. People who don't sell sports don't have an on-season, or an off-season...they just have selling season. We need to adopt that mentality better in sports. Selling in the off-season 100% starts with a decision. Instead of looking around to find excuses why it’s tough, it’s saying, 'Here’s my opportunity…I just need to figure it out.'

I’m in offices all the time and see reps 100% take their foot off the gas pedal in the off-season. But it’s absolutely where the elite salespeople put their foot down. What type of salesperson do you want to be? You make the choice...because rent is due right now (insert eye roll face here).