The Maiden Voyage

So I'm kick-starting a project I've wanted to do for quite some time now.  Blog.

When you have a thousand thoughts and ideas bouncing around in your head, it's nice to put them down on paper (or virtual paper as the case may be) and toss a few of those into your recycle bin to empty at a later date.

On this, my maiden voyage of blogging, I'd like to talk about the driving force behind sales -whether it be tickets, insurance, or K-Cups:  Relationships.

If the classic phrase is "It's not what you know it's who you know" then I like to take that a step futher.  "It's not who you know, it's who knows you."

When you work in ticket sales for a professional hockey team, and thus the will call for people picking up said tickets, you meet a few dandies.  I've had the privilege of meeting players such as Jay Leach, Kevin Stevens, Igor Larionov, and more as they've passed through my little corner of the world to attend a Syracuse Crunch game.

Perhaps the biggest gem, and one of the nicest I've met, is TSN's own Hockey Insider: Bob McKenzie.

Bob passed through Syracuse back in our 2010-2011 season as his eldest hockey playing son, Mike McKenzie, was skating for the Charlotte Checkers for a Crunch home game.

Like a stalker, I had a picture taken with him when he picked up his tickets, and memorized his seat location.

During the game, I went to his seat to introduce myself and forged the beginning of a semi-relationship by talking to him about the one common denominator of conversations with any parent: their children.

We spent much of the period discussing his son Mike and his hockey playing adventures through the years- though he politely asked when his son hopped the boards to take his next shift- that he would go silent to observe his shift.

As the period came to a close, I thanked him for his time and for chatting as fellow hockey parents about our kids.

A few years later, as Guy Boucher's tenure as head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning came to a close, I awoke one Sunday morning to find I had a new follower on twitter.  Yup.  Bob McKenzie.  Accompanying my newest "fan" was a direct message simply stating "Hey, how goes it? You losing a coach down there, I wonder?"

Of course, Bob was referencing Jon Cooper, he of the rising hockey fame with championships at each level of hockey and adoring players listening to his every word.

Being a ticket guy, and a bit groggy that morning, I had no clue and I'm sure Bob knew that the prospects may not have been good that I would have known anything but it didn't stop him from engaging the relationship we had forged years prior.

Even in years after (since he must have forgotten to click unfollow lest he witness my incessant photos of my wife, my dog, and other nonsensical postings) he hasn't hesitated to reach out with a hockey related request for information or even a response to our other shared passion: Dinosaur BBQ. 

At the source is what Bob does best and why he is the hockey insider: Relationships. 

In sales, it's not about asking for the sale that helps you close.  It's about establishing that you're not simply in the business to take an order and not bother to reach out again until you're ready to ask for another sale. Many days, I will break up the monotony of sales calls with the occasional call to a customer just to see how things are going.  The beauty of my job is that I'm selling an entertaining commodity.  I get to talk hockey all day every day.

It's reassuring to my clients that when they pick up the phone it's not always about spending money.  It's about continuing an ongoing relationship that goes past that of buyer to seller.

And while more recently, Bob once again reached out to inquire about the ongoing Jonathan Drouin situation (still have no clue what was going on at the time) he knows that the lifeblood of his business, or any other, will always be about the relationship.

P.S.  Bob, the offer for dinner at Dinosaur BBQ if you're ever in town is still on the table.

~VP TC