Closing the Deal at a Baseball Game

Posted by Travel Blogger on Jul 8, 2010 in Pro Sports |

This month I’m only stopping in 3 cities. As such, I was able to pack a bit lighter than normal, and have been able to move around the traveling spots much easier than when I have that extra baggage to carry along. I was sure to do some extra research during my scheduling time and knowing I’d be heading to Texas, I found some killer Houston hotel deals. And this of course, as I’ve been harping since mid-April, has allowed me to catch a couple of the Astros home games while I’m in town.

Theoretically, the Houston Astros shouldn’t have much of a problem during the games I may be able to catch. They played Pittsburgh Tuesday, yesterday and have a 1pm game today. As much as I’d love to skip out on everything and take in today’s day game, I just have too much to do, too many people to do it with.

The Astros are ahead of both the Pirates and the Cardinals in their division. This weekend will see Houston playing St. Louis on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I fly out on Sunday, so that game is out, however, I very well may be able to catch games on Friday and Saturday night. An evening game on the weekend is a bit unusual, but you know me, I’ll take all that I can get!

I suppose the next thing I need to do as I get better with scheduling my trips to synchronize with baseball being available is to try and find clients and potential clients who are baseball fans like myself. There is little more powerful than to take a client to a game, have a few beers and bratwursts and soak in the sun or temperate evenings.

One of the things I’ve found over the years is that when you try and plan for time to discuss business, usually you fail miserably. That’s one of the professional reasons why I enjoy going to a ball game. It is long enough that business conversation is usually quite easy and a natural happening.

Almost inevitably my client or potential customer will slip in a comment or question about our products, my servicing of their account or some other business related topic. When this happens, I know the cost of those tickets just became completely justified. We’ll end up talking about their needs, concerns, and hopes for attaining the best quality from my company.

There have been so many deals I’ve closed or enhanced over the course of a ball game that my associates back at the company often refer to me as Mr. Baseball! And that’s a nickname I certainly don’t mind having!

Like this? Tell others: