GM Sports and Live Entertainment, Conversica
Is your revenue team ready for what's next?
For years, sports sales teams have lived by the same mantra: make 100 calls a day, keep the funnel full, and close as many season tickets as possible. The formula was simple—grind it out, hit your activity numbers, and hope something sticks.
But let’s be honest: that approach isn’t cutting it anymore.
Fans have changed. They’re digital-first, time-starved, and expect personalized, timely communication—just like they get from their favorite brands. At the same time, sales teams are running leaner than ever. There’s no room for wasted effort or dropped leads.
And yet, many teams are still clinging to the old ways—manually working leads through CRM activities, leaving voicemail after voicemail, and trying to brute-force their way to quota.
As legendary coach John Wooden once said, “Don’t mistake activity for achievement.” The same holds true in sports sales—because high activity volume doesn’t equal real engagement. And today, it’s engagement that drives revenue.
Let’s break down why the traditional high-volume tactics no longer produce the results they once did in sports—and what forward-thinking teams are doing instead to drive real conversations, accelerate pipelines, and win back valuable fan relationships.
Not long ago, sales success in sports was measured by how many dials a rep could crank out in a day. If you weren’t making 80 to 100 calls before lunch, you weren’t doing your job. Reps were handed lists—past buyers, partial leads, even cold contacts—and expected to “smile and dial” their way to a sale.
For a time, it worked. Fans were more responsive, answering phone calls from numbers they didn’t recognize. Competition for attention wasn’t nearly as fierce. And teams were flush with inbound interest.
But the playbook hasn’t evolved, even though everything else has.
Today’s fans are inundated with messages—from retailers, social platforms, streaming services, and yes, sports teams. A generic voicemail or templated email isn’t just ineffective—it actively pushes fans away.
Meanwhile, reps are stuck juggling massive lead lists with limited time and tools. They’re expected to personalize outreach, follow up multiple times, and still hit their daily activity numbers. The result? Burnout for the rep. A poor experience for the fan. And a lot of missed opportunities.
The reality is this: measuring output instead of outcomes doesn’t move the needle anymore. Hitting 100 calls a day might look good on a dashboard, but if those calls aren’t leading to real conversations, what’s the point?
The old-school, high-activity approach isn’t just inefficient—it’s actively hurting performance. Here’s why:
Today’s sales teams are lean. Many organizations have fewer reps responsible for more product offerings and larger revenue goals. When a rep is responsible for hundreds (or thousands) of leads, consistent follow-up becomes nearly impossible. That means warm leads—people who’ve attended games, clicked emails, or shown interest—fall through the cracks.
Fans today expect more than a “Hi {{first name}}, are you interested in season tickets?” blast. They want to feel like the team knows them—what they’ve bought in the past, when they came to a game, what promotions they clicked. But reps don’t have the bandwidth to personalize every message. So they default to one-size-fits-all outreach that gets ignored.
Not all fans are ready to buy season tickets—and that’s okay. But the old tactics treat every lead the same. Whether it’s a first-time single-game buyer, a lapsed season ticket holder, or someone who came to a playoff game last year, they all get the same call script. Without nuanced segmentation and tailored engagement, reps waste time chasing the wrong fans at the wrong moment.
CRM systems and fan engagement platforms are overflowing with insights—ticket scans, ticket transfers, email clicks, past purchases. But reps simply can’t manually act on all that data. The result? Teams know who’s engaged, but can’t follow up fast enough or with the right message.
The traditional sales model in sports is crumbling under the weight of fan expectations, internal pressure, and the sheer volume of data. To stay competitive, teams need a new playbook—one that’s focused on efficient engagement, not effort.
Forward-thinking sports organizations are ditching the call-volume grind in favor of something far more effective: meaningful fan engagement.
The new approach isn’t about how many calls your reps make—it’s about how many real conversations they’re having. That means meeting fans where they are, responding when interest is high, and having the right message ready at the right time.
Instead of chasing down fans who may or may not be ready to buy, modern teams focus on generating qualified engagements—interactions with fans who have shown real intent. That might be someone who attended a game last week, clicked a ticket promo email, or browsed a mini plan on your site.
But here’s the challenge: sales reps can’t possibly follow up with every fan like that in real time. And that’s exactly where AI comes in.
Conversica’s AI Agents help sales teams scale personalized engagement and improve rep efficiency—without adding headcount. These AI-powered teammates:
In other words, reps stop wasting time cold calling—and start focusing on warm conversations that are actually going somewhere.
One pro team replaced their traditional call sprint with Conversica-powered follow-up after home games. Instead of 100 voicemails, they had dozens of real fan responses—some ready to buy, others asking for more info, and many re-engaging after months of silence.
That’s the power of shifting from activity to engagement.
If your team is still stuck in the 100-calls-a-day grind, now’s the time to upgrade your playbook. Here are four practical tactics modern sports organizations are using to drive more revenue with fewer wasted efforts:
Let AI handle your high-volume, low-yield tasks. Whether it’s following up after a specific theme night, re-engaging past season buyers, or contacting single-game attendees, an AI Agent can instantly reach out, personalize the message, and carry the conversation forward. That means your reps only step in once fans are already warmed up.
Bonus: No more chasing down unresponsive leads.
Many teams have hundreds (if not thousands) of fans who used to buy—but haven’t in years. Traditional outreach rarely works because reps don’t have time to tailor their approach. With AI, you can run personalized win-back campaigns at scale and uncover hidden interest in your database.
The result: Renewals and upsells you’d otherwise miss.
The most engaged a fan will be is right after they’ve experienced your product—at the game, in the arena, or interacting with your brand online. Don’t let that window close. Use AI to send follow-up messages the next day, ask for feedback, or suggest the next purchase (like a mini plan or membership).
Speed = conversion.
When AI handles the busywork—first touches, re-engagement, and lead qualification—your reps can focus where they’re most effective: having real conversations, negotiating, and closing deals. Think of AI as a digital SDR who works 24/7 and never lets a lead slip through the cracks.
TL;DR: You don’t need more dials. You need more conversations—and the right tech to help your team make them happen.
The sports business is evolving—and the sales strategies that worked ten years ago just don’t deliver anymore. Fans are savvier, busier, and expect personalized, timely outreach. Sales teams are leaner and under more pressure to perform with fewer resources.
The teams that win in today’s environment aren’t the ones making the most calls—they’re the ones making the most connections.
By shifting from outdated volume-driven tactics to engagement-driven strategies, sports organizations can:
Ready to modernize your sales motion? Want to see what this looks like in the real world? Check out how the Pittsburgh Pirates used Conversica to transform their sales process — and win big. 👉 [Explore the full story]
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