By John Carroll

Home season is over for the Charleston Riverdogs. That means it will be several months before fans once again can spend a leisurely summer evening at The Joe and enjoy minor league baseball here in the Lowcountry.

For those who are already feeling a bit deprived, here’s a few lessons gleaned from the experience that apply to effective, professional selling.

Make them feel welcome. From the moment one sets foot in Joseph P. Riley Park on the banks of the Ashley River, there’s a warmth that surpasses the heat of a Lowcountry summer evening. From ticket sales to ticket takers all the way to finding one’s seat, there are smiles galore. If you’re ready for an enjoyable evening, these bright faces are there to make sure the initial tone is just right.

In professional selling, making your prospects and customers feel welcome is critical regardless of where the meeting or delivery or product or service is taking place. That can and should include a bright smile, a warm and respectful greeting and a concerted effort to help them feel comfortable and at ease.

Even if the meeting is in the prospect’s office, your reassurance, for example, that your first meeting and subsequent discussions will focus on his or her needs rather than long presentations of your company history and your capabilities can make all the difference in the outcome.

When you follow that with a series of great questions, listen carefully to responses and ask a few more to clarify the answers, you’re more likely to have a warm reception when it’s time to mention your product or service and your company.

Fun is good. Coincidentally, this is also the title of the book by Mike Veeck, Riverdogs co-owner and salesman par excellence. The key to the entire selling process, whether it’s getting a family to attend the game or the “beer man” to engage the customers at every opportunity, is to make it fun whenever possible. The book has been hailed as an insightful and practical management guide. It’s obvious that people working at the ballpark are familiar with it and

follow its contents.

When you sell professionally, it’s not always fun and games. On the contrary, it’s mostly serious business. Nonetheless, you can be creative and derive a bit of fun from just about anything without trampling on egos or causing other collateral damage. This can come mostly from your in-depth knowledge of your customer or prospect. Gifts provide a great avenue to express your support of a customer’s avocation or area of passion.

Try new stuff. Seemingly oddball promotions are what put the Riverdogs on the national map. With events such as Silent Night (fans are completely silent and can express their emotions only with signs given at the entrance that read “Yay!” “Boo!” and “Hey, beer man!”) and Nobody Night (fans deliberately stay out of the ballpark until the end of the sixth inning when official attendance is recorded as zero, setting a new national record. The party outside the left-field wall includes refreshments and taking turns on a lift to check out the game for a minute or two from high above the wall).  Fans could easily be up for doing one or the other every other season or so. That won’t happen, though, because these promotions are so very special that their impact is best felt as a one-time event.

Growing your sales should involve trying new things. If you’re always in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mode, you’re also going to find yourself in a rut before long. Try asking different questions, meeting at a location that affords a better environment or following up in a way that impresses your prospect. Change your materials, your presentation or how you package what you offer. You simply won’t know where or how you can be better if you don’t test and check by trying new things.

John Carroll is a business coach, consultant, serial entrepreneur and president of Unlimited Performance, Inc. in Mount Pleasant. E-mail him at john@johncarroll.com.

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