There were many extra hours to be accounted for that took place at my internship with the New Britain Rock Cats. The majority of these hours took place for two projects the interns were assigned; the delivering of pocket schedules and the internship sales contest.
The pocket schedules took place around June, where Derek gave each intern a box full of pocket schedules (if I had to guess, about 200 packs of schedules total) and asked us to deliver these to businesses in our hometown. When we delivered these schedules, we were to ask the business for a business card in return; that way Derek would have a way of keeping track of all of the places the interns went to. He also asked us to see if the businesses would be interested in any sponsorship opportunities with the Rock Cats, and to give them his information. Being competitive by nature, not only did I deliver the pocket schedules in my hometown of Newtown, but to the surrounding towns as well. However, I was very unsuccessful with selling sponsorship packages to the businesses, since many of them haven't even heard of the New Britain Rock Cats (I traveled 45 minutes to an hour for my internship). The most difficult part of the pocket schedules was trying to figure out which businesses would accept them (small mom and pop stores) and which businesses couldn't since they were a corporation (franchises such as subway, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds). Overall however, I gave away the most pocket schedules out of every intern.
Another extra assignment the New Britain Rock Cats had given to us was the internship sales contest: each intern had to reach the goal of 25 tickets sold for a home game on August 3rd. Derek really wanted us to focus on selling to businesses rather than to family members, as to give us more real-world experience in sales. I had a helping hand in the sales training Derek provided us since I contributed the packet the Cleveland Indians gave Tiffin on how to sell. That packet contained an example of a sales pitch, objections the businesses usually have, and how to approach each objection. When our training was finished, I was excited to see how many tickets I could sell in the time Derek allotted us.
I started by targeting my physical therapy establishment that I used to rehab my knee. I would go into physical therapy twice a week and talk only about my internship, so I believed I could sell some tickets to them. As a whole, they purchased 20 tickets and donated them to a little league baseball team! I was ecstatic about the sale, and continued to contact other businesses. However, it was very difficult to organize something since Derek only gave us 1-½ weeks to sell the tickets. Because of that factor, the rest of my sales went to friends and family. When the sales contest was finished, I ended up selling 32 tickets and came in 3rd place. In this contest, Derek was giving away prizes to the interns, and I ended up with a $50 gift certificate to Dick’s Sporting Goods! This assignment was very similar to the Cleveland Indians project Tiffin University partakes in every spring, so I felt I had a very good understanding of what Derek wanted from us and how we were going to accomplish the ticket sales. Even though I came in 3rd place, I still feel proficient in sales because I asked the interns who bought their tickets and they claimed that it was all friends/family. I was the only intern who was successful in selling to a company! That made me feel as though I have been working hard in the contest and that it all of the effort I was putting forth was greatly appreciated.
The pocket schedules took place around June, where Derek gave each intern a box full of pocket schedules (if I had to guess, about 200 packs of schedules total) and asked us to deliver these to businesses in our hometown. When we delivered these schedules, we were to ask the business for a business card in return; that way Derek would have a way of keeping track of all of the places the interns went to. He also asked us to see if the businesses would be interested in any sponsorship opportunities with the Rock Cats, and to give them his information. Being competitive by nature, not only did I deliver the pocket schedules in my hometown of Newtown, but to the surrounding towns as well. However, I was very unsuccessful with selling sponsorship packages to the businesses, since many of them haven't even heard of the New Britain Rock Cats (I traveled 45 minutes to an hour for my internship). The most difficult part of the pocket schedules was trying to figure out which businesses would accept them (small mom and pop stores) and which businesses couldn't since they were a corporation (franchises such as subway, Dunkin' Donuts, McDonalds). Overall however, I gave away the most pocket schedules out of every intern.
Another extra assignment the New Britain Rock Cats had given to us was the internship sales contest: each intern had to reach the goal of 25 tickets sold for a home game on August 3rd. Derek really wanted us to focus on selling to businesses rather than to family members, as to give us more real-world experience in sales. I had a helping hand in the sales training Derek provided us since I contributed the packet the Cleveland Indians gave Tiffin on how to sell. That packet contained an example of a sales pitch, objections the businesses usually have, and how to approach each objection. When our training was finished, I was excited to see how many tickets I could sell in the time Derek allotted us.
I started by targeting my physical therapy establishment that I used to rehab my knee. I would go into physical therapy twice a week and talk only about my internship, so I believed I could sell some tickets to them. As a whole, they purchased 20 tickets and donated them to a little league baseball team! I was ecstatic about the sale, and continued to contact other businesses. However, it was very difficult to organize something since Derek only gave us 1-½ weeks to sell the tickets. Because of that factor, the rest of my sales went to friends and family. When the sales contest was finished, I ended up selling 32 tickets and came in 3rd place. In this contest, Derek was giving away prizes to the interns, and I ended up with a $50 gift certificate to Dick’s Sporting Goods! This assignment was very similar to the Cleveland Indians project Tiffin University partakes in every spring, so I felt I had a very good understanding of what Derek wanted from us and how we were going to accomplish the ticket sales. Even though I came in 3rd place, I still feel proficient in sales because I asked the interns who bought their tickets and they claimed that it was all friends/family. I was the only intern who was successful in selling to a company! That made me feel as though I have been working hard in the contest and that it all of the effort I was putting forth was greatly appreciated.