Season tickets are best used 4.5 ways:

1. WITH customers. Don’t give them away — go with the customer.

Giving them away is an option, it’s just not the best option.

2. Share them with fellow employees. Many employees feel undervalued, and those not in sales rarely get the recognition that they deserve. Providing tickets to employees creates loyalty, and great memories. The other night, when I took some of my employees to a Charlotte Bobcats game, one of my employees told me, “I’ve never been to a professional sporting event before.” Another one said, “These are the best seats I have ever had.” Priceless.

3. Business friends and connections. Not just customers and prospects, but people who you would like to get to know better.

4. Vendors. My dad taught me that there are an unlimited number of customers, but key vendors – you can count on one hand. Your vendors are the jugular vein of your business. And your deliveries from them hinge on your relationship with them.

5. Friends. Relaxation and comradery play an important role in success. It provides a great time to kick back and talk about life, not just business life.

5.5 Family. In the summer of 1954, my dad drove me from


Atlantic City
to


Philadelphia

where the Philadelphia Athletics played the Boston Red Sox. I saw Ted Williams hit a home run. I was 8. The game is still clear in my memory, and I can say it is one of my fondest remembrances of my dad. I became a fan that day, a sports fan, and a father fan. Throughout my growing up years, we went to hundreds of games in every sport. I’ve taken my children to games. Now they even go on their own.

The benefits of attending a sporting event with customers, employees, friends and family cannot be measured in dollars, although oftentimes the dollar reward is significant.

There’s a very easy way to begin this program: buy season tickets.

Jeffrey Gitomer, author of The Sales Bible, and The Little Red Book of Selling. President of Charlotte-based Buy Gitomer, he gives seminars, runs annual sales meetings, and conducts internet training programs on selling and customer service at www.trainone.com. He can be reached at 704/333-1112 or e-mail to salesman@gitomer.com

c 2005 All Rights Reserved – Don’t even think about reproducing this document without written

permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer 704/333-1112