Heat fire season ticket sales reps

[guava_wrench]

Quote from the article:

``Historically, our sales force has ebbed and flowed based on the supply and demand of our season ticket inventory,'' the statement read.

So what's the big deal?

[dark_lord]

of course they fired them....they are trying to afford a bench this season 

[Celtics4ever]

 They must be giving out free walkers and ensure to sell out that fast.

[houlana]

thats the right business decision to make.

[Army_of_One_Nation]

So let me see if I have this right.

These people were hired to sell a limited amount of season tickets for the year. Every single ticket was sold so now they have nothing to sell.

The Heat let them go because they now have nothing to do and people have a problem with this?

That's kind of silly.

If I hire a contractor to build me a new house after he's finished building my house should I continue to keep him on my payroll just to hang around and look at the house he built for me?

I could or could not have a problem with this.  If they did this on commission, I have no problem with it.  If they were paid hourly or salary, then I do.

I don't think you're analogy is quite on Nick.  Your example is a situation of a person who understands that his work/project will terminate.  I'd compare this more to somebody who sells... I don't know, door knobs.  If somebody works really hard and sells a door knob to everybody in the whole town and now nobody else needs any, is it fair to let that person go?  Well, if that person worked on commission, then the person was compensated as expected for the amount of work done (similar to your contractor example) so I'd say it's fair.  If the person was compensated hourly or salary, then I don't find it fair that the person worked very hard then was let go unexpectedly BECAUSE of the hard work done.

To the posters who say,

But, what were they supposed to do? Sit around and do nothing?

The person who sold me my season ticket package 3 offseasons ago is still employed by the celtics and they sold out.  He is my season ticket account rep.  Answers any questions I have, notifies me if a CC on file is expiring, offers me extra tickets and suites and stuff.  Also, I see him working at the Will Call often on game nights.  There is plenty of ticket-related work to be found for them.  Then next offseason, they are back to work doing renewals, more selling, etc.

1 TP for you.

[guava_wrench]

To the posters who say,

But, what were they supposed to do? Sit around and do nothing?

The person who sold me my season ticket package 3 offseasons ago is still employed by the celtics and they sold out.  He is my season ticket account rep.  Answers any questions I have, notifies me if a CC on file is expiring, offers me extra tickets and suites and stuff.  Also, I see him working at the Will Call often on game nights.  There is plenty of ticket-related work to be found for them.  Then next offseason, they are back to work doing renewals, more selling, etc.

So are you saying the Heat don't have people to do this?

Did you think that maybe they still have account reps who handle the accounts and that the sales reps are guys whose only job is to move tickets?

I remember 2008. My Celtics account rep didn't have much of anything to offer because everything was sold out. Playoffs strips and renewals were about it. Most of this was just handled online anyway. He was mostly just a contact person when questions arose.

When you aren't trying to sell thousands of seats nightly (like last year when Miami was mediocre at best), there is a need for more telemarketing types. Now they need to staff people with different skills. Do you want them to fire the will call people to find something for the sales people to do?

It is ludicrous to criticize a staffing decision with knowing the details. We need to think more before getting heated about headlines.

[nickagneta]

So let me see if I have this right.

These people were hired to sell a limited amount of season tickets for the year. Every single ticket was sold so now they have nothing to sell.

The Heat let them go because they now have nothing to do and people have a problem with this?

That's kind of silly.

If I hire a contractor to build me a new house after he's finished building my house should I continue to keep him on my payroll just to hang around and look at the house he built for me?

I could or could not have a problem with this.  If they did this on commission, I have no problem with it.  If they were paid hourly or salary, then I do.

I don't think you're analogy is quite on Nick.  Your example is a situation of a person who understands that his work/project will terminate.  I'd compare this more to somebody who sells... I don't know, door knobs.  If somebody works really hard and sells a door knob to everybody in the whole town and now nobody else needs any, is it fair to let that person go?  Well, if that person worked on commission, then the person was compensated as expected for the amount of work done (similar to your contractor example) so I'd say it's fair.  If the person was compensated hourly or salary, then I don't find it fair that the person worked very hard then was let go unexpectedly BECAUSE of the hard work done.

To the posters who say,

But, what were they supposed to do? Sit around and do nothing?

The person who sold me my season ticket package 3 offseasons ago is still employed by the celtics and they sold out.  He is my season ticket account rep.  Answers any questions I have, notifies me if a CC on file is expiring, offers me extra tickets and suites and stuff.  Also, I see him working at the Will Call often on game nights.  There is plenty of ticket-related work to be found for them.  Then next offseason, they are back to work doing renewals, more selling, etc.

Couple things:

- I don't see why the manner in which the employees were compensated has anything to do with the subject. If they were paid hourly, on salary or via commission really is irrelevant. They were hired to do a job and compensated accordingly. From what I have read this particular sales force has had fluctuations in it depending on how much selling had to be done which was based on the fortunes of the team. To me that illustrates that the team might be aware ahead of time that these could be temporary positions and hires people letting them know this.

- You're sales analogy doesn't fit because door knobs are always needed, Door knobs break and new buildings and renovations to old buildings mean door knobs will always need to be manufactured and then sold. Here, there were a finite amount of tickets available and after that, there was no further supply of tickets and no reason to be selling anymore.

Many companies look at telephone sales and customer service as being pretty much the same job and therefore hired people permanently to do both jobs simultaneously. But, other companies clearly see the jobs as two distinctly different functions and hire a sales force and a service force and pay the different groups of personnel differently. I have to think the Heat are a business that look at the season ticket sales area in the latter manner and hire people seasonally to sell these tickets until they are no longer available and then let them go. This quote from a Miami Herald report explains:

In its statement, the Heat said it tries to match its sales staff to the number of tickets they have to sell each season.

``Historically, our sales force has ebbed and flowed based on the supply and demand of our season ticket inventory,'' the statement read.

Since 2006, when the Heat won the NBA championship, the sales staff has had an uphill job as the injuries, losses and player trades turned off fans. In 2007, the Heat found itself the worst team in basketball, and seats were hard to fill.

[the_Bird]

Couldn't they use those sales reps in a sign-and-trade for Shaq?  I mean, Cleveland's going to need all the help selling tickets it can get.

[nickagneta]

Couldn't they use those sales reps in a sign-and-trade for Shaq?  I mean, Cleveland's going to need all the help selling tickets it can get.

TP4U....well played.

[LarBrd33]

they have the most exciting team in the league (and possibly of all Sports)... they'll probably win 75 games... Health permitting, they'll likely 10-peat.    They don't need sales reps ... people are desperate for those tickets.  Makes sense.

[guava_wrench]

Couldn't they use those sales reps in a sign-and-trade for Shaq?  I mean, Cleveland's going to need all the help selling tickets it can get.

TP

[BballTim]

  You really need a little more context with the story. As in whether it's typical or not for teams to let go of these people when they sell out of season tickets. Did the Celts do this after KG and Ray came? If so, they did a better job of keeping things quiet.

[action781]

To the posters who say,

But, what were they supposed to do? Sit around and do nothing?

The person who sold me my season ticket package 3 offseasons ago is still employed by the celtics and they sold out.  He is my season ticket account rep.  Answers any questions I have, notifies me if a CC on file is expiring, offers me extra tickets and suites and stuff.  Also, I see him working at the Will Call often on game nights.  There is plenty of ticket-related work to be found for them.  Then next offseason, they are back to work doing renewals, more selling, etc.

So are you saying the Heat don't have people to do this?

Did you think that maybe they still have account reps who handle the accounts and that the sales reps are guys whose only job is to move tickets?

I remember 2008. My Celtics account rep didn't have much of anything to offer because everything was sold out. Playoffs strips and renewals were about it. Most of this was just handled online anyway. He was mostly just a contact person when questions arose.

When you aren't trying to sell thousands of seats nightly (like last year when Miami was mediocre at best), there is a need for more telemarketing types. Now they need to staff people with different skills. Do you want them to fire the will call people to find something for the sales people to do?

It is ludicrous to criticize a staffing decision with knowing the details. We need to think more before getting heated about headlines.

I agree that staffing decisions shouldn't be criticized without knowing all the details.  I don't feel like I was getting heated about it thought, my mistake if it came off like that, or perhaps others were being referenced here.

I agree there probably were people with certain skill sets in place to sell tickets before and such, when it was much harder.  My general questioning to your response and the overall situation is, "Why do 30 people with a new special skill set need to be brought in to sell these season ticket packages then get laid off immediately after?  The tickets are going to sell themselves.  Is this really too difficult of a job for people already in the organization?"

But like you said, perhaps there is more going on than appears.  The questions still float in my mind though.

  You really need a little more context with the story. As in whether it's typical or not for teams to let go of these people when they sell out of season tickets. Did the Celts do this after KG and Ray came? If so, they did a better job of keeping things quiet.

My only answer to this Tim is that the person who sold me my season ticket package in 2007 when Ray and KG came is still my season ticket account rep to this day.  So my guess is that it's not typical, but it absolutely could just be anecdotal.

[nickagneta]

As I said before, in the world of telesales/internet sales there are two distinct philosophies as to how to set it up on a business scale.

1. Sales/customer service reps where the same person who takes and places the orders over the phone are also there to service you afterward and become the "voice" of the business to the person on the other end of the phone.

2. Sales/order taking is one department and customer service is another. The sales order taking staff are usually entry level positions and could be seasonal depending on the business. They basically answer the phone and take orders. The customer service staff handles the service of the customers, upselling, problem solving, renewals, marketing, billing situations etc. This is a position that is year round and requires different,more professional skills than that of the order taker.

If the Heat have the second business model and the Celtics have the first, there really is no comparing the two situations. Also, with the second model, layoffs in the order taking area are a common way of doing business if the business at hand is a seasonal one, which NBA basketball is.

[action781]

Couple things:

- I don't see why the manner in which the employees were compensated has anything to do with the subject. If they were paid hourly, on salary or via commission really is irrelevant. They were hired to do a job and compensated accordingly. From what I have read this particular sales force has had fluctuations in it depending on how much selling had to be done which was based on the fortunes of the team. To me that illustrates that the team might be aware ahead of time that these could be temporary positions and hires people letting them know this.

In its statement, the Heat said it tries to match its sales staff to the number of tickets they have to sell each season.

``Historically, our sales force has ebbed and flowed based on the supply and demand of our season ticket inventory,'' the statement read.

Since 2006, when the Heat won the NBA championship, the sales staff has had an uphill job as the injuries, losses and player trades turned off fans. In 2007, the Heat found itself the worst team in basketball, and seats were hard to fill.

I guess I'm about ready to blame this whole debate on crappy reporting.  While I can see how your quotes support your stance, what about these quotes from the Miami Herald:

Headline:

Miami Heat fires sales team after season tickets sell out

The Miami Heat easily sold out its season tickets after LeBron James announced he was joining the team. That turned out to be bad news for the ticket-sales staff, which the Heat fired Friday.

``Now that the supply for [season tickets] has been exhausted we no longer require a season ticket sales team,'' the Heat said in a brief statement Friday afternoon.

A team spokeswoman, Lorrie-Ann Diaz, declined to comment or answer questions about the firings, which one staffer said cost roughly 30 people their jobs.

Doesn't sound like an agreed-upon temporary position here.  Especially the repeated use of the word "fired".  All from the same article.