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Director of Sales - Sport Industry

"Some of my friends tell me that I have the best job in the world because I get to sell what I love: the best sport in the world. I’m living my dream, but it’s long hours and hard work. For every “yes,” I’ll get 50 prospects saying “no.” But it’s the single “yes” that gets me up every day. I’m a manager, a motivator and a mentor to my sales team. My clients are my partners; results data is always top of mind, and my reputation for delivering on what I promise is my life blood."

Salary Range:

$130,400 - $165,800

The Tip

If the most interesting thing about you is something you read in a textbook, you’re probably not a very interesting (or unique) person. Go live life and have stories to tell.

Priority Knowledge & Skills
Advanced Research & Analysis Skills

  • Formulating research questions

  • Ability to develop and execute qualitative research

  • Ability to synthesize key themes from multiple sources

 

Evidence-based Storytelling Skills

  • Ability to use research to develop an evidence-based story

  • Ability to generate story ideas

  • Ability to identify target audiences

  • Ability to create compelling narratives across media

 

Advanced Communication Skills

  • Formulate and defend positions

  • Sensitivity to how communications is shaped by circumstances, authorship and intended audience

Contextual Knowledge

  • Knowledge of human behaviour

  • Understanding of context and values of audiences

  • Essential understanding of topics and themes as they relate to an audience

 

Additional Skills

  • Excel in defined core transferable skills with a focus on transdisciplinary systems thinking, adaptive thinking, communications and interpersonal skills

  • Fundamental business and marketing acumen

  • Expertise in sales management

  • Contextual knowledge of professional sports

Building Block Experiences
Education & Learning:

  • Bachelor of Arts (English) with minors in marketing and business of sport

  • Sales training from Mike Weinberg’s Sales Simplified course

  • Dale Carnegie relationship selling course

 

"I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I went to university. English was always a strength of mine, so I continued down that road. In second year, I decided I really wanted to get into sport marketing so I decided to do minors in marketing and business of sport. This is an atypical academic mix, but English taught me the fundamentals of communications while business of sport and marketing were far more applied. Today, continual professional development is in my DNA."

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Employment Experiences:

  • Two sales internships for minor league teams

  • Customer service representative for a major league team

  • Account manager for a major league team

  • Director of sales and marketing for a minor league team

  • Director of sales for a major league team

 

"I found performance creates opportunities. The early stages of my career were super hard work and I needed to persevere through rejection. I’ve learned that most people don’t have this driven resiliency, and because I did, I’ve built a network and a reputation that have become my greatest assets."

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Community Experiences:

  • Was in membership role for student club

  • Fundraising lead for local chapter of KidSport

  • Coach youth sports

 

"Volunteer activities introduced me to people outside of my industry and network. This created the opportunity to develop and expand my skills, and gave me proof of those skills. My volunteer work has been an important foundation for building a sense of humility."

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Contextual Experiences:

  • Have travelled to 18 countries

 

"Exposure to diverse cultures reinforced my humility because it showed me the world is big and what I know is so small."

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Relationships:

  • Had a professional mentor in first job out of university

  • Play pckup hockey with people in my industry

 

"Success in sales is about building strong relationships and networks. I recognize all relationships must be win-win. Sales can involve long hours (early mornings and late nights), so I need to have strong personal relationships who value this part of me."

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