Relationship Management In Professional Sports

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Today’s most successful organizations are able to consistently demonstrate the ability to identify and cater to the ever-changing wants and needs of their customers. Long-term relationships with fans are the key to stability in today’s increasingly dynamic markets and top executives are pushing for their organizations to become more customer driven. Many professional sports teams are finding that Customer Relationship Management software can be a great tool for attracting and retaining new customers, and gaining insight within their existing fan base. Customer relationship technologies can be a great way to manage customer loyalty programs, merchandise, and promotions. The purpose of this paper is to give an insight into a few of the CRM strategies and loyalty programs used in the world of professional sports today. In the multi-billion dollar industry that is professional sports, the ability to connect with and retain customers has become increasingly difficult. The cost of being a fan is almost always on the rise. According to Team Marketing Report, the average cost for a family of four to attend a professional sporting event has risen to; $326.60 for an NBA game, $212.46 for an MLB game, $359.71 for an NHL game and $459.65 for an NFL game. Customer relationship management can help reduce costs and increase profitability by helping to organize and automize business processes that nurture customer satisfaction and loyalty in the sales, marketing, and customer service fields. (Microsoft) Practical Applications In only its fifth season, the Oklahoma City Thunder has done a great job at making their fans feel special through the use of CRM. Instead of just tracking the names and purchase histories of their fans, they use Microso... ... middle of paper ... ...mething we’ve been working on for a long time, and we’re excited to finally roll [it] out for 2013,” said Padres President Tom Garfinkel. “It started with a few core themes. First, the idea that we needed to tap into fan psychology more and create a sense of belonging. Being a fan is emotional, not rational, yet somehow we keep going to market trying to rationalize with people. Secondly, we needed to create benefits that can’t be transferred on a secondary market and create more reasons to be a season-ticket holder than ever before. Finally, we needed to have more of a direct relationship year-round with our fans and have more information about what is important to them so we can deliver on it.” According to the statistics, the new program has been a huge success and evidence suggests that membership benefits have been driving customers to upgrade their memberships.

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