Sacramento Kings score big with Sales Navigator to yield increased ticket sales and larger deal sizes

Among the oldest and most beloved franchises in the NBA, the Sacramento Kings can trace their origins to Rochester, New York nearly a century ago. Since the team’s move to Sacramento in 1985, the Kings have become the pride of the region.

That dedication has been matched by the franchise’s growing sales force, which is now in a key position at the center of a revitalization effort for both the team and the city. With building underway on the Kings new downtown arena, the Golden 1 Center, the sales team was charged with selling season tickets and experiences for a sports complex that was still under construction while maintaining excellent sales results for the existing arena.

With the opening of a new arena, the Kings Ticket Sales Team needed a fresh sales strategy to grow both the current and future facilities. The franchise’s sales leadership wanted to invest in training the new sales reps in the organization with a tactic other than traditional cold-calling.

The solid support of the Kings fan base, along with renewed excitement around the new arena, has provided fresh opportunities to target even more new customers, from commercial businesses to law firms to nonprofits.

After providing the sales team with Sales Navigator licenses, sales leadership saw a major shift in the approach and investment.

Vital to the sales team’s success with social selling and Sales Navigator was the solid support and buy-in from the franchise ownership, sales team leaders and the sales reps themselves.

Since implementing Sales Navigator, the team’s ticket sales have soared – particularly those where face to face appointments were the result of initial contact - the Kings beat their own goal for in-game ticket sales by 50%, more than tripling the team’s previous high and ranking them among the top teams in the NBA.

These engagement efforts with fans and local businesses have led to more than a 20% increase in attendance since new ownership took over. In the months following, the sales team has seen roughly 6% of its overall new business come from deals sourced from LinkedIn or Sales Navigator.

Sales Navigator proved to be similarly valuable in supporting stronger relationships with existing customers, helping the team bring in a higher-than-usual rate of season ticket membership renewals. By leveraging InMail, the sales team has connected with existing leads that were already in their CRM system.

Starting with just 18 seats across the sales team in 2014, the Kings have since rolled out more than 40 Sales Navigator licenses. Sales reps increased the size of their deals by 42% with Sales Navigator.