CRM in Professional Sports

Carol Smalley
Managing Editor, CRMGuru
Member

Posted 23-Sep-2003 07:32 AM
Posted by Carol Smalley (Editor) on behalf of Xavier Boixeda [xboixeda@konsell.com]

Hi,

I wonder how professional sports organizations like NFL and NBA franchises or big European soccer teams are embracing CRM, implementing CRM and the benefits from currently ongoing projects.

Do you have any experience on this issue ?

Thank you

Xavier Boixeda
CEO
Konsell
Barcelona

Carol Parenzan Smalley
Managing Editor
www.CRMGuru.com
carol@CRMGuru.com

Paul Greenberg
Guru
Member

Posted 25-Sep-2003 06:58 AM
Since this is a topic of constant interest, being a baseball and football fan, I can speak with at least some broad notion of who have CRM programs. In the professional ranks, the best of them are the National Basketball Association's Miami Heat and in baseball its the Seattle Mariners who are using Onyx to their great advantage. In the college ranks, the most advanced and by far the most thoughtful is the Arizona State Sun Devils (www.devilsdomain.com) CRM program. They have gone so far as to even have a CRM director (Steve Hank)who does an outstanding job of not just keeping information in front of the fan through multiple channels (e.g. emails, a pushed newsfeed that uses audio and video and text and and the web) but has been able to gather up customer information by the bushel and has it down deep enough to even monitor the patterns of use for each "customer." There are pricing options based on records and behaviors etc. It is a brilliant execution with a few version 1.0 issues but not many.

I'll be writing about this particular topic in the third edition of my book, CRM at the Speed of Light and hope to follow up on a number of sports initiatives in CRM. I'll keep you posted.

Steve Hughes
Member

Posted 25-Sep-2003 10:14 AM
Xavier, I am the recently appointed CEO of Carnegie Information Systems. The company provides a CRM solution called 'relatis' and has been successful in attracting many customers from the world of sport (football clubs), e.g. Rangers, Tottenham Hotspur, Leeds United and others in the UK and other parts of Europe.

Please visit www.relatis.com for further information. Regards, Steve Hughes

Posts: 1 | Registered: 25-Sep-2003
Ignored post by Steve Hughes posted 25-Sep-2003 10:14 AM
Jim Barnes, CRMGuru Panelist
Advisory Board
Member
Picture of Jim Barnes, CRMGuru Panelist

Posted 25-Sep-2003 12:18 PM
Xavier

My friend and colleague, Paul Greenberg, has done a much better job that I can of advising on the application of CRM software solutions in the field of professional and university sports. I just want to endorse the concept and make the observation that this is a ready-made place for CRM theory and practice to be applied. Sports are the stuff of emotion, and there is no doubt that fans develop strong emotional (even fanatical) relationships with sprorts teams and celebrities.

When I read your question, I was immediately reminded of portions of a great book by Professor Len Berry of Texas A&M University, entitled Discovering the Soul of Service. In that book,. Len describes in some detail the activities engaged in by a minor-league baseball team named the St. Paul Saints. They didn't use a lot of technology, as I recall, but they certainly knew how to build solid fan relationships.

Thanks for making the link with sports.

Jim Barnes
CRMguru panel membe

CRMguru panelist specializing in customer relationship strategy and measurement

John Lipsey
Member

Posted 25-Sep-2003 04:41 PM
Xavier—

An interesting application of CRM in sports organizations focuses on how these businesses manage their network of relationships—or Relationship Intelligence. Interface Software is the developer of InterAction, a CRM solution that focuses on helping organizations expose and manage their complex network of relationships between people, companies and the internal knowledge and expertise of internal personnel.

For these reasons, the National Basketball Association (NBA)uses InterAction to manage high-level relationships between the association and players as well as partners—this is a more B-to-B application of Relationship Intelligence than the B-to-C responses that have been posted so far.

For example, InterAction keeps track of league personnel, agents (who are "related contacts" to the players), licensees (who produce product for the NBA), sponsors and business partners, players, coaches, teams, etc. If a league representative travels to the UK, for instance, he or she can see which sponsors and partners the league has there so they can pay them a visit and know in advance what the league is doing with them.

Another interesting B-to-B application of CRM in a sports organization has to do with player appearances. Payers often have contractual obligations through the collective bargaining agreement to do appearances on behalf of the league. All of this is tracked in InterAction to ensure contractual compliance. So if a player makes a TV appearance, the team logs it and the league then knows.

For more information on how relationship-based organizations (ie associations, professional services firms, non-profit groups, etc) leverage relationship intelligence, feel free to visit our website at www.interfacesoftware.com

kbrunson
Member

Posted 08-Oct-2003 01:27 PM
We are executing a CRM strategy here in Atlanta at the Braves, Hawks and Thrashers.

We are working to create more efficient and effective sales and service processes by understanding our customer segments and communicating one to one.

From a technology standpoint, we have succesfully launched Onyx this year and are up and running with all 3 teams.

twentz
Member

Posted 08-Oct-2003 01:50 PM
The Seattle Mariners are also using Onyx Software to track and resolve customer complaints, manage the "Compass Club" (fan club), track interactions with Compass Club kiosks (located throughout the stadium) and streamline ticket sales. There was a story in the Seattle Times last year that outlines how customer complaints have plummeted and fan activity has significantly improved.

Url is at:
Seattle Mariner's Story in the Times

Hope that helps!

S.Reeves
Member Council
Member

Posted 17-Oct-2003 04:14 PM
Hello,

The Seattle Sonics NBA and Storm WNBA, are using and delighted with Microsoft CRM. As part of the MS CRM beta program core user group, they've been using longer then most organizations.

They use for group sales, sponsorship, media and every other product or service in their portfolio. And, use the customer service tools.

They're stretching MS CRM v1 by leaps and bounds. Probably beyond anyone's expectations.

Interesting huh!