Christopher Flynn: Inside the CORE of the Oakland A’s – Work in Sports Podcast e125 - a podcast by Brian Clapp - Work in Sports

Most professional sports teams have sales academies where they train their entry level sales staff. The Oakland A's have gone way beyond the traditional sales training, creating a Sports Business Development Academy they call The CORE.Christopher Flynn, sales manager for the CORE, joins the podcast to share more about this unique program  Hi everybody, I’m Brian Clapp Director of Content for WorkinSports.com and this is the Work in Sports podcast.It’s kind of rare that you come across a completely unique process in the sports industry. Sure there are advancements in the business of sports, things like dynamic ticket pricing, analytics, even social media is an advancement on the method of communication and marketing.But truly unique doesn’t come around all that often, when it does, you take note.Want to work with a pro team? What’s the advice you hear all the time – look into sales. Right? I mean I’ve never worked in sales myself, but I’ve done enough of these interviews to see a pattern when it becomes obvious.Sales is the lifeblood of every sports organization because without sales there is no event. I remember going to a Major indoor Soccer League game as a kid – it was the Dallas Sidekicks vs. the Cleveland Crunch… now I lived in Boston, but it was a touring exhibition to try and get more fans nationally.The game featured Tatu, who was one of the greatest indoor soccer players in the world… and no one was there. I mean no one.It was pretty clear this league and this team wasn’t going to last… no tickets sold, no revenue, no operation.It makes sense why teams focus so much of their energy on sales and sales training.More than half of the entry level jobs in sports are in sales, and all teams both high and low, have sales academies for their entry level inside sales crew. This is where they get the hardcore training in how to become an elite salesperson in sports… or they find out it isn’t for them and they bail.But what about everyone else? What about someone who wants to work in a different department? Where do they get the training necessary to thrive in the industry?Teams have more than just sales people on staff, so what are they doing to train those people, and keep that talent in house?Well, the Oakland A’s identified this problem. They changed the typical pro team sales academy, deciding to take a holistic approach to training.The focus of their elite training program, called the CORE, wouldn’t be just on sales…it would be Communications, Corporate Partnerships, Marketing, Strategy, or Community Engagement. Why? Because they wanted to create an incredible staff, and keep them with the A’s. The best way to do that is by finding their perfect spot, not just spoon feeding sales.The CORE stands for Culture, Opportunity, Results and Education – and it is led by the Eddie Eixenberger and Christopher Flynn. Chris joins us on the podcast this week, to explain more about this incredible program:Questions for Christopher Flynn, Oakland A's Sales Manager, The CORE1: I’m a big fan of branding - giving product or group a name, purpose and tag line… at the Oakland A’s you’ve really done that, branding your sports business development academy “The CORE”… can you explain a little more about the program and how it was created?2: Almost every team has a sales academy where they train their inside sales staff to sell tickets…but you guys are going one step further than just sales, you’re also training these new academy members in Communications, Corporate Partnerships, Marketing, Strategy, and Community Engagement – why was it so important to have a...

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