Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins Help Students Strengthen Sales Skills

The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins welcomed a group of East Stroudsburg University sport management majors during the fall semester for an experiential learning opportunity that helped them hone their sales skills and gain valuable professional experience working with a major sports franchise.

Working with the Penguins, the minor league affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins, students in ESU’s Sales Strategies in the Sports Industry course were tasked with selling tickets for the team’s Dec. 13 game against the Providence Bruins using the strategies taught in the class.

Assistant Professor of Sport Management Kyle Brannigan, Ph.D., who taught the course and organized the partnership, said the goal was to give students a realistic, fast-paced sports industry scenario to grow key professional skills in sales, customer service, time management, public speaking, organizational management, marketing, business management and more.

Though students were expected to rely on what they learned in class, they weren’t entirely on their own. Members of the Penguins sales staff worked directly with the group to coach them on the intricacies of sales calls and even conducted mock calls with them to help build their confidence and comfort level, Brannigan said.

During the game, students conducted seat visits with consumers in their new client network, bringing the entire sales process to life from pre-sale to post-sale, Brannigan said.

“It allowed students to see what selling tickets to a real event is like, including cold calling, marketing, dealing with objections,” Brannigan said. “It’s my hope that it makes students more competitive as they gain sales experience other college students are not getting.”

Xavier Guy, a junior sport management major from Scranton, Pa., was one of the students who participated. Looking to think outside the box in search of potential customers, he quickly realized he could use his hometown connections to generate leads.

“I contacted my old schools and organizations like the YMCA to see if they were interested,” he said. “Emails were sent, phones were called and promotions were spread through LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Instagram. I also made sure to promote it to my friends and family.”

Guy noted that he expected the experience to pay off right away, as he is preparing for a summer sales job in Virginia.

“I can now take what I’ve learned and apply it for my own benefit, which I am grateful for,” he said.

Guy’s classmate, Maxwell Kochenash, said he was grateful that ESU has presented opportunities to take his skills and career goals to the next level.

“Getting real sales experience at an undergraduate level is amazing and something you most likely cannot get at any given institution,” he said. “I feel very confident and very thankful knowing that ESU supports my career goals and helps me build lifelong skills.”

A junior sport management major from Nazareth, Pa., Kochenash said he also came away from the experience with stronger communications skills and an understanding that rejection is part of the process.

“Communicating effectively is one of the most important things for my generation, and this class helped me feel that professional communication does not have to feel forced or be awkward,” he said. “This class also helped me learn how to accept failure because many calls I made, people rejected the tickets, which was annoying at first, but I realized it was giving me real job experience.”

Brannigan said the Penguins will offer career on-ramp activities by providing three post-course completion interviews for students chosen based on performance with an opportunity to secure employment.

“Not many programs or classes are making live sales calls and partnering with professional organizations to get sales training,” he said. “All partners have not only stated the advantages this will give students, but this project also creates a career pathway funnel system for our students to these organizations.”

“Our strategy is rooted in a simple but powerful belief: learning is strongest when theory is intentionally connected to application and brought to life through practice. By embedding real-world experiences into the curriculum, we ensure our students don’t just learn concepts, they use them,” said Sylvester E. Williams, IV, Esquire, Dean, College of Business and Management. “Programs like the innovative experiential learning model developed by Dr. Brannigan exemplify this commitment, equipping our students with the practical skills, professional confidence, and marketplace readiness needed to succeed from day one.”

Learn more about ESU’s sport management program.

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