sportstyle

62 • September 2021 sportstyle • sportstylemag.com In the past 18 months many of us in the business of team sports feared the demise of, or at least the diminishment of, some sports due to financial constraints at every level. Now as most schools plan to reopen to normal operation this Fall – a reopening that includes most sports as part of the curriculum – there is a golden opportunity for team dealers to play a vital role. The Importance of Expertise During the pandemic we were all told to wear masks, not congregate beyond our immediate families, don't go out to eat at restaurants — and don't play team sports. These weren't suggestions, they were orders. If we didn't follow them we became outcasts, deviant citizens. All of this was imposed on us to conquer this foe that was attacking our very lives. We learned for ourselves who to believe because they relied on facts versus opin- ions. The real educators stood out. And we learned that not all who tried to educate us were actually qualified to do so. What does all of this have to do with the team dealer? Simple, it means that educa- tors can be more than titled professors in front of students in the classroom. It means that we are all educators, particularly now. If we have an expertise that is supported by facts, then we are qualified and have a responsibility to share that information. We learned in the last year that we don't want to be told what to do. We want to hear the facts and make decision that are good for us and others based on those facts. Because science moved quickly and vaccines became available and people used common sense, a level of normalcy is now near. We have also heard over the last many months about those things that need to be "reimagined." That's where the opportunity for team dealers who are willing and able to remain flexible – to reimagine their roles – comes in. The Business of Educating Reimagine that the team dealer is not simply the guy who delivers the uniforms on time or recertifies football helmets each season. Think about the team dealer as an educator. If you are not already doing so, in a post-pandemic world you must approach the "business" of serving your base with an expanded thought process. Think of it this way: Your vendors research and develop products intended to set them apart from their competition. But in real- ity, they are in the business of developing products that serve the needs of eventual users — your customer. The responsibility of the vendor is to teach and educate the team dealer about the product. So what, then, is the dealer's responsibility? It is to use what they have learned from the vendor and evaluate whether or not that product can fit the need of their customer. You make a variety of products available to your customers to satisfy the same need, but they differ in that some users have different abilities and thus, different needs. The team dealer has to pass that information on to the coach, whose responsibility is to recognize what products are best for his or her team. Approaching your customers this way assures that the school, coach and athlete will turn to you as their team dealer, their professor of sports. I like the sound of that. Do you think the big-box retailers with team departments can fill that role as edu- cator? Can they possibly count on their employees to "reimagine" their approach to serving the customer? Or, will they just do what they do best — sell product? That • TEAM: TRENDS The lesson here is that "selling" is less effective than "advising." While the short-term end result of the two may be the same, advising puts the team dealer in a much different long-term position.

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