In the buildup to Front Office Sports’ Ticketing Huddle at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on May 10, we’re introducing you to the huddle leaders who will be lending their expertise to the conversation.
Today, meet Aaron Lampkin, Director of Ticket Sales with Seattle Sounders FC. A Spokane, Washington native, Lampkin graduated from Johnson and Wales University in Denver where he was also a basketball student-athlete. There, Lampkin first realized his desire to turn his passion for sports into a career.
“I realized my junior year of college that my time playing basketball was pretty much over. When I started to think about career options, I wanted to be in a situation where I control my destiny. In sales, you definitely can and having a background made it a little bit more my cup of tea to sell sports.”
After graduation, Lampkin interned with the Colorado Rapids, which is a part of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment. Lampkin utilized his time as an intern to learn as much as he could and make a positive impression in hopes of landing a full-time job.
“The Rapids didn’t have an inside sales training program at the time. So I put 15 minutes on my calendar with every single department head, discussed my career goals and how I was going to attain those, and basically said if there’s a full-time opportunity, I want to at least be in consideration.”
Lampkin was then hired as a sales rep for Kroenke Sports and Entertainment before working in membership services specifically for the Colorado Avalanche (another Kroenke entity) for nearly five years, including two as the team’s manager of membership services.
“I really wanted to just prove and show that I could teach value better than anybody else regardless of position and just because your position doesn’t really limit what you can do on the sales side,” he says. “I want to teach people to be the strongest in their routine and in bringing in new business. My teams embody that.”
Lampkin came to the Sounders in June of 2018. As a sales director, Lampkin takes great pride in managing young reps for advancement. Reps that Lampkin has trained have moved onto management positions in the NFL, NBA and other major sports leagues. This is a point of great personal pride for him. Conversely, with several years of teaching under his belt, Lampkin says the biggest mistake he sees young reps make is giving up before realizing their potential.
“The thing that hurts me the most is knowing that we do have reps who have potential to be extraordinary that are early in the learning process and/or they want that promotion tomorrow instead of focusing on the process and perfecting their craft,” he says. “It limits their overall growth. I see reps give up too early and not see the vision fully through [rather] than spending time to understand their why.”
In order to take the first big step in their career, Lampkin advises young reps to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack that is getting more competitive by the day.
“Be proactive in interviews or conversations,” he says. “Get to know reps and managers and directors and the industry of what they’ve done to be successful. I would tell anybody who’s looking to get into the industry to start early because there are hundreds of applications that come in for every opening. If you can differentiate yourself before an interview starts, you have a much higher chance.”
Meet Aaron and hear more of his thoughts on the current ticketing space at the Front Office Sports Ticketing Huddle at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in Oakland, CA on May 10. For tickets and additional info, click here.
