Ch. 18 - Sales Promotion and Personal Selling

Personal selling

There is little in the way of true personal selling done by Celtic Football Club on the consumer facing side. As with any business, however, high value propositions that the club is involved in will undoubtedly involve a lengthy sales cycle with many deals taking months to complete. Examples of such situations could be: 

• The sale of assets such as a member playing staff, as there are often multiple parties involved in negotiations and the outcome is rarely reached quickly.

• Sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike, Coca-cola, MBMA, Powerade, Tennents lager and Scottish Leader whisky. 

• Land development projects such as the renovation and expansion of the club’s stadium, training grounds or other property investments.

Sales Promotion

A simple visit to Celtic’s retail stores in Scotland & Ireland or to the club website (www.celticfc.net) displays a huge amount of sales promotion which the business is continuously using to generate increased sales in specific areas. Areas of promotion include:

• Tickets. It is important that the stadium is as full as possible on match days. As a result many incentives are offered, particularly for games against less appealing opposition. Many tactics are used such as price cuts or free admission for a child with each adult ticket purchased. It should be noted that there is a sweepstake at each game at Celtic Park where a customer will win $15,000. The effectiveness of Celtic’s approach to maximizing ticket sales has resulted in the club having the 9^th highest average attendance in world soccer.

• Apparel & Merchandise. As new products must be continuously introduced to keep customers interested there is regularly sales promotions to encourage purchasing. At the moment for example, it is possible to purchase two Celtic DVDs for 10 and there are large price cuts on last year’s fashion and training wear as the spring 2011 lines have just been introduced.

• Corporate Hospitality. Premium packages can be purchased by fans in order to enjoy a game in the executive setting which included fine dining and access to exclusive lounges and the opportunity to meet players and staff after games. Depending on availability and demand these packages are often subject to sales promotions which are generally advertised through mailing to qualified leads and through online means.