This week’s League Leader is Grant Canning from San Antonio, Texas!

Bio

Company: Spurs Sports & Entertainment

Occupation: Account Executive

As a native of San Antonio, Grant went to TCU for 4 years and was mascot during his time there! After obtaining an MBA from Ohio University, he found his way back to his hometown as a season ticket sales rep for the San Antonio Spurs. Just 7 months later, Grant is in charge of handling all premium seating in the arena. When speaking about his sales process, he says “I think it’s very, very different for us. I just try to get in front of as many people as I can. Now granted, no one likes to be sold to, but everyone wants to buy. That’s why I like meeting in person. You can’t paint the same picture when you’re talking to LinkedIn.”

Q: What was one piece of advice that you would have for someone entering outside sales?

A: “You just have to go out there and do it. Like my boss always tells me, it’s hard to get meetings, but that’s where we have to do it. First, it’s just better to just meet with people in person and second, you’re going to learn something, right? I’m not going to do the same thing, necessarily, that I did at a meeting from a week ago with someone from another industry or the process might stay very similar. I’ve walked into meetings saying, “Oh, I probably shouldn’t have said this” or “This would have been good to say here” or “That was good to say.” So it’s really just trial and error. You just have to get out there and do it, especially on the sales side- just go sell something, try to do something. Everyone I’ve talked to says, well, “I can’t get an opportunity to”. You just have to make it and figure out what you want to sell or find someone you know that is doing that. You can at least go shadow. You don’t necessarily have to sell, but at least see how the process works.

You become very good at it whenever you are put into it. I’m a very ‘put me into the fire, let me burn a little bit and then I’ll figure it out from there’ kind of guy. That’s my mentality and I think those that do that aren’t afraid to separate themselves. You have to be vulnerable and not be afraid to be that way. Try to be patient and wait for some things that come through but also keep filling that pipeline and do what you can to make sure that those people have a good time.”

Q: What is the first thing you ever sold?

A: “I think it was those books or bookmarks in elementary school at the library and you could exchange it for little trinkets and stuff and get points or something like that. When I was growing up, my dad was in sales with UPS and I saw how he was and I did not want to be in sales at all. It just wasn’t my thing. It’s just funny how everything comes full circle. I’m a good mix of both my parents so I am very creative, yet great at sales.”

Q: So you’re a Spurs fan? Sell me the idea of the Spurs winning the title next year.

A: “I’ll tell you exactly what I tell people when it comes to us the next season or what happens on the court.

When I stepped into this new role, I inherited some accounts that were on the suite side. Someone said to me, “Grant, why would we renew  if we don’t know what’s going to happen player-wise and all these kinds of things.” I said, “To be honest with you, what would you like to have happen? Do we want Kawhi to come back and if Kawhi doesn’t come back do we want some big-name guys?” That’s completely understandable, right? Well, how do you think that we can go after big name guys like that? No one really knows or understands this process, but in order for any team to go after a big-name player, you have to pay them in order to do that. That stems from your ticket sales. This stems from your premium seating sales. It stems from your sponsorship deals. In order for us to do that, we have to have your support to do it. At the end of the day, if you want us to go after Kawhi, Paul George, or Kyrie, we need your support. Why would you want to miss that opportunity to take a step back?

We’re bringing back all these young guys that played last year and meshed really, really well. We didn’t necessarily win as many games as we wanted to, but a ton of guys got a lot of experience and playoff experience. You put that together with, potentially, Kawhi who is a veteran and MVP in the finals. If it’s somebody else that comes in, then you get to mesh with these young players that are pretty darn good. Why would we want to miss any of those opportunities to view what we’ve done for 21 straight years and go into the playoffs? That’s kind of my mentality. Whatever’s going to happen this summer is going to be a positive regardless. Not to mention this is the second highest pick that we’ve had in the draft in probably 15 years at #18. Again, you’re a part of that process and get to watch that happen right in front of you.”

Q: What sports figure do you think best represents you as a sales figure and why?

A: “I think it’s a kind of a mix. I’m an extrovert, no doubt about it, but I can also sit back and listen really well. I’m not necessarily biggest Cowboys fan, but I really like Dak Prescott’s game. I think he manages the game really well and

from a leading standpoint, he doesn’t necessarily have to throw 7 touchdowns a game but he can hand it off and manage the

Drawing the Dak Prescott sales leader comparison

game like that. He is very calm, cool and collected, but can flip it on when he needs to. When I really, really need to turn it on and get after it, he is not on our team, but I’m a big Russell Westbrook guy. I think he is the most electric basketball player in our league. In terms of pure electric, pure fire mentality, I think Russell Westbrook is the guy. It comes in waves and depends on the situation but that’s where kind of where I fall.”

 

Q: How do you overcome failure?

A: “I think it’s how you turn those things into a positive and learn from them. Whether it’s from my language within an email or somebody on the phone, you just got to learn from them all. I have to find people who really want to have a conversation with me because that’s my job and I get excited about those people. If somebody says that they’re going to have a meeting with me, I get fired up.

I always tell people, all I’m looking for is 20 minutes or 20 minutes in a day. Especially in the morning before people get their day going, I like to set a timer and if we go past that, you can leave. It gets very monotonous, my friend and it can be very, very draining after some time. It wears on you, but it’s like “how can I improve my process?” Just tweaking those things no matter what happens is important.”

Q: Who’s winning the NBA Championship?

A: “Lebron James is incredible to me, but I think, honestly, after watching them play the Spurs for five games, I think the Golden State Warriors are the most sound team in the league right now.

Houston is very good and Capella is a freak as a big man, but really, that is their big man. As long as Kevin Durant is on the floor at 6’11”, basically playing a point guard position yesterday, they can’t be stopped- and then you have Klay who can go off for 35. I’m not saying I’m not the biggest Draymond fan, but the guy changes momentum again and again and puts a lot of fire underneath his teammates. It’s little things like that. My Finals pick is versus Boston and Golden State takes it in 5.”