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#engagementstory
ALUMNI GUIDANCE ON THE SPORT MANAGEMENT INDUSTRY
By MAX LEISTEN
There’s a lot of research into why we like, no — why we need to help others (read “Reinforcements” by Heidi Grant). Beyond assurance that we’re a good human being, it makes us feel great.
So when you make it easy for an alum to help someone, you’re not only supporting the person asking for support, but you’re giving your constituent a critical therapeutical experience.
Do more of it!
Max
The "ask"
Hey Alumni! My name is DEVIN STUDENT, current student athlete here at NC State University. I am majoring in Sports Management with a minor in business and will be graduating next fall.
I am reaching out in regards to help getting into the field of becoming a sports agent. I am a junior but have yet to have any work experience due to my sports career. I love sports and have a real passion for helping other athletes like myself. What advice would you give a guy like me trying to get into the industry?
I appreciate you taking the time out your day to look into my future. Thank you so much.
The "give"
Devin,
I shared your info with our Talent & Agent group out of Virginia. They should be following up with information on their group.
Octagon is a large sports marketing company with many different divisions working within the sports world. Let me know if you want to grab a coffee or lunch one day to talk about Octagon and the sports marketing industry in general. I will be available after mid-October to get together and chat.
Thank you,
ALUM
Pipeline Impact
So here are the outcomes this engagement has yielded for the institution (so far).
09/07
Question
Prospective student submits question via institution's Protopia-powered program page.
09/07
Outreach to 12 constituents
Protopia's AI finds and blindly shares the question with relevant alumni and donors based on their experience, education, skills, location, and other factors.
09/07
3 constituents decline
Within hours, three constituents decline the request because they're not available or it's not a fit for their background (the recipient updates their employment data via Protopia).
09/14
Constituent shares advice
The first constituent to respond (after a gentle reminder) encourages the student, encourages him to look at openings on their website, and offers to network further (awesome!).
09/19
Alum offers meeting
A second constituent at a leading sports marketing firm shares the student's interest within his company and offers to meet the athlete to network further.
09/21
Student thanks alumni
The student reached out to engaged constituents to thank them for their help.
09/23
55% email open rate
Ten out of 18 recipients (so far) opened the email and five out of 10 clicked on it (28% clickthrough rate).
09/23
78% new engagement
14 out 18 engaged alumni had never received a question before (activating the unengaged is a key institutional goal).
09/23
7% update their data
Bit of a surprise that (so far) only 7% of recipients have updated their data (average is about 25%).
10/05
Donor Engagement Alerts
Once we collect feedback from engaged constituents, we will let assigned gift officers know so that they may reach out to the individual to thank them and build / strengthen a relationship.
Based on the performance to-date, I expect an uplift of 25% on the above numbers. Some constituents don’t engage until a second reminder (we’re not putting pressure on them), and letting them help on their terms is super important to us.