Matt Batchelder is Vice President of Ticket Sales & Digital Marketing at Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL) hockey team.
Starting as an intern back in 1999 Matt has woven his WorkHappy attitude into the culture of the Griffins at every level.
Matt shares about having to reinvent the Griffins ticket wheel and how they approached Covid, keeping their fans on board and getting fans back in the stands this season. We agreed that when managing people, sometimes you have to ask two or three times, "HOW ARE YOU REALLY DOING?" to make sure our teams are healthy, mentally, socially and physically.
Matt and his team have done things the right way. Playing the long game, but building healthy strong relationships with their fans to grow their base year after year. Along with that, there's been a lot of ramping up recently, training a newer sales team and connecting with fans coming off a season where there were no fans in the building.
We both agree that working happy is the way to go, and the numbers show. Happy sales people sell 37% more than their grumpy colleagues.
Hope you enjoy the conversation. Follow Matt at Linkedin or drop him a line here.