For a local sports organization like the San Jose Earthquakes (Quakes), community support is essential.  But like many organizations, the team faced challenges in optimizing their operations to empower meaningful relationships with their fan and partner communities. They teamed up with Slalom to enhance their partnership marketing efforts and improve their sales team’s efficiency.

The partnership marketing team at the Quakes aimed to build stronger relationships with corporate partners and sponsors. They wanted to expand partnerships by introducing new approaches and offerings focused on the needs of companies in the San Jose region and greater Bay Area.

“Our goals were to provide a great platform for our sponsors to get value. For our existing partners, it was about how we do more and add more value for them,“ says Ian Anderson, the Quakes chief strategy officer.    

Slalom started by helping the Quakes define its target market, the “Hustlers,” using market data to create a prioritized list of companies, focusing on those with strong community engagement values. Then we partnered on the strategy for maximizing engagement.

“Both at Slalom and the Quakes, there’s a hustle-hard mentality, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration,” says Shayda Ansari, a project manager at Slalom. This shared ethos helped us quickly develop compelling partnership stories and go-to-market materials, including discussion guides and a proof-of-concept digital avatar (chatbot) for demos, highlighting the collective impact of potential partnerships. 

The new strategy fostered engaging discussions and pitches, increasing the likelihood of successful partnerships with targeted marketing and personalized content.

To further accelerate community engagement, the Quakes wanted to enhance its sales team’s performance by refining goal tracking and task management. The goal was to establish a measurable framework for success.

“[Slalom] has been the shepherds from start to finish. They’ve really been the experts in the whole process and guided us in an area that we just didn’t have a lot of experience,“ says Jacob Thompson, the team’s senior director of strategy and business intelligence.  

Slalom helped implement Salesforce Sales Cloud and Salesforce Service Cloud solutions to create personalized activity and revenue dashboards for individuals, teams, and leaders. This offers a complete overview of sales activities and revenue streams, including community-focused initiatives. 

“We improved the speed of business processes by bringing in industry experts and building easy-to-use interfaces,“ says Sujit Singh, a senior consultant at Slalom. 

Customized user interfaces provide insights for the Quakes to track performance and manage tasks while keeping community goals in mind. Gamified performance dashboards add a fun, competitive element, motivating the sales team and enhancing their overall performance.

These tools have significantly improved the sales team’s efficiency. With advanced technology and a clear view of tasks and achievements, they can prioritize better, leading to higher performance and more effective community engagement.  

“The sponsorship sales process is a unique blend of variables I like to call the ‘strategic hustle’ and with Slalom’s expertise they were able to help us connect with some of the fastest-growing companies in our hometown community,” says Kristina Wavomba, senior director of sales and strategy at the San Jose Earthquakes.

This collaboration is a powerful example of how technology and smart data can make a huge difference for businesses focused on their communities. By teaming up with Slalom, the Quakes empowered their sales team and enhanced partnership marketing, boosting overall performance and deepening community involvement.

The Quakes can now connect more easily with fans and partners to build real, lasting connections.