NetKnacks Booth Sales Diary: USTA Southern Sectional Championships, Mobile, AL

by Darlene Jefferson, Program Director, NetKnacks Tennis Awards

NetKnacks is all about spreading the love of tennis, and one of the most rewarding things I get to do for NetKnacks is spread that tennis love at USTA Sectional Championship Events. Players have worked really hard to earn their spots at these events and get one step closer to a National Championship.

At these events, NetKnacks sells USTA Sectional Championship attire and other imprinted items so each player can commemorate this special event. We just attended the USTA Southern Sectional Championships in Mobile, AL, where there were over 1200 players from across the southern region – Adult, 18 & Over, & 40 & Over, Men’s & Women’s – and I can’t say enough about how excited they were to see us in attendance.

Southern is one of the best-attended events for our booth sales program, and preparation was an adventure. The day before the event, we drove from Atlanta to Mobile in the largest cargo van I have ever driven in my life, completely filled to the brim with our booth and all of the tennis promotional products we could stuff into it. Luckily, we made it in one piece. As we do before every booth sale, we went to the site to stake out the best spot. We always try to choose a location where everyone has to pass our booth – of course they'll love what they see, so they'll stop by!! The Mobile Tennis Center folks were the perfect hosts and let us set up in the front of the parking lot, at the entrance to the tennis center and right by the food trucks where everyone would be getting their lunch throughout the day (mmmm...food trucks…).

We arrived very early – in the dark (5:30 AM to be exact) – the Friday of the event, since players begin to show up at 7:30 AM and we knew we needed to be ready. We start out every booth set-up by putting out our product options on our three tables and our amazing hanging rack so everyone can see all the apparel options, just like at a rock concert merch stand. And we sure did feel like rockstars. Within 15 minutes of being open, the players took over the booth and we were non-stop ringing up sales with long lines of people waiting to purchase. We kept busy until we closed the booth that day at 5:00 PM. We reorganized, packed up and went directly to bed exhausted from a very successful booth day. And then we did it again. And again. We repeated this process for two more days until the event ended and we were almost completely sold out!