Adonis tries to score with customers as ticket salesman

DeKALB - Let's face it, sales calls are the last thing people want sometimes. They take time out of a busy day. Most of the money nowadays goes to gas and food. And who wants four dozen steak knives? If you live in the DeKalb area, or if you're a recent graduate of Northern Illinois, you've probably received a few of sales calls from the Northern Illinois marketing and sales office, asking about purchasing season tickets for the upcoming NIU football season. One member of the sales team estimates he gets hung up on about 1/3 of the time on his sales calls. So if a soft-speaking male recently asked you about your interest in seeing Huskie football games in person this year and you're one of the 1/3 of people who hung up on him, congratulations. You hung up on a football player. Wide receiver Evans Adonis has been working at the NIU ticket office as an intern this summer, selling season ticket plans for his own games. But the marketing major doesn't mention to prospective buyers that they would be buying tickets to see him play. That's his closing strategy. “Only towards the end,” Adonis said. “If they seem sort of interested, I let them know about the team and that I'm on it. They get into it then. Some of them get excited. One lady was telling me about how she has a Huskies basement with all this stuff.” Adonis has put down his playbook of X's and O's for a playbook of ticket information and calling lists. Some calls go well and people at least tell Adonis that they're interested. Others he can hear people in the background whispering “Tell him I'm busy.” Still, Adonis keeps calling. He made the first sale of the summer during his first week on the job. As of Tuesday, he's sold three packages. That's the high number in the office. “It's been harder than I thought,” Adonis said. “I've been doing pretty good. Me and my roommate (former NIU football player) Keenan (Blalark), we are the only two guys that have sales.” Cindy Green, NIU's Director of marketing and sales, said ticket selling has been tough across the board. “It's not easy,” Green said. “You're dealing with a bad economy and people are thinking what else can I do with my money.” Blair isn't the only member of the sales team with ties to athletic program. Former women's basketball standout and WNBA player Stephanie Raymond works there now, as do two cheerleaders and a former gymnast. Green said the sales positions are open to anyone on campus and must remain so to comply with NCAA rules. The staff started out this summer as a mix of athletes and non-athletes, but has changed over a few weeks. “This is the first year we've ever done a sales team before,” Green said. “We did have some other people on the staff initially that weren't athletes. Our athletes have a little more work initiative. ... Evans definitely has a little more stock in it being a part of the football team.” Selling is nothing new to Adonis, who said he has been selling his video games, TV's and anything else he can to make a few extra bucks for as long as he can remember. “Everybody knows me as the person that if they want to get something sold, they call me and I try and work it out for them,” Adonis said. “I'm the guy. If you talk to anybody they'll tell you that Evans is always trying to sell something.”