Before we dive in, I am giving away two free resources to help you with valuations. Get your free copy of my infographic and valuation checklist now! Determining the value of your sponsorship inventory and defining your own sponsorship valuation formula is without a doubt the thing that strikes fear into the hearts of even the
The sponsorship landscape has changed dramatically over the last five years and the pace of change has picked up, with no signs of letting up. While this increased pace of change makes it challenging for sponsorship sales professionals, it also opens up opportunities. Here are three changes and trends that you should be aware of:
In part one of my corporate sponsorship gone wrong post I covered three examples of what NOT to do with your sponsors. If you liked those three examples, you are going to love these last two examples. Have a horror story of your own to share? Leave it in the comments!
The goal of this post is simple: learn from my mistakes! I have been doing corporate sponsorship deals for charities, private companies, and associations and not for profits for a long time and I have had some great successes but I have also had some disastrous corporate sponsorship deals gone wrong.
“What do you mean you sold the last spot!? We’ve worked together for years and you sold my sponsorship package to my competitors?” My heart sank. I had an irate sponsor on the phone, or former sponsor in this case, who clearly wanted to come on board but I didn’t give him the chance to.
Telling people “no” is an uncomfortable experience and people try to avoid it at all costs and so our prospects have come up with an ingenious way to say no without having to say no, and it sounds like this: “Just send me a proposal” Which is code for “no thanks.”
Everybody wants a silver bullet to sell sponsorship, the one thing that works every time. Guess what? It DOES exist! Is it a well written proposal? A solid elevator pitch? The perfect combination of logos, sampling rights and exhibit space? Nope! I talk to sponsors a lot (yes, the people with the money!) and I hear
Email is a fabulous tool to help warm up cold calls…except when it isn’t! I hear from clients and colleagues all the time that their e-mails are not producing results. They send out 1,000 emails and hear nothing back. I have had excellent results using email to help open doors and I see truly horrible
Surveys are a very important part of your sponsorship program. Every organisation should be surveying their attendees and their database if they want to grow (or maintain) their sponsorship program. I talk a lot about the power of audience data and cover the importance of surveys in all of my in person and online training
What do you do when you are launching a brand new event? Or a naming right for a building that hasn’t been constructed yet? Or a new program? First, it has to be said: a brand new sponsorship opportunity is not given a pass from following the sponsorship sales process discussed in this article.