Let me start by saying that I hate the term “sponsor summit.” When people hear it they think of a hugely expensive, over the top, highly formal, high-pressure sales event. Sponsor summits are NEVER high-pressure sales events and they are only as formal as you want them to be. You can hold any type of summit that fits your brand and your partners…as long as you hold it at least once a year, every year. No exceptions.
Asking For Sponsorship Is Easy! As Long As You Don’t Ask For Money (Yet!) Prospecting is arguably the most important part of the sponsorship sales process. It is through the process of discovery meetings, geared towards information gathering rather than sales, that you learn whether or not the market will support your goals. The goal of the first meeting is not to make the sale but to gather information and demine whether or not you have a fit. The types of questions that you should ask your prospects must reflect the goals of the first meeting. 10+ Questions To Ask Potential Sponsors Here are the five most important questions you should be asking in the first meeting in order to be able to create a custom sponsorship package: Who is your target audience? This starts the meeting on the right path, right away. Don’t launch into a pitch, instead, get your prospect talking about their target audience. Not only will this give you valuable information for your proposal and your own audience research but it shows your prospect that you understand how sponsorship works. What action do your customers take right before they make a purchase? How do you typically get […]
Our sector has an outright obsession with the sponsorship package! Of course, sponsorship packages have their place and play a role in sponsorship sales, and I’ve written about the subject extensively here. If you find yourself focused on building the perfect sponsorship deck before you start talking to sponsors, you’re in big trouble. Here are 27 things you can do right now to move the needle on your sponsorship program, none of which require you to wait for final approval on your sponsorship deck! Create 5 “out of the box” activation ideas that you know your audience will love and offer them to your current sponsors! Update your valuation calculator to include an ROI calculator Stop thinking “philanthropy” and start thinking about the power of your audience Schedule your first Business Breakfast Start doing the Friday Five this week Create a fulfillment report template for your organization Schedule a follow up meeting after your next event and ask your sponsors for feedback Run an inventory building workshop for your team Make friends before you need them! Go for coffee with your prospects and ask them for nothing at all Conduct a valuation of your assets Make a list of the […]
Representing sponsorship within your organization can be an exciting, rewarding and sometimes challenging role. You need to be creative to build beneficial partnerships that balance the objectives of your organization with those of your sponsors and external partners.
I am writing this post for two audiences. The first is the hiring manager looking to retain sponsorship talent. The second is to the sponsorship sales professional, looking for work in the field (whether new or experienced). There are some damaging approaches and philosophies that come up during the recruiting and onboarding phase and I think both sides of the table will benefit from this post. What are my best practices for hiring sponsorship sales staff? Knowing the sponsorship sales process well Having realistic expectations Hiring who you need Avoiding hiring sales contacts How to Generate Interest in Your Sponsorship Opportunity The best salespeople are those who are deeply passionate about the product or service they’re selling. That could be because they’ve used that product or service personally and realized how much it changed their lives. Perhaps they studied the industry the product or service belongs to, or it’s a hobby of theirs. No matter the source of the spark, it’s that spark that’s key. So how do you get salespeople excited about your sponsorship opportunity? Here are some pointers to get you started. Present a Crystal-Clear Opportunity How is a sponsorship sales rep going to sell your opportunity to […]
If I had a dollar for every time I heard a fundraiser complain about their board of directors…or a board of directors complain about their fundraiser, I’d be a very rich man! Every single problem that I see stems from a lack of understanding of the sponsorship process and so this post is part therapy for fundraisers, but is also an instructional tool to share with your board members. In no particular order, here is what your board of directors needs to know about sponsorship:
Have you ever heard of marketing funnels? What about sales funnels? The purpose of these funnels is to create a reliable means of...
“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. My reasoning? I didn’t want to be pushy or rude and I assumed his responses to me were polite “no thank yous.”
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 examples of email marketing every day. Let’s talk about why nobody is replying to your sponsorship sales emails. You Try to Make the Sale If you sell sponsorship for a living, you’ve had this dream – we all have: you write 10 emails, with sponsorship sales letters and sponsorship packages attached, get 10 responses, all yes with cash in hand. A nice dream…but a dream nonetheless! I can’t say this any clearer than this: You do not want to make the sale on the first call. Sponsorship is a process, not direct mail! If you do, you are leaving money on the table. Big time. What’s the goal of the first meeting? To get the second meeting. How do you get a first meeting? Phone call. How do you get a phone call? A well-written email (assuming no warm introduction, of course). A well written email […]