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Corporate Sponsorship Done Right: The Art of Doing Nothing

by | July 3, 2024

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In today’s post, I am going to share a case study with you about one of the biggest corporate sponsorship deals I’ve worked on. This is an example of how I closed a major, multi-year corporate sponsor in a way that will surprise you. It didn’t include any fancy sponsorship proposals or a complicated activation strategy but it did require a certain level of comfort with the best sales tool in your arsenal “awkward silence.”

Corporate Sponsorship Packages

Necessary Evil or Part of the Problem?

Let me start at the end of this story. We were sitting with our newest sponsor, a seven-figure partner with a massive brand and the ability to take us to the next level of our corporate sponsorship program. I asked the question that any good sponsorship seeker asks of new sponsors: how did you come to choose us? Surely it was my weekly sponsorship proposal submission…right?

They laughed.

“Chris,” said my newest corporate sponsor, “we get 10,000 sponsorship packages every single month. Nobody on my team has read a sponsorship proposal in years.”

Oh.

Bubble busted, dreams dashed!

I thought I had the world’s best sponsorship proposal template. Heck, maybe I did! But it didn’t matter because none of my prospects were actually reading my proposals.

“You were invited to the table for two reasons: first, you have an audience that our ideal customer cares about and second, your president golfs with our CEO.”

Good Corporate Sponsorship Comes from Real Relationships

I know what you’re thinking! Of course we got the sponsor, our president is best buddies with their CEO!

If you are thinking this, you would be incorrect.

What you should actually be thinking is “how did you get to this stage in the sponsorship process without me asking this question already!”

If I had used my five questions for every sponsorship prospect, I would have found out earlier…but I digress.

You see, we were one of four charities invited to the table, all with the same audience and all of whom had presidents who golfed with the CEO of this company. We still had to pitch and compete but we were competing against four others instead of 10,000 others who were going in with the sponsorship package as their first point of contact.

This is why it is so incredibly important to use your board, your committees, your current sponsors, the business breakfast, Friday five and your super powers of networking to warm up your prospects and build real relationships, on purpose.

Corporate Sponsorship Made Easy: Just Do…Nothing?

Just like bringing nothing to a prospecting meeting is your most powerful tool, the same is true for making the sale! Nothing, nothing at all, is your most important tool. Relationships matter and as soon you start to try and sell something, you lose your prospect’s trust.

Here we were, up against four much bigger, much better-known brands. They brought charts, pictures, stories…some even brought program users to help plead their case. We sat in the waiting room for our 15-minute pitch to come watching this parade of fundraisers, along with their gadgets and tear-jerking stories…and us with nothing in hand.

Our turn to pitch came and in we went. There was a full boardroom table, each individual armed with a question that we answered using nothing more than our personalities – connecting with every person in the room. Not trying to sell them anything, or guilt them, or convince them that our cause was better than the others (after all, all five charities did something similar and likely appealed to the same demographic).

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The final question came: “Let’s say we mail you a cheque for $1 million. What do you do next?”

Our answer?

Nothing. (This was a truly Seinfeld-esque moment for me…and it turned out way better for us than it did George Costanza).

Then silence. Awkward silence.

In fact, we stood there, awkwardly staring at the people in the room waiting for them to say something. They finally did, asking us to give some more detail.

Then we spoke: “We would lock it in the safe, call you immediately and book a meeting. You see, until we know what you want to accomplish through our partnership together, or what your customers value, or what your brand stands for, we don’t have the right to spend a penny. If we can’t do what you need us to do, we’ll give the cheque back.”

Do’s and Don’ts When Building Relationships with a Sponsor

While all the relationship building in the world won’t help you if there’s a misalignment between you and the sponsor (or your audiences), I’m going into this assuming you prospected and did your due diligence and that there is potential for you and the sponsor to work together.

If so, these tips are for you.

DO Be Genuine

Sponsors can smell a phony business proposition a mile away. They can also see your sales pitch coming before the words leave your mouth. If you want to forge a respectful, professional partnership with a sponsor, you need to come from a place of genuineness and transparency.

DON’T Become Besties

I know, this seems like a strange follow-up to the last point, but I’m sticking by it. While you should develop a friendly rapport with the sponsor, there’s no need for them to know the names of your kids or dog or which baseball team is your favorite or what you did last weekend.

Some sponsorship seekers erroneously believe that the closer you are to the sponsor, the easier it is to secure a deal. If anything, it’s harder. You don’t want to mix business with pleasure, after all.

Remember, chances are that the contact at the sponsor company is not the one making the final call. That’s their boss, or a boss above them. Your contact can tell you “yes” all day, but if someone above them doesn’t approve it, it doesn’t matter how chummy you are.

DO Listen More, Talk Less

I think it’s human nature to want to talk, at least, for most of us. And then, when we’re not talking, we’re thinking about how we’re going to respond to the other person who is. And in the process, we can end up missing some valuable information.

The next time you have a conversation with your sponsor, try something. Actually, don’t even wait until you talk to your sponsor. Do it with the next person you interact with. Let them speak, and while they do, don’t think about what you’re going to say.

Instead, just listen.

I know, it’s going to feel weird at first, but once you master active listening, you’ll find that a lot of your professional and personal relationships improve because you retain more of every conversation.

DON’T Be Afraid to Ask Questions (Sometimes More Than Once!)

Sometimes, I liken sponsors to onions. I mean, this shouldn’t strike you as weird considering I’ve also compared sponsorship and shark attacks.

But the reason I say sponsors are like onions is because they have multiple layers you have to peel back. They don’t always want to admit their shortcomings, so it takes asking the right questions and a dash of persistence to get the information you need.

That said, there’s a difference between questioning and pestering, so make sure you toe the line.

DO Follow BAMFAM

If you’ve read the blog for any length of time, I’m sure you’re familiar with BAMFAM, the acronym I coined for “book a meeting from a meeting.”

And it’s so important to keep it tucked away in your back pocket as you proceed. Until you and the sponsor pen a deal with one another, you aren’t exactly working together. Believe it or not, you can fall out of touch, or at least fall off one another’s priority lists because you both get busy.

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You’ve worked this hard to develop a relationship with your sponsor, so do yourself one simple favor and follow BAMFAM rules. Always have that next meeting booked before you shake hands and bid each other adieu. You can thank me later!

DON’T Only Be Nice Until You Get What You Want 

I’ve seen some sponsorship seekers lay it on thick, sucking up like there’s no tomorrow in hopes the sponsor will favor them over other potential partners. And yes, sometimes it works, because flattery can get you pretty far in life.

However, switching gears after the sponsor signs the check is not how relationship-building works. Sponsors aren’t ATMs, and discarding them afterward is inadvisable.

DO Keep the Connection Going

In fact, I recommend the polar opposite. Stay in touch with your sponsor after you finish working together.

Do your part and produce a fulfillment report after your event, program, or opportunity ends. This is your opportunity to have an open and honest discussion about what you could do even better and what you should double down on.

Fulfillment meetings are beneficial not only for the sponsor, as you get to underscore your value again, but for you as well. You can reiterate your strengths and discover weaknesses to improve on to make your next sponsorship relationships even better.

And even if you don’t pen a long-term deal with your sponsor right then and there, don’t forget they’ve ever existed. Send them emails or social media messages from time to time checking in. Forward articles and other resources you think they would find interesting.

This way, if they ever have the ability to work together, you should be the first one they call. And at the very least, they will be more willing to offer you recommendations for other prospective partners.

FAQs

Can I really skip the sponsorship proposal and still land a sponsorship opportunity?

Yes, you can, and I’m living proof of it. Understanding what the sponsor wants through discovery and then tailoring your assets and activations to those needs remains the best option for securing sponsorship. A proposal is secondary.

Should I give my prospect a proposal if they ask for it early?

No, as this is usually a brush-off. However, if you and the prospect have had several meetings and then they ask to see it, they genuinely want to. Knowing the difference will help you avoid wasting your valuable time, especially if you have a time-sensitive event on the calendar.

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Back to Our Brand New Corporate Sponsorship Deal

My new corporate sponsor went on, “Chris it wasn’t the sponsorship package that sold us, it wasn’t the cause that sold us, there are so many good causes out there, it was you and your team. We are looking for a partnership and your answer is why we are here today.”

There you have it! The next time someone tells that “all you need is a sponsorship package” send them this story. Had I gone in with a pitch, I would have walked out with nothing in my hands. Instead, I went in to listen, to connect, and to build a real partnership, and I walked out with my first million-dollar sponsorship (and my second and third million for good measure).