In my post “How to Get Sponsorship Dollars this Fall” we unpacked the sometimes complicated world of corporate sponsorship. I promised in that post that we would dive a little deeper into building the sponsorship proposal, how to get the prospecting meeting and how to move it forward successfully.
Sometimes, The Best Sponsorship Proposal is…
Nothing at All!
Blasphemy! Ask anyone how to do sponsorship and they will tell you to create a sponsorship proposal and send it to everyone you can. Heck, if you Google the word “sponsorship” Google tries to autocorrect it to “sponsorship proposal.” Here’s a secret: even the best designed sponsorship proposal won’t work if nobody is reading it.
Creating a standardized sponsorship proposal means that you want your prospect to sit down, read the entire thing and then self-select what works for them. This rarely happens and when it does, I bet that if you spent time talking to your prospects about a custom package you would have a happier sponsor and more money on the table.
Before you dismiss me as a lunatic, let me say this: you do still need a sponsorship proposal of some kind and we discussed a menu approach in the first post – but the package is not the most important part of sponsorship sales. Most important of all, you have to realize that the sponsorship package is NOT the sales tool, you are. The best sponsorship packages are designed to drive your prospects back to you to engage in conversation – not to simply make a sale on the spot.
Why You Need a Custom Sponsorship Proposal
So, how can I say that a custom proposal is such a necessity when I just mentioned that you don’t always need a proposal to close a sponsorship deal? Well, because if you’re going to have one, it needs to be customized.
Still not totally convinced? Then allow me to change that with these benefits.
Shows You’re Paying Attention
The goal of an initial meeting with a sponsor isn’t to shove your proposal at them and ask them to give you money. That’s not how sponsorship works, or any form of business, really.
Instead, the goal of the meeting should be to learn about the sponsor’s challenges and shortcomings, then create services you can propose to help them. Those services are usually in the form of assets and activations.
If you present the same old gold, silver, and bronze tiered sponsorship to your prospective sponsor after a discovery session, you might as well not even have had the meeting.
The attitude you present is that you know better because you’ve had success with these few assets and activations in the past. A non-customized proposal can stall out what otherwise could have been a successful deal.
Tailoring your assets to what your sponsors mentioned wanting and needing proves that you listened and took their issues seriously. That builds respect and sets the stage for a potentially successful working relationship.
Increases the Value of Your Sponsorship Property
If I asked you which you think would be more valuable, a generic tiered sponsorship package or custom services, which do you think the answer would be?
I think it goes without saying that it’s the latter.
While you should always value your sponsorship property, at the end of the day, a sponsor determines the value of your opportunity. They may be willing to pay you even more than you ask for if you have high-value assets and activations.
You’ll never have that opportunity with tiered sponsorship. I doubt you’d even reach the negotiation stage if pitching with gold, silver, and bronze services. Sponsors don’t go for that pricing model anymore, and rightfully so.
It’s tired, and it’s not beneficial for the sponsor, who often ends up getting saddled with services they didn’t want but had to buy to get the gold-level assets.
The most valuable sponsorship opportunities are fully customized. If you’ve only gotten low-value sponsorship deals before, perhaps it’s because you’re not customizing your offerings. Once you begin doing that, you could pull in higher-value opportunities.
Provides More Value to Your Audience
I doubt you’re still straddling the fence at this point, but just in case the idea of more money and a happier sponsor haven’t convinced you to customize your sponsorship package, this will.
Your audience (or donors, attendees, customers, whatever you want to call them) is everything. Without them, you don’t have a business.
You should want to give them the most high-value, entertaining, mind-blowing, fun, and exciting event, opportunity, or program possible.
If you provide the same thing to all your sponsors, that cuts your aspirations at the knees. As a result, your loyal audience ends up with a lackluster experience when attending your event.
Maybe they’ll give you the benefit of a doubt one year, but if you make a habit out of it, they’ll eventually stop attending.
More so, you could lose them as customers if their enthusiasm seriously wanes.
Never Go in Sponsorship Proposal First
When you head to a prospecting meeting, my advice to you is to bring nothing at all. Don’t send the sponsorship proposal by email and don’t bring it with you. I am asked constantly by clients, board members, bosses and my prospects, “Where is your proposal, one pager, leave behind etc?” and my answer is always the same: “How do I know what to give them when I don’t know anything about their goals?”
When you bring a package or one pager with you it subtly tells your prospect that you are there for you, not for them. Instead, head to the meeting ready to ask lots of questions and get to know your prospect. This is also a sneaky tactic to help you get the second meeting and to help you build a custom sponsorship proposal, which we will describe below in more detail.
Getting the Sponsorship Meeting
By now, you have already built a pipeline and you’ve built your assets and know what they are worth. You wouldn’t dare bring a “gold, silver, bronze” sponsorship proposal to your first meeting…but how exactly do you get that meeting?
I am asked all the time, which is the best company or person within a company to talk to. My answer is “the one that will take your call!” A warm contact is always the best contact. Find a way to warm up every call, through a mutual friend, board member or donor who can make the introduction.
Not every call can be warmed up though, so how do you go in cold? Less is more when trying to connect with cold prospects. If your introductory email is more than three sentences, it’s too long and will get deleted. Never try to make the sale on the first call or email; the only goal of the first contact is to see if there is interest in moving forward. That’s it.
When you are going in cold, send a note or make a call and ask your prospect for some advice. Tell your prospect that you would love their thoughts on your event or program, would love to work with their company in some way and would appreciate their thoughts on the best approach. Avoid the temptation to include your mission statement, event details and program outcomes in the first email or phone call. All you want to do is get them to read your email or take your call and agree to spend five minutes giving you advice on next steps.
More Tips for Getting a Sponsorship Meeting
Do you need extra support for landing and handling the initial meeting with a prospect? Try these tips!
- Don’t be afraid to follow up. In a perfect world, you would hear from a prospect after you initially call or email, but it’s unlikely. Wait at least 24 hours, then reach out again if you don’t get a response. Continue reaching out for seven days, using a combination of email and phone, before moving on to someone else within the company and repeating.
- Leave your sponsorship proposal at the office. The discovery session, which is your goal after making contact with the sponsor, is not a time for pitching and closing deals. It’s for understanding your sponsor’s needs.
- Have an icebreaker in mind to start the conversation, especially when meeting in person. You could make a joke (work-appropriate, of course) or talk about something you and the sponsor have in common. Anything but asking, “so, how’s that [sports team]? Follow the BAMFAM acronym, which stands for book a meeting from a meeting. If you don’t schedule something while you still have the sponsor’s attention during the discovery session, it’s easy for both of you to lose track of time and fall out of touch with one another.
How to Get Sponsorship: The Prospecting Meeting
The goal of the first meeting is twofold. First, to learn as much as possible from your prospect. Ask them about their goals, needs, stakeholders, concerns…everything and anything. There is no better research tool than the question mark! All of the research in the world doesn’t compare to sitting down with your prospects and hearing about their interests directly from the source.
The second goal of the meeting is…to present a sponsorship proposal and close a deal, right? Definitely not! It happens, but rarely. The real goal of the first meeting is…the second meeting! Remember in a previous section I mentioned that not bringing a sponsorship proposal is a sneaky trick? Well this is why. If you bring a proposal to the first meeting you are almost certain to have guessed wrong about what your prospect wants – after all, you haven’t had a chance to ask them about their goals yet. The other reason to bring nothing is that it lets you gather information from your prospect, go back to the office and put together something tailored specifically for their needs. You have then earned the right to ask them for a quick follow up call to discuss their package or for the opportunity to stop by their office and drop it off to see if you are on the right track.
No Pressure Sponsorship Sales
The thing that most people fear when working in fundraising and sales is rejection. So far, we’ve discussed several opportunities to connect with your prospects without asking them for a thing. Take the pressure off yourself and your team and don’t try to make a sale in the first meeting or the first email, and instead see yourself as a partner, helping your prospects achieve their goals. Be comfortable with the idea that what you are offering may not work for them, and that’s OK.
By using the approach outlined here and in my previous post I have been able to keep a dialogue going with prospects despite several “no thank you’s” until we eventually found the right fit for their marketing dollars. My prospects are often willing to continue the conversation after a no because they feel like we were a true partnership and that I am working with them to achieve their goals.
Stay tuned! Part three is going to talk about sponsorship activation, fulfillment and the art of the follow up meeting (and how to use that to close more sponsorship dollars and build a better sponsorship proposal).
FAQs
When Do I Send My Sponsorship Proposal?
When the sponsor asks for it. That could come after the discovery session, the first follow-up meeting, or a few meetings after that. Sometimes, it never comes, and that’s okay. Follow the sponsor’s lead and don’t push the proposal.
It’s not the end-all, be-all of sponsorship. There are other ways to share your audience data, talk about your mission, and propose assets and activations.
Can I Attach My Sponsorship Proposal in an Email?
Only if a sponsor wants you to! You should never send unsolicited proposals, especially in a mass email to 100 potential prospects. Your message will likely get flagged as spam and deleted without anyone reading it.
Can I Use Sponsorship Proposal Templates?
You most certainly can, and we have them here at the Sponsorship Collective. Take a look and begin writing your proposal today.
Wrapping Up
There’s only one way to write an effective sponsorship proposal, and that’s by customizing it. Even then, you can’t let your proposal do all the talking. At the end of the day, you’re the one who makes the sponsorship sale.
Use the proposal as an augmentative tool, not a crutch. This way, you won’t sweat it if a prospective sponsor isn’t even interested in seeing a proposal, which can happen!
This post was originally featured by the good folks at CharityVillage
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Chris Baylis is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Sponsorship Collective.
After spending several years in the field as a sponsorship professional and consultant, Chris now spends his time working with clients to help them understand their audiences, build activations that sponsors want, apply market values to their assets and build strategies that drive sales.
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