Have you ever not landed a sponsorship sale?
Of course, the answer is: “of course!”
Nobody lands 100% of their sales. And that Includes sponsorship sales.
So, I’m wondering, then, if you ever had this experience?
Have you ever had this sponsorship fantasy?
Early in my career selling sponsorship for large scale, multi-stage music festivals in Philadelphia, Newport, New York, and New Orleans, after consistent successes, I hit a rough patch.
A few deals tanked, and I couldn’t figure out what was going wrong. That rough period triggered two initiatives.
One, I focused on improving my (at the time nearly non-existent) sales skills.
Second, I had a big lesson.
You see, when a few of these deals fell through, I secretly fantasized about what it must be like on the other side of the table.
Have you ever wondered what it's like on the other side of the table?What it must be like to be the decision maker for the corporation.
They have all the power.
They have all the control.
Afterall, they have all the money. And they get to make the decisions.
Ever have that fantasy?
You won’t believe what happened next.
About a year later, the president of the festival company asked me to work on a new project.
One of our sponsors engaged us to buy sponsorships to promote the massive launch of a new product.
My jaw dropped.
I would get to be on the other side of the table.
Now I would make the decisions.
I would have the control.
I would hold the key to the purse strings. Amazing, right?
I imagined it would be the easiest project ever.
- Do a little research.
- Make a few calls.
- Line up the deals.
- Easy. I’d be done in 2 weeks. A month max.
Turns out, it was a fantasy.
I wish you could have been in my office when I made these calls.
First, about half the people I called did not return my call.
The other half could not describe the value to our sponsor nor describe how we could be involved.
Totally eye-opening. And not at all easy.
As difficult as that project had been, I learned so much. I learned that I actually had more power on my side of the table.
And the same is true for you.
What I did with that learning—and so can you.
I created a set of strategic principles that guided my sponsorship approach to:
- Relationships.
- Sponsorship value.
- Sales process.
- The way I wrote and presented my proposals.
They really guided all my interactions with sponsors.Today, I share these strategic principles with clients. I imbue them into each project.
Here’s how it worked operationally in each area of my sponsorship strategy.
Strategic standards that apply to your sponsorship strategy.Now if you work at a nonprofit or association, these principles probably sound pretty normal, right?
Standard operating procedure.
Who doesn’t want excellent, long-term relationships?
Are you really operating based on your own values and principles?
Let’s take a look now at the approach many nonprofit and association leaders use for their generic, or often Gold-Silver-Bronze, packages.
A gap is created by a clash of values with Gold-Silver-Bronze sponsorship packages.As you can see, this generic method causes a sizeable gap between how an organization envisions its operation strategically and how it actually executes that vision.
This gap is, in part, what leads to:
- Low sponsorship fees
- Low revenue all around
- Poor renewal rates
- Lukewarm relationships, and
- Low levels of staff confidence.
And it doesn’t have to be that way.
In my next post, I'm going to tell you about a client who did something about this gap.
In the meantime, here's one step you can take. Register now for my upcoming Sponsorship Proposal Workshop. I'll help you fill the gap by teaching you
- a better way to organize your sales process,
- a better way to write and construct your sponsorship proposal, and
- how these two steps lead to:
- Higher fees
- Better relationships
- More self-confidence, and
- Better results for your organization.
Registration closes at the end of this month. Then, on February 4, 2021, from noon to 4:30 p.m., we meet and get to work on filling your gap and setting you up for sponsorship success.
We have a great group so far and registration will be limited. After all, I will personally review everyone's draft proposal. I hope yours is one of them.