If you are actively running events then you are also in sponsorship fulfillment, activation and follow-up mode. With fall right around the corner, our private sector prospects are looking at next year’s budget, which means that you could be running this year’s gala while selling sponsorship for next year’s event!
Exhausted? Terrified? Overwhelmed? Don’t be! In this three part series I am going to focus on some core strategies that you can implement immediately to make your event sponsorship more successful and more enjoyable. In this series, I will break events into three phases: pre, during and post event with a strategy for each phase.
Here are the seven “pre-event” strategies things that I use to secure my event sponsorship revenue:
Strategy #1: Relationship based fundraising still applies
Sponsorship is a marketing investment and impact is measured by bottom line ROI but the old adage still applies: people do business with people they like. Your prospects will measure their investment against their company’s marketing strategy, which means they are relying on you to deliver, and trusting you to do what you say you will. Get to know your prospects and invest the time to build a relationship of trust. When a prospect likes and trusts you then they want to do business with you.
Strategy #2: The power of the advice visit
When I call a prospect, I always ask them for a few minutes to ask their advice. Advice on what? Well, that depends. If they are experts in networking events, then I want their advice on how to make sure we have a stellar networking component to our event. If they sponsor tons of golf tournaments, then I want their advice on approach and how to make a good sponsorship experience. Sometimes, most of the time, I want their advice on what their company values. If they hate branding but love speaking opportunities, then I want to know this early on and the only way to get this information is to ask for it.
Strategy #3: Never go in proposal first
This is arguably the most important strategy of all. Why? Because, if you implement this rule, everything else falls into place. How can you convince a prospect that you want to get to know them if you start with a document designed to tell them about what you want? What’s the sense in asking for advice when you’ve already designed the proposal and sponsorship package before ever meeting the prospect? Most important of all “send me a proposal” is top secret fundraising speak for “no thanks!” When you start with the proposal you go right to “no thanks.”
Strategy #4: “Gold, Silver and Bronze” is dead…sort of
Slotting everyone into predetermined sponsorship levels like “Gold, Silver, Bronze” violates all of the tips mentioned here. No prospect wakes up in the morning hoping someone will sell them a “bronze package” but rather they know they want branding, speaking and product giveaway opportunities. As you get to know your prospects they will tell you what they value. I guarantee you will rarely hear “do you have any silver packages left?” Determine a menu of what you have to offer your sponsors and let them choose what works for them and then you can package that together under your various levels. Having levels is a convenient way to group your sponsors but is not in and of itself a sales tool- you are!
Strategy #5: Know your value
I think people opt for the “Gold, Silver, Bronze” approach because they don’t know what their sponsorship assets are worth. Most valuation exercises start and end by looking at the events of similar charities and simply copying them. Avoid this at all costs. Instead, determine the value of everything from a tweet, to a branded e-mail, to product giveaways. This way when a prospect asks you how you decided title sponsorship is worth X, you have an answer ready and you can back it up with your numbers. You also avoid selling some really valuable opportunities for too little.
Strategy #6: The best company to approach…is the one that will take your call
I am asked all the time by clients and colleagues, which company is the best fit for title sponsorship and my answer is always the same: “the one where you have a warm contact.” Is brand alignment, target market and your audience’s buying power important? Absolutely! But these things don’t matter if you can’t even get a meeting. Start with your board to ask them for contacts and if you use strategies #1 and #2 in your approach, you will be surprised how many contacts you can pull together. Your time is better spent creating a situation where people will make introductions for you than on the phone all day cold calling prospects.
Strategy #7: Start with the end game in mind
Once you sell a sponsorship package to a prospect, the real work begins. Use your sponsorship proposal to immediately create a fulfillment and activation strategy. Make a simple chart outlining everything you’ve agreed to do along with a due date and who will take the lead on fulfilling each piece so that you don’t miss any of the details. The activation strategy will reappear in the second and third part of this series.
Implement these seven steps and I promise that you will find working with your sponsors a far more enjoyable experience and your sponsors will enjoy the process more too. In part two and three, we will focus on sponsorship revenue strategies and how to use your event follow up strategically to grow your revenue for next year.
Chris Baylis is a fundraising professional with expertise in corporate fundraising, sponsorship, cause marketing, major events and corporate social responsibility. Chris has managed both national and local campaigns and is a board member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals in Ottawa.
Chris is also the Founder and Chief Blogger for The Sponsorship Collective and can be found on Twitter writing about all things corporate fundraising.
http://www.sponsorshipcollective.ca/
