5 Free Lessons on How to Find Sponsorship

I have lost count of the number of projects I was employed to work on that would only happen once a sponsor signed up. So we had visuals, business plans, scientific projections, consumer research and in some cases building sites – BUT no actual product. No track record. Nothing that the buyer could tangible see or feel or fall in love with.

So in the early days I spent hours making sales calls, using all the classic sales techniques I had been taught:

But they didn’t work – I soon discovered that selling sponsorship is very different.

I was getting nowhere fast; I only got meetings through sheer persistence and enthusiasm. And when you get meetings that way, the meetings never take you anywhere.

So, the first lesson I had to learn is that sponsorship requires a unique approach. In the next lesson I’ll explain the key industry ‘insider’ knowledge.

Lesson 2

When selling sponsorship to the big blue chip organisations you need to understand how they think, how decisions are taken, and who can actually sign cheques.

Here are the people most amateurs target:

· Sponsorship Executives
· Sponsorship Manager
· Sponsorship Director
· Head of CSR

In some cases the Head of CSR and the Sponsorship Director can write cheques. In most cases though, targeting these people is a waste of time.

Not that they will ever admit that. They keep you hanging on forever and a day. This is what they’ll tell you:

Week1
· “I don’t have time to talk now, can you send me some information” (if you already have, they’ll ask for more information)
Week 2
· “I haven’t read the information yet – I’ve been very busy”
Week 3
· “Sorry, I still haven’t read it – but I will”
Week 4
· “Yes I’ve read it. I am afraid its not right for us at the moment. Our budgets are allocated until 2012. But we’ll keep your information on file.”

In most cases there is no file to put your information in. Most of the people working in sponsorship departments think they are busy, are paranoid about missing out on something, so ask for information, don’t read it properly and then fob you off because they can’t sign a cheque anyway. Their job is to implement the sponsorship decisions taken above their heads.

This seemed strange to me when I first began selling sponsorship. So I began to research the industry. I read all the trade magazines I could find, met with sponsors socially, attended the industry association events.

And here’s what I found…

The sponsorship industry is full of myth and bunkum. Ask sponsorship professionals if middle to top level executives of companies still sponsor things they like (Sailing, Motor Racing, Certain Rugby clubs…) they will tell you, “Oh no, the Chairman’s whim is dead.”

I assure you, it is alive and well. Top Executives still sponsor things that make no commercial sense for personal, emotional, reasons. And all the time commercially sensible opportunities are getting passed by because junior staff don’t have the authority to sign-off on the projects.

But this is good news for you. If you can get in front of the top executives.

And it doesn’t have to be the Chairman. There are a huge number of lesser-known and obscure decision makers with access to budgets. You just need to meet them and know what to say.

There are media budgets, where you will need to use some media jargon and show how many people you can help the sponsor ‘reach’ (put their logo in front of) with your project.

There are Sales budgets where you will need to do some simple sums, that demonstrate the potential for return on investment from sales.

There are Corporate Communications, Charity, CSR and even HR budgets which can be used for sponsorship.

Again, once you know which buttons to press these are all much more readily available than the sponsorship department’s money.

It’s simply a case of learning what different decision makers are going to need to know about your opportunity to make it appealing to them in terms of their business goals and job position.

So how are you going to meet these decision makers? That’s Lesson 3.

Lesson 3.

All it requires to get to meetings is the use of the telephone and the ability to write a good letter.

I have seen people waste thousands and thousands of pounds on glossy brochures, mass mailings, launch events and publicity stunts. And I think without exception it was all wasted.

Sponsorships happen because of conversations between you and decision makers. No amount of glossy document wallets of cool photos is going to close a deal.

There are, however some easy-to-master, skills that all the best sponsorship professionals use on the telephone and in letters. The difference they make to your success is amazing.

For example, once I realized that there are two types of secretary I quickly became a master at handling them. There are the secretaries that you need to build rapport with and the ones that you need to storm past. Some will help you get through to the right person, some will hinder you and need to be dispensed with quickly. Once you know how to tell the difference it’s a doddle to get through to the real decision maker.
This is just one of many simple techniques that have helped me on the telephone. And the same is true in letters. You won’t get to a meeting without sending a letter – so you need to master it sooner rather than later.

I never used to know what to write in letters – but then I was shown a simple method that plays on office politics and almost guarantees a response. I was amazed the first time I tried it.

And it’s only a one page letter – but don’t believe the old wives tales that good sales letters are always short, its not always true.

Once I knew this basic technique I could get a call back from any letter from serious decision makers in top companies.

The first time I put all this together I got to a meeting in record time. And then – crunch time: the meeting.

In lesson 4 I’ll explain the essential make-or-break things to do in a meeting.

And in Lesson 5 I’ll tie all this together with key learning points and how you can master the art of finding sponsors.

Lesson 4.

When people go to meetings they are often badly prepared.

On arrival any number of things could happen. I have had sponsors keep me waiting for hours, not remember why we were meeting and even not show!

I have gone into meetings all pumped up, rattled through my presentation and come away empty handed.

But when I have gone in calmly and spent the first half of the meeting asking questions, listening to the sponsor, I have some out with offers, deals or on bigger projects, requests for further meetings to get into more details.

Its what I call consultative selling and there is a distinct process to follow. I have, through years of trial and error, developed it into distinct stages and keys that have made the difference to me. I now know, and can share with you, what order to put slides in, what to have on the Agenda, how to research the meeting, how to create impact, what results to look for out of the meeting and more..

I’ll explain in lesson 5.

Lesson 5.

So lets summarise what you need to successfully find a sponsor, who can fund your charity, business, artistic or sporting ambitions.

My ten stage process does it best:

· Stage 1: Planning
Working out a route map.

· Stage 2: How to Effectively Target Your Ideal Sponsor
Finding the other budgets that I mentioned in lesson 2

· Stage 3: Effective Telesales Tips to Clinch that Meeting
Easy techniques that make the difference between getting meetings and getting the phone slammed down.

· Stage 4: How to Write Sales Letter that Sell
Don’t waste money on brochures that don’t work. Write powerful one page letters which play on office politics to get results.

· Stage 5: How to Squeeze Every Opportunity from Meetings
Take control of the meeting by having the right slides, agenda and objectives. This is your chance to be a hero and clinch the sponsorship – make sure you have the right method to do that.
And now for the advanced stuff… the industry secrets that professional F1 teams, football clubs and top museums or galleries use:

· Stage 6: How to Create a Deal-Closing Proposal
Bigger sponsorships require a well-refined proposal. They are easy to write if you have a template and know the key phrases to use.

· Stage 7: How to Come Out on Top in any Negotiation
If you are looking for big money, you are going to need a few techniques that can help you enjoy negotiating and get the best from yourself. Top negotiators use a handful of great tactics – you need them too.

· Stage 8: Maximising Value, (so that you can justify the price)
There is nothing worse than having a deal and finding some accountant throws a spanner in the works. You need to be prepared to quickly answer the accounts questions. Its actually pretty easy.

· Stage 9: Making Water-tight Agreements (Template inc.)
Quite often you don’t need lawyers to write contracts from scratch. You can use a template to get things into shape and employ a lawyer to check and finalise things.

· Stage 10: Maintaining and Maximising the Relationship (to keep your sponsor for as long as possible)

And once you have a sponsor, you would be a fool not to do everything you can to keep them happy. So you need to know what other professionals do – why re-invent the wheel or learn from your mistakes when you can learn from others?

Now this may seem like a lot to learn. It may feel a bit intimidating. But anyone can master this. If you really want to. And if you want sponsorsrhip of £10,000, £100,000 or £1,000,000 – isn’t that worth a little work?

You don’t have to go out and figure each of these ten stages out for yourself. You can download – instantly today – my full How To Find Sponsorship guide.

Its 94 pages of the best tactics and lessons I have learnt selling sponsorship to companies such as London Electricity, Nestle and Vodafone.

Take a look the extracts from each section of the guide and you will see how easy it is to master, and what a difference it can make to your success!

Check out my sponsorship guide here