I got an email a few weeks ago that was just heartbreaking. The subject line read simply, “The hardship”, and the email went on to detail how difficult it is to be a rightsholder. The exhaustion and disillusionment was palpable, and the saddest thing about it was that I know he’s far from the only one feeling that way. In fact, I documented this heartbreaking journey in “Diary of a Sponsorship Loser“.
This is a very tough business – there is no denying that – but there are a few strategies that may help you get through the tougher times.
Chances are, you see yourself as a salesperson and look at your job as a numbers game. You measure your workload and results in numbers of calls, numbers of meetings, numbers of proposals, numbers of yesses, and most of all, dollars in the door. While the bottom line is always going to be dollars in the door, if you frame your job as “sales”, you will be both less successful and less satisfied with what you do.
In reality, you need to be a strategist, a problem solver, a vision-builder, and a creative. THAT’s the definition of best practice sponsorship managers, it’s what today’s sophisticated sponsors expect, and it’s a hell of a lot more fun than spending all day churning through some list on the phone.
Defining yourself in that way does require some different skills, and you need to be prepared to learn those skills, but the benefits to your bottom line, efficiency, and psyche will be dramatic.
There are so many outstanding resources for upgrading your skills to best practice. Probably the best place to start is to actually understand what best practice sponsorship looks like, and for that, you may want to download “Last Generation Sponsorship Redux”. That should give you a “light bulb moment”, but you still need skills and inspiration. Some suggestions:
When I typed that heading, I realised I’m a bit of a hypocrite, as my eternal optimism has trumped my good sense on many occasions. That said, we should keep trying to accept defeat when it’s staring us in the face.
If your event is one month away and you’re still $15k short on budget, you have two choices: You can keep trying to sell to people who think you’re unprofessional for even trying; or you can spend that time readjusting your budget, trying to amplify other revenue streams, and setting sponsors up for next year. Either way, you’re not going to raise that $15k from sponsors this year, but one choice is soul-destroying and the other is just realistic.
If you’re trying to sell sponsorship for a new property that you can’t imagine anyone actually attending, you’re probably right. Yes, there are exceptions, but we often know an property’s a loser way before we admit it to ourselves.
And sometimes you need to run property just because it’s appropriate for the type of organisation you are. That doesn’t mean it’s sponsorable. Not everything has the critical mass or marketing sexiness to attract sponsorship, and your need has nothing to do with it. Instead of knocking yourself out, either work on reinventing the property or – even better – just concentrate your efforts on your most commercial properties and raise as much as you can from them, shunting the extra cash to your less sexy properties.
For more on this, see “Sponsorship Sales Rule #1: Sell What Sells, Not What You Need Money For”.
Even if your skills are outstanding and you do everything perfectly, you will hear “no” more than you hear “yes”. That is part and parcel of this industry.
Don’t beat yourself up over the “nos”. If you have taken a creative, best practice approach, chances are you will be welcome to pitch that sponsor for another property or some other angle – if not for this year, then for next. That’s not a great outcome, but it’s not bad, either.
Selling sponsorship is as much about confidence as anything else, and you need some wins.
If you’ve got some sponsors and they’re happy…
If your property is brand new, sorry, but you’re out of luck on this one!
Another option for low-hanging fruit is to approach your hospitality buyers or exhibitors. They’ve already demonstrated that they see your property as valuable. Why not try to graduate them up into a proper sponsorship?
If you’re interested in working with me, I can provide the following options. Just click through for more information, and drop me a line if you want to discuss.
Please note, I do not offer a sponsorship broker service, and can’t sell sponsorship on your behalf. You may find someone appropriate on my sponsorship broker registry.
© Kim Skildum-Reid. All rights reserved. To enquire about republishing or distribution, please see the blog and white paper reprints page.