I loved Man vs Wild. I mean, who would have thought being a survivalist could be sexy?
Thankfully, Bear Grylls is still at it, because I think we can all agree that we’ve learned a lot from Bear, over the years: Colourful caterpillars are poisonous; pull the stingers off scorpions before you eat them; and it is possible (though unpleasant) to sleep inside of a camel carcass.
What we’ve also learned is that no matter where he is, there is a process he goes through to get himself safely back to civilisation. That process, as it happens, very closely mirrors the process for renewing a sponsor. So, with that in mind, I’ve created The Bear Grylls Guide to Sponsorship Renewals.
Bear Grylls has any manner of ways to figure out which way is north and which way is likely to lead to rescue, and like Bear, before you do anything else, you need to take a realistic assessment of where you are. Be as objective as you possible can and ask yourself and your team…
This is the most crucial step in this process, as if you go into a renewal blind, or worse, just assuming everything is peachy-keen, you may well get yourself into a more stressful, strife-filled situation than you started.
Bear Grylls makes plans, then he backs himself. If it doesn’t work out as planned, he has a fall-back position, and he goes for that with just as much vigour. So, based on your assessment, you need to create a realistic plan for renewing the sponsorship.
If your assessment of the situation isn’t great, and it’s at least partly your fault, your plan needs to include:
If there has been a lack of engagement, leverage, and/or measurement on the part of the sponsor, or you are trying to upgrade them to a larger sponsorship, your plan needs to include an offer of reinvention. You should offer to work with them to develop a great leverage plan, and work with them to create a strong measurement plan off the back of that. Offer to do all of that before you renegotiate. This will create some vision on their part and you will be able to negotiate for the exact benefits they need to make it happen. This also demonstrates that you are willing to invest in their results before they re-sign.
If you think there is a chance the negotiation could go pear-shaped enough that you could lose the sponsor altogether, you need a fall-back position. That fall-back position needs to be strategic, forward-thinking, and devoid of guilt. You need to decide whether you would be best off letting them go or renegotiating to a smaller sponsorship for a while or some other option. Those options should not include threats or “playing hardball”. Either you can cooperatively work together or you can’t.
Bear Grylls is forever pulling apart his parachute for parts, will use almost anything he finds, and always carries around a knife big enough to fell a tree. In short, he’s resourceful, and chances are you have a lot more creative, interesting benefits at your fingertips than you think.
The sponsorship equivalent of the huge, all-purpose knife is your inventory of benefits. This should be a giant list of all of the benefits you could possibly provide to a sponsor, depending on their needs and the scope of the sponsorship. You would never offer everything on the inventory to a sponsor, as no sponsor needs all of those benefits, nor would you offer some of your biggest, best benefits (eg, naming rights) to just any sponsor or for too little money. These are just options, but knowing what you have to work with does expand your options for getting through a renewal with a positive outcome.
To give you a huge running start on your inventory, download a copy of my Generic Inventory. That’s one of the dozens of tools included in The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit 4th Edition.
You don’t want to lose a sponsor and Bear Grylls doesn’t want to die. The thing is, both you and Bear need to take some risks to achieve your goals. The key is to know the difference between a calculated risk and a stupid risk.
A stupid risk is to invoke threats…
“If you don’t renew, we’ll just go to the media and tell them that you’re leaving us high and dry.”
“Take it, or we’ll just go to your competition. They’re already sniffing around.”
Or guilt…
“If you don’t renew, we won’t be able to provide services to 5000 children in the community this year. Think of the children. Think of the children!!”
Sponsors aren’t interested in being partnered with game-players. Keep it strategic and businesslike, but don’t sell yourself short.
One of the areas where rightsholders play it way too safe is in the area of first right of refusal. In basic terms, first right of refusal gives a current sponsor the first option to say yes to a new sponsorship, before you shop it around to their competitors. It does not mean you are obligated to renew them for the same package, or the same price, if what they’ve had is no longer appropriate.
If, for instance, you are trying to graduate a small sponsor into a larger sponsorship that’s more commensurate with their needs, size, or category, you may decide it’s worth the risk to just say, “We’ve done a review and determined that a telecommunications sponsor should be positioned higher in the sponsorship hierarchy.” You can then give them first option to take up a strong, customised proposal at that more appropriate price point, knowing that if they don’t go for it, the revenue they bring in now will be easily replaced and the opportunity is then open for a bigger, better sponsor in that category.
As any fan of Bear Grylls knows, sometimes Plan A just doesn’t work out, and sponsorship renewals are exactly the same.
If a sponsor isn’t receptive to your offer, you need to regroup and do it fast. Do a quick debrief to find out:
Depending on the feedback you get, you could go back to the drawing board and create a new offer, or you could just decide that it probably isn’t worth the effort and it’s time to move on.
I’m pretty sure Bear Grylls doesn’t really like eating bugs, but he does it because sometimes survival means doing things you would never otherwise consider.
In sponsorship renewal terms, eating the bug is either accepting defeat or realising that renewing that sponsor will do more harm than good, in the long term. Why?
In any case, having a sponsor not renew (or choosing not to renew a sponsor) is something that happens to everyone. Accept it with grace, whinge about it in private, and move on. This is a great industry and with the right approach and attitude, there are always other opportunities to be had.
For all you need to know about sponsorship sales and servicing, you may want to get a copy of The Sponsorship Seeker’s Toolkit 4th Edition. You may also be interested in my white papers, “Last Generation Sponsorship Redux” and “Disruptive Sponsorship: Like Disruptive Marketing, Only Better“. Want to build your sponsorship skills and strategies fast? I’ve got comprehensive online sponsorship training for both sponsors and rightsholders. Get the details and links to course outlines and reviews here.
If you need additional assistance, I offer sponsorship consulting and strategy sessions, sponsorship training, and sponsorship coaching. I also offer a comprehensive Sponsorship Systems Design service for large, diverse, and decentralised organisations. Please feel free to drop me a line 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.
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