Cold calling is not a dying art. It may be a tough skill to master but it’s integral to the sponsorship sales process. Here are four pointers to help you cold call successfully. Continue reading “How to Cold Call Successfully – Yes, Really!”
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If like me, you spent Sunday morning and much of the afternoon sat on the sofa with leftover pizza and a chocolate bar saying to yourself (for the fourth year in a row), “this is going to be the year I do the London Marathon” then you know exactly how influential ‘being in the moment’ is for making decisions. If I don’t register for the London Marathon within 4 weeks of watching, it’s unlikely that I ever will consider registering for the rest of the year – until that annual ritual of watching it sat on the sofa again next year.
Unbelievably, this is no different to sponsorship sales, especially sponsorship of annual events. As a sponsor, sponsoring annual events is a bit like the London Marathon – you get excited about confirming your sponsorship/registration, but then months go by and it seems all but forgotten until the actual day. However, upon passing the finish line after a number of hours of slog throughout Greater London, you remember why you signed up in the first place and quite likely think it was the best decision you ever made.
Understanding and keeping up momentum is absolutely critical within sponsorship sales. Like the London Marathon, there is a limited time-frame from which a sponsor remembers all the great times, the finite details that may exist beyond the assets list. Memories of the sponsorship are always viewed with a ‘glass half full’ and sponsors are more likely to de-brief with you, grab drinks with you and generally more likely to want to discuss plans for the following year. However, go past 4 weeks and memories fade fast – leaving only hard numbers. I should clarify that hard numbers are not necessarily a bad thing as sponsorship is only as good as the measurement and ROI behind it, but when combined with the very distinct memory of how great it was, it’s incomparable.
One of my biggest sponsorship sales tricks is ensuring that we keep up momentum as well as truly understanding the time-frame for commitment from a buyer’s point of view.My top three ‘keeping up momentum’ sponsorship sales tips include:
In the meantime, I shall keep you posted on my London Marathon musings. Maybe 2018 is the year I finally get off the sofa… |
Grassroots initiatives and participation in sport has grown hugely over the past two decades, yet the majority of marketers still see it as a naff “if we still have budget” thing. They think it lacks the sexiness or media value delivered by huge global events but a number of projects over the last few years have proved otherwise.
Take Barclays for instance, one of the biggest employers in the UK with over 1,600 branches in the UK. Back in 2004 they committed to investing £30million in a community initiative to create sustainable sports facilities across the UK – the single largest injection of cash into grassroots sport by a company in the UK.
Over the following decade Barclays invested many more millions in creating twenty-six flagship sites in partnership with professional football clubs alongside a number of local sites offering a range of sports including basketball, netball and tennis through to skateboard and BMX tracks. This generous investment has been a huge success and contributed to the health and well-being of individuals across all ages in the local areas where Barclays invested.
More interestingly though, is the abundance of positive press Barclays have received as they have become known over the years as the biggest corporate investor in grassroots sports. In terms of the Barclays brand and image, they are now seen as an ethical brand and part of the community in such a way that that is unachievable with regular sponsorship which is key to creating the pursued “trust and loyalty” of customers.
It may seem cynical, but this is a way to get to the hearts of people that common advertising and sponsorship does not allow so it is surprising to see the lack of brands involved in grassroots sponsorship. That said, it absolutely has to be conducted in the right manner and be a genuine investment in the community otherwise the many benefits of grassroots sponsorship risk being overlooked as an awkward branding exercise.
I love the sponsorship industry and all the people that work in it. However, I have always found that unlike the marketing or television industries, everyone in sponsorship seems to walk on eggshells with confrontation or disagreements. In my limited experience (Slingshot is only 7 years old), very few in the sponsorship industry speak what’s on their mind. Conversely they tend to say what most people want to hear. Whilst being diplomatic has never been my strong suit, I also feel that frantically nodding in agreement actually erodes an existing problem within the sponsorship industry for a number of reasons:
1. Growth: everyone seems to continually pat each other on the back with the quality of work produced. Ironically, the same people will also tell you that a lot of the work produced in sponsorship is actually not that inspirational. Certainly much of the industry does not seem interested in raising the bar for itself, and therefore gripes when other industries start taking a piece of “their pie”. However, if PR, digital, social, VR and other agencies are better equipped to articulate and cultivate partnerships because they understand the potential of the medium, and traditional sponsorship agencies stick with what they know with broadcast consumption, then the industry continues to create a rod for its own back.
2. Stand for something: I was recently commented in the Financial Times regarding the decline in sponsors with this year’s popular Chelsea Flower Show (read article here). Having both consulted for clients who secured sponsorship for their own garden as well as shopping sponsorship opportunities against Chelsea Flower Show sponsors, I am pretty familiar with the opportunity (full disclosure, I have never worked with the Chelsea Flower Show directly). From a business point of view, it is not wise to disparage what might in the future be a great client; however, I do fundamentally believe that the value proposition is not in line with the assets they currently deliver. This is not to say that the Chelsea Flower Show is not a good sponsorship opportunity, but I believe the current way it is pitched it is overpriced, and unsubstantiated. While saying this in a newspaper may mean Slingshot Sponsorship will never work with the Chelsea Flower Show, it’s important to have a true reflection on why it’s happening rather than assuming an economic blip. Assuming an economic blip means that every other rights holder who has struggled this year will attest their lack of funds through the general economy, rather than reflect on a changing marketplace and whether they are driving real value to brands. If you drive value, can articulate and measure it – securing sponsors is no harder today than it was yesterday.
3. False hope: sponsorship is driven by passion projects. It is very hard to tell someone who is passionate and truly believes in a project that their idea isn’t going to work, or at the very least, isn’t going to work the way they expect it to. Especially when saying it will work comes with a pay cheque. No one wants to crush anyone’s dreams, however without being truthful, you are actually providing a disservice to the passionate person who then continues to chase their tail and ends up nowhere. My route has always been to pull the bandage off quickly. It’s terrible, but at least they can start investing time and resource into a project that they can be both passionate about and make money from.
So speak up, be heard, and try to implement change into an industry that could be so much greater than the sum of its parts. And isn’t that what sponsorship is all about anyways?
Over the years, Slingshot Sponsorship has done its fair share of hiring and working alongside many different kinds of sponsorship sales professionals. Indeed, given this is our day-to-day, we are highly experienced with the entire hiring process which provides us with a level of expertise few other companies can provide.
We understand and appreciate the difficulties many encounter when looking to hire new sponsorship sales agencies, consultants or employees – particularly when expecting interested parties to work on a commission-only basis.
With this in mind, we’re sharing our top three common mistakes everyone can make when hiring sponsorship sales people, plus our tips for avoiding these issues altogether.
We hope this gives you a better grip of the often tricky hiring process, so you no longer expect something for nothing or suffer the frustration of being let down by candidates after investing time, money and effort into making unicorns happen!
So let’s get started…
1) Don’t hire on the basis of their black book
“So I’ve spoken to this brand already because we go way back and I know they’d be very interested in your event / charity / music festival / art exhibition / conference / awards programme / start-up [delete as appropriate], but obviously we couldn’t make that happen without being retained and hired by you first.”
Are you familiar with monologues like this? Whenever you hear something like it, you should be warned for three good reasons.
Firstly, those who are capable in sponsorship sales should know at least someone in every industry sector. Ergo, solid contacts should be a basic requirement for any role within sponsorship sales, rather than an essential reason for hiring.
Secondly, those within the industry who genuinely want to create opportunities for clients should do so without needing to leverage employment or a contract out of it. Indeed, a better way of candidates phrasing their true potential leads would be: “I actually know a great brand and would be happy to make this happen regardless of whether we got the job. I’d be happy to try and organise this for an introducer’s fee?”
Finally, it isn’t prudent for sponsorship sales people to be discussing properties they don’t represent to brands as it could easily produce a negative impact on them – just imagine if they didn’t win the business after all, for example.
Key takeaway: Keep the potential negatives of candidates’ black book in mind when they bring it up during the hiring process.
2) Be wary when they agree with everything you say
It is common to lose out on pitches when you are open and honest about discussing the fact their property is overpriced and that you wouldn’t be able to sell it for the amount quoted – simply because nobody would purchase it at that fee. Unfortunately, either sales people don’t realise this, or they just agree with you because they think that’s what you want to hear.
Without actually doing any strategic or valuation work – which almost never happens at pitch stage – the salesperson you are trying to hire wouldn’t know the real value and therefore shouldn’t be agreeing with you on how much it is worth.
Key takeaway: If they appear to be just trying to give you what you want, it’s likely you’ll hit a roadblock when it comes to properly taking your sponsorship proposal to market.
3) It’s not always positive when they talk about big brands
Many potential agencies and candidates within the sponsorship industry will have experience of working with “sexy” brands. However, should you be representing a choir in Leeds for example, it’s very unlikely clients such as Red Bull would stump up £1million in sponsorship – regardless of how good they may be!
Candidates who regularly bring up big brands that have nothing to do with your property may be using this as smoke and mirrors. Just because they’ve worked with and know of big brands does not mean that these brands would be remotely interested in your property.
Key takeaway: Be aware that any kind of discussion of big brand experience in this way is often irrelevant.
How to do it the right way: the top three questions to ask a potential hire
With the above in mind, it’s more important than ever to ask the right questions to the right people. These are Slingshot Sponsorship’s top three key questions we’d ask anyone we’d be looking to hire to sell our sponsorship:
1) Where do you think we’ve been going wrong – and how do you propose you can fix it?
2) What is your process: how many people are required, both from the client and agency, to achieve the target?
3) What do you think the potential could be and how long will it take us to get there?
We also have to emphasise one more thing: people do not work for free. As much as commission-only operating may be enticing, it’s unrealistic – and ultimately you get what you pay for.
It’s worth investing time and money in the hiring process – so long as you invest it wisely. Achieve that and you’ll be amazed at the results.
Interested in learning more about how to get the most success in sponsorship? Follow our social media accounts for regular updates:
Slingshot Sponsorship – Facebook
You may or may not realise this, but you’ve worked in sales all your life – in fact, every single one of us have.
It may be selling an idea (why your parents ought to have helped pay for your first car), a story (a white lie about why you were late for work when the trains were actually running on time) or even yourself, when it comes to that big job interview.
The real difference comes down to when sales is done in a professional working environment with real benefits to be had – financial or otherwise. Indeed, it’s important to note first and foremost that sales itself isn’t actually an art, despite this being the common understanding. Rather, it’s a skill that anyone can learn, improve upon and ultimately master, should they follow the right steps.
Mastering the art of complete awareness to the world around you is the recipe to a successful life in sales. With this in mind, these are Slingshot Sponsorship’s top two steps to becoming a highly effective sponsorship salesperson.
1) Dedicate yourself to details, details and more details
Paying attention to every detail, shift and trend in the marketplace you’re dedicated to is vital to understanding exactly what you’re selling and how best to achieve it. It’s what businesses strive for in order to remain one step ahead of both the game and their competitors, so having this at the forefront of your methods is crucial.
Why this is important: In order to take full advantage of the market you’re operating in, you must have a thorough understanding of how to appropriately assess and predict its dynamic change and flow.
2) Immerse yourself in your market’s world
We live in an ever-evolving world – barely a minute goes by without something happening of note, whether it’s something in the news that affects your work, or in your industry or in your specific marketplace. This means that in order to be a successful sponsorship salesperson, you simply have to immerse yourself into that industry and allow it to become your world, however daunting that may initially seem.
A good start to achieving this would be by taking action on these three easy tasks:
Why this is important: It’s easy to see why dedicating yourself to your market is wholly important, but these steps will ensure you’re channelling your efforts effectively and being as efficient as possible with your time.
Why is this important in sponsorship sales?
As a sponsorship agency, it is paramount for Slingshot Sponsorship to stay on top of the latest news regarding market analysis, value of assets and current sponsorship deals. We do this by sourcing every bit of material related to our clients’ accounts and industries through every accessible and, crucially, credible source.
This provides us with enough material so that we never find ourselves on the back foot in a pitch. Rather than fluffing lines, we’ll know exactly what brands need and how to achieve their goals, in addition to it helping us sustain long-term relationships even when our clients’ events come to an annual end.
Simply put, if you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail. As the old saying goes, never bring a knife to a gunfight: knowledge acts as the bread and butter to a salesperson’s arsenal, so do your research and have constant awareness of the industry you’re selling into.
Ultimately, this is what distinguishes sales people that can close, from those who cannot.
Interested in learning more about how to get the most success in sponsorship? Follow our social media accounts for regular updates:
Slingshot Sponsorship – Facebook
It is the stamp of a successful event to be able to successfully attract sponsorship from brands, therefore enabling it to grow and fulfill its maximum potential.
It’s therefore unsurprising that the question most often asked by organisers is when best to approach potential sponsors for their event.
Many organisers regularly fall into the trap of leaving it too late for brand involvement and miss a golden opportunity to subsidise and support their event, as well as dramatically increasing exposure to appropriate audiences.
The Slingshot Sponsorship team are on a mission to ensure this doesn’t happen to you. So here are our top three tips to maximising your chance of securing sponsors when organising an event…
1) Think sponsorship from the start
A successful sponsorship involves ways in which a brand can be interwoven throughout all aspects of the event – so engage sponsors through the entire process.
From initial communications and marketing, right through to ticket sales and the event itself, all stages are valuable assets that sponsors can utilise and you can monetise. Through connecting with sponsors in the planning stage you can create your event with bespoke brand opportunities for each sponsor, and activate them properly, given that you have the time to do so.
Bringing on a new sponsor late in the game can often seem rushed and doesn’t leave a sponsor feeling like they got the most out of their investment.
Key takeaway: The sooner you sign a sponsor, the more they can integrate with your event – and the more they will pay for it.
2) Don’t just approach any brand you can think of
When approaching sponsors for your event, it’s vital to stop and think. Why this particular brand? Can they add value to my event? Can they provide relevant products? Even more importantly, what can I offer them that they can’t get anywhere else?
You must be able to justify why your event will benefit their brand because at the end of the day, sponsorship is not charity – it’s a partnership. So don’t just approach any brand you may have contacts with.
The key is to approach brands that will resonate with your event’s audience, as corporate sponsorship is essentially a form of advertising for the brand. So you need to be able to show how the brand can not only reap the benefits at the point of sale, but also throughout the event lifecycle and beyond. This will help ensure they renew and upgrade on investment, continuing their support for years to come as you grow your event.
Key takeaway: Focusing on the most relevant sponsorship brands to your audience is vital in ensuring a successful partnership throughout the entire event experience and beyond.
3) Don’t pull a price out of thin air
One of the most common mistakes organisers make when approaching sponsors is simply not valuing their assets properly.
Knowing the true value of what you are offering a sponsor is crucial because no brand will pay for something they don’t believe they will get a return on. This is doubly important once you recognise that the brands you approach see sponsorship proposals every day and they’ll be able to tell if your offering is worth the investment you are asking for.
It’s important to think practically and logically when it comes to event sponsorship. For example, if you need £100,000 for your event but you only have £25,000 worth of sponsor assets, you wouldn’t just suddenly charge them £100,000. Instead, you could find another three sponsors willing to pay another £25,000, thus spreading out value to cover the event’s costs. Think about it: would you pay four times the price of anything for the sake of it? Of course you wouldn’t – so you shouldn’t expect your sponsor to do so either!
Key takeaway: It’s a common mistake to scare sponsors away by overcharging them to cover costs. Instead, work to spread out sponsorship values evenly to cover costs.
We hope these three tips ensure you never let an event sponsorship opportunity pass you by in future. It always helps to put yourself in the brand’s shoes and make sure you feel as if they’re being offered strong, relevant exposure to a suitable audience throughout an event’s lifecycle at a price that’s honest and provides real value. This is the secret to maximising your chance of securing sponsors for your event.
Interested in learning more about how to get the most success in sponsorship? Follow our social media accounts for regular updates:
Slingshot Sponsorship – Facebook
We recently completed our first year of sponsorship for the Extreme Tech Challenge – the world’s largest startup competition highlighting companies that are literally changing the world, which culminated in a very exciting XTC Finals on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island on February 2nd. Here are some of the things I learned while surrounded with the world’s most impressive and forward-thinking tech start-ups:
1. Sponsors like the sun. We have worked with many events all across the world, but turns out when the sun shines, sponsors shine too. Will make more of a note to take on more clients that have tropical destinations for the future.
2. Small numbers mean big opportunities. Due to the size of Necker Island, the XTC Finals is limited to 100 attendees. Usually with sponsorship, the bigger the audience, the more valuable the rights fee. However, in this case, you have the actual opportunity to really meet and have meaningful conversations with everyone. Rather than being pushed to a table at an Awards ceremony, real friendships were made and business was being done because it was easy to do so.
3. Remoteness creates more sponsor engagement. Because the British Virgin Islands are so remote (it took me 20 hours to get there with two flights, one ferry, and a ride in the back of a pickup truck) most people wanted things to do, and one way or another, you ended up running into people that were at the event throughout the week. It became a mini community where tech and entrepreneurship met at the beach over Painkillers (the local drink) and ran into each other in truck taxis and ferries all over the island.
4. The kids are alright. Of the three finalists, two were under 25. When you look at the actual impact of their companies on the world (Cresilon is a revolutionary material that stops bleeds in seconds and ReDeTec has made 3D printing accessible and sustainable), it blows your mind. This really is the future, and it’s pretty damn exciting.
5. Sponsorship has the power to create life changing experiences. The most unforgettable moment was witnessing the power of sponsorship on individuals. As part of sponsor iTutor Group’s activation, they took 10 of the top female CEOs in Asia to the XTC Finals on a super yacht. Super yacht aside, the women were so incredible in their own right and at every point throughout the day they talked business – to each other, to the sponsor, and even to me. More incredible still was that many of the women hadn’t even been in the water before – so it became a week of overcoming fears, a week of firsts, and most importantly, a week of growth. The fact that this was delivered as part of a sponsor activation is what makes it so meaningful and impactful. Rather than just bask in the glory of being a sponsor, iTutor Group made a real impact in their own community and in the lives of people they are wanting to champion in their country.
I’d definitely encourage you to have a look at some of the entries from our competition this year. And if you want more Necker Island photos, you can view them on my Instagram.
Since the dawn of the sponsorship marketplace, rights holders have always been perceived as the “hunter” in the industry: having to approach brands directly for sponsorship in order to boost commercial revenue streams and maintain their position as a viable business.
Recent trends, however, indicate this could well be changing. As rights holders continue to innovate, develop and provide brands with high ROI and clear opportunities to achieve their corporate objectives, brands are waking up and becoming increasingly interested in what these platforms can do for them. It could very well be a case of the hunter becoming the hunted.
Sponsorship is fast becoming the most effective form of marketing. When executed correctly, it allows brands to genuinely engage and truly connect with their desired audiences – resulting in a host of short- and long-term positive outcomes for both themselves and the rights holders.
But what is the driving force behind these increasingly popular partnerships?
The importance of ROI in sponsorship
Broadly speaking, the most crucial consideration for a brand when deciding whether or not to partner with a platform or rights holder is simply the deal’s ROI. Therefore, rights holders must be able to prove to potential sponsors that they can generate or exceed a satisfactory ROI in order to have any chance of finalising a deal. Failure to do this will leave the rights holders with next to no chance of securing sponsorship.
So it is vital for rights holders to understand that in order to successfully attract brand partners, they must appreciate a “one size fits all” approach just isn’t good enough. Instead, rights holders must ensure they align their assets appropriately with their targeted brand’s ambitions.
For example, let’s imagine Brand X has an objective of increasing positive brand association across a mass audience. Understandably this will require a multi-faceted approach, particularly when compared to Brand Y – who simply wish to create specific B2B opportunities. Rights holders looking for sponsorship would never be able to give the same pitch or offer identical assets to both and expect success.
To create effective customer relations, rights holders must be able to offer the assets which will enable brands to truly engage with their audience. This means providing opportunities for brands to positively rebrand their image through relevant assets – such as social media channels and key influencers – and create sustainable long-lasting relationships.
What makes sponsorship opportunities so valuable?
The real value in sponsorship lies in how it provides brands with the potential to have a positive impact on all areas of its business. Examples of this could include on-site brand activations which generate increased sales; community engagement with leaves audiences and employees feeling worthwhile; or even social media takeovers which boost follower numbers.
These huge potential benefits put rights holders in a very strong position: owning unrivalled opportunities for brands looking to tap into a cost-effective alternative to traditional marketing which actually delivers results and ROI.
Key takeaway
As the industry moves forward, we are fast progressing to a stage where brands proactively realise the value of sponsorship when executed properly around their unique requirements. As rights holders move to master their propositions, we may soon see brands begin pitching to rights holders for access to their audience.
However, for this sponsorship pendulum to swing, rights holders must continue to invest in developing their own pitches to make them fit for purpose in the modern market. Achieve this, and the hunter could very well soon become the hunted.
