July 2005 - A DOZEN SPONSOR SEARCH TIPS AND SUGGESTIONS

By Ernie Saxton

The following are twelve tips, suggestions and ideas for those hunting for the elusive sponsorship dollar for their race team or event.

1. Consider sending proposals by Federal Express or a similar delivery company. Just about everyone pays more attention/gives credibility to this type of package when it arrives.
2. Consider adjusting phraseology you use: cost or price becomes amount or investment; down payment/first payment becomes initial amount or initial investment; replace contract with paperwork, agreement or form; buy becomes purchase or own; instead of challenge; objections are areas of concerns; cheaper becomes more economical.
3. Don’t view ‘No’ as a failure — it is a learning experience, which gives you the opportunity to develop your sense of humor, gives you the opportunity to practice techniques and perfect performance and negative feedback can change your course of direction.
4. ‘Selling’ (hunting for marketing partners/sponsors) is finding the people to sell and selling the people you find.
5. Great sales presentations are made up of three parts: 1) Tell them what you’re going to tell them, 2) tell them, 3) tell them what you’ve told them.
6. Listen more than you talk. This is a problem for a lot of us. Listen to learn, When you talk, ask questions.
7. Sales Stalls — are a challenge of selling and are often an appeal for justification (now is the time to throw in those little things you’ve been holding back for just such an occasion). They show that a prospect has both positive and negative feelings about your offer. Build on the prospects positive thoughts, satisfy their negative ones, be prepared! If you can’t get by the stall, make a new appointment, review proposal and make changes so it’s more attractive. Last, but not least, ask for the order — if they say ‘NO’, it gets you past the stall and you can move on. They just may need to have the question asked.
8. Address the people you are contacting as Mr., Ms. (unless you know the woman in question is a Mrs.) until invited to do otherwise.
9.  Don’t’ speak too fast, especially when leaving a message on voice mail. Most people when nervous, can seemingly hit 100 mph while talking. Conversely, don’t talk too slowly—many systems have a fairly short space for each message.
10.  In conversation, be cognizant of “uh”, “um”, “ah”, “like”, “ya know”, “you know what I mean” and :let me tell ya what”” and other such verbal mental pauses. Need to formulate an answer? Take a deep breath and swallow while you think or comment. “Let me think a moment before I answer that…”
11.  Your marketing partnership proposals should include the benefits beyond exposure and tax write-off to the potential sponsor. Some businesses are not looking for exposure and be very careful when you talk to someone about tax write-offs.
12.  Don’t be surprised if you are asked for credit and/or personal references from potential marketing partners.  Be prepared with names and contact info. And be sure you’ve asked the contacts in advance if it’s okay to use them as a reference.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ernie Saxton is the president of Ernie Saxton Communications. He can be contacted at 215-752-7797, fax: 215-752-1518 or by e-mail at esaxton144@aol.com. Web: www.saxtonsponsormarket.com.

 

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