Congratulations, you are in Sports Sponsorship!
What does that really mean?? Uh oh! You are in that dreaded S word career now…SALES!
It’s actually a great and proud (if you do it the right way) career to be in, and since I am a “Sales Guys with a Hot Dog Marketing Problem” and have been doing sports sponsorship sales for over five years now I’d like to give you my 5 must ways to sell them!
Let’s get going!
5 Must Ways to Sell in Sports Sponsorship
1) Lead With Your Idea!
It goes back to that age old saying that I slightly edited…It’s not what your client can do for you but what YOU can do for your client. Every single sports team has a great representation of fans. But way too often we lead with our numbers, our fan base, how high the income levels of our fans are.
Scrap that. We are just one of many options for a potential client and we need to find out a way to stand out. Lead your phone call or email or LinkedIn note or stop by with your idea.
What’s your idea? Well that’s the tricky part. Do your research on every single prospect that you have and come up with an idea that you believe they can benefit from and sell them on that idea. Be brief and concise. The only goal with that idea is to get you a meeting or a conference call. From there you may find out that there is totally different need that they have.
Lead with your idea every single time.
2) Know What You Are Going to Say!
This lends very nicely into the second must way to sell sports sponsorship! Be prepared. We get customer service reps on the phone all of the time who fumble around trying to sell us something we don’t need by reading off of a script that somebody prepared for them.
You are better than that! Know exactly what you are going to say when you get on the phone with a potential client.
WRONG WAY: “Hi this is Mike, how are you doing today?? Oh year I’m good I mean our team is rocking and the weather is nice. So um I was thinking, and maybe you aren’t into this, but if you are etc etc etc.” NO APPOINTMENT!
RIGHT WAY: “Good Morning this is Mike Rudd with XYS. I know your heating and cooling business is known regionally for its outstanding commitment to quality in their products. I have an idea to align you with our team by sponsoring the High Quality Shot of the Game. I promise I won’t waste your time and I would love the opportunity to sit down and discuss with you in more detail for 20 minutes, no more, next week. I’ll be in your area on Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon? Are you available to sit down and discuss?”
See the difference. Be armed, be ready, be smart, be prepared!
3) Be YOURSELF!
In my book I write about how I believe the #1 Most Important thing in Sales is to BE YOURSELF. Don’t be uptight if you are a loose and laid back guy. Don’t be analytically over the top if that is not your nature.
Let your true self shine through and people will pick up on it. People want to work with people who are genuine and truly care about helping their business and that’s the bottom line. If you don’t display your natural self you won’t be able to shine your great personality and genuine caring nature through to them.
The more you are yourself the easier it will be to talk to people, get meetings, and partner on long term mutually beneficial sponsorships.
4) Fill That Funnel!
Point blank you will not achieve the goals or the life that you desire if you aren’t talking to enough people. Fill up your opportunity funnel to the point that it is overflowing. You can never have too many opportunities and prospects.
It’s the single most essential part of your day. You will thrive if you do it, you will struggle if you don’t. If you work for a company that clogs up your day with meetings then find the time at the end of the day or early in the morning. Skip long lunches with your co workers, whatever needs to be done give yourself the time each day to find those opportunities.
And if you aren’t asking for business every single day you will never get any business on the books. You need to set a meeting, find a need that you can have them benefit from, and then present and ASK for the business. Sometimes people are afraid to ask…clients are not just going to say YES or sign on the dotted line without you first asking “Are we ready to move forward on this partnership together?”
5) Prove Your Value and Differentiation
- Write a blog.
- Form a sports marketing network community either on line or face to face.
- Send thank you cards that stand out.
- Remember your clients birthdays and see what is happening to their businesses in your community.
There are so many different ways we now have the ability to do this but it takes hard work and brainstorming on what you want to do and then ACTION to implement.
Too many times we lack the necessary work to take the action. We need to prove how valuable we can be to our clients and the worth that we have to offer. There are lots of sports team and lots of ways for clients and prospects to spend their money.
What are you doing each and every day that shows you are different and you are valuable? It’s a marathon not a sprint everybody. Keep your head down, a positive attitude on your shoulders, ask your mentors for help, and don’t be afraid of rejection!
If you can manage that you will be in the industry for a very long time and have a fun and rewarding ride while you are in it!
Thanks for reading everyone!! Additional questions or comments?? Leave one below, tweet us HERE, or you can email me directly at mike@marketingfunwithmike.com. If you want more advice and thoughts beyond all of the great stuff here on SportsNetworker please make your way over to my BLOG, if you link up with me on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn you will receive every post while I am living in the sports sponsorships world that I am in currently!
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