Want corporate partners? Buckle up for the Ultimate roller coaster ride!
In all my years of selling sponsorship, I have experienced some of the most incredible emotional highs and some unbelievable lows. If I could define sponsorship sales to someone that is new to this arena, is that it can really play with your feelings and emotions that can only be described as an emotional roller coaster.
When I first started making calls to corporate partners and speaking with them over the phone I would get all excited to hear them say what a great program I was offering, and hear them say how “interested” they were in pursuing it.
I would have them committed to a follow up call with a date and time. I would be thinking to myself, I am very close to completing this deal, only to call them on the set date for the follow up appointment to get their Voicemail and not hear from them for weeks or ever again! I would be devastated and then would spend wasted time, sometimes days or even weeks trying to figure out what happened.
Over the years, what I have come to understand is that it’s all part of the process and today I have learned not to get excited until a corporate partner’s check clears the bank! FACT: A deal is not a deal until the money is in your bank account…PERIOD.
You ALWAYS want to remember that. I could tell you far too many stories of sponsorship deals over the years that I have seen actual signed paperwork on only to watch the deal fall apart because of any number of things happening before the payments started. Talk about the ultimate disappointment.
I try to prepare our clients for the emotional ride, but nothing can prepare you for it and I still see people experience the ups and downs of the sponsorship experience. It’s inevitable.
People ask me why this happens to them and why corporate partners do this to someone. The answer is pretty simple. It is based on two simple factors, Expectation and Timing.
We are an emotional species; we get excited easily and will have a level of expectation when the corporate partner says they will act on what they have said. So you need to learn not to expect ANYTHING until the money is in your account…full stop.
Timing has to do with the corporate partner and this is important because if you can understand this, you won’t expect anything. Timing of a project is critical as it relates to the corporate environment and budget. While a corporate partner may be VERY interested in your project, the timing of the project may be totally wrong for them and may not fit their budget currently. So while they may be interested it is a matter if timing.
They don’t have time to spend having conversations about something that isn’t going to work right now, so they will just disappear…POOF! Now here is the catch, that doesn’t mean that they won’t ever do it. SO if you don’t hear back from them, keep calling and emailing until they tell you that. Then follow up when they tell you too. I could go on, but the bottom line, is that if you are going to pursue corporate partners Buckle Up! You are in for the Ultimate roller coaster ride!