Assignment Task

Welcome back to the final mini presentation in this topic. And what we`re going to be doing in this session is thinking about how as a salesperson, you can deliver a strategic and realistic sponsorship plan that delivers and is impactful and ultimately helps you to secure sponsorship. This is quite a comprehensive presentation. And it takes you through the 15 point plan of a strategic sales blueprint. And so keep in mind that you may well need to listen and look at the slides twice to take in all the different elements that we`re discussing in each segment. So I guess the first question is, why have a sponsorship strategy at all Well, and effective strategy breeds a lot of confidence not At least within your own organisation that there is a sales plan, and it`s one that you`ve all agreed on. But pragmatically, an effective sponsorship strategy is economical in time and resource. It focuses the efforts of the business development team into realistic and achievable areas. We`ll consider some essential best practice tips around prospect identification and pipeline development in this segment, and that`s an area where less is more. It`s commonly misunderstood that in order to secure a sponsor partner, you need a large pipeline. Certainly, I`d agree that in order to secure a sponsor, you will have to approach a variety of companies before you land, a partner that you`re confident and happy with. But this is not a numbers game sponsorship is about sharing. values, and not all businesses will share your valuable values and be suitable for sponsorship. So defining in advance and agreeing with your colleagues, a reasonable and robust pipeline and prospect list is incredibly economical in helping you to achieve your goals. An agreed strategy that signed off by all your business stakeholders typically ensures that negotiation period is really efficient. Ultimately, a good negotiation process with your sponsors is generally an indicator of how successful the end punch rate will be.

Unlike many sales negotiations, which are purely transactional and short term in sponsorship, we`re seeking and looking to establish a long term relationship with our sponsor partners could be as long as five to 10 years in the case of a naming rights partnership. So it`s essential that that for negotiation sets the tone for how you perceive and want the partnership to evolve across the duration. You want a smooth and anxiety free negotiation. And that`s usually achieved where a lot of the questions that could come up in a negotiation within your business have already been identified and agreed, and that can be achieved through a really good sales strategy. And finally, a cohesive strategy. A model allows the seller to derive maximum commercial return from the sponsorship of what portfolio and avoid inventory pitfalls. By that what we`re really talking about is commercial rights modelling.

We recognise throughout this topic that the sponsorship model is evolving and that traditional packages as we might once have known them, and no longer off the shelf solutions that sponsors will buy. So the seller is under pressure to curate bespoke Objective lead solutions for their sponsor partners. And the downside or the potential pitfall in that approach is that you can oversell some inventory whilst leaving other assets on the table that can`t be sold to a different or another partner. thinking through what your strategy will be and how you`ll manage your rights, through this strategic process of the sales document that we`re talking about now, will help you to avoid that pitfall to maximise the potential of your portfolio and to derive a really strong commercial return. So, let`s think about Firstly, the five key questions that sponsors ask when they`re reviewing ideas and potential offer opportunities. We`re doing this because we recognise that our strategy has To acknowledge the market conditions and it has to recognise that the central challenge for any seller is to try to match the buyer by drawing out the information as to their priorities. Because competition

is fierce the sponsorship budget, it`s really important to understand what drives a sponsor to select one opportunity over another. Often sellers miss out on the opportunity to connect with some sponsors simply because they aren`t able to communicate the essential information about their platform efficiently enough. We know that people have short attention spans and increasing demands on their time. So being able to succinctly communicate your values in the language of the buyer is essential. We also should bear in mind that the average sponsor receives up to 6000 proposals a year And on that basis has limited time to review each proposal in depth. It`s essential therefore, that the sponsorship seller is able to present the significant buying information to the sponsor. Within the first two pages of the proposal. The sponsorship strategy helps the seller to avoid this pitfall, ie the pitfall of providing the wrong information into longer format. The exercise of putting the strategy together forces the seller to think like a buyer. So it`s an excellent tool to help you structure your first proposal to ensure it`s resilient and robust and critically is read by the sponsor. sponsoring businesses have indicated the following to be key drivers in the selection of opportunities. And I know we touched on this in our last mini presentation, but we`ll think about this in a bit more detail now.

Firstly Image Transfer and fit the extent to which association with a property will help to imbue the sponsor with a relevant, positive and credible image. Equally, and this is a small aside, and as a seller, it`s important you to consider your sponsors values because they will be for borrowing brand value from the opportunity that they sponsor, but equally who a seller aligns with says something about their brand to the second key criteria is activation is their unique activation potential, and critically is affordable and interesting. I wonder if we reflect back on those ideas and those platforms that you felt were particularly strong examples of sponsorship, whether you can identify within that how the sponsor was allowed to have power And relevant within the environment. Let`s take a very simple example. For example, He is sponsorship of the Wembley Stadium as their connectivity partner. By giving he an actual role to play improving the connectivity and the fan experience within in stadia, it unlocks real potential for EA to develop clever, creative and continual activation plans at an affordable price point. When sponsors are looking at opportunities for the first time, they really examine this side of the consideration process. How do they see themselves authentically embedding in the platform and where will they have the opportunity to add value and connect with fans authentically.

The third criteria is demographics. The social and lifestyle demographics are those interested in the property and how closely they match the sport. As target market it`s a misconception that some sell salespeople have that that number needs to be at a big one. Actually, sponsors are happy to target micro communities as long as that micro community is have the right demographic profile for their product and service. The more information that the seller has about their demographic community and their interest rate interests, their lifestyle and their preferences, the easier is to connect that to the sponsors target market. Fourth attribute sponsors look at closely is reaching awareness, the reach and levels of awareness offered by the property and ensuring that they deliver suitable quality, volume and frequency of communication with the target market. At the start of this topic, we examine the significance of engagement and reach an awareness is really about exploring further for the sponsor, where and how they`ll be able to engage with the target market.

And finally, and this is an important aspect, the credibility of the rights holder, the sponsor has to have sufficient trust that the rights holder will deliver against the contractual obligations, and is of sufficient stature and professionalism to uphold the reputation of the sponsor. It`s why it can be difficult to secure sponsorship for new properties without the sponsorship history or sponsorship track record. Understandably, marketers can be cautious particularly in tough economic climates. So

in that context, they may be more likely to use their marketing budget on a proposition that they know better. So it is the job of the seller to be able to communicate that they`re a safe pair of hands and that they will be able to deliver a return on investment to the sponsor, and that that marketing by It will be well used. The construction of the 15 points punch, it`s Saturday that we`re going to look at now answers these questions and more, and thereby gives the seller the tools to put together a relevant, compelling document for the proposal. The strategy also help sellers to prospect realistically and effectively avoiding the time wasting exercise of approaching unrealistic businesses for sponsorship, thereby not only demoralising themselves and the internal workforce, but losing time that could be used and better spent on targeting genuine and realistic prospects. So, what do we include in the 15 point plan?

The first part of the plan is an internal reflection and it requires the seller to make a series of checks and assessments that are predominantly internally focused in developing a robust strategy. The seller will Identify and reference in detail the following information. The summary of your organisation, its trading environment, its competitors, its current status within the market. This allows the seller to determine their own strengths and weaknesses and to formulate some thoughts on how long it may take to secure sponsor their platform. Equally, by undertaking what one might consider here to be a commercial SWOT analysis, we are able to see where there may be areas of your property, your idea your platform or your initiative that needs to develop further in order to unlock and unleash its true commercial potential.

The second part of sponsorship context is to understand your own current marketing objectives. Sellers should be able to showcase to potential partners what relevance the platform or initiative they`re selling has to the organisation overall. And that`s an important factor for sponsors. As sponsor wants to know, is this the flagship event? Is this the the crown jewels the premium event within your portfolio? Or is it a new idea? Is there scope to be innovative and pioneering? Or are they joining an established platform that is delivered in a specific way? By detailing this who allow the sponsor to determine the status of the event and to make an informed decision. It`s important to summarise your own sponsorship history if indeed you have any. understanding where and how you`ve delivered effectively to other partners can help to identify key areas in which to prospect in the future. documenting your sponsorship history can help to establish areas for improvement.

And finally, a summary of any changes to the marketing direction of the organisation or trends which may impact on the search for a sponsor. As a seller, you will have to consider that although there are many businesses that could benefit from Association, the most likely business to sponsor you, and your opportunity is the one with the greatest need. So think about current trends, which sectors are most competitive? Where are there businesses that truly need your sponsorship opportunity. Still thinking internally, the next part of sponsorship strategy considers brand image. We know this is important to document because we recognise that more and more sponsors are leaning towards using sponsorship branding assets to support brand value exchange and brand perception changes rather than simple brand awareness. So being able to detail and describe your organization`s brand image and brand values is essential. It`s important that the seller identifies and document what values they consider, they would offer a sponsor partner to the association. The culture and values of the organisation form the basis of your sponsorship ethics policy, a blueprint for which business types you will partner with, and those that present most greatly to your own brand values, and then customers and ultimately with whom you would not be able to establish a credible partnership. It`s essential to identify this upfront and before you get into the sales process, so that you don`t spend time on categories or sponsors that ultimately the rest of your business would not be happy to work with. Thirdly, the mission statement, the organization`s mission statement must be something that

sponsorship partners can support. It`s important that sellers have a clearly defined mission statement so that there is the potential to communicate how and why a sponsor has joined the firm And as part of the initiative or idea, and also so you can articulate your shared goals and ambitions, which ultimately makes the connection more authentic and understandable for the fund, or the audience and the community will present. If the community understands and recognises why the partnership is useful and good and has synergy, then they`re more likely to engage and interact with the sponsor, which ultimately is highly beneficial to the seller.

In Part Four, we start to think about sponsorship objectives. Within the strategy document, the seller should be able to articulate why they seek sponsorship and what benefits the sponsorship will bring to the organisation, fans and audiences it engages with. the motivations of securing a sponsor should ideally extend beyond simple financial goals. These are difficult to communicate with third party Whereas examples such as ie the Wembley partnership, where the articulation can be around improved connectivity, extends the partnership beyond pro financial appropriate parameters, and explains to the fan base, why it`s important that the partnership is evolving. in communicating the partnership, both businesses should be able to take clear advantage of a shared mission statement and set up objectives in order to secure impactful media coverage. As part of this process, it`s important to document what the key messages will be. Describe the benefits that you expect to offer and the financial return. At this stage within the strategy, these will likely just be indicative benefits and opportunities but even a cursory effort by the seller to map out what they will likely have to offer. Tennessee`s In the prospecting phase, the next three component parts Five, six, and seven of this 15 point plan. delve a little deeper into the community that you represent the assets that you expect to have. And we`ll start to think about sales timeline and procedures. In the target audience segment, segment five, we`re trying to define the audience that associates with the event and opportunity. This is an essential piece of information that empowers the sponsorship seller to prospect efficiently and effectively. As media advertising PR experiential marketing agencies have become increasingly powerful in a sponsorship selection process. It becomes critical that the sponsor seller has a robust and relevant data on their fans and audiences. Highlight the demographics and psychographic information that you know about your fan base audience, and what types of category it`s been upon these would appeal to reference whether your sponsor platform is global, national, regional, local, all of the above, and define how you reach your community, and essentially, how your sponsor could reach them. Is it a live event opportunity? Would it be through broadcast Association? Is it around digital activation, or again, a combination of all the three.

It`s important, a Part Six of your strategy to think about your sponsorship context and the key messages. Specify document key messages to be communicated via the sponsorship activity. In this section of the strategy document, you will consider how you will be able to introduce your sponsor partner, to your fan base and audience, and what role they play in adding value. Increasingly, sponsors want fan engagement and authentic fan engagement requires that the sponsor is seen to add value to the fan experience. This may explain why here we have seen the rise of descriptive partners, as we saw with the example as a connectivity partner. Hydration partners. footer is another good example of a burgeoning term that`s regularly used. There are many partnerships of this type that gives the sponsor a role to play. The seller should identify what weaknesses their proposition has, as it may be in those areas that the sponsor can add greatest value and to be seen by the fan base as a hero, beneficial to the experience they have in their passion space. identify how sponsorship will be positioned for your organisation. This is done from an internal perspective and ensures that other individuals within your business understand the implications, maintaining and delivering assets to a sponsor partner. In the past, it`s fair to say that many businesses tolerated

sponsors because the revenues they bought into the organisation was needed. This muted acceptance of sponsors in not conducive to an effective partnership and organisations need to be much more resilient and much more open to communicating sponsors more positively in the association. The seller is the conduit that introduces the sponsor to their target community. And it`s essential that the seller is able to endorse implicitly the sponsors product or service. It`s rare to find explicit endorsements outside of athlete ambassadors and influences within a sponsorship agreement. Simply because the reputational risks involved in this we now need to start thinking a bit more externally about what and how we will get business sectors and target companies to connect with your sponsorship opportunity or the platform or idea that you have in your mind. It`s important when identifying target sponsors to outline the most likely or faded business sectors, or specific companies based on a compatibility with your target audience, the brand image and the overall objectives, ie all the factors that would associate and combine to create good fit. We know that it`s important to take this approach because at the start of this presentation, we considered the five key criteria that makes up sponsor selection criteria. So we recognise that as a seller, we need to target our ambitions and our prospects towards businesses with whom we can create five good reasons for sponsorship when overland against their key criteria. This segment is an essential component of the strategy in order for sellers to be efficient and effective. It`s really essential To have a realistic pipeline, there are a number of different factors that influence the likelihood of a business sponsoring you. And these apart are in part, your ability to show how you deliver against those key five selection criteria we reviewed at the start of this presentation. Other factors will also include your own punchy back ethics policy, and your demographic profile. So it`s sometimes a good start point to identify which sectors you have a good potential alignment with, rather than identifying specific businesses as your start point.

So if you think you have an attractive demographic that would lend itself well to connecting with the automotive sector. Start there, instead of thinking I`d quite like Ferrari to be my new sponsor. Once you do that, you start to think more laterally about the businesses within that category and sector to whom you may have an appealing offer. Once you start to drill down, you`ll then identify specific businesses that you`d like to approach, which you can cross check against your list of key questions and internal checks as follows. Once the financial analysis, profitability and size of the target business, can they meet our rights v expectations, will they be able to afford the activation costs? What`s our sponsorship history? Where have you been effective in delivering in the past? What categories have worked well, for both you and your fan base? What did your audience like? How did the community respond to those organisations? What does that tell you about businesses that you can prospect to in the future and finally, consider market conditions? Who has a need for you? sponsors tend to buy when they have need need for your assets, as opposed to just a desire for your assets. It`s what typically gets sponsorship To the contract stage.

So keep abreast of those key categories that you think you have a good prospecting potential to take in the automotive example. Again, if you feel you have good fit and got good opportunity for an automotive brand, then ensure that you`re fully up to speed and aware of what the market conditions are that they`re operating in. Make sure you get ahead of potential changes in their sector, and position your opportunity as a solution to potential challenges or objectives that those businesses may have. Associate portfolio. In the search for new sponsor, it`s important to consider the impact they will have on an existing portfolio of sponsor partners. This is particularly relevant when you haven`t negotiated exclusive rights opportunities with other partners in the family who may feel rightly or wrongly a sense of ownership or entitled About the existing sponsor family and the extensive their own rights package. Within the strategy document, think through how you will introduce a new sponsor to the existing sponsor family. And whether you`re offering right to

opportunities that may impact on on other partners. A harmonious sponsor family is a great thing. But like all families, an unhealthy dis harmonious family can lead to lots of problems and tensions. And as a seller, you want to avoid that through your strategic approach to selling selling rights. outlined sales and procedures. It`s vital that the sponsorship seeker identifies a well thought through timeline and plan for the sales process. This plan would include a documentation of the proposed volume of businesses that will be approached during the sales process, as well as identifying what timeframe it will take to work through the five steps of the sales cycle. One introduction The opening elevator pitch or communication and this is typically done face to face or by phone. Step to request for information, namely further information supplied by the seller at the request of the sponsor. This is the desired outcome of a positive introduction face. Meeting usually attained once the proposal document has been reviewed, and a potential business opportunity has been identified that requires further discussion, negotiation the specific set of rights and opportunities that the sponsor will access to the partnerships that deliver against their specific objectives. These will be a combination of both tangible and intangible assets.

And finally, stage five the close the final contractual discussions that lead to the successful signing of a contract Additionally, the seller should document any other sales or resource being deployed for the sales cycle, Eg a sales agency, an introduction, agency, advertising or in house support. In this part of the strategy, the seller will also wish to present a cultivation plan that identifies a series of marketing activities across the sales cycle that will help to attract and draw in businesses, as well as showcase the opportunity more broadly. This enables the seller to pick up what I would call unexpected leads those businesses with whom you have a good opportunity but may not have made it onto your initial pipeline and prospecting list simply because you`ve been unaware or that objectives have changed since you did that first scoping document. So the final considerations for your sponsorship strategy document are as follows. For Actual analysis. In the financial analysis section of the strategy document, the seller provides a full cost schedule, including sponsorship revenue projections and event platform activity costs. Within this section, the seller should reference whether there is any requirement for products and services that will be negotiated on a value inclined basis. And how these will be valued and accounted for. At this stage, the seller should ensure that all departments are in agreement as to whether value in kind will be accounted for as a revenue or as a cost saving as this can often lead to miscommunication further down the line. There were some considerations that the sellers need to make in respect to the management of value in kind services, namely, will the value exchange of goods be done at the cost price or at the retail price and are both buyer and seller able to provide an accurate equivalent value either at the cost or the retail price to ensure a fair negotiation Human Resources In this strategy document, it`s important to identify the resources required to service the activity.

The first consideration is to identify whether the resource and expertise within the organisation will be sufficient to deliver the rights and meet the expectations of the sponsor. The activation of this bullshit falls to both parties to deliver. We`ll come to this in more detail in our next topic, but the seller must be prepared unable to deliver the benefits package. In many organisations, there is a separate business development team that sourced and negotiates the sponsorship and then hands this over to the delivery team experts in account management. This is very sensible where it can be accomplished as a two skill sets are considerably different and rarely found within the same individual timetable. outline your key dates and parameters within the sponsorship strategy document. It`s important that seller document key dates within the sponsorship acquisition phase. And equally data beyond the negotiation, at which point matters need to be agreed and delivery begins. There is a point within any sales cycle beyond which further attempts to secure a sponsor a futile, as the event or opportunity is simply to close in timeframe for there to be a reasonable

opportunity for the sponsor to be able to take advantage of the rights and benefits on offer. It`s important for the salesperson to document this within the strategy and to use the event or platform as a cultivation tool thereafter for subsequent addition, seasons and event cycles beyond this point, it`s tempting for sellers to continue work at securing the sponsor right up until the event takes place. But it is important to temper this desire against the knowledge that many businesses say no simply because the timeframe is too short for them to galvanise support, support internally and activate effectively. Generally, marketers remember only that they said no to an opportunity Not necessarily the reason why. So a seller can close off potential future partners by a strategy of selling for too long and too close to the event to the detriment of their long term commercial goals. evaluation. Outline the evaluation process that will become the framework for demonstrating return on investment. Best Practice sponsorship dictates that the process of renewing a sponsor begins with the construction of an effective contract that details when and how the sponsorship will be evaluated. This provides a matrix and a framework for both buyer and seller to work to and to use as a blueprint for success. Given that it`s difficult to find a new sponsor, it generally makes sense for every rights holder to work hard to keep the sponsors that they secure. So writing into the strategy document how you propose to measure the effectiveness punishment is important. It galvanises intern departments and ensure they retain and document key information that can be relayed back to the sponsor on an ongoing basis. This allows for adjustment to strategy and activation plans live with, in line with live audience data and feedback. It tests how well your sponsorship is support performing in a timeframe where you`re still able to make adjustments and impact that performance positively.

Key status was key stakeholders and the approval process. Identify all key personnel that will improve the strategy partnership and timings. As the negotiation sharpens and reaches its conclusion. It`s important the approval process and timings have already been established. This allows the seller to maintain momentum during the crucial close phase and ensures that internal expectations are in line with this dependencies. Finally, the 15th point on your sponsorship strategy. identify any key areas that will require resolution prior to being able to secure sponsorship indicate what factors will determine success, the seller should note any dependencies that will impact on the search for a sponsor. For example, media partnerships or TV exposure can radically improve the chances of a seller success based on the application, reach and status that they would provide to the platform event or opportunity if these are not contracted, but in negotiation at the time when the seller begins their sales efforts, it`s important to document the impact of securing or not securing this reach, and how that will have an overall impact on the popularity, interest or value that can be derived from the commercial proposition. The seller must not be held to account to unrealistic targets and it`s important to document the variables that impact on the sales opportunity at this early stage of the process.

This concludes the framework or the strategy document, which I hope has been useful in providing a best practice backdrop just punch it sales. Effective sales people spend the least time in the active sales arena because they have prepared to be efficient and successful, and they don`t waste time on unlikely leads. This concludes the end of the presentation segments of topic six. There are a number of self assessment tasks to do discussion forum to contribute to and quick quizzes to test your knowledge and understanding of this body of work.

Questions

1. Considering the key selection criteria of sponsorship, which we covered in 6.9 Mini lecture 3, what do you consider to be the greatest challenge facing a sponsorship-seeker in today’s economy?

2. Using a local example that you are familiar with, can you identify and then share an effective sponsorship sales strategy that you think has been a robust approach to securing sponsorship?

3. What techniques would you use to sell ‘passion’? What do you think are the potential pitfalls of a ‘passion-led’ sales technique? You may find it useful to consider the key selection criteria again when posting your thoughts.

4. Do you agree that the traditional sponsorship model is evolving? Can you identify any examples in your local market of how sponsorship partnerships have evolved to reflect a more integrated approach to sponsorship?

5. Which new sponsoring sectors do you think will emerge as significant investors over the next 2–5 years? Use the empirical and social content to support your answer. Which sectors do you think will enter the sponsorship marketplace in the wake of COVID-19?

6. Can you identify an existing sponsorship programme that exemplifies our definition of ‘modern sponsorship’? This could be a local or international example. Some of the Worldwide Olympic sponsors make for good examples if you are stuck for ideas!

7. What are the defining aspects of this partnership that you think identifies it as an integrated, strategic sponsorship programme?

8. How do you forecast that ‘ethical’ considerations will impact on sponsors from the petrochemical, alcohol and betting sectors in the next 2–5 years?