In the realm of sponsorship sales, it’s not just about getting your hands on decision-maker contact information. In order to turn opportunities into deals, what you do with that contact information (and when you do it) is crucial.
According to a Forbes interview from their Young Entrepreneur Council on the best strategies for negotiating sponsorships,
“Timing is very important when it comes to negotiating a corporate sponsorship. It is essential to submit your proposal before your potential sponsors have distributed their budget. Otherwise, even if they like your project, they might not be able to allocate money for it. The earlier you engage with sponsors, the better. ”
-David Henzel, MaxCDN
To help you stay ahead of the curve, and budgetary window, we’re surfacing planning period trends you should be targeting now. Learning how to reach decision-makers using this information will lead to more engaging cold calls, better emails, and optimal conversion rates.
Scoring a sponsorship deal can be tricky, but we’re here to help you guide you through the ins and outs of sponsorship sales and take your prospecting to the next level.
Our in-house team of researchers is doing the hard work so you can spend more time selling. In order to start Q2 on a strong note, we’ve compiled a list of 60 sponsorship spenders planning in Q2 along with verified decision-maker contact information.
So, now that you have the contact information, what do you do with it? When approaching a potential partner it’s important to be very targeted in how you reach out to them. Here are 5 tips to help you catch the attention of sponsorship decision-makers:
Shooting out a generic email to a big list of marketing and sponsorship contacts is not the way to go. Don’t send emails with your fingers crossed hoping to get a response. According to sources, salespeople spend 13 hours a week on email, so we want to help you make those efforts count. Instead of leaving results up to chance, invest your time in more personalized outreach, and you’re almost guaranteed a better response rate.
One of the secrets to email outreach success is leveraging personality insights to differentiate your approach based on the individual. With Winmo’s Crystal Knows integration, you can craft personalized outreach with each prospect’s personality traits at your fingertips.
Messages should be short and to the point, with a subject line that is fun and creative, and most importantly click-worthy. Sponsorship decision-makers at major brands are bombarded with hundreds of emails daily, so it’s important to stand out from the rest.
When reaching out, it’s a good idea to show interest in their company in order to differentiate yourself. You could do this by sharing industry news that would peak their interest, congratulate them on a recent accomplishment, or even send over an article they’ve published to show appreciation for their insight.
Lastly, don’t hesitate to follow up when reaching out to prospects. According to sources, 44% of salespeople give up after only one follow up. Additionally, 92% of salespeople give up after four “no’s”, but 80% of prospects say “no” four times before they say “yes.”
Persistence is key in scoring sponsorship deals. Now that you are approaching the right brands at the right time, it’s important to ensure you reach out with a targeted approach, something relevant to say, and multiple times in order to get a response.
With the expertise of Winmo Senior Director of Sponsorship Sales Brian McCue, we’re bringing you three proven follow-up email templates you can use increase your chances of a response from your recipient, and eventually a successful sponsorship.
Hi (prospect name),
As you’re currently planning your Q2 sponsorship initiatives – looking to partner with organizations that align with your team’s vision & revenue goals, (*organization*) would like to present you with a unique opportunity. Attached is a one-page deck that outlines who we are and how we’ve helped others in your space. Do you have time next week for a 15-minute call?
A majority of the brands that reach out to us end up not being the right fit for our organization. Your brand’s core audience is currently out of Atlanta, GA. Our HQ’s and upcoming event is in Atlanta. Outlined below is a detailed testimonial from one of last year’s sponsors. Based on my research, I think we would be able to exceed these results for your brand. Does tomorrow afternoon work for a quick chat?
*Testimonial* (advice) In addition to the ‘what a great ‘event’ – the testimonial should contain stats around what happened to that brand during/after the ‘event’ (ex) uptick in social media followers/product sales increased the weeks following the ‘event’, bigger opportunities opened up for the brand by just being apart of the ‘event.’
Hey (prospect),
I wanted to bubble this back up to the top of your email. With your new CMO in place, looking to allocate sponsorship dollars by Q4 (targeting the Male, Millennial/ Gen Z demographic), would there be an opportunity for us to connect to go over how (*organization*) will get you in front of your target audience in a way that no other organization can?
