SCC Blog

A road map to building successful sponsorship programs

From California to Maine, many high school athletic and student leadership programs are severely underfunded.  I work with athletic directors, coaches and business/marketing teachers every day who are searching for ideas for generating new revenue to support their programs.  In today’s blog post, I asked sponsorship and sports marketing expert Bob Burris, President of The Burris Group and author of How to Sell Sponsorships, Tickets & Popcorn, to offer a few quick tips on the subject.  Hope this helps to provide some direction as you pursue alternative means for generating revenue at your school.

Bob, in addition to being an incredibly kind individual and someone I’m proud to call a friend, boasts a long and distinguished track record of sponsorship success in the sports and events industry.  Including Bob’s entire biography would probably require a blog post of its own, so I’ll provide a few of his career highlights:

* He began his career in sports on the ground floor as a 16-year-old sweeping the aisles and grandstands of Denver’s Mile High Stadium after baseball, football and other sport and entertainment events

* He is considered to be one of only a handful of people who have held executive level positions with franchises in the NFL, NBA, NHL, professional baseball and to have managed professional golf tournaments on the PGA TOUR, the PGA CHAMPIONS TOUR, and LPGA Tour

* He has also worked on the non-profit side as the Executive Director of the Pride of Kansas City Foundation

* At age 24, he was one of the youngest executives in the professional sporting world, when he became part of the design and management team that opened the world’s third dome stadium, the Seattle Kingdome

* His company, The Burris Group, LLC,  has negotiated and sold nearly $100 million in sponsorship packages to a wide variety of Fortune 500 companies

When I asked Bob what advice he would offer anyone looking to pursue sponsorship as a fundraising vehicle, he provided the following suggestions:

Corporate giving as well as sponsorships for non-profits, high schools and colleges is down nationwide by at least 30%.  For many, many years corporations have been “corporate good guys,” as they annually write a check with no expectation of a return.  But all of that has changed over the past 18 months as corporations have been hit just as hard with the recession and they are now forced to justify every dollar they spend.  Therefore, when faced with a sponsorship request they are now asking the question:  “What’s in it for me?”  “How does this sponsorship help my business?”

And here is where most organizations that depend on corporate support are having difficulty.  Corporations are screaming for more value but many high schools, colleges and non-profit organizations just don’t know how to create sponsorship programs that have value or at least to have a positive impact.

Another key concept of critical importance that must be considered by anyone hoping to implement a successful sponsorship program at school is the concept of sales.  To help illustrate the point, consider the following excerpt from Bob’s book:

Before we sell our event to anyone, we must know what we have to sell and know our audience. Who do we attract? It is very important to take the time to do this exercise because any potential sponsor will be very interested in the type of people your organization draws.

The first sale you make is NOT the product you are selling. The first sale you make is selling YOURSELF to the buyer. I’m a firm believer that people buy people first and then the product they are selling. This is called “Relationship Selling,” and is particularly true in the Corporate Sponsorship sales world.

The First Step

So, when we have an event of any kind, who do we target? Based on the type of event, the first place to start is by knowing the “Hot Buttons” for corporate sponsors and then identifying categories of sponsorship that fit for your particular event.

Hot Buttons for Sponsors

When looking to make a sports or entertainment marketing purchase, corporate sponsors, are motivated by several factors.

The Second Step: Identify Your “Circle of Influence.”

Each person in a company or organization has his or her own circle of influence. Who from your Board of Directors and your donors knows the decision-maker or anyone from the companies in the categories you’ve targeted? These people are on your board and are donors because they care and believe in the organization. They will help, if they are asked. But only ask with the provision that you are NOT asking them to sell for you! All you want is an endorsement to the decision maker with the ultimate goal of getting a face-to-face appointment. I believe we are ALL more effective in person than we are on the phone.  And if your “circle of influence” can get you an appointment or approval to call the decision maker directly, you are more than half way there. When this happens, your call now is a “warm” call as opposed to a “cold” call.

If you think sponsorship might be a good fit at your school, there are a number of factors to consider.  Developing a thorough and well-established plan should be your first step.  For anyone looking for additional guidance, Bob’s book would be a great place to start.

Order your copy by clicking here or visiting his website (http://theburrisgroupllc.com/store.html).  I would also recommend visiting Bob’s website to sign up for his FREE newsletter.

Posted in Guest Blog Entry, SCC Blog, Sponsorship, Suggested reading |

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