I love talking. A part of me seriously believes that a person’s thoughts are validated with words – whether by mouth or by pen. When I was a kid I remember being reprimanded for speaking on behalf of my twin brother. “Let him speak for himself, Emily,” I was told. “But I just know what he means to say, and I can’t help it, I want to make sure they know what he’s thinking,” I insisted.
In sponsorship sales, there will be times that your proposal will have to speak for itself. Maybe you’re a talker too – maybe the delivery of your presentation would be enough to earn a standing ovation in a boardroom; but know that you won’t always have the luxury of personally presenting your take on why a sponsor should get excited about your opportunity. Your contagious enthusiasm and your passion for activation that you eagerly display in conference rooms and personal pitches can’t be your greatest strength. Especially with more substantial partnership opportunities, there will likely be instances that the proposal has the platform with a number of individuals who will reference it as they weigh out the possibilities. You might have a chance to speak personally with one or two of them, but you need to write your proposal in such a way that if you were in the room while the corporate decision makers were reviewing the document, you wouldn’t feel the need to interject or add to anything to what they were seeing.
So how can you make sure what’s in your proposal is head turning and eyebrow raising? I encourage you to reference the “Elements of a sophisticated proposal” theme that we posted previously to gain some insights – it’s a great starting point. Keep in the back of your mind that especially with the competitive nature of sponsorship requests right now, it’s very important to consider how to write your proposal in such a way that it stands out as unique from all the rest.
Back when I was in retail, I remember preparing months in advance before a visit from Corporate. All the big wigs were going to be there, people we had only seen in videos, press conferences or the news. They hadn’t been to a visit in our area for nearly 10 years, and as a new store manager I would have their attention for about an hour – and so would hundreds of other store managers. As the weeks drew nearer I recall some very wise advice from a more experienced store manager; “consider the one take away you want them to remember about you most – design all of your interactions to underscore that point.” So I did – the visit went so well I won an award for it. I was the youngest and most inexperienced of my entire team, and I didn’t win the award because I was brilliant, my store did well but it was by no means the biggest or the best – I won it because I sent a clear, valuable and memorable message. If you want to stand apart like a diamond in the ruff – one proposal among tens, hundreds or more; you need to quickly, and clearly communicate a message with value.
I remember hearing one story about a property representative that pitched a sponsor by sending them a formal proposal which cast a vision in a very unique way – it was prepared much like a storybook – the cover was entitled “XYZ marathon presented by XYZ sponsor… the possibilities.” The possibilities were then unfolded in a draft that highlighted their assets – painted a picture for how this specific sponsor would be able to capitalize on them. It made the opportunity into an experience and made it very easy for the sponsor to catch the excitement before a meeting was ever initiated. The sales rep was on the phone a day or two later to follow up and schedule a meeting, and the potential sponsor was on board to engage in a serious discussion about “the possibilities”. His attention had been captured. For this property rep – even the delivery of the proposal was unique. The encased document was uniquely designed and even delivered via FedEx in a package straight to the desk of the decision maker. Create your proposal to be memorable, then sit back and be prepared to let it speak for itself.