Every sponsorship should have a goal. Our partners are spending dollars with us to reach a business outcome. They are buying a result.
But a lot of times, we fall short of understanding exactly what those expectations are.
Why? Well, sometimes we take the assumptions from our initial pitch meetings and never directly ask.
This, as you can imagine, can wreak havoc on the value you bring and the sponsor’s happiness with the partnership at the end of the season.
So how can we avoid this? By asking.
In this episode of The Inches Podcast, Rich Franklin & I dive into the 3 questions you should be asking BEFORE a partnership begins.
You can listen to the full episode HERE. But as always I break down the key points below.
First, why do we have to ask these… and why all 3?
You may be thinking…I asked a ton of discovery questions in the sales process. I think I have a great idea of what a home run is for them.
The problem…assumptions can get us into trouble.
I’ve seen it happen many times where a sponsor in the sales process tells us they care about one thing…but then at the end of the year, they were expecting results from a different metric.
And it comes back a little bit to some of the excitement of the sales process. Sometimes, they forget about the keys to their business goals, the excitement about the idea of being a part of the team and reaching your fans.
There’s nothing wrong with building up a prospect on this excitement. In fact, in sports…it is our bread and butter for differentiation from other advertising mediums.
But, this sometimes clouds them in telling you how they will measure your partnership.
This is why we need to ask the questions. Make sure we are disciplined in understanding the goals and helping the partner reach them.
BUT, there is another layer. Rich has 3 questions below for a very strategic reason.
We want our partners to really think about how they plan to measure the success of the partnership. Almost force them to give you an answer in a very strategic and non-pushy way.
If we only ask one of these, we may miss a key metric they want to see…or not uncover a key initiative in their company that they really are putting weight into.
This is why Rich has 3 questions, and suggests that you ask them all.
With that, here are the 3 questions you should ask before the partnership starts.
1. What are your expectations of this partnership?
Yup, start with the simple question. It opens it up to the analytics side of their brain and readjusts the conversation to the metrics side of the equation.
Most likely, you get a vague answer here. Something like “We have an expectation to reach your fans and build relationships with them.”
Many partners may have it dialed in…but this is the question that usually gets the overarching, high-level answer.
This is exactly the reason we ask all 3. If we stopped here and got the example answer above, it is really hard to qualitatively show those above. And even if you could show reach and affinity metrics, they may not be on the same page.
This question is the opening question. It sets the tone and starts to guide the discussion to a more analytical route. We can’t skip it.
2. How will you define and measure that success?
Now we are getting into the juicy part of this conversation. In the second question, we understand the overarching goal…now we can get an idea of what metrics they use or see as valuable and how they may determine the success of the upcoming partnership.
If a sponsor doesn’t have an answer, it isn’t the end of the world. This is actually a moment where you can build trust even further.
For example, a sponsor might come back and say ” You know what Nick, I honestly hadn’t thought that far through. I don’t know if I have a metric for you.”
In that answer, we CANNOT move on. Vagueness in how success is measured seems like it will get you off the hook at the end of the season…but instead, there is a high chance for a mismatch in metrics.
Nothing is worse than coming into a recap meeting and showing a stat…just to hear a sponsor say they expected to see a different stat.
Instead, you can build trust by being a valued resource on what metric would work.
A great answer would be:
“You know what Ron, in the past when sponsors have had that expectation or goal form a sponsorship like ours have found a ton of value in measuring X. It is clear and really helps you all make business decisions and actions later on to help convert fans into buyers.
Can we agree that X is a good starting point for us to measure?”
You’ve answered with trusted advice, added some social proof, and solidified the stat that you all can agree is good for measurement. This is a perfect way to drive a solid answer when the sponsor doesn’t know.
Overall, we must solidify the metric. It will alleviate any confusion as we implement the partnership and save a lot of headaches down the road.
3. What are 3 things you would like to see this partnership achieve?
Finally, we are looking for anecdotal items that the sponsor wants to see. Beyond the overall metrics, we can find 3 things that they really care about for a successful partnership.
For example, the sponsor may say “We got really excited about the Mascot Game because we think it is a great tie-in with families. I really want to knock that out of the park.”
Now, you understand that the Mascot Game has to be a home run. While each game is valuable…that is how they most likely measure the success when it is all said & done.
Or, it may be “While the in-season coverage is great, the events you all do is really what pushed us to buy. I want to make sure we drive results at those and not have them be a back-of-the-house extra.”
Again, the metrics we uncover in the 2nd question will let us understand the north star…but not all implementations of those metrics are weighted equally.
Let’s say leads are important to a sponsor, that is your key metric…but they also mention that the Mascot Night is vital due to their target demographic being families, you will be judged more on the leads you bring in that night.
The third question uncovers any land mines, by that I mean us showing up to the recap meeting…showing great results…only to have the sponsors unhappy with how many leads were driven on the Mascot Night.
Again, you need to ask ALL of these BEFORE the partnership starts.
As you can see, each question has a very distinct and key reason we ask it. If we don’t ask them all, we will miss vital information.
We don’t want to make this an interrogation. Throughout the see questions, we need to ensure the sponsor knows we are simply looking to get on the same page with expectations so that both sides feel great about the partnership at the end of the year.
But DO NOT miss any of these when asking. Ask them, and if needed dive deeper to understand their goals.
Ask these not only with new sponsors but renewals too
While this is key for new sponsor’s onboarding…Rich brings up a great point on the value these questions have with renewals.
A company’s goals can change in an instant. Our renewals may have a totally new way that they as an organization measure their marketing spend. Now those stats that worked last season are out the door.
Or maybe they have a new initiative that they are really putting money behind. This uncovers a new opportunity to upsell if you can show that you can help their growth there with the new metrics.
While this is a no-brainer for new sponsors, it is a must-add for your renewal sales structure.
Keep updated on these throughout the season
Lastly, we can’t just get these answers at the beginning of the season and show up at the recap meeting.
As I mentioned before. Goals change, Minds change. We need to have conversations throughout the campaign with sponsors to ensure the expectations have not changed. This makes it way more likely we hit a home run on the recap at the end of the year as we can adjust if needed.
As you look at your sales & service process, these are must-ask questions to help drive more value and trust with your sponsors. If you follow this with discipline, you will see more renewals and more closes for your sponsorship department.
