In the previous article I vented my spleen about people who think there’s value in having their company name on a banner on the oval in return for sponsorship of a local football club.

“Phooey!” I snorted. “At least get names and contact details so you can build some relationships.”

So here’s how to go about it:

When the club contact you with their proposal scan through it and tell them they can have an immediate decision.

Providing their members and supporters look like the type of prospect you want then agree to their proposal (assuming you can afford it of course).

They fall over because they’ve never had such rapid agreement to a sponsorship proposal. When they ask for the cheque you say, “Now that you have told me what you want, let me tell you what I want.”

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There will be a slight pause and they will hesitatingly ask, “What is that?”

And you respond, “Well, because I’ve given you a donation I’d like the names and addresses of all your members so I can write to them!”

They’ll be horrified… they won’t want to do that because they are scared you will write, phone, email and generally try to rob, rape and pillage their members. They’ll worry you’ll harass members into business and give the club a bad name.

But, fortunately they’ll breathe easily because they realise they have a let out. They’ll use the excuse that it breaches privacy provisions.

That’s when you can put their fears to rest by saying, “I don’t want to embarrass or hassle you or your members and supporters or breach privacy provisions. All I want to do is send a letter to them and you can mail it to them on my behalf. That means I won’t even see their names or addresses. You can put the letter in your envelope and send it out for me, I’ll even pay for the postage!”

And, a typical letter would read something like this:

Good morning!

We would like to be sure that your money keeps coming back to you!

You may not be aware that we have recently become a sponsor of the Newtown football club and we are therefore just writing to let you know.

Obviously we are delighted to be associated with your club and because many of our clients are like you it’s good to know that the money they spend with us comes back to your club and you.

Now, we don’t know whether you currently have a pest controller, and in fact whether you have ever needed the services of a company in our field. Should, however you have the need for a firm like ours or you’d like a second opinion, or a source of supply or advice, we would be delighted to assist you.

If you decide to use our services and we are sure you will if you get to know us, you will have the satisfaction of knowing that some of your money keeps coming back to you through the sponsorship of your club.

We look forward to meeting you soon!

Yours sincerely

P.S. As a special introduction we are enclosing a gift certificate for you to use if you decide to avail yourself of any of the services shown. Please feel free to use it at any time.

Now, that’s straightforward and simple isn’t it? It doesn’t belt members around the head does it? It’s not self-serving, pretty innocuous really, because it simply and quite nicely introduces your firm and reveals what you do for the club.

The sting in the tail is that powerful postscript! The gift certificate should be for a substantial amount as an almost irresistible inducement for them to try your products or services. People can’t resist such an inducement and, if it gets them to see you for the first time and you do a great job, they’ll come back and you’ll lock them in for life!

That’s way you can make sponsorship work for you!

Oh, alright then! If you get the letter happening but you still can’t resist the masturbatory delights of seeing your company name on a banner, go ahead!