When it comes to selling partnerships for running events and programs, the hardest part is often getting connected with the right people at the right companies. We all know “cold calls” and “cold emails” are usually ineffective and time consuming. It’s exhausting to put so much time into outreach and see no response or results. While there’s no perfect way to approach sales, at P3R, we’ve put a lot of thought into how we can “work smarter, not harder” when it comes to taking the first step in the sales process. Here are 5 actionable steps that we follow, and hope can help you make the first connection with your prospective partners:

1. Smart brand prospecting yields golden leads

When it comes to brand prospecting, “working smarter” is more important than “working harder.” Be intentional with what brands you reach out to. Start by looking for brands that have invested in sports entities in the market you’re selling in; or look for a list of brands that have recently invested in the endurance space. Make a prospecting list of 10-20 brands to target.

2. For best results, find the decision maker 

While finding the right brands to connect with is important, it’s even more important to connect with the right decision makers at the companies on your prospecting list. Start by looking at press releases of previous partnership announcements to find who is quoted. Then, look up members of the Senior Leadership Team. Don’t be nervous to email an CEO or senior vice president. Always aim to get in front of the decision makers at the companies you want to work with.

 

3. Locate the correct contact information

Once you have a name of a contact, find their email address by searching on their company website or LinkedIn. A tool that has been really helpful to our team is Google Chrome’s Hunter Email Finder Extension. It’s a free plug-in that helps you find direct email addresses or creates educated guesses for what email format a company uses.

 

4. Reach out during ‘off hours’

Make a plan to send your new contact an email during “off hours” to ensure your outreach note stands out. The last thing you want is for your note to get lost in the shuffle of their normal email workload. Aim to send your note anytime on Sunday or a Monday before 8am or after 7pm.

 

5. Get that meeting

The goal of your initial outreach email should be to briefly introduce yourself, your organization, and to set-up a 15-30 introductory meeting. Provide a short explanation for why you’re reaching out, and six (6) time options in a two week window for when to connect over the phone. By providing exact time options, that will make it easier for the contact to pick a day and time from your list and schedule the meeting right away, instead of making more work for them to go back-and-forth on scheduling.

About the author: 

Caroline Fitzgerald is the former Vice President of Partnerships & Runner Experience at P3R, the engine behind Pittsburgh’s greatest races. Best known for organizing the DICK’S Sporting Goods Pittsburgh Marathon, P3R runs a variety of other high-quality races of various distances, as well as events and award-winning health and fitness programs throughout the Pittsburgh region and Western Pennsylvania.

We asked Stevie Jones of leading running brand Brooks Sports to weigh in on how sponsoring brands perceive the relationship between sponsors and events. Jones is the Manager of Event Marketing for Brooks, which supports dozens of races of all sizes across the U.S. each year. If you’ve ever wondered what a major brand looks for when deciding whether to partner with an event, read on for some illuminative insight.

What would you like event staff/race directors to know about your decision-making process for selecting event partners?

Jones: Some of the biggest factors we consider when deciding which races to partner with are the overall quality and reach of the event – meaning, how many runners is the race reaching, and how great of an overall experience are those runners having? How is the race organization giving back and supporting health and wellness in its community? Are there ways we as a brand can integrate a partnership into some of our other strategic initiatives? All that aside, there are factors we consider when vetting a new partnership opportunity that are completely out of the event’s control, which means that sometimes we turn down great opportunities at no fault of the race. Sometimes great events end up being non-starters for us purely based on their placement on the calendar or location. We prioritize our bandwidth and resources for the partnerships we have, which can sometimes create conflict for new opportunities. Our goal is to make sure we are able to go above and beyond our commitments in every partnership and deliver a best-in-class experience for runners, which sometimes means we are working with fewer events but doing more to support them.

When an event is presenting to a potential sponsor or partner, what details should they be sure to include?

Jones: What might seem like a no brainer but is frequently overlooked are the core basics of the event meaning the date, location, # of runners, and distance. You would be surprised how many sponsorship requests come through where I immediately have to go google where/when the event is. Beyond that, I would recommend events take the time to research a bit about the companies they are pitching to – what are their goals and values? Position the pitch to be about how the event will specifically support aspects of the company’s goals and brand values. Maybe it’s community outreach, employee involvement, or reaching a target audience. I would also recommend moving away from a set tiered sponsorship offering (bronze, silver, gold). When I see that, I assume that I’m one of a dozen emails sent that day soliciting sponsorship, it makes me feel as though there wasn’t much time spent on thinking about who they’re sending it to, and it’s probably been a long time since they’ve considered how to innovate and improve their sponsorship offering.

Industry surveys show that events are having a harder time gaining support from companies and brands right now. What’s your take on this and do you see it improving in the next six-12 months?

Jones: I see it improving in the next 6 months, the data is pointing to record participation in the sport of running, and brands who had to hunker down and protect their cash flow over the last 12+ months are likely coming out looking to reach new customers. I don’t expect securing sponsorship to get any easier, but I think that great events with great opportunities for sponsors will be able to find brands to work with.

Can virtual events be viable for sponsor support, or is it harder for them to demonstrate ROI?

Jones: If the last 12+ months have demonstrated anything, it’s that a “virtual event” can mean a variety of different things. A physical event that pivoted virtual (take Pittsburgh Marathon for example) can still deliver a lot of value in sponsorship, particularly to the brands it already works with. Events that are new and purely virtual, even if coming from a well-reputed event organizer, are harder to drive sponsorship value from. In those cases, finding sponsorship with non-endemic sponsors who wouldn’t otherwise have access to the event’s audience would be my recommended approach.

If an event is struggling with its sponsorship pitch, any advice or resources you’d suggest?

Jones: Find a peer in the industry and see what you can learn from each other. Hear how they pitch their race(s) and share how you pitch yours. Offer honest feedback and be ready to hear honest feedback. From there, just try to get as many reps in as possible, and don’t let rejections discourage you. The more pitches you can make, the more likely you are to find a “yes.”

 

Today’s event sponsors are far more than logos on the back of a t-shirt. They’re often a key aspect of a financially healthy event as production costs continue to rise. Modeling on other major sports’ proactive approach to corporate partnerships, savvy running events are harnessing the health and wellness benefits of their work and turning it into sponsor support. But many race producers are still struggling to get sponsor dollars in the door.

So how can our industry advance and improve the way it approaches sponsorships and partnerships? Run With P3R CEO Troy Schooley has some great suggestions to share.

Schooley is a sponsorship and strategic partnership expert whose vision has changed the face of P3R over the last five years. His creative approach to sales help him to lead the entire organization in today’s competitive environment, but his customer sales roots go back to childhood. Growing up and watching his dad run a small business, Schooley observed how important every single relationship was. Today, relationship building is at the heart of his approach to working with sponsors and partners and a major part of how he encourages his team to collaborate with event partners.

“Continually communicate with them throughout the year to make sure that you’re holding up your end of the bargain, and make sure that they’re happy,” he said. “It’s an ongoing conversation that should be a priority.” Schooley has answered dozens of questions about sponsorship basics and best practices.

Those inquiries have prompted the following:

5 Key Sponsorship Insights for Endurance

1.       Not good at selling yourself or your event? Get help. Whether that’s a full- or part-time sales professional to find new sponsorship opportunities or a crash course in sales online for a one- person operation, trying to approach sponsorship without planning is a sure way to have no sponsors. “I understand that not every organization can hire a full-time salesperson. But if you’re in a two- or three-person organization, you can take a class or talk to sales experts in your market who can help you strategize a regional sales approach,” says Schooley. “We’re missing countless opportunities in our industry because we fail to have true sales professionals explain to potential partners why our sport is beneficial.”

2.       Every event has a story. Tell it well. “I believe that one thing that we can improve on is how we tell the story on WHY the endurance space is great for potential partners. When we do tell that story well, I think we open a lot of eyes about what our sport has to offer, not just for the participant, but specifically for the corporation that may be interested in sponsoring one of our events,” says Schooley.

A big part of telling your story well is making sure you don’t confine the impact of your event to the day or weekend on which it takes place. Running impacts participants’ lives each and every day throughout the year. They are constantly thinking about their training and preparation for your event, even when they aren’t running. Make sure your potential sponsors recognize that impact, and consider unique and compelling activations that really showcase that impact. Spend time with your marketing team to craft the most inspiring and detailed version of your event’s story, with photos and videos to express the emotion and excitement of race weekend.

3.       Get rid of the tiered approach to sponsorship. It may seem easier to do things the way you’ve always done it, but offering tiered sponsorship levels and “one-size-fits-all” packages with pre- determined benefits is no longer an effective strategy, shared Schooley. Partners are looking for customized benefits and activations that speak to their specific needs as a business AND directly benefit race participants in a unique and fun way.

Plus, positioning sponsors as gold/silver/bronze, with highest to lowest price points, is always going to encourage your potential supporters to get by at the lowest cost level. Taking a personalized approach is crucial to establish strong relationships and open communication with your sponsors and partners to make sure they’ll benefit from your collaboration.

4.       OK, but what do sponsors really want? Every sponsor is looking for something different. Some may want the brand visibility and loyalty inspired by naming rights to your event that comes with a title sponsorship. Others are looking for social media partnerships that can benefit both sides with participant engagement and online traffic. Some may want to position their brand as being supportive of a health and wellness lifestyle. Others might have a running-related product to promote, whether it’s shoes or nutritional supplements or post-race recovery supplies. And just as in the old days, some really want to see their name on signage at the start/finish or along your course. Learn your sponsors’ interests and goals before you craft their customized package, and price it competitively. Don’t undervalue the engagement of your runners, who in turn are influencers of their families, friends and colleagues.

5.       Measure value and maintain long term partnerships. If the acronym ROI (return on investment) puts a little knot of fear in your stomach, you aren’t alone. The best way to show a sponsor what their investment is buying is making sure they experience it in person on race day. Encourage your partnership prospects to attend or participate in your event to live the magic, and create customized plans for them on race weekend so they have a smooth and positive experience. When it comes to metrics, the best documentation of your efforts on behalf of your sponsors will be via online analytics for social media, website performance and email marketing campaigns. Define your audience up front so that your sponsors’ staff teams know what to expect.

Finally, make sure you follow through on every single deliverable that was promised in your sponsorship contracts. Schedule face-to-face meetings immediately following your event with every partner to run through what was accomplished on their behalf and what they’d like to adjust and improve for next year. “When you build the relationship, you can have very honest conversations, when you don’t build a relationship, you just have sponsors,” said Schooley. “Talk openly about what worked this year and how to improve next year.” You’ll be on your way to retaining your supporters and another successful event in the year to come.