5ish Tips for Getting a Team Sponsor

I am on the board of directors for the house baseball organization in my town.  My friend and I are in charge of obtaining team and web sponsors.  My wonderful husband was the person that nominated me for this task...... I was excited to be on the board but knew this would be a challenge.  I have never done this before.  In my head I basically knew this was going to be the same as cold calling, which I hate.  I tried being a sales rep for one year after college, not for me.  I get a funny feeling in my stomach just thinking about picking up the phone to call a stranger and ask them for a sale (or a sponsorship).  

We also need a lot.  As in 20+!  We are trying to get a sponsor for every team that plays in the league.  Our organization plays against each other, not other towns (that is travel). That means, I need a sponsor for 4-6 T-Ball teams, etc.  

Once I sat down to start this daunting task, I realized I didn't have to make phone calls.  Of course, that is one way to do it but not the route I chose.  Here are 5ish tips we used to obtain sponsors for our program and not have to take an anxiety pill.  

(At the time I write this we have more team sponsors than we have teams and we have generated $5,000+ for our organization!  These tips were all successful!)  

1.  Use the list from last year

   

This may seem obvious, but I am going to mention it.  If the organization you are trying to get sponsors for, had sponsors the previous year, reach out to them first.  We had a small list of companies that sponsored web ads and teams last year and we reached out to them first by mailing a flier.  

2.  Add to the list by canvasing the town

If you are doing trying to get sponsors for a sporting team, then the first place you should look is the town you live in.  I found the type of organizations that want to advertise this way are local, consumer focused business.  Example:  pizza parlor, local insurance companies, local restaurants, dentist offices, etc.   When you go pick up your pizza on Friday night, drop off a flier.  Next time you get your hair cut, drop off a flier.  When a business sees you spending money with them, they are more likely to want to spend it with you.  

3.  Use Facebook / Social Media

Does your town have a Facebook group? Create a post that you are looking for team sponsors.  Does the organization you are helping have a Facebook group?  Create a post within the group that you are looking for sponsors.  

I also used Facebook to connect with businesses.   Here is an example - I am working on sponsorship in the winter.  There is a fairly new ice cream shop in the town over that my family loves.  Obviously, they aren't open in January in Western NY.  Their website didn't have info that I could use to get a flier or an email to them.  I reached out to them via a private message on Facebook.  You know what, it worked!  They wrote back and said they would be interested and gave me their email address.  I used this method a few times and I worked great.   I wouldn't suggest this for all companies you are trying but it was successful.

I also emailed a few places to follow up on the flier I sent.  I also emailed other business I found after the first mass mailing, and I attached the flier.

4.  Drop off in person

Yes, this is like cold calling, but I was more comfortable doing this then calling.  I wore a shirt with the organization that I was representing and put a huge smile on my face.  Ask to speak with the owner or manager and do a couple sentence intro, similar to an elevator speech. 

5.  Companies advertising elsewhere

Our town has a quarterly magazine that comes out.  I reached out the businesses that advertised in the magazine by email.  I mentioned in the email that I saw their ad in the town magazine (called it by name in my email).  This way they knew the dollars they spent on that advertising were working.  I also figured these are organizations that are looking to get their name out. They spend money to advertise; these are the types of businesses I needed to talk to.  

We were at a local restaurant last week and on some pint glasses they had local businesses. They must sell advertising space on the glasses to raise money for the restaurant.  I wrote down some of the businesses I saw on the glasses and went home and contacted them.  

5 ish.  Chamber of Commerce website

To look for new businesses in surrounding towns, I checked out the Chamber of Commerce website.  We mailed fliers out to certain businesses.  This only resulted in a few sponsors, but it did work.

Bottom line - you are presenting companies with a unique and fairly inexpensive way to advertise.  If a company advertises in the newspaper, the ad is only seen briefly.  Advertising on a jersey allows for repetition for the handful of months that sport is playing.

What other magical ways have you secured a sponsor for your team or your business?

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