I’ve always said that seeking sponsorship is a numbers game. There are so many people out there looking for sponsorship that it’s crucial to: a) Contact as many companies as possible and, b) Once you have the right person don’t give up contacting them until they either accept or reject the proposal outright.
So much work goes into a proposal that more work is crucial to see it to the end-whatever that may be.
After I’d initially made contact with the right person and sent off the proposal it was a couple of months later that I started to re- contact them. Between the time that I’d sent out the proposal and the follow up call I had received a few rejections.
Upon calling my new found contacts- I was quite surprised at the number of new people I now had to speak to as the previous contact had either resigned or had been moved to another position. That’s not a bad thing necessarily as it was an excuse to tell my story and resend my proposal to my latest contact- All the new info went onto my data base.
Some of the people that I’d initially sent my proposal to, didn’t remember me or my proposal at all-which gave me an excuse to resend it. Some told me outright that it had been rejected-which in turn isn’t great news, but at least it was narrowing down the playing field and allowing me to concentrate on the others.
Some of them remembered me but had forgotten to look at it, or send it off to the decision makers-like the company’s foundation committee. After a gentle reminder they promised to action it. I will contact them in a few weeks to check up on it.
By re-contacting these people I was always finding out something new which ultimately ended up helping me in the long run. .
Follow up calls have to take place otherwise the chances of falling through the cracks is just so much greater. After all the work that goes into a proposal I’d rather be rejected than forgotten about.
As with everything, one does have to be assertive in reaching ones goals. At times it did test me but never were any of the people I spoke to offended by my following up.