I know… this sounds like a stupid topic. But it happens all the time. I am so frustrated. When we don’t understand what questions to ask or when to ask questions or how to ask questions, we do a disservice you those who are our partners and to ourselves.
Let me explain in reference to our sector…
- As a brand we often fail to ask what assets our potential partner has available to sell us… assets that will help us to gain a profitable ROI form our investment…. But if we don’t tell that potential partner ALL our goals, objectives and budgets… they cannot help us. It is like going to the doctor and only telling them part of the problem and not letting them know everything… and they then prescribe a medication that affects another medication you are taking or that you are allergic to… and then we blame the doctor / partner because we failed to tell them ALL the pertinent information!!
- Often a property sells the sponsor say, rink boards, when they should have had an engagement activity to get people to try and experience the product or perhaps it is to drive foot traffic to the store… but we sold them a rink board because that was easy and once in the conversation they mention branding was important.. the rink board will not achieve their goals of engagement and foot traffic, but activations will!!
- The questions the property needs to be asking though are critical… what are the potential partner’s goals? You need to know their goals, their secondary goals, how they have achieved this before (if they have), what has worked, what has not and what are they measuring as success and how much money will they spend to achieve that success. You, the property, MUST not only ask these questions, but get answers to them. If you don’t – you cannot build an effective proposal. Nor will you deliver success to your partner.
- Then there is the big question that often gets forgotten by both sides or just too scared to ask. I see this all the time with clients and with proposal for work that we propose. Both sides fail to ask questions. A proposal is just that. It is an offer… if is not written in stone. It is not a contract. If the price is too high or it is missing assets you want and you want a lower price or you want certain other assets… ask! Too often the buyer takes the “proposal” as the end of the line. That is wrong!
- We have had two brand clients (people buying or potentially buying naming rights to major facilities) and in both cases the discussions we high level, the property pitched a proposal, and it was awful. The assets were all wrong. The naming right was fine, but all the supporting assets were a waste of money and time and effort. The client was going to walk away. We forced them to give a counter proposal with assets they needed and wanted to support the naming rights and were less costly. In both cases deals were done for less than the original offer and both delivered positive ROI for both the sponsor and the rights holder. Ask for what you need if it is not in the proposal.
- Once we had a potential client who wanted the Cadillac version of our services versus the Chevrolet version. But he did not have the money for the Cadillac. We had presented both the Cadillac and Chevy version. He came back and said… “I don’t have the money right now to invest in the Cadillac version but know it is the better investment for our organization today and in the future. How can we make it happen?” So, we made it happen for him. We did not lower the price; he did not lose services… we found a way to make it work through several formats of financing. That is why you ask questions and do not take proposals as the “written in stone”.
- Or if you did not get business, ask why. But the buyer MUST ask questions if they want to get the best product at the best price versus just “accepting” submitted proposals. For example, if you are the buyer (a sponsorship or lol… our consulting services) and you want an additional asset – ask for it… don’t ditch the proposal because it was not there. This is a relationship not a transactional purchase. If you cannot ask and be answered at this stage before “getting in bed together” what will it be like down the road!! Too often buyers want to take the quickest road to completion versus the best track to success. If the price needs to be adjusted… ask about it… they may not discount but they may be able to find a way to remove something you are not desperate to have and lower the price accordingly.
In this industry, as I noted, we are in the relationship business, not the transactional commodity business. This is not about what is presented on paper… it is about working together to get the buyer, the seller and the audience (your fans, subscribers, attendees etc.) the best ROI on their investment as possible. And that comes from asking questions… not from looking at a screen with a proposal on it and thinking that is the end of the discussion.
Someone recently said to me that I sometimes ask too many questions. I laughed and thought, I don’t think I ask enough at times. But as a result of asking questions, we can provide clients with the answers they need and the ensure they get the best ROI on a sponsorship program they are invested in. And that… lol… is why one client said to us in a few different words but what we have coined as a phrase that defines us “we are the agency that tell you what you need to know, not just what you want to hear”.
Ask more questions. Never accept the first offer (negotiation 101). Get what you need, not what someone wants to offer.
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