Sponsorships are out there, everywhere!

I had my first exposure to private tennis sponsorships in 1982. It was very tricky, because then I was just a very green coach. I wasn't a product manager at all. I needed to be.

Remember, tennis is a very sellable sport. It is one of the major world-wide sports for spectators and players. There are plenty of sponsors out there involved in different ways. They supply cash, products, specialist staff and services to players, federations, officials, coaches, events and sites.

They are also looking for players who can represent their company image. You should be young, dynamic, talented and hard-working. They want these players to be "part" of their organisation, as a sort of mascot. They want it to go well, and to last.
 

Sponsorships - package your product!

Back in 1982, I was seeking sponsorship for a young player who already had a reasonable local record over a few years. The player was very young, and needed a specific checklist put in place to package a sellable product for the sponsor. The player would have to change a lot of things to be interesting for the sponsor.

Finally, the sponsor pulled out. We could give no guarantees. What the sponsor needed was one or two guarantees, and we could give none. For instance, we could have guaranteed which tournaments we'd play in, which training groups or tennis academies we could be found in. Already we needed to have a budget for a comprehensive two-year plan, BEFORE the sponsor would even consider us.

Another great problem is how to communicate with a sponsor. It needs to be hyper-professional, using equipment and demonstrations that are tools he himself would use. Money needed to be spent here as well!
 

Sponsorships need slick communication

A few years later I had another great opportunity to approach a sponsor, but this time for a group sponsorship. It went so much better, because of the experience I had had before. I made approaches to major multi-national companies, and I made personal presentations to two of them. So they obviously already liked my initial material and proposal. This time the problem was identical. I thought I could give guarantees on certain essential points. I couldn't give them. Not really. I needed to have my own marketing structure around me to be able to deliver these guarantees on a constant basis over two years. I didn't have it!
 

Bring the prize for your sponsor

A lot of players find sponsors. A lot of these sponsors are brimming more with goodwill than with good business sense. Firm guarantees are not foremost in their minds. The goodwill factor is sometimes so important that you could base your application on finding a "goodwill" partner, rather than someone who is insisting on guarantees. He may be a friend of the family, or a local business. But you shouldn't count on goodwill. Deliver something concrete. Goodwill is a plus.

That's all there is to the sponsorship problem! It's not too bad, is it? You should approach them with practicality and optimism.

Have you a packaged product? You probably have the inner wrapping without realising it. The outer wrapping can easily be put in place. The sponsors are out there waiting for you!