Getting Sponsors Membership, fundraisers and bar takings bring in much-needed income to meet the costly job of running a rugby club, but signing a sponsor could really help with the long term sustainability of your club. Attracting sponsors isn t easy and can take some time. Often you only need one or two sponsors to come on board but it takes a lot of perseverance and sometimes a thick skin as you ll need to have a lot more conversations with businesses to get the partners you need. You ll need to work out what you have to sell, what your best assets are. A local company will want to know what s in it for them and what they get in return for their money. Here s a simple step by step guide to getting the right partners on board. 1. What to Sell before you start make a list of what you have to sell or what your club is willing to sell e.g. Branding on your club website and e-mail communications. Team kit training and match day kit. Whole club sponsorship across all sections or just certain sections think about entrance banners, the club house or even the club minibus where their logo could be placed and seen. Club advertising and promotions where else could their logo be seen and how often. Your club database access to contact all of you members, players and parents to give out vouchers for their products and services. Naming rights to your club grounds and facilities. Access to coaches and facilities for their company events or O2 touch events. Invite to club events and match hospitality. 2. Work out how much it could cost you selling sponsorship benefit and rights can also cost the club some money in order to deliver them. Make a list of those things that will cost you money (ie people resource) and a list of things you can give that will take no more than a bit of time. Little or no cost items could be tickets to matches, free invites for staff to fundraiser evenings, promotion in local media, access to your club database. Items that cost advertising at the venue and promotional posters you produce on the sponsors behalf, food and drink for hospitality, free venue hire that will incur electricity and hating costs etc. 3. Agree your packages once you have outlined what you have to sell and what it might cost you, prepare some sponsorship packages that get the right balance between the money you ll get in and the money you ll have to pay to deliver them. Consider if you could offer different levels of package in return for more or less benefits e.g. a whole club sponsor may be worth more to you than just a section sponsor and should get more rights. Agree these within your club and then start to prepare your sales pitch. Set the fees for each package that you would be willing to sell at and a level that you should start out to generate interest. 4. Setting the Fee - You ll need to discuss how much sponsorship money you want to charge - the fee. This should be in proportion to what you have to sell, what you will use the money for and what the company can afford. 5. Preparing your sales pitch always keep the question what s in it for them in the front of your mind when writing a sales pitch. They will initially be far more interested in what you can do for them rather than what they can do for you. You ll need to pull off a fantastic performance to get yourself a dedicated supporter. Converting your pitch to a new partner will take practice and preparation. First keep it simple no slide presentation should take more than 15-20 minutes of their time and If you re writing a document proposal, keep it to two to four pages of A4, use clear headings and bullet-point lists. Preparing a presentation, or if you prefer a proposal, is key so that you can send to or present to potential sponsors once a meeting has been arranged. Make sure your presentation stands out with a simple and professional design. It will also make you look like a professional outfit and a club they could do business with. Start up front with the opportunity that your club could give them in return for their support e.g. access to hundreds of loyal members, players and parents or advertising at over 20 home games a season. Then give some background on your club, what teams do you have and at what ages, how many members, what s your manifesto/values and future plans, where do you play etc but keep it short and don t go into too much detail. Outline to them why you are looking for a sponsor and how their support could make a real difference and create goodwill. Next outline what rights you have to offer in return for an investment and finally. The fee you are looking for.
6. Making contact with the right partners - draw up a target list containing the companies you will ask for sponsorship. You should draw upon your members to help identify small to medium-sized local companies, or perhaps there are some in the local vicinity. Target List - Pull together your target list of local businesses that show the best potential to be a perfect partner for your club. Rule out any with ties to other clubs and that couldn t deliver against your expectations. Check out the opposition - make a list of which companies are sponsoring neighbouring clubs and those in your league. You should rule out these businesses, but it will give an idea of the types of business wanting to invest in local clubs. Ask around at your club - Parents or older players may work for a local business, which could be willing to sponsor your team. Or a parent may even own a business and could offer support. Try making a pitch for help at a parents evening. Consider businesses in your local area - be it a village, town or city. Do some homework and check their website to see if they already support a local charity or sports club, because companies are unlikely to sponsor more than one. Look at small and medium - size companies if you re wanting sponsorship for one team but if you re a multi-team club, you need to look at medium to large size businesses, which will have a bigger budget available. Big Businesses are rarely interested large scale multinationals such as supermarkets, chain stores etc. get lots of requests and rarely support activity that doesn t fit into a national programme. Budgets are often controlled centrally so they may not be the best first port of call Be sensible about who you are approaching - If you are a youth club or a club with youth teams, then you should not sell sponsorship of youth teams to a pub. This would be regarded as promoting drinking to underage children. Make the first impression count - and be professional. Write a brief, factual introductory letter or e-mail to the companies in your target list, telling them you re looking for a sponsor to partner your club/team and you d like to meet to explain more. 7. Making your pitch - Think who you will take with you to meet the company, for example the Chairperson or team manager. Ensure they are on message by giving them a team talk and sharing the presentation with them. Dress smart to make a good impression and ensure you have the right equipment if you are going to present. Find out who will be there from the company (and their positions) and how much time you have. Give the sponsor time to consider your proposal and agree at the meeting when you will contact them, for example a week later. You could Invite them along to a game/s to see how the club works and ensure you have friendly club members briefed who can share their enthusiasm. If you get a rejection, be sure to be polite and thank them for the opportunity. If you get a positive result, progress quickly with a follow-up meeting and begin discussing a contract. 8. Contract - Your sponsor will be a great signing for your club, but you ll need to get an agreement in writing to ensure you both deliver on your promises. A contract signed by two parties is legally-binding and ties your sponsor to paying an agreed fee by an agreed time, while you have to provide the assets offered. It should include; The names of both parties (the club and the sponsor) contact details and what fee and services have been agreed. Details should be listed for when the rights will be delivered. You should define a timeline for the contract, i.e. when does it start and finish? You need to include dates and details for when and how the fee should be paid. Be open to negotiating the contract to reflect both your club s and the company s needs. Before you sign the contract, you may adapt some of the assets granted depending on what the company requests and is prepared to pay for. Make sure everything you agree, even verbally, is contained within the contract. You should include a section outlining what happens if either the sponsor or the club breaks the terms of the agreement. You will need to discuss as a club if/when to take action should the sponsor fail to comply with the terms (i.e. doesn t pay a fee on time). Ensure there are two copies of the contract signed on behalf of the club by someone with the authority to do so. Giving value to your sponsors The best partnerships are based on shared objectives and benefits. When working with sponsors or suppliers think as much about what you can do for them as what they can do for you. Consider them as partners in your club and if you strike the right balance you ll build really strong relationships and keep their support for the long term. Once you have secured a sponsor or even before that why not think about the following to help make the most of the partnership. How are we going to deliver the rights we have sold them? What is the cost of delivering them? Who is going to deliver them? Who will communicate with them on a regular basis? What added value can we give them
to enhance the relationship? What else could we encourage them to do to help our club further? Adding value In your agreement with a sponsor or supplier you will have committed to a number of services and benefits in return for their funding or services. They ll need to feel that they are getting value from the partnership to stay on board. You can give added value in lots of ways and it doesn t have to cost anything other than time. Promote Them - Make a winning start with your sponsor by getting their name in the papers. Good publicity for the business both within and beyond the club will be well received. Work with your press officer to make the most of promoting the new partnership and make sure you acquire some images like those of players in a new kit or being presented with it if they are a shirt sponsor and share these with members and the local media. Keep track of all media coverage keeping a file of coverage from within and beyond the club to share with the sponsor after the announcement or at the end of the season. It shows them what benefit they get and, even if they don t resign, it also gives you some good examples of sponsor benefits to share with potential spoinsors. Invite them to club events make sure the sponsor feels like part of the club family by inviting them to special events. Include not only your key contact but their employees too as this could generate further goodwill and potentially bring new people into the club Make the most of your facilities if you have a club house that could be used for meetings why not offer it to partners when not in use for a much reduced hire charge or even free if there is no cost to the club. Keeping Them Good support helps the team on the pitch, so look after your biggest supporter your sponsor to ensure they keep coming back. Deliver on your promises If you ve taken the sponsor s money in exchange for advertising and putting their logo on your club materials or other benefits you must ensure you keep your promises. Write a checklist to ensure you get all of this in place as soon as possible after signing a contract. Look at it again in the pre-season as you may need to undertake some more printing or ensure other benefits are in place if it s a twoseason deal. Make the sponsor welcome by inviting them to matches and club events throughout the season. They may not be able to make it, but keep them involved. If your sponsor does come to a game, ask a club member to meet them and look after them while they re there. They could even hand out a player of the match trophy and make them a cup of tea! Keep them updated on club news and team progress if they can t make it to games. Put them on your newsletter list and give them a call once a month. Seek their help and advice, they may be passionate about the club and have some great ideas about improving it. They may even be willing to help organise fundraisers or events. Look at longer-term deals where possible not only will your club have more security in knowing what money is coming in, it will also save you a lot of worry and time. A two-season deal is perfect as you know how much money the club is guaranteed for financial planning and you have ample time to develop a positive relationship with your sponsor. Can they offer you more than just cash? - depending on what trade they are in, they may be able to help with some of the daily activities involved in running a busy club. They may have staff in their business that can help fill some of the skills that your volunteers may not have, such as accountancy, marketing and legal. Suppliers and Value in Kind You don t have to rely on just one sponsor to support your club or team, you could look at a series of smaller relationships focused on saving money rather than just being given it. Consider whether you have products or services that cost the club a lot of money. Could you swap some club assets in exchange for those products? This is called a contra-deal or Value in Kind deal and could bring muchneeded cost savings. Petrol for the club minibus, laundry costs, food and drink for post-match refreshments or fundraisers, electric and plumbing requirements, clubhouse painting costs could all be exchanged some advertising in the club or promotion to members and parents. Speak to the Secretary and Treasurer to make a list of your club s outgoings to see where savings could make a real difference Also think about what you have to offer in a contra-deal. You have to offer goods or a service that would benefit a company rather than just advertising space. Do you have a clubhouse or pitches that could be hired out in exchange for goods?
Could you offer a free place for a team in a tournament? Can you offer your qualified coaches to undertake school sports sessions or to support local authority events, in exchange for free access to facilities? Be creative and make the most of your key assets. Keeping people at your club through great customer service Your customers are your club members, volunteers, players and younger players parents, your spectators or fans. If you hire out your clubhouse or pitch, you ll have additional customers that you need to ensure feel part of the club and so are likely to return. You will want to communicate with them regularly and provide relevant information and ultimately a good experience. Good customer care is essential after all your customers are the reason you exist. Your club provides a service to the community and you ll want this service to be outstanding. Your club should offer a consistent experience across different teams and treat every player and parent with the same respect. You may want to agree a commitment to customer service with your players, parents and the local community to show your club s values and commitment. We have put together guidance that may help you when thinking about how you work with the different types of people that make up your club. New members - Consider how you welcome new members, what they see when they come into the club for the first time and the first impression they get from other members. Do they get a warm and friendly welcome from everyone they meet Do they come into clean, tidy and modern facilities Do you quickly return calls and emails from interested players and parents? Does someone meet new players, volunteers or parents at the first training session or match and explain what your club is about? Do you have the capacity for a new player coordinator or buddy system to help them through the first few sessions? These are just a few examples so why not hold a club meeting to gather other ideas and involve everyone to ensure a warm welcome so that people want to come back? Matchday experience - How welcoming is your club on a match day to both home players and fans and visiting teams and their supporters? Are your pitches well signposted? Why not try to have someone greet the opposing team and match officials. Can you offer refreshments and toilet facilities? Are the changing rooms as clean as they could be? Does your club show respect to everyone to ensure a good atmosphere at matches. Covering these items will see your club s reputation rise and you may be at the front of the queue when others are looking for an additional friendly or a touring match. Dealing with suggestions & complaints: - Feedback is important so make sure your members have a say on how your club is run and pass this to your committee. Getting fresh ideas from lots of different people could really help your club grow and be sustainable in the future Do you hold feedback sessions with players and volunteers? Could you have a youth committee or forum so young players can have their say? Do you have a known complaints procedure if anyone has an issue with how the club is run or if there is an incident? If you have a women s or girl s section are they represented at committee level or do they have a chance to air their views? Do you know who your customers are? One of the easiest ways to communicate with your players, members and fans, is to collect and store their data in a secure document, like a spreadsheet. This will help to keep the whole club updated with your membership numbers too the new RFU registration system at rfu.com could help you do this but a wider log of your membership would also be useful. You will need to ask their permission for you to contact them about club matters in the future and how they would like to be communicate, for example by e-mail, text, phone or letter. By law, you also need to ensure you keep to legal requirements for storing data and communicating with people. Please see the creating and storing data guide below for more details. Consider also how you will communicate with your database. There are several different ways of keeping your members up-to-date and also using your database to promote matches and events.
You could have a regular monthly e-newsletter or printed newsletter that is circulated to your database group such as a dedicated Under 10s or youth section e-newsletter. You should make a decision on how often you will communicate, who will be responsible for pulling the relevant information together and sending it out Ensure you stick to this timeline as irregular communication is not effective. You may find that monthly or quarterly updates will work best. The Benefits of Promoting your club The Benefits of Promoting your club It s time to get your club noticed in the local community. Whether you want to attract new players, volunteers, sponsorship or bring in the crowds to your fundraising events you need to reach your target audience. Promoting your club takes time and creative thinking so begin by determining where people in your area get their information on events and leisure and ask around your members and young players parents to see who might help you put the club on the map. There may well be people already at the club whose professional expertise you can call on. Why promote? There are many reasons to promote your club, among them you will want to: find new players bring in new volunteers and coaches attract new people to matches who may then become members generate interest from sponsors and new suppliers create community goodwill that may help future plans create relationships with key local stakeholders such as MPs and the Local Authority Where to Promote? Draw up a marketing and communications plan focused on four key questions 1. What is it you are trying to do what is the key objective for promoting your club? 2. Who are you trying to talk to e.g. new adult players, new volunteers etc 3. Why would they be interested what are the values, assets or things that your club does that s of interest i.e. what s in it for them? 4. Where does your target audience discover local information, could you promote your club there? e.g. using mumsnet you could reach mothers of potential mini and youth players. Once your plan is established you can start thinking about how to attract interest. We have made a few suggestions below but don t try to do everything. Focus on doing one or two things well and have a really focused plan of attack in place Club Website - those looking to get involved in your club may be looking for you online. Make sure your club website is up to date with easily found contacts for each section complete with names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Social networks why not utilise contacts club members have on social networks? Professional networks such as Linkedin, alongside facebook posts and tweets, may all alert people looking to get involved that you have opportunities at your club. They are free too! Club brochure - You could try pulling together a club brochure to sell your club and what it offers. It can be a great introduction for new players or parents, or could help open the door to partnerships or sponsors. It doesn t have to be a glossy publication depending on how big your club is and how much you have to say but consider where you will send it before committing to any print run and costs. Street banners clubs have used these to great effect, a banner across a street where lots of people gather with club details may get you noticed. Local businesses - If you re looking for adult players, your existing members may well have some great leads already. Are there any major employers in your area big factories, offices, or local services such as Royal Mail? Create a poster advertising an open training session, call the companies and ask if you can drop off the poster. Local pubs are also a good bet and ask at local authority leisure centres if they ll display the posters. Community noticeboards and local listings. If you re based in a village or small town, you may have local noticeboards or post office noticeboards where you can post events listings or player requests (there may be a small fee for post office or local shop listings). Most bigger towns and cities will have listings magazines or sections in local newspapers for what to do at the weekend so give them a call and see what s available. Club partnerships - Does your club have a mini, youth and adult section? Do you offer something for boys, girls, men and women and for those with a disability? Try forming a partnership with a local club that does offer what you are missing so that you can point interested people in the right direction. If you re a youth club, you can help your older players to continue playing any format of the game if you offer an exit route to an adult team.
Creating links with your local professional or NCA club? - Some clubs run community programmes, offer discounts to matches or even funding support to local community clubs and projects, so there may be opportunities to get some support, receive expert coaching or request a player visit to a club event. Community groups - Numerous community groups exist and you could provide an exit route for potential young players from beavers, cubs, scouts, brownies and guides. These groups are great to attract people to fundraisers too. Send a letter of introduction and keep them updated if you have a newsletter. audience will bring more people in to discover what you have to offer. Other sports events & classes many other sports groups struggle to find good facilities, so think about advertising or contacting local fitness groups, running clubs etc about club capacity that s not in use. You may be able to charge hire fees as well as attracting new people into the club as players and volunteers. Special club events & access - Your club will run loads of events from committee meetings to festivals, besides matches and training over the course of a season. Get these organised and get the result you want. They are also great ways to show the values of your clubs to new people coming in so think about club focused and open to the community events too. Parents evenings - There will be lots of information to get across to parents of your players, so organise your time wisely. Try to keep the event as short as possible. Provide further information in hand outs and direct parents to your website for more information. End-of-season Presidents XV or club awards - These evenings are fun for the entire membership to celebrate team achievements but are also a great time to tell people about your club and get them involved. Fundraisers & special events - bring in much-needed revenue and if you have your own clubhouse you can host big match breakfasts, racenights and summer barbeques, or even real money-makers like car boot sales. Events appealing to a wider