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This is a guest article submitted by Tom Stipes, Founder, SponsorshipPRO+

Whenever I see the annual survey results surrounding the business of sponsorship fulfillment reports the same confusion surfaces time after time for me.

On one hand the consistent message from many sponsors is that the recap reports are the single most important element in the buyer-seller relationship, even more important than the recall and loyalty shown their own brand as a result of the buy.  This doesn’t even address the notion of quality or detail contained in the report – just that they are done, at all!

Then, in another section of the survey results, a large percentage of properties admit they aren’t producing them in any format – at all.  By large percentage I mean nearly half of those surveyed, a shocking number to me.  And I always wonder, “How do they expect to renew the deal if the buyer can’t review what they received?”

The simple answer may be that the best (in any industry) always earn that distinction based on their actions.  But today’s sponsorship buyer is begging for better service in this area.

I was recently at the National Sports Forum in Phoenix, where the overall message from some of the leaders in sports marketing, event and media management was that now is the time for properties to better focus on the basics – including the stewardship of the relationship with those who trust a portion of their precious marketing budgets with you.

One of the interesting people I met at the NSF was Troy Morrison, West Region Sponsorship Manager for US Bank, who shared this insight regarding the importance of delivering an effective post-event report:  “Every property should complete a post event evaluation; it’s in their best interest to do so.  They should be succinct, yet expressive.  What I mean by that is that we don’t need to see every single event photograph, or a copy of every ticket issued that features our logo.

We contractually obligate our partners to complete a post event evaluation.  The benefits that we purchase from our partners are listed in the contract and they must provide us with details on how each benefit is fulfilled.

A big, thick paper binder is the last thing we want to see.  While we appreciate the intention, it’s just not practical anymore.  There are too many elements now that you can’t include in a binder.  Save the paper and the time and put your energy into something more beneficial for the sponsor.”

So the takeaway for me was that the gap between the categories of “the best” and “want to get better” can be quickly tightened simply by listening to the sponsor and then ramping up their efforts to meet objectives of those paying the fees.  Seems straightforward to me!

Now let’s talk about the reality of actually changing the way you manage the sponsorship recap reports process.  The question some may be wondering:  “How do I do more, how do I show more given the constraints of time plus the lack of budget and personnel?”

While not meant as anything more than a few good ideas in a small space, following are some things that change-oriented property senior management can do:

1 – Compete.  Be open to new ways of doing business – your competitors are.  This may mean considering even drastically different strategies that will involve an initial cost of time and cash, but that will pay off with far better reporting.  At the end of the day, what’s more important than the stabilization of your relationship with the decision-maker at every single sponsor on your roster?  Think of it as “Relationship ROI”.

2 – Learn; one example is IEG’s excellent, recurring Webinar on this topic.  The handout materials are both thorough and filled with tangible ideas for elevating your organization’s plan.  Look at www.Sponsorship.com for their Webinar and other offerings.

3 – Search.  Look for tools, technical solutions or applications that can help your group enter the digital age.  While our SponsorshipPRO+ is the only software built just for this purpose, there are other products to help build the overall story as well.  We love the use of Windows Movie Maker, screen grab tools like HyperSnap and media compression tools like Encoder – all help you share more of the critical multimedia files available to tell a better story and compliment perfectly the use of SP+.

4 – Expand.  Work all year – not just in the weeks after the event.  By cobbling away the contractual benefits for the sponsor as they occur (think about the advance-of-event PR that happens organically – grab it and store it digitally so it’s there when you need it) you can reduce the post-event hysteria when deadlines are nearing.

5 – Share.  If you’re a multi-event organization, use mid-term reports.  If you follow step 4 you’ll be gaining on step 5 since the content will already be in place.  This strategy helps what we call ‘transition survival”.  Imagine that your main contact leaves a few months before your event or your season’s end.  Their replacement will have a better chance of elevating your event to the top-of-mind if they get a report more than just once a year.  Increase your value simply by increasing your visibility.

6 – Listen.  Talk to your sponsor to find out what they want:  It’s not a one-size-fits-all model.  Some will want more, some less in terms of detail.  But that you asked, that you engaged them in a specific call to get their opinion will help at renewal time.

7 – Accentuate.  Focus particularly on over-delivery.  They ask for more benefits in some cases and when you deliver, make sure you drive that point home in the recap.  And do it as creatively as possible.

8 – Enumerate.  Metrics can be scary to some but jump in and embrace the numbers.  Impressions still count with many sponsors.  Specific media metrics aren’t hard and are available.  Activation efforts can be more easily tracked with sales or in-market penetration than some items such as PR.  But with a little extra effort, mileage can be gained by attaching a value to as many benefits as you can.  IEG pioneered the concept of authentic valuation and offer terrific tools, but they have company now.  Look around and find out what it truly costs to support your property’s offer and its deliverable measurement of worth.

9 – Motivate.  Be upbeat with your staff – the rising tide lifts all boats and if you make them look better through employing a new strategy or tool then everyone wins.

10 – Modernize.  A $250 video cam and an intern can turn your property into a video-sharing property in no time.  The You Tube grainy video look is in and while not as polished as a professionally-produced spot, collecting and sharing lots of brand and fan interaction from your event can be invaluable in the post-event meetings.  The tools are there, they’re affordable and many sponsors are expecting to see more audio and video from you next time around.

Summary:  Post-event fulfillment reports are often discussed at conferences these days but often forgotten until the last moment of need.  And the days of producing heavy, environmentally-challenging, one-dimensional binders are largely over in terms of establishing value with your sponsors.  They simply want more from you now.

While we’ll be happy to share more as to why we believe so strongly in the affordable, digital advantage of www.SponsorshipPRO.com our basic hope is that no property gets shown the door simply because they did nothing or didn’t know what to do.  There’s much work to be done…let’s get started.

Tags: fulfillment, recaps, reporting, Sponsorships