Optimum Sales – Sponsorships, Sponsoring, and Return on Investment
A few years ago, the market analysis team at Optimum Ventas, together with the Faculty of Computer Science at U.P.C. (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya), developed an analytical model that precisely measures the R.O.I (Return on Investment) produced by investments in sponsorship and patronage made by companies.
We prepared the product launch, and the truth is it was better received by the Marketing directors than we expected. At that moment we thought… “Eureka” we have developed a tool that the market was waiting for!
The truth is that, intellectually, all the marketing directors, when we carried out the subsequent sales actions, would clear their extremely busy schedules and meet with us to listen attentively and with interest.
Given this reception from our clients, our team of consultants entered a phase of euphoria since it had been a long time since we had such a high direct appointment ratio for visits.
We started making these visits and the euphoria began to fade as a successful launch was turning into a considerable commercial failure. What could happen? Was the performance of our sales consultants not adequate? Didn’t the marketing directors consider us valid interlocutors?
None of those reasons or similar ones were the reason our tool was not purchased; it was a reason that we at Optimum Sales did not consider due to its irrationality.
After several visits, we reached the main conclusion of why we were failing commercially.
Sponsorship investments are made based on emotional criteria or “passion”
of the chairman or the company owner and are not made under professional profitability criteria. They are irrational decisions where the Marketing Director dresses up the return if there is one, and if there isn’t, no one wants to hear about the inefficiency of the investment.
This conclusion was confirmed by the explicit explanation given to us by various executives of companies organizing sporting events. “We are not interested in sponsors knowing that with their investment in our event, they will not see a return.”
Therefore, if you need to develop commercial processes for raising sponsorship funds, forget about reason and appeal to the heart.
| David Galve | General Director www.linkedin.com/in/davidgalve |  |
