Most golf tournament planning committees create their sponsorship offer or marketing materials then look for sponsors to make presentations too.

This is the exact opposite of what you should be doing.

Sponsors have different needs and groups of interests. They deserve different types of solicitations.

Golf tournament sponsors who would be entertaining executives at your event might be interested in using your golf tournament day as an environment to relax, meet-and- greet and network. Therefore, you will need to craft a different offer for the decision-makers to respond to your offer.

Remember:
Then there are golf tournament sponsors who might just want to contribute to maintain their name brand recognition in the community. They don't attend the golf tournament event, but they are community minded and want to make certain their message is seen at special events.

Any type of golf tournament sponsor is very important, as are your golf tournament volunteers and participants. They are your events' most valuable asset.

Listed below are 7 easy "Magic Tricks" to add OOOMPH!!! to your ability as a golf tournament planning director to attract your needed golf tournament sponsors.

1. When producing your golf tournament sponsorship offer make certain it is easily understood instantly and doesn't present any confusion. Beware of graphic artists who are irresistibly tempted by creativity for creativity's sake, to justify his or her existence.


2. Your presentation must include a good value to the potential golf tournament sponsor and again be easily understood.


3. Important: include in your golf tournament sponsor offer a premium over and above what they would receive on the day of the golf tournament event. Example -- maybe a weekend getaway for two at a local upscale hotel or a private golf lesson with the golf professional at the local country club. Do something special and you'll be surprised how much this type of offer is appreciated.


4. Explain the logical reason your potential golf tournament sponsor should participate and then connect an emotional motivation why they should participate.


5. Install an immediate call to action tool in your offer, i.e. an expiration date, limited availability for their quick response. You must create urgency.


6. Provide a strong, clear direct call to action. Make sure the golf tournament sponsor knows exactly what you want them to do. Fax their golf tournament sponsorship form, contact you by phone? Email? Whatever gives them a directive to follow.


7. Consider emphasizing a guarantee in case of inclement weather that their investment will be returned or used at a later date.

Hope these seven tips give you some insight on how to attract more sponsors for your next event.

Testimonial marketing is best explained by sharing an example:

Joe Girard of Moralis Chevrolet in Detroit was considered one of the best car salesman of all-time. Back in the late 70's and 80's Joe graduated into a teaching professional employed by dealerships all across the country to instruct sales associates how to become more productive.

Joe was a true professional in every sense of the word. He's was knowledgeable, a competent a skilled listener and he's was able to assert pressure without being offensive and over came a stuttering habit to acquire many great sales skills.

But Joe's most impressive attribute was his mastery of testimonial marketing.

When a qualified prospect went in to meet Joe Girard for a closing session they would have found a typical car sales men's cubicle, a little desk, a couple of chairs, a rather dusty tile floor and a bunch of folders on his desk just what you would expect.

The walls in Joe's office were covered from top to bottom with instant snap shots of all the people who purchased cars from him over the years. Each photo showed a happy customer standing next to their new cars.

As you can imagine the hundreds of photos on these walls you couldn't help but notice two things... first, someone you probably might know if you were living in Detroit at the time of Joe's reign and second, the photos were dated and several customers appear more than once because they were repeat customers.

These type of photos were worth thousands of words.

What did they reveal?

Inevitable reactions are...all these people who bought cars could not have been wrong. These people would not have been repeat clients coming back if they were not being treated right.

You've probably experienced similar sales presentations by an insurance person or an investment counselor.

In the golf tournament planning industry testimonial letters and comments from satisfied sponsors and players also can be your most valuable selling tools when you attempt to take your event to another level.

You need to carefully consider how you can collect testimonial type evidence from participants detailing their satisfaction and then use that evidence to attract and motivate other sponsors and UPGRADE existing sponsors.

There are two specific applications of this strategy I suggest you think about:

1. Geographic target marketing


2. Sponsorship category target marketing

Let's use a car dealership as an example of both types of these marketing strategies as we attempt to earn more sponsor and MORE revenues from existing sponsors.

Prepare a mailing or a presentation to ALL of the other car dealerships in your area showing and telling you have XYZ dealership as a satisfied tournament sponsor. The mailing might include pictures at last years event, comments from the sponsors and a list benefits from the various marketing exposures they are receiving from being a sponsor at your event.

That would be an example of a target sponsorship marketing by customer type.

One car dealership sponsor will lead to another and another. Soon you will be able to create separate competitions for sponsorship revenues among the car dealers.

Now let's say your car dealer sponsor has several loyal vendors in the community. They might include a car detail shop, a muffler shop, a service station which supplies fuel for all their vehicles. They are ideal candidates to produce a "show and tell" about your satisfied sponsors participation in your golf event.

 Remember...

Your prospective sponsors can best judge your golf event and can be motivated to judge the event and sponsorship benefits by the sponsors you already have. Golf tournament planners hardly ever use this third party influence strategy as effectively as they can and should.

I urge you to constantly look for ways that you can use the influence of your present sponsors to attract new sponsors and create competition for placement and sponsorship revenue. When you create competition for participation among sponsors within the same business category you automatically gain LEVERAGE for your golf event which allows you to ask for more dollars from present sponsors as well as setting higher fees for new sponsors.