A sponsorship deal rarely happens overnight.
Depending on the deal, the process from start to finish can take anywhere up to 18 months!
Here is a snapshot of what goes down.
1. Athlete manager draws up a list of brands to target.
2. Manager cold calls the key person or decision maker from each brand. Attempts to establish a relationship and screen for sponsorship opportunities in relation to current budget and direction of the brand. This typically produces one of three responses.
A) Yes, please send your proposal and we’ll have a look at it.
B) Budget or other sponsorships prevent us doing business right now, but we are happy to consider down the track / next financial year.
C) No, we are not interested now or in the future.
The cold call saves a manager wasting valuable time on a proposal that never had a fighting chance. Alternatively it can strengthen a manager’s follow up email or proposal. Either way it produces a result.
3. Next step is the proposal and just like a job resume, this is painstakingly targeted to the specific brand. Research and due diligence is critical as you only get one shot at the proposal.
4. The waiting game. Once a proposal is submitted, an athlete manager must have patience. The bigger the brand, the longer the decision. Financial budgets, KPI reviews, office politics, legal’s, you name it, anything can drag out the process.
5. Negotiation. Assuming they are interested, this stage includes face to face meetings, phone calls and back and forth emails. This can take weeks or even months. At some stage a contract will be drawn up, either by the brand or the athlete manager. Now legals are involved and that means more to-ing and fro-ing!!!
6. Exchange contracts. It aint over until both parties sign the contracts – never assume a deal is done until this happens.
Steps 1, 2, 3 can be achieved in good time. Whereas steps 4, 5, 6 can take a lot longer.
I hope this gives athletes a good understanding of the steps involved in the sponsorship process and why some deals take forever.
manager who blows the most smoke up their butt. That manager knows they won’t achieve anywhere near what they promise but they know a signature means some income for themselves and this is usually enough to justify them lying their asses off.
Australian sporting heroes, cricketer 
