7 STEPS TO CORPORATE PARTNERSHIP SUCCESS Part 1
It’s no secret that winning corporate partnerships is challenging, especially now with a recession on our doorstep. Failing to secure a partner after months of hard work is one thing. Securing the wrong partner – that can result in over-servicing, staff burn-out or even a damaged reputation.
The needs of your community will be immense, and you’ll be asked to Do More in a myriad of different ways. You’re going to need the support of the Business and Corporate sector. However, they are going to want to partner with progressive, impactful, purpose-driven organisations in mutually beneficial partnerships – there will be no room - or spare cash - for handouts in 2021.
No matter how clever, connected, or hard-working you are, there’s one monumental thing standing between you and success –your state of readiness.
We make a BIG thing of readiness, it’s why it’s in our name, because it’s the primary reason that non-profits fail at corporate partnerships. To win corporate partners and sponsors you must be able to present a well-crafted, compelling proposition to the right person, at the right company, at the right time, and at the right price point.
Perhaps you’re not getting results with your current strategy? Throwing more money at it isn’t the answer. Or perhaps you are simply overwhelmed and have no idea where to start (understandable given everything on your plate right now!). Fear not, we’ve got you! We’ve been building partnerships for corporate clients for 20-plus years and we know what they want. Our new online training program BePartnerReady.com® is a fusion of all our experience, tools and the proven techniques we’ve developed over the years. We’ve had amazing success already – check out our testimonials and success story videos.
Our program guides you through 7 critical steps as you implement them within your organisation and move closer to success.
Step 1 (SWOTA): This helps you to identify your organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats in relation to your ability to secure corporate partnerships. The ‘A’ is the practical Action list arising from it (too many SWOT’s just languish on the pile of paperwork, don’t they?).
Step 2 is Assets Inventory and Valuation: It’s foolish to approach a corporate prospect with an invitation to ‘partner’ if you don’t know what you have to offer! Partnership is a mutual exchange - not philanthropy! It’s also risky to do so without knowing the market value of your assets. We’ve partnered up with marketing, media and digital specialist Sally Phelps, to create what we believe to be the world’s first DIY Asset valuation model. World-leading sponsorship agency IEG don’t have one, and we haven’t come across one in Australia, so we created our own. We’ve called it the Ph Formula[1].
This may be the reason that most non-profits simply guess, when it comes to valuing their assets. Blind stabbing in the dark, guesswork and just ‘covering your costs’ has come to an end, people! As part of BePartnerReady.com® we teach you a simple but potent formula for valuing your Assets, so that you can package up partnership and sponsorship proposals again and again and know precisely what to ask for.
When this ‘ask’ is the market value of the asset, not the cost, it’s going to be significantly higher - that’s where the real benefit is – because you can make a profit! (Who’d have thought!)
Check out our blog next week (28 May) where we dip into Steps 3-5. In the meantime, download our Free BePartnerReady.com® process infographic below. And yes, when we say free, we mean it – there isn’t even data capture!
[1] We named it after Sally, but then discovered that in chemistry pH means the Power of Hydrogen. Sally’s Formula gives you Power in negotiating with corporates, so it has a deeper meaning.
Hailey Cavill-Jaspers
