What is Sponsorship Sales?

Sponsorship Sales is the acquisition of partners for your conference or event. Sponsorship sales is mostly conducted on the phone, and involves pitching to clients from your target market, and persuading them to pay to sponsor your event. 

What is the role of Sponsorship Sales?

The Sponsorship Sales team is responsible for selling high value Event Sponsorship packages to key solutions providers within a particular industry. You’ll spend your day talking to clients and pitching over the phone. Lots of companies also encourage face to face meetings with customers.

You’ll use highly consultative sales techniques to make your clients aware of the commercial advantages of sponsoring an event. Good negotiation and listening skills are essential, as is the ability to match sponsorship packages to the needs of a client, with the aim of closing business! 

Key tasks and responsibilities include:

Proactive selling on the phone and face to face – You will use a combination of both in order to pitch to new and existing clients

New Business Sales – You willbe a “hunter”, sourcing, approaching and selling to high level executives from leading companies

Consultative Selling – You will use your industry knowledge, and your knowledge of your clients’ businesses, to become a trusted advisor to new and existing event sponsors

Growing Key Sponsorship Accounts – You will be responsible for nurturing your clients, upselling them to increase spend, managing the relationship and ensuring repeat business!

Identifying Key Solution Providers – you will thoroughly research the industry and the market, so that you can be sure of targeting the right prospects for your event

Meeting Targets and KPIs – You will consistently strive to achieve and exceed financial targets, as well as daily call times, proposals sent etc.

Travelling Globally - To attend the conferences and events in order to network with your sponsors and maintain sponsor relationships onsite

How to get into Sponsorship Sales

You must have a very strong work ethic and be money motivated, furthermore you will be highly commercial and be able to understand new and diverse markets

It is crucial that you are highly confident on the phone, and that you possess the credibility and gravitas to speak to senior industry players daily. You must be target driven, ambitious and eager to learn and develop

Most important is the ability to employ a consultative sales approach, to enable clients to understand why they should sponsor an event. Needless to say, you must be highly tenacious and thick skinned! A marketing, sales or business-related degree would be an advantage but not essential.

Salaries and Progression for Sponsorship Sales

Starting salaries for a Sponsorship Sales Executive range from £22,000 - £25,000. After 2 years, you can expect to be earning £28,000 - £30,000, with Sponsorship Managers earning around £35,000 - £40,000, and Sponsorship Directors regularly hitting six figures (including commission).

How commission is calculated varies depending on the company and their events, however most graduate Sponsorship Sales Executives can expect to earn up to 60% of their basic salary again in commission.