Question

Topic: Strategy

Age Right Training, Llc Needs Corporate Sponsor

Posted by Anonymous on 6/4/2008 at 11:53 PM ET 2750 Points
I have started a company that sells fitness products to people over 50. I produced three dvds called "Comfort Zone, Feeling Younger Workout" to release tension in the neck and spine, the lower back, and improve posture. I am looking for a corporate sponsor and would appreciate any suggestions as to how to prepare for a meeting I have with a board member of a well-known corporation.
To continue reading this question and the solution, sign up ... it's free!
SUBSCRIBE
Or, SIGN IN

RESPONSES

  • Posted by Vigyan Verma on 6/5/2008 at 1:16 AM Member
    In general, you'd have to look from the corporate's perspective if you were to pitch your products. In what way could your product add value to their offering?
    For instance, if you were to make a presentation to a corporate dealing in medical intervention aids for arthritis and spondylitis, your product could add value to that corporate as an initiative that helps that corporate/brand communicate that it genuinely cares for people's health related to orthopaedics. In short, these DVDs could help that corporate /brand move from selling prescriptive products to one that is engaged in preventive healthcare. This could be your pitch.

    You'll have to scan your environment and look out for sponsors with a similar geographical presence and where synergistic possibilities exist, tailor-making each pitch based on each corporate's current offering.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 6/5/2008 at 8:36 AM Accepted
    Sponsor suggestions:
    Kaiser Permanente (https://www.kaiserpermanente.org/)
    Elephant Pharm (https://www.elephantpharmacy.com/)
    AARP (https://www.aarp.org/)

    Before the meeting, learn everything you can about the organization. Who have they sponsored (talk to those organizations!), who is their market, what similar products do they sponsor, what DID they sponsor (but no longer), and common issues of their demographic. Your presentation should be specific to THEM, not a general presentation. Show a mock-up of the cover with their logo, etc.
  • Posted by CarolBlaha on 6/5/2008 at 9:17 AM Member
    Go into the meeting looking for a partnership as this member could be the champion for you to the decision maker. Go in with a good marketing plan and hshow the benefits of his association. Explan how this partnership will compliment his company's brand and build/enhance their company (first vs yours).
  • Posted by Markitek on 6/5/2008 at 10:20 AM Accepted
    Any investor is as much interested in the quality of the people as in the quality of product or idea. He wants to know you're smart, practical, creative, strategic, aggressive . . . I'll let you finish the list.

    That delivers the topics of your presentation.

    Smart: well you are or you aren't and you just have to put yourself on the line here.

    Practical: deliver good quality spreadsheets modeling various scenarios so he can see models of how his money will deliver a return (e.g., revenue gain to sponsor if the increased visibility delivers 5% incremental sales, if it delivers 15%, etc.)

    Creative: let the sponsor know what new product ideas are in the works, what new marketing methods you're considering.

    Strategic: let the sponsor know you've done some situation modeling, and have plans of action for various scenarios--positive and negative.

    Aggressive: let the sponsor know specific aggressive actions you're going to take to market and sell

    Now the fun part is: do this is in under 7 minutes--no matter how much time is set aside for the meeting. Then you have the rest of the meeting to explore how the sponsor thinks.
  • Posted on 6/5/2008 at 3:31 PM Member
    "HOW DO I KNOW HOW TO VALUE MY DVDS?"

    -check out how much others pay for exercise dvds.

    I just did a quick search on the web and the range is anything between $12 - $69.

    There are many great articles on how to price your product. Google "How to price my product" - you'll get alot to read from valuable sources, such as Forbes, Kiplinger, etc.

    Since you have such a clear target market - do a focus group bit of reseach. Gather a group of fifteen to twenty 50+yr olds (from friends, associates, etc.) and tell/show them the benefits of the DVD. Have them fill out a form afterwards regarding what they would pay for it and why. Offer them a gift for showing up and do the show-n-tell+survey. (Perhaps your DVD).

    Good Luck, Deb
  • Posted on 6/5/2008 at 5:26 PM Accepted
    cindym136,

    It seems to me that you are going into a sales presentation rather than a marketing presentation and the difference is HUGE! As Markitek suggests that you need to have a good presentation but you need a better questioning and listening skills. What I mean by this is you need to ask questions that address five different areas in the following order Yourself, Company, Product, Price, Ask for Commitment. These areas are the five buying decisions and each and every one of us goes through these before buying anything.

    Before you move into your presentation (Company, Product, Price) you need to do through questions of the prospect as to what is he actually trying to accomplish. Ask questions about himself and where he stands in the company, other opportunities he may have that are competing with your product. Finally identify two to three questions that ask him about specific benefits that your product can deliver. All of these question need to open ended questions.

    The more information you have the better you will understand how you are going to position yourself when you are giving your presentation. In addition, people like to talk about themselves so asking all of these questions will actually make a good impression as to this sponsor liking you personally.

    Once you have this information you can then present your company and then the product. Be sure to relate your product feature back to the benefits that the sponsor said he was looking for.

    Anyway, I hope some sales technique that I have learned over the passed several years will help.

    Good Luck!
  • Posted by Chris Blackman on 6/7/2008 at 9:24 PM Accepted
    Cindy

    Begin with the end in mind. The most important thing to enable you to properly prepare for your meeting is a clear objective (or set of objectives) for what you want to achieve out of the meeting. In other words, what result or outcome at the meeting would leave you walking away saying "that went really well"?

    Understand the common ground. To get a result that meets your objective, there will have to be some kind concurrence between what you want, what you're offering, and what the corporation with which you are meeting wants.

    Which means after you've developed your own objectives or expectations, you've got to find out or guess what theirs might be.

    Research, research, research. Can you do some research beforehand - maybe even meet with some insiders off-site well beforehand to try to understand where the corporation may be heading with any thinking that might be synergistic with what you are prepared to offer them?

    Understand your own offer, and its value... BTW if you don't know what you are offering them, it is crucial to decide what you think you are prepared to offer them before the big meeting occurs. Decisions made on the spur of the moment, unless made in a lightning flash of blinding clarity, are often regretted afterwards.

    Use the resources here as fully as possible. If you post back here with some further thinking on objectives and the offer, and how that might fit with the corporation, I (and I'm sure most of my colleagues here) would be happy to give any further support I can.

    Hope that helps.

    ChrisB


  • Posted on 6/7/2008 at 11:32 PM Member
    If you are going down the corporate avenue with this product I would speak to HR managers in your area. HR managers of big firms are always looking for ways and intiatives to increase comfort of their employees.

    If you have the HR manager on side she/he can be your ally in presenting this.

    Call him/her ask her what initiatives are in place, what do these initiatives mean? What would she like to improve about them, what will this mean.


    Asking questions like this will give you the 'values' of the company and will give you a way, as Vigyan said earlier... in the perspective of the company.

    Another thing, if you're taking it from a company-wide perspective wouldn't it be a better bet to target over 40's with this as a pre-emptive measure against illness, RSI, etc.

    Good Luck

    Josephine
BACK TO TOP

Post a Comment

Related Discussions

Community Info

Top 25 Experts
(Strategy)