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THE SPONSORSHIP SALES DERBY

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The proliferation of partner events, boutique events, trade shows, road shows and other marketing opportunities in recent years has put a strain on exhibiting and sponsoring entities' marketing budgets, resulting in more competition than ever for sponsor and exhibitor dollars. 

 

The onus is on marketing and sales managers to demonstrate traceable ROI from event participation to justify their event marketing expenditures and the ability to come up with ever more creative means to attract leads is at a premium.

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If you need to back a horse with a track record of success to take you to the finish line, then you need look no farther than Real-Time Events! 

 

RTE has consistently met and exceeded sponsorship sales revenue goals for dozens of clients in its 15 years of existence.  We can create, sell and manage all aspects of your sales campaign, based on your needs, including sponsorship fulfillment, exhibit hall management, on-site white-glove sponsor management services and execution of on-site resale programs for your future events.

 

Let's take you through the sales campaign creation and execution process:

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Sales Prospectus Development

Real-Time Events can develop all aspects of its clients sponsorship sales offerings prior to launching their sales campaigns, including:

• Exhibit hall booth sponsorship packages

• A la carte marketing opportunities

  • RTE will typically research the prospectus offerings of the client's peer events, to arrive at an apples-to-apples benchmark comparison of the client's pricing and sponsorship offerings.

• Documentation: All necessary sponsorship application forms, with terms and conditions of participation, including legalese.

  • RTE does not normally design marketing materials in-house, but can recommend vendors who specialize in this art.

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Invitation List Development

For open-invitation trade shows, RTE can research and develop appropriate invitation lists for solicitation, to augment the entities the client wants targeted.

• We will conduct whatever research is necessary to determine the most appropriate entities to offer your sponsorship opportunities

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For invitation-only events, we will sell only to your pre-approved group of companies.

• Typically, the client will provide RTE with its invitees, usually its business partners, although occasionally the client will request RTE to conduct further research to augment its list.

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Universal Timeline

RTE will develop a universal sales campaign and exhibitor/sponsor logistics activities timeline, with key benchmarks and deadlines noted, to assure that all preparations are  in place when needed to assure the successful execution of your exhibit hall and sponsorships.  The timeline will include the tasks and deliverables that all other third party entities are responsible to manage.  

• RTE has its own internal toolkit to capture and track sponsor and exhibitor deliverables, or it can work with the client's internal tools and protocols.

• RTE can also bring in third party service providers it works with regularly to fill any gaps in services, based on the client's needs.

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Sponsorship Sales Campaign Management Services

Once the sales campaign collateral and invitation lists have been finalized Real-Time Events markets the sponsorship prospectus to qualified invitees as defined by the client by the following means:

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• Email Marketing: RTE will solicit all potential exhibitors via email messages on a regularly scheduled basis.

• Direct Solicitation: RTE will call into each invitee’s trade show contact as needed until their participation status is resolved.

• Telemarketing: If appropriate, RTE will employ telemarketers to reach out to the invitees.

• On-Site Event Marketing.  RTE staff can attend events where potential sponsors are exhibiting, to solicit them for your campaign.

• Coordination of Sales Campaign with Internal Resources: RTE recognizes that sales campaigns do not operate in a vacuum and that successful third-party involvement requires an ability to work effectively with internal personnel that are delegated varying responsibilities to help sell sponsorships. RTE understands the business partnerships “big picture” and will work seamlessly with the people who manage them. RTE will coordinate joint solicitation efforts and respect the breadth of global business initiatives that determine business partner participation levels at an event.

  • All of these sales solicitations initiatives will be reported on regularly, with deadlines set for X amount of sales "touches" per cycle.

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Sales Campaign Support Services

Ongoing coordination of effort, communication and accurate reporting is critical to a sales campaign's success. Real-Time Events excels in its ability to drive and track all the moving parts of a sales effort and to create a one-stop shopping resource reflecting real-time results. We achieve this by the following means:

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• Reports: Real-Time Events will provide customized reports reflecting your unique informational needs, including sales to date and the status of the sales pipeline. These reports are delivered as on-demand, real-time snapshots of your campaign's critical details.

• Financial: Real-Time Events can issue exhibitor invoices, collect fees due and report on sales transaction activity. Our financial services include credit card, wire transfers and numerous other means of electronic payment such as PayPal, Zelle and Venmo, as well as check handling.

• Sponsorship Deliverables: Real-Time Events can aid in the collection of sponsorship deliverables in conjunction with the designated exhibition management contacts if this role is not assigned to RTE (See the “Exhibition Logistics Management Services” tab for more details).

• On-Site Support: Real-Time Events can develop a sponsorship re-sign program and sell sponsorships on-site for your next event. Re-sign programs can be developed and presented to sponsors in the form of a firm commitment (contracts signed if full prospectus has been developed) or a soft commitment (Letters of Intent, pending roll-out of the next prospectus)

• Post-Event Evaluation: Real-Time Events' commitment to the success of your sales campaign does not end when the exhibit hall closes. A post-event report analyzing what went well and areas that could be improved in the sales campaign process will be delivered within 45 days, post-event, with time blocked for a one-on-one meeting to discuss the report results.

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LET RTE HELP MAKE YOUR SALES CAMPAIGN A SUCCESS!