Getting Your Cause Marketing Prospect Talking
Meeting with a cause marketing prospect isn’t like a poker match with opponents eyeing each other waiting for someone to make the wrong move. The more you get your prospects talking, the better the chance [more…]
Positioning Cause Marketing as Win-Win-Win
When communicating by phone or e-mail, it’s critical that you position cause marketing as win-win-win. A win for the company. A win for the customer. A win for the cause. Here are some suggestions for [more…]
Dealing with Cause Partner Gatekeepers
Gatekeepers, employees who stand between you and a cause partner decision maker, are an inescapable part of sales. Your goal is not to avoid or demonize gatekeepers, but to get them to join your team. [more…]
Staying Top of Mind to Your Cause Prospects
Cause marketing isn’t a complicated topic like tax law or rocket science, so it’s unlikely that the prospect will need to be reminded what is is and how it works. More likely, you’ll need to gently remind [more…]
Using a Blog to Stay Relevant to Cause Prospects
Calling and e-mailing a prospect isn’t the only way to stay top of mind to your cause marketing prospects. Another great way is a blog. A blog is an online journal that is regularly updated with the most [more…]
Keeping Communications Open after a Prospect Says No
During the course of a sales cycle with a cause marketing prospect, you’ll surely have many conversations, but there’s one word you never want to hear: No, as in, “No, we have no interest in working with [more…]
Preparing for the Initial Cause Prospect Meeting
Congratulations! You’ve landed a meeting! A first meeting with the prospect is a big step toward closing a cause marketing deal. Prospects are busy and generally don’t give their time to meet with just [more…]
Initial Cause Prospect Meeting: Attendees
If you have a choice about who attends the first meeting with a cause prospect, don't bring your boss, a board member, or your president, do everyone a favor and leave them back at the office — at least [more…]
Initial Cause Prospect Meeting: Bringing Your Questions
It’s crucial that you understand the cause marketing prospect’s needs and goals and ask smart questions at that first meeting. Here are 15 questions that always come up in meetings and lead to productive [more…]
Initial Cause Prospect Meeting: Support Levels
While sponsorship and cause marketing are both win-win, they’re different in several important ways. One is how sponsorship programs frequently have levels of support [more…]
Initial Cause Prospect Meeting: Better PowerPoints
With PowerPoint, people have gained the ability to share presentations on a screen or in a handout. But as was true with so many other advancements, something powerful has been given up in exchange. [more…]
Closing the Cause Marketing Deal: Thinkers
Closing the deal with cause marketing prospects involve one of three types, Thinkers are analyzed here. The mainstays of thinkers are facts, figures, and logical arguments. These folks pour over numbers [more…]
Point-of-Sale Program Success: Secret Shoppers
A great way to keep cashiers on their toes and asking shoppers to support your cause at the register is secret shoppers.You’ve probably heard of secret shoppers. These hired guns masquerade as everyday [more…]
Closing the Cause Marketing Deal: Deferrers
Of the types of cause marketing decision makers, deferrers are the most fascinating because they’re people of compliance, trust, and faith. Deferrers don’t linger over the pictures like a feeler or pour [more…]
Free Giveaways in Cause Marketing
If you can’t sell something, try giving it away. That’s what King Gillette, the inventor of the Gillette disposable razor concluded. Giving away his razors is how he grew demand for his new invention when [more…]
Cause Marketing in Real Life: Product (RED)
While the cause marketing effort Product (RED) is aptly named for the victims of HIV/AIDS with infected blood, it also covers the two reactions people generally have to the cause. Either they’re red-faced [more…]
Avoiding No from Cause Marketing Prospects
Are you getting cause marketing prospects closer to yes, or are you just giving them an excuse to say no at every turn? Here are just some of the ways causes sabotage themselves: [more…]
Cause Marketing Prospect Touchpoints
In working with a cause marketing prospective company, you always want to find ways to make it less transactional and more meaningful. That’s where touchpoints come in handy. [more…]
Selling as the Key to Your Cause Marketing Success
Accepting the fact that cause professions are all in sales is tough to stomach because they see themselves as “fundraisers” or in “development.” Call yourself what you want, but whenever you’re trying [more…]
Getting over the Cause Marketing Prospects that Got Away
A lot of prospects will say no. It’s a fact of selling anything, including cause marketing. There’s a big difference between a prospect that says, “No, not right now” and “No, I can never see us ever working [more…]
Winning Cause Marketing Proposal Preparation
Most prospects like to see some type of proposal when you pitch them on a cause marketing program. But consider yourself warned: Proposals are a crutch for seller and prospect alike. The seller uses them [more…]
Point-of-Sale Program Success: Pinups
Pinups are an important cause marketing tool, which is why they are a key focus of your point-of-sale program. They should be on your shortlist of programs for many reasons: [more…]
Point-of-Sale Program Success: Simple Messages
Cashiers asking customers to support your cause is critical to the success of your point-of-sale pinup program. If there is no ask, your chances of success drop sharply. [more…]
Point-of-Sale Program Success: The Power of One
"If I look at the mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."
— Mother Theresa
Human beings have a basic flight-or-fight response to imminent danger, which forces primitive minds to limit its [more…]
Point-of-Sale Program Success: Setting Limits
Limits are key to your success in cause marketing. If your cause marketing donors don’t feel their support will make a difference or make them feel good, they will “avert their eyes.” Seth Godin,the marketing [more…]
