October, 2010
Team Leader for FRC Team 000
receives check from
Acme Manufacturing
for $10K!
November, 2010
Team Leader registers for 2nd
Regional and orders new t-shirts.
GO ACME!!!
December 2010
Enthusiastic, young
mechanical engineer
from Acme,
Tim,
joins team.
January 2011
Tim introduces Stan,
Acme’s crackerjack machinist,
to the team.
March 2011
Team competes at home Regional.
VP attends with grandson. Grandson
leaves inspired…
to become a rock star!
April 2011
Team displays robot at
Acme’s Take Your Child
to Work Day.
May 2011
Team mails out thank you letter
with team picture plaque.
Fast Forward to November 2011
No word from Tim, Stan or Acme.
Team Leader, concerned,
calls Tim.
November 2011
Tim sheepishly explains why team
hasn’t heard from Acme.
December 2011
Team Leader contacts FIRST to
cancel 2nd event registration.
She is now in panic mode.
December 2011
Team Leader calls FIRST Senior
Mentor and Regional Director
looking for money!
Sound Familiar?
What did FRC Team 00 do right?
What could they have done
better?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Re-thinking your fundraising strategies
Consider several small sponsors
Your sponsors are actually your customers
Develop customer-relationship-marketing
strategies
Get the word out about team and FIRST
Cultivate team-sponsor partnerships
Deliver a strong customer experience
Create Believers
“Believers… have an emotional attachment to
your company. They feel part of your business and
think you are an important part of theirs….
Believers will be your advocates and
recommend you to everyone else. “
~ Dr. Ian Brooks, www.drianbrooks.blogspot.com, ©2012
Believers are plugged in to your team.
Things you can do
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Brainstorm with the team on how you
can develop this relationship.
Make sure team knows who sponsor is.
Want a donation? Ask for it. Each year.
Tell your stories!
Enable the sponsor to
share your stories!
Create photo ops.
Communicate.
• Develop your brand – and incorporate the
sponsor name wherever you can.
• Include sponsor information on website –
not just a logo.
• Encourage sponsor employee
participation on your team.
• Engage your sponsor in your
team activities.
• Participate in your Sponsor’s events.
• Demo (not just display) your robot in
cafeteria and at family events – and let
people drive it!
• Shadow workers – part of workforce
development.
• Consider renaming your
robot after the
President of the company.
• Say Thank You –
and let the robot deliver it!
Thank you to FRC teams 1912, 1123, 359, 1501
and Dr. Ian Brooks
Clip-art purchased from www.clipart.com
Kathie Kentfield
FIRST Senior Mentor
Director, NEMO
[email protected]
www.usfirst.org www.ctfirst.org www.firstnemo.org