How in the heck do I get sponsors for my local basketball training business?

Hey what's up coach welcome back to another blog.

Today I'm going to be answering a question from a coach who asked me about getting sponsorship for his basketball training business. 

When you're considering getting a sponsor for your business I want you to think about whether you actually really need one. 

I've worked with many sports coaches over the years who think that by having a sponsorship deal, it will make them more legitimate with parents. 

The truth is, I never had a sponsor and I am a huge believer that you don't necessarily have to have one in order to succeed in business. 

But, if you are considering getting a sponsor to help you with the running costs of your business I'm going to breakdown this process for you in three very simple steps. 

Step#1 - GO TO YOUR LOCAL AAU ORGANIZATION OR HIGH SCHOOL

The first thing I want you to do is visit your local AAU organization or local high school in your area and have a look at the different scoreboards at the high school stadiums and look to see what they are already advertising. I want you to see who's already spending money sponsoring schools and sponsoring teams because it's very likely that those people are already spending money and it's also very likely that they are already used to spending money on sports programs. 

Step#2 - BUILD A BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP

The second thing I want you to consider is building a local partnership with other coaches in your area. 

Some coaches find this hard to do because most coaches will go into partnerships with a mindset of competition rather than of value.

When you offer value to another coaches program they will much more likely want to work with you. Here's an example, if you build a partnership with a local physical therapist clinic this will work well because every time one of your clients gets injured, you can recommend them to the physical therapist.

In this example, the physical therapist will be willing to sponsor your program as you're helping them to get business and you may also be able to advertise or promote your program at their clinics. 

This is almost like a business relationship. 

Step#3 - MEMBERSHIP LEVEL SYSTEM   

The last thing I want you to think about is what membership levels are you going to have and this all comes down to being really organized and how you present this to people in your area. 

The easiest way to do this is to have three different levels of membership for your sponsors.

Level 1: This would be your highest level and you could only open this up for one or two businesses. 

Level 2: This would be your middle membership and this level could be opened up for maybe two or three businesses. 

Level 3: This level will become your most affordable sponsorship level and you could open this type of sponsorship level up to multiple businesses.  

If you decide to do shirts for your athletes or if you're doing apparel then your sponsors could help you with a lot of the costs towards this especially if you structure your sponsorship into different levels like I showed you. 

I can help you more on this by scheduling a 15-minute call with me HERE . 

It's very easy to get sponsors if you have something of value to offer them which ultimately for them it's going to be more money and it's going to be helping them get new customers by helping them get more exposure. 

Getting sponsors is actually and if you need more help I want you to schedule a call with me here. 

If you're a coach just starting out I want you to have a look at my START UP PROGRAM. This resource will really help you if you are looking to start and grow your own sports training business. 

I'll see you later, 

- Ben