Two sponsors, one exclusive category
Your commercial manager sells sponsorship across the association's events: the annual conference, the trade show, the awards dinner, regional seminars and the newsletter. A package is a bundle: a named session, logo on the lanyard, a banner in the event app, a table at the dinner, a newsletter feature. Each is something only one sponsor can have, or only a set number can.
A sponsor signs a package that includes category exclusivity for their product type at the conference. Two weeks later, a colleague sells a different package, with a speaking slot, to a direct competitor. Neither knew. The first sponsor finds out from the programme. The conversation that follows is uncomfortable, and the discount you offer to keep them costs more than the second deal was worth.
Why the spreadsheet cannot keep up
The spreadsheet tracks packages. What you actually sell are rights, and one right can appear in several packages. Once packages are customised for individual sponsors, which they always are, nobody can see which rights are committed.
- Rights are not listed individually, so the same lanyard or session appears in two packages.
- Exclusivity clauses are in contracts, not in the tracker.
- Holds for sponsors awaiting sign-off have no expiry.
- Several events are sold in parallel by several people.
- Member and non-member sponsor rates are applied by hand.
What overselling and underselling cost
Overselling costs you sponsor goodwill and discounts. Underselling is quieter: rights that went unsold because nobody could see they were free, or packages sold at list price that could have been built from unsold stock. Contract errors, such as benefits that were promised but not recorded, surface later as fulfilment disputes. And the commercial team spends selling time checking the spreadsheet with each other.
Think about the last few weeks before a conference. The programme is nearly final, the app is being built, and a sponsor that has been dithering finally says yes, but only if they can have a speaking slot and the drinks reception. Is the drinks reception still free? One colleague thinks it was offered to a sponsor in a proposal that went quiet. Another thinks it was sold as part of a bundle last month. Someone has to check contracts to find out, while the sponsor waits and may cool off. The same question gets asked about the lanyard, the charging stations and the dinner tables, every season.
Multi-year deals make it harder. A sponsor that signed for three years expects the same rights next year, and the spreadsheet for next year's event does not exist yet, so those commitments live in the contract and nowhere else.
An inventory of rights, not just packages
We build a sponsorship inventory that tracks every right individually and assembles packages from them.
- Each event's rights are listed as records: what it is, how many exist, what it includes, and any exclusivity it carries.
- Packages are templates made of rights, and a custom package is built by adding or removing rights, with the price calculated from your rate card and any member rate read from the member record.
- When a package is held or sold, its rights are reserved or committed, so they disappear from what other salespeople can offer.
- Exclusivity is recorded as a rule: if a sponsor holds category exclusivity, competing sponsors in that category are flagged before a sale.
- Holds expire on a date you set, with reminders to the salesperson.
- Signed deals raise the contract and invoice, and a benefit list passes to whoever fulfils each right.
| Right | Quantity | Status example |
|---|---|---|
| Headline conference sponsor | One | Sold, category exclusivity for its product type |
| Session sponsor | One per session | Some sold, some held, some free |
| Lanyard logo | One | Held until a set date |
| Dinner table | Several | Sold and available counts shown |
| Newsletter feature | One per issue | Issue by issue availability |
The commercial team, week to week
Salespeople build proposals from what is truly available, across every event, in one place. Exclusivity conflicts are caught before a proposal goes out, not after the programme is printed. The commercial manager sees sold, held and available value by event, and knows which rights to push in the last weeks before a deadline.
Signs your sponsorship sales need an inventory
- Sponsorship is tracked by package, not by right.
- The same right has been sold twice.
- Exclusivity clauses are only in contracts.
- Holds sit without an expiry date.
- Nobody can quickly list unsold rights across your events.