So I’ve been reading a tonne of articles being written about esports sponsorship. I respect people who go out on their own, set up shop and really chase what they want. But there is something I don’t respect: Telling other people what to do when you haven’t done shit yourself. I took this out on Twitter recently on one person but hey, something good came out of it.
I realized that I might as well back up what I’m saying to people and give others an example of what I did to close an actual sponsorship. There’s a little bit of my opinions on what was happening behind the curtain but nothing that will hurt people. I spent 2 pretty awesome years of learning at Fnatic, something I can never stop being grateful for.
I don’t believe the sales process is a theoretical one, I believe in getting IT DONE. For me, B2B sales has always been less about the process and more about the human interactions and thoughtfulness. I make sure I’m mindful of where I can genuinely help someone else with what I have and work out a financial transaction that determines what that help is worth.
SO, here’s an actual write-up of an experience I had while heading up sales for Fnatic that led to closing BenQ (now Zowie). I’m going to be as open about this as possible with the people involved because this is a real-life account but keep in mind that l am bound by a level of confidentiality I owe to Fnatic and BenQ. I hustled hard for this deal because I really believed there was something there that would work for both parties. In retrospect, I know I could have done things better. I wrote those things down and executed on the next deal I closed which took 1/5th the time but with the same level of integrity as every other deal.
That deal was Kinguin and the one after was Monster Energy.
I’ll write this out in phases because this isn’t a 1,2,3 type of process. I’ll make this a part 1 because if this is worth you reading you’ll be interested in the end.
Phase 1- Understanding, Moral decisions and Research
I started looking at BenQ a full year before the deal was eventually closed. At the time Fnatic was working with a competitor, a company I hugely respect because of the progress they’ve made within esports. You see there’s a problem a lot of sales people will face when they want to work out a deal with a partner but are already working with a competitor now. It’s a moment of ‘what do I do here that’s fair to my partner but also fair to myself?’. I’ll tell you what I did. I made sure that on the execution side, Fnatic was still doing everything it could to over-deliver on what it had promised the partner because at that moment in time, no one is more important than the client who’s paying us for a service.
I knew that we were due to re-negotiate that deal a year down the line and before that time came, I wanted to be prepared. I wanted us to have options and not be desperate. Try to never put all your eggs in one basket because people can smell desperation. Negotiate from a position of equal footing; they can choose to work with you and you can choose to work with them if there’s a fair value exchange on the table. Be prepared to walk away from a deal that isn’t fair just as the client is willing to do. Equal Footing.
I didn’t talk about this with anyone at Fnatic. I just spent a LOT of time learning everything I could about the gaming monitor space. I wanted to truly educate myself first on what the technology was the many brands were advertising, what was actually valued by customers and what customers actually thought about the marketing they were being hit with. I figured that if I didn’t first truly know the products, brands and customers thoughts, I had no right to speak to someone about investing in us. I still believe that.
The above process took months. At the end of 30 days, I could recite the facebook comments, tweets and product review points that I’d read online the day before. I read everything I possibly could. You know what makes a tool like Twitter so awesome? Type in ‘BenQ Gaming Monitor’s’ into the search tool and you can literally see what real people have to say about it. I developed my own crude sentiment measure of what I was hearing about not just BenQ but every competitor brand out there.
When I knew enough to be worthy of speaking to someone at BenQ to get a conversation going, that’s what I did.
Phase 2- Gatekeepers, persistence, hustle
Like many people, I had no clue who to speak to at BenQ. I knew I wanted to talk to someone and ask them questions about things I’d learned but who the monkey did I need to speak to? I went to LinkedIn. I emailed someone from a local market in EU and wrote a brief on the value I was bringing to the table and then asked if that person was the decision maker I needed to speak to. If not, could he be so kind as to forward me to the person who was.
I ended up being forwarded to an esports agency based out of Germany. This was the brands gatekeeper and it was their responsibility to keep the trash out. Initially, everyone’s trash. I was given the run-around that everyone gets but did something different. I didn’t take no for an answer. Until I spoke to someone who could make the decisions on what I wanted to discuss, I didn’t give up. I was forwarded to different parties, some of who never got back to me for weeks. But hey, in sales you know this is bound to happen. You’re fighting for attention and if you don’t prove you’re worth someone’s attention, they shift it elsewhere.
So what did I do? I went to LinkedIn again and I messaged the President of the company, the Marketing Directors, the VP’s, literally anyone I could who would get me to who I needed to speak to. Surprisingly, all of these people got back to me. Pretty solid executive leadership at BenQ, they really do care about everyone who speaks to them. I was dropped back into the same email chain with the agency and nearly 6 months later, many many emails later, I was put in touch with the person I needed to be speaking to.
After the deal with BenQ had been closed and we’d left the offices in Netherlands, the person who I shook hands with at BenQ told Fnatic’s CEO at the time that ‘Saad literally emailed every single person at BenQ and wouldn’t leave us alone’. I’d like to think of that as a compliment given the outcome.
Phase 3- People and Honesty
I’ve always believed that people buy people. And also, people like to buy things not be sold things. Maxims I’ve lived by for a long, long time. I mean hey, that’s what makes me buy things. If I’m at the GAP buying the same khaki’s I buy literally every few months, if there’s someone there that takes the time to listen, talk and chat, I’ve ended up walking out with a shirt or two as well. And yes, I LOVE GAP Khaki’s. Cheap-ass, I know.
On the above premise, I really wanted to get to know the person I was dealing with. I studied what they’d been up to in the space, tried to get a better understanding of the risk factors associated with their position and more importantly spent some time sharing what I’d learnt over the last 6 months to hand over some value upfront. If this didn’t pan out, I thought, hey at least I genuinely helped someone with insights that may be useful for their business and their position. It’s the least I could give them for the time they were spending actually talking to me.
I believe in giving clients something of value in exchange for the time they are giving me. It’s literally the least I feel I can do. It’s super risky because if the insight I provide is garbage, my credibility goes down the drain. Fortunately, I try to make sure that anything I present to them is something I’ve spent time, energy and resources putting together and present it as such. I also have an unnerving confidence in my ability to provide valuable insight because prior to sending something over to someone I think ‘I’m client X and I just got this, what is useful from what is being sent me?’. I make sure that I answer that question in my head prior to sending something over so I don’t waste peoples time.
I respect people’s time. It’s the most valuable commodity we all have so I try to never waste people’s time. I like to keep client meetings brief and let the client say what’s on their mind (while I furiously take notes). I’ll then share my perspective always keeping in mind the time they’ve been so kind to give up to speak to me.
In BenQ’s case, I made it very clear that we were working with a competitor right now and that this was an exploratory phase for me with no expectations. I wanted to learn more about their business and be honest with them as to the reason we were talking. This might not go anywhere in a few months because we were so happy with our existing partner but at the least we’d be able to negotiate going into the next year knowing I’d done my utmost best to put us in a position of equal footing.
NEVER position two partners against each other. I’ve never done that and I never will. If you see or know people who do this, run a mile away from them. Those aren’t negotiators or sales people, they’re cowards.They artificially prop up what one client offers them in order to gain leverage over another. Never do that. Decide, based on all the information you have, what decision you want to make and be respectful and courteous enough to tell the client. Stick with your decision even if it might annoy someone; that way the worst thing you’ve done is be honest and direct. We’re all out to do what’s best in the interests of the business we work for but you can do that honestly and decently. I can live with that and so will they.
Phase 4- Weathering through the Uncertainty of Circumstance
The next few months I spent with my contact person at BenQ were in building up a relationship and proving credibility wherever possible without infringing on the obligations I had to our existing partner.
This was a dark time for Fnatic because we’d just lost 4/5 from our League of Legends team (Xpeke, Soaz and co.) and our CSGO Team (JW, Olof, Flusha, Krimz, Pronax, Coach DevilWalk) had just decided to drop out of Dreamhack after the now infamous Boost-gate.
It wasn’t the best time to be negotiating with sponsors for anyone but relationships go a long way. But hey, you can’t expect the waves to not get bumpy and crash over your head once in a while. I stayed the course no matter what.
I remember wishing the League players I knew the very best with their future. I remember the feeling I had while watching every single Dreamhack CSGO Game. I knew these boys, they were such incredibly warm, kind and decent human beings. To this day, the respect I have for that group of boys exceeds the admiration I have for any group of players in esports. They were winning events while also absorbing so much hate from the community around them. And then to go to an event and live through what they did. It couldn’t have happened to a group of kinder people and that’s why it hurt so much to watch.
From a commercial perspective, we had some of our existing sponsors coming to us suggesting that they would not renew their deals because of the cheating allegations against members of the CSGO team. This is really when a relationship is tested, when things become uncertain. I remember my first port of call was making sure that 110% no one in the team was doing anything suspicious. All hardware was checked and serious discussions were happening behind closed doors. I had to know for myself whether any of the allegations were true because I wouldn’t dream of lying to existing or prospective clients if they were. I had zero doubts in my mind because of how much I respected these guys but you’ve got to try to see things from another person’s perspective and present factual evidence of your claims when dealing with issues like this. Never let emotions get in the way.
After I was convinced nothing was going on I took a deep breathe and realized that you can never predict the circumstances around the time you are talking to clients and prospects. Just be absolutely sure with the facts and proceed with confidence and conviction.
Funnily enough, the sponsors who did stick with Fnatic would go on to witness a new Fnatic Golden Era of 2015; a mostly rookie League of Legends team that would go 18-0 in the coming year’s split, reach the semi-finals at worlds, while the CSGO Team would go on to become the most decorated team in the history of the game.
And people say sales is easy? Earnest, effective communication can’t be taught in a guide. You have to live it, make mistakes, learn and get back in the trenches.
To Be Continued…