Recently, I have been working with a number of sponsors who are dealing with a spate of sponsee bad behaviour – some really nasty games that the sponsees seem to think will get them more, but which are destined to foul a potentially good relationship.

There are so many of these games that I’ve had to divide them into three batches. The first I’m addressing is threats.

Threats to go to your competition

Every sponsor has heard this line: “If you don’t sponsor us, Company X will.”

That is a big, fat lie. They may have a proposal into that company, but if your competition were really ready to sign on the dotted line, the sponsee wouldn’t be talking to you.

If you choose to believe this and rush your decision-making process, or worse, commit to a sponsorship for defensive reasons (primarily so the competition doesn’t get it), you are doing your brand a huge disservice. Make the decision in your own time, for your own reasons. Even if you do believe the competition is interested, you need to play your own game and sponsor what’s right for you brand.

There is another circumstance where this happens, and that is during renewal, especially for larger properties who have put “last right of refusal” clauses in their contracts. What this means is that at the end of the contract, the property has the right to shop the opportunity around to anyone they like – including your competition – and you get the “last” opportunity to better the best offer. It’s a bidding war – pure greed and the antithesis of partnership-building.

This is a game you do not want to play. Fire an opening salvo by telling the sponsee not to include a “last right” clause, because you don’t play those games. Tell them either they are interested in a mutually beneficial partnership or they’re not, but you’re not interested in being involved with a bidding war.

If you end up sucked into a bidding war, be absolutely sure you know your bottom line – the absolute most you are willing to pay – for the opportunity presented. Get senior executive sign-off and don’t let personal or corporate ego take control. If you end up getting the deal after all of that, this is the one and only situation where you have my full endorsement to be the most painful bastards they’ve ever met for the duration of the contract.

Threats to go to your CEO

This is a specialty of non-profits when a renewal isn’t going their way. Don’t get me wrong, only a minority of non-profits pull this stunt, but most of the sponsees who do it are non-profits.

The basic idea is that the sponsor informs the partner that the sponsorship will not be renewed – for whatever reason – and the partner decides not to take “no” for an answer. They threaten to go straight to the CEO for an approval, and that’ll show you!

Here’s what you tell them: “Go ahead. The CEO is aware of the strategic reasons behind our decision not to renew, and we will now make her aware that you are trying to strong-arm us. So, good luck.”

Nine times out of ten, they will poop their pants. The tenth time, they will leave 16 messages for the CEO and never get an answer. The number of times this strategy will actually get a positive result for the sponsee is negligible.

Threats to go to the media

This is another tactic employed at renewal time by a very small fraction of non-profits, who threaten to position your company as the big, mean corporation cruelly pulling critically needed funding from their humble, deserving organisation. Blah blah blah.

Here’s the thing, when you spend marketing money, you need to get a strong marketing return. If you no longer get a marketing return – your needs have changed or whatever – you need to exit. And when an organisation seeks sponsorship and accepts that marketing investment, they sign onto the same deal. Threats to go to the media are the ultimate in lacking grace. Not only are they unlikely to net any kind of positive response from the media (coverage of these deals are rare), if they do, they have essentially told every other sponsor in the marketplace not to sponsor them because they don’t know how to say goodbye!

As with the threats to go to the CEO, transparency and strategy is your friend. Be absolutely open with your strategic reasons why you are exiting the deal. Pre-empt the threat by issuing a release. Even better, and particularly in the non-profit sector, outline a genuine, replacement strategy that is even better than the one you’re exiting.

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I just hate being threatened. It doesn’t make me want to partner with anybody and, in fact, pushes my I’d-like-to-see-you-try button. Whatever your gut reaction, please do take it from me that buckling to threats is a bad way to do business. It’s a much better option to call their bluff and deal with whatever happens, because it is highly unlikely to be as bad as they’re painting it.

Next up, The Games Sponsorship Seekers Play – Game #2: Nickel and Diming