A Bee Story

I just had one of the best confirmations ever of the concept 'you get more bees with honey than vinegar'. Here's my story:

As you know, I'm knee-, no waist-deep, in sponsorship outreach. It's insane. So, this afternoon, I sent an email to a guy I know at an auto company (to remain unnamed) including a detailed message and brief festival overview. No one likes to read long-winded proposals as a first step, so this was my intro email - short, sweet, to the point. We can talk and go from there. That's the point.

Shortly thereafter, I received a brief but not unkind rejection email from the agency. BUT, here's the kicker - the agency guy sent me the entire message thread between him and the client. Doh!

In it, the agency guy mentioned all of these totally inaccurate assumptions about us being a logo festival, no activation, we didn't even include the tiers but rather just a range, etc. Oh no you di'n't!! Breathe...

So, I composed a really professional, positive, but direct email, which stated, for future reference, that we always customize with our partners integrated platforms that include programming ownership, retail bounce backs, filmmaker and consumer promotions, cause-related overlays, blah blah blah (I won't bore you with the details). I ended it with a super friendly sign off.

Not 15 minutes later did I receive a heartfelt apology and detailed explanation of why they're passing, which, for the record is fine. It's not the fact they're passing - puhleese! welcome to sponsorship - it's the way it was done.

Anyhow, so again I replied warmly and suggested he check out the video on our web site (which he clearly had not done) should he have any other clients with a more appropriate fit.

His final response:
Thanks so much for understanding and for sending the video... I'll check it out!!

And, that, my friends is how you get more bees with honey.

The end.

Liz.
2hpl
Cinedulce.com
NYLatinoFilm.com