In sponsorship, ego is part of the game.
And I’m not just talking about the CEO’s ego, but our own.
It can give us extra motivation to close deals, but it can also push us into signing bad contracts.
Being able to pause and think clearly can make a huge difference in everyday work.
Years ago, I was negotiating the first regional sponsor for a sports property.
Seeing my name on the agreement for that pioneering sponsorship was incredibly motivating. It felt like a major career step.
It was an international brand that had tried several times to get in touch, wanting to close the deal and start activating the partnership.
The compliance feedback was positive: the company was the market leader, sponsored the world’s biggest sporting events, and the partnership made perfect sense.
After two months of negotiations, we reached an agreement. Done deal.
While drafting the contract, I was careful to include advance payment clauses and an easy ending clause to minimise risk.
We signed.
After that, only headaches.
The payment never arrived, I heard countless excuses, they offered to pay in cash, through multiple companies, and even to increase the amount to compensate for the delay.
They were eager to announce the partnership and start using the acquired rights.
I spent weeks trying to confirm the payment, looking for solutions and believing everything would eventually be resolved.
Eventually, I gave up, much later than I should have.
I learned that knowing when to walk away is also part of negotiation.
Not every contract that looks good deserves to be signed.
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