Tiffany A. Washington, Founder & CEO, Transformation7
While corporations spend billions of dollars on partnerships and sponsorships each year, few minority owned businesses are able to secure the same multi-figure contracts readily available to their white-male counterparts. As this reality continues to hinder equitable opportunities for minority entrepreneurs on the rise, Tiffany A. Washington is on a mission to transform this disparity. The former school principal turned televised business and education expert who helps women entrepreneurs create credible brands and land six-figure corporate contracts to accelerate the trajectory of their business.
When schools shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Washington turned her attention to creating an online course to aid women entrepreneurs at scale. To do so, she leaned into her area of expertise. As a revered mentor, her digital course, Pitches, Proposals, and Partnerships is teaching women how to ask for what they want. By transferring the skills Washington learned as an educator, she now focuses on providing consultations and curriculums that encourage emerging entrepreneurs to overcome the mental barriers that keep them from securing money-making partnerships. “The number one limiting belief that I hear from women is, ‘who am I to ask for that kind of money?’ and I say the question should be reflected back to them,” said Washington on why women should get clear on the value they possess.
Her advice is for women to think confidently about how they position themselves for high-figure partnerships. “When you're being audacious, you're thinking about where your value lies and how that value can be packaged in a way that will be meaningful to the people with whom you want to work,” said Washington. “Those mindset shifts include deciding that you are worthy of opening your arms to ask and receive in the first place.”
Preparing budding entrepreneurs to receive six-figure deals starts by ensuring that their messaging is right, and their ask is clear. Here, Washington provides an approachable framework that helps individuals and entities amplify their brand, pitch like a pro, and secure lucrative partnerships.
Fine-Tune Your Core Message
When considering potential partnerships to pitch to, people often think of the monetary value first, without any prior analysis of what they offer, or how best to articulate their brand identity. To rectify this, Washington shares four key questions entrepreneurs should consider:
- What are my core values?
- Am I able to actively talk about these values with someone who might be willing to invest in my company?
- How do these core values align with my potential partner?
- What are my valuable assets, and how can I package them in a way that is going to enhance my potential client experience?
Knowing your brand also requires continued effort to clearly communicate and demonstrate your market value and core messages across your various platforms. Washington attributes lack of visibility as the number one self-imposed barrier that women need to overcome to be seen, heard, and get paid. “An article I've read is that 80% of consultants eliminate themselves from opportunities due to the lack of visible expertise. Thus, 90% of professional service buyers review consultants' experience online before making their decision. And so what this means is that women who are not visible are counting themselves out before they actually enter the game.”
Craft a Compelling Pitch
Entrepreneurs should take a formulaic approach when preparing pitch emails for potential partners. Washington believes that you should start out with a value proposition. “When you mention your brand value alignment, you start to talk to that potential partner in terms of how your brand and their brand actually fit together. This helps to paint a picture of how you could possibly work together.” In a succinct email, clearly articulate the reason for getting in contact with the potential partner, and end by asking for the best time to continue the conversation to discuss what was briefly presented at length. Washington advises, “When you end with a question, people tend to remember the last thing you said. That's why I end with a question because it gives them an opportunity to go ahead and answer the request.”
The best way to stand out amongst the countless pitches companies receive is to do your research. Washington recommends researching the organization for information that most may overlook, and then finding creative ways to implement this newly gained insight into your pitch. As for her preferred topics to explore, she shared, “Maybe it might be a press release that came out about something great they are doing in the community, or it may be a recent award that they have won. I try to include those elements inside of my pitch.”
Your Proposal Is a Rigorous, But Necessary Process
Getting a response from a well-crafted pitch is only the first step. The next, and crucial step is landing the deal with a thoughtful and captivating proposal. Washington emphasizes the importance of setting up a discovery call with the organization. By doing so, you are now better equipped to leverage insights from the conversation to draft a winning proposal. These insights become the hook that will reel partners in as you have now demonstrated your ability to offer a plan and solutions that respond directly to their most pressing needs. It’s also critical that your plan be as detailed as possible by outlining what the client can expect, and what the manifestation of the solution will be. Washington suggests presenting your price by highlighting each line item and segment of the plan.
Lastly, customization is key for illustrating the alignment between your offering and the client’s requirements. Washington cautions entrepreneurs from taking a one size fits all approach when drafting proposals, “Each access point to new business is going to require something different from you because each individual company is just that; they are individual decision-makers who have specific needs.” Creating a proposal that seals the deal is a rigorous but necessary process. “A company really wants to know your value and how you can add to the bottom line of their company,” advised Washington. “And the bottom line is not necessarily always about money but can be something that they're seeking in order for them to feel good about hiring you on.”
Learn the Art of Negotiation
With a compelling pitch sent and a well-crafted proposal accepted, the next step is negotiation. When you have made it to this stage, it is less about one person having an advantage over the other, but rather coming to a mutual agreement that leaves both parties satisfied. According to Washington, the best way to learn this skill is to study those who do it best, “One of the first things I would start with is watching and learning, by adopting a mentor who will bring you to the negotiating table with them so that you can learn first-hand. This just means that you're actively watching and understanding how deals are landed.” Next, it’s time to practice what you have learned. This journey will require a bit of trial and error. “Practice negotiating by having the courage to make mistakes,” advised Washington. “On this entrepreneurial journey and the journey of building out your business or your consultancy, you are going to make mistakes. And my best advice is to embrace those mistakes. I love the art of negotiating because it teaches you what not to say or what to more clearly express the next time.”
Washington also warned against what she calls, counting other people’s pockets. “That's one of the biggest lessons that I've learned. I used to count other people's pockets and make guesstimates about what I thought they could afford to pay,” Washington shared. “That's when I undervalued and undercut myself. I didn't ask for enough. So, decide that your pricing plan is going to be based on the conversations you had with them inside of your discovery call, and then add on the value that you provide and see what happens from there. Start with what you want and NOT what you think you can get.”
Deliver On Your Promise
Washington’s framework for securing recurring corporate partnerships follows her Three A System - alignment, agreement, and allegiance. First, you must get into alignment with the brands with whom you would like to partner. This is followed by the agreement stage that includes negotiating the terms of the partnership and signing an official contract with specified deliverables. The final step, allegiance, is delivering on your promise and the result that you said the client can expect by the end of the project. “When you under-promise and overdeliver, I like to think of that as a surprise and delight, things that they weren't actually expecting that you throw in as a part of their experience with you,” shared Washington. If you want future business with the client, she also advises including a postmortem plan of action to continue the relationship. “When hosting sponsored or partner-driven events, I always provide a postmortem plan of action, which means sharing specific statistics, such as the types of people in attendance (the demographics), and what needs to happen next in order for said partner to maintain a relationship with my core audience. These nuances are critical when distinguishing between corporate partnerships and sponsored opportunities.”
Once women learn to successfully navigate the messy parts of early-stage entrepreneurship and start securing contracts, the possibilities will be endless for what they can achieve personally and professionally. “Women in my program find that they can take days off without guilt. They can invest thousands at a time into their retirement plan. They can fund their marketing campaign, or they can use seed money to start a new passion project. They've gone on to hire more staff so they can focus on being the talent of their individual organizations. And they've also been able to create lasting partnerships, versus one-off gigs.”
