By Carolyn Shomali, PAR 

Associations may not always see themselves as major players in the six-figure deal arena, but they should. Krystle Kopacz is the CEO of Revmade and says associations hold a powerful trifecta advantage: a targeted audience, respected expertise, and direct distribution that brands crave. Yet too often, these strengths go unrecognized – allowing big-money opportunities to slip away.

“The biggest frustration to me has always been, why don't we win bigger deals?,” asks Kopacz.

For her, the answer comes down to two core challenges. The first is cultural: many associations simply aren’t built to pursue ambitious, high-stakes revenue opportunities. When sales teams are incentivized to focus on booth sales and small sponsorships, that’s where they naturally spend their time instead of on the six-figure ideas that require more risk, creativity, and persistence.

The second challenge is structural: landing big deals requires cross-functional collaboration and a willingness to think beyond a prospectus.

“I like to call it the ‘owl problem’ – maybe they know where they want to end up, so they draw two circles but, they have no idea how to get from the two circles to the actual owl.”

Solving these challenges, Kopacz says, begins with one major shift: sales and marketing alignment.

But that alignment is rare. In a survey of 100 associations, the Professionals for Association Revenue (PAR) found that only 14 percent of business development teams have full-time marketing support. Another 30 percent say there is no marketing involvement at all—or they are tasked with doing it themselves.

Without that sales and marketing alignment, associations remain stuck in a cycle of basic programmatic sales rather than the strategic, high-value deals brands are looking for. Kopacz argues that breaking out of that cycle requires a sales and marketing system built on three essential ingredients: creating a concept that meets unmet needs, delivering a pitch that shows why the client must buy it, and a relentless follow-up.

“These are things agencies do extraordinarily well.”

Sales and marketing each play a vital role in achieving each of those three steps. It begins with the sales team, whose early conversations with potential partners serve as the foundation for everything that follows. Their job is to uncover needs, motivations, and limitations: What media does the client admire? What would they love to build if they weren’t constrained by resources or expertise? And most importantly – do they have the budget and authority to act?

Once marketing receives these insights, their creativity can craft a product specific to the client’s needs.

“Good ideas cannot happen without constraints,” Kopacz says. “The marketer's role is to take all those pieces of information and put it together into a concept, something that feels irresistible.”

A solid concept is foundational to a strong pitch, but it’s not the only element – research shows that 40–60 percent of opportunities still end in no-decisions. Paul George is a sales trainer for Corporate Visions and says those no decisions have less to do with your solution and more to do with a buyer’s natural tendency to cling to the status quo.

To break through, George says teams must uncover and articulate the buyer’s unconsidered needs – those undervalued, unmet, or unknown needs.

“You need to elevate your conversation to highlight unconsidered needs,” he says. “When you are able to articulate unconsidered needs, you are often able to line those up against strengths of your association that are more unknown or more differentiated versus their alternatives.”

Kopacz agrees saying it’s vital to incorporate that urgency into the pitch. And, if teams want to overcome the “salesly” turnoff to pitching an idea, there’s a simple way to do it: let the marketing team lead the call.

“I want my marketer who came up with this concept, who's done the deep audience research, who's unbelievably credible to be the ‘good cop’ in this scenario conveying ‘I'm the expert, I'm educating you on this, I'm telling you why I think it's important from the audience because I'm an audience person – I’m not trying to sell to you, this is just really important and I think somebody should do this.’”

This dynamic allows the sales representative to act as a thoughtful liaison – clarifying details, asking questions that move the conversation forward, and ensuring the client feels guided rather than pressured. Kopacz emphasizes that this is only the beginning. High-dollar deals are rarely won in a single call. They begin with trust and evolve through intentional refinement and iteration that can only come from the final component: consistent follow-up.

Associations frequently pull back here, worried they’ll appear pushy. But Kopacz argues that follow-up, done well, is a service — not a nuisance. Practical habits help: always schedule the next touchpoint before the current meeting ends; send follow-up emails that offer relevant market insights before asking for updates; and when helpful, bring marketing back into the conversation to clarify details or reinforce value.

The reality is that not every deal will land, but associations must begin to think about high-reward partnerships that support the mission.

“Don't feel bad if you lose – that's just part of this. I do think if you remember these fundamentals, you will start to win, and you will start to put your competitors in a more difficult position, because you're out pitching them, and you’re showcasing ideas that then the client is going to come to expect from your competitors as well – it’s just a way to elevate the game.”