Building a diverse network of suppliers can pay big dividends

If you want to get acquainted with a whole new set of potential customers — and what sports organization doesn’t? — start by supporting their businesses.

The principle applies especially to creating relationships between sports properties and multicultural communities. For example, reliable estimates peg the number of Hispanic-owned businesses at more than 1.3 million. Many of the goods and services that you already purchase are offered by these companies.

Wendy Lewis from MLB understands this concept and has been the driving force in establishing the MLB Diverse Business Partners Program. The setup is quite impressive. All franchises, along with the commissioner’s office, are part of an established system to include women- and minority-owned businesses. To date, tens of millions of dollars have been spent with new partners, relationships have been forged on the local and national levels and traditionally disenfranchised companies are now getting a piece of the action.

Baseball’s Diverse Business Partners is a dynamic undertaking. Ads in prominent minority publications such as Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business invite participation. Vendors can contact clubs directly or initiate the process through mlb.com, which does a good job of informing potential vendors of the process, is fairly intuitive and identifies a real live executive at each franchise. Soon the Web site will identify specific opportunities on both the club and national levels.

How this plays out in generating incremental ticket sales and sponsorships is in development. Regardless, MLB has correctly placed its outreach ahead of its sales efforts. Now with some additional intelligent planning and programming, the league is poised to reap its just rewards.

The PGA of America saw the light years ago, according to Earnie Ellison, director of business and community relations. Now 23 percent of total expenditures are placed with minority businesses. Using an aggressive outreach, and with the help of organizations such as the Black Chamber of Commerce, the PGA seeks out minority- and women-owned businesses two years ahead of any major PGA event to ensure maximum inclusion. As impressive as it is now, this dedication to economic parity is surging; a number of new programs are in the design phase.

So what about you? Do you want a good-size chunk of the market that literally is the future of the United States? Where should you start? Is your head buzzing?

MLB’s Diverse Business Partner program includes minority- and women-owned businesses in baseball’s buying needs.

You would be hard-pressed to find anybody more knowledgeable about dynamic purchasing in sports than Malik Ali, executive director of the Florida Minority Supplier Development Council. When NASCAR recently committed to developing a minority purchasing component as part of its overall diversity strategy, Ali is the man it turned to for guidance. An extremely effective executive with an impressive career in blue-chip companies, Ali (malik@fmsdc.org) has built what may be the strongest council in America.

Each year Ali and the Florida council, an affiliate of the national organization, host a trade fair where sellers can be introduced to buyers and begin developing business relationships. Participating corporations have direct access to a real-world laboratory where they can ask questions and learn all about their potential new constituents.

A little introspection will tell you there’s no good reason for you to be standing on the sidelines, and there are plenty of potential rewards for getting involved. Remember Fannie Mae’s NBA program of the mid-1990s? Teams, Fannie Mae and companies related to home buying staged events where an aspiring buyer could learn the basics of pursuing the American Dream.

Consider hosting a minority purchasing event at your venue. Can you see it? Scores of minority-owned businesses and major companies sitting in your stands at a game. The local print shop guy, who is active in all sorts of Hispanic organizations, is invited to throw out the first pitch. The local Telemundo and Univision outlets are there to film it for that night’s news. Include your other sponsors. Enlighten them on the merits of dynamic purchasing.

The NMSDC refers minority-owned business to sources of capital and financing for contracts and purchase orders. Teaming up with the NMSDC can breathe life into or toss a life preserver to minority businesses. That’s community outreach with real-life impact. Such actions build up karmic equity that eventually will be rewarded at the box office.

Beyond the buying and selling part, it is a premier networking organization for minority businesses. And because they are merchants, it’s likely they know many of the other people you want to be your customers. Since politics and venue building seem to be inexorably linked, you should recognize that the individual state councils are multidimensional and nationally linked. They are vitally interested in what’s going around the state and are plugged into many different organizations that you should know about and consider joining. These organizations are composed of key influencers, and while they probably cannot carry the whole burden themselves, they can certainly be vocal allies and linked to your cause.

As a marketing executive, your job is to get acquainted with and develop an understanding of your existing and potential customers. Creating a dynamic purchasing program is one of the best ways to get the job done properly.

Tom Cordova (tacordova@earthlink.net) is principal of Orlando-based Cordova Marketing Group.