Mistakes Not to Make In Order To Get A Sponsorship.
Well my Racing season is over until the end of January, and besides preparing engines and parts for next year’s Race Season I am also looking to add some associate sponsors to the primary ones that have been sponsoring my Racing for the last 21 years. So I jotted down this information for my fellow OSS Race M8’s that is based on obtaining successful sponsorship with the hope that it will help you out.
Not every Company is right for a motorsports sponsorship. The two biggest factors are who does the company sell to and the size of their marketing budget. A knowledgeable racer finds Companies who markets products for and used by motorsports fans. The second consideration is the size of a Company’s marketing budget. You are just wasting your time even if they are the perfect company for motorsports, if their marketing budget cannot support your sponsorship. Dealing with budgets, you have realize you will probably not get more than about 5% of the total marketing budget for your sponsorship. Which means if you're looking for a $5,000 sponsorship, you need to be contacting Companies with a marketing budget of about $100,000.
When discussing sponsorship, a racer need to realize that their actions are what they have to sell to a sponsor. Actions range from the simple display of the sponsor name or logo on a Race Bike to extravagant hospitality functions. A racer who is serious about sponsorship should have at 25 different actions they can offer to a potential sponsor.
When approaching a Company for sponsorship, it is more than likely they will only be interested in 5 to 10 of the 25 actions you can offer as a race team. The secret is to find out which actions your potential sponsor is interested in, then list only those actions in your marketing proposal. When your prospect reads your proposal, you want a positive reaction from everything they read . If you don’t offer any actions that have value to a potential sponsor, then accept the fact you will never be a sponsored racer.
Many Racers in the eagerness to get a sponsor will accept an offer for less money. This is a big mistake. If you have fairly priced your sponsorship program and you are offered less money for sponsorship, there is no way you can complete all the actions you proposed for less money. The best way to handle this issue is to explain to your sponsor that you're happy to work within their budget, however you will need to adjust your actions offered in order to fit your program to their budget. Remember you are dealing with business professionals, and they don't expect to get anything for free.
Yet on the other hand do not be greedy, keep in mind marketing people are not stupid. Marketing departments see hundreds of proposals from racers and race teams, so they have a knowledge of what actions are worth. Price your sponsorship fairly and reasonably.
Racers will spend a lot of time, effort and money to create a professional sponsorship proposal and then they mail it to someone who has never asked to see it. Remember you are dealing with executives who usually work 40 + hours per week, and do not have time to read all the unsolicited mail that comes across their desks no matter how good it looks. In the real world another word for unsolicited mail is junk mail.
The way to convert your unsolicited proposal to a solicited proposal is to call someone in the marketing department of your potential sponsor, and engage them in a conversation about what you do and how it might fit in with their marketing needs. If the fit is right for sponsoring a Race Bike they will probably ask for more information or to see something in writing. Now when you send your proposal to this person, they'll be expecting it and. the chance of having your proposal read increases dramatically by using this technique.
In conclusion don’t give up to soon. Getting a sponsor is not easy if it was, everybody would have one. When you get a door slammed in your face, or a phone is hung up in your ear or you get another rejection letter, remember the next contact you make might be the one. By quitting you are creating the opportunity for, another racer who had the perseverance to keep on keeping on, to end up with your sponsor.