I recently got a potential break in finding a sponsor for the upcoming 2002 season. For those of you who already have sponsors, what can I honostly expect this company to provide me? What should I be asking for? I don't want to undershoot when they might be willing to provide more. If this company was my main sponsor, what should they expect of me, besides winning every race? Should they provide me tires for every race? I'm looking for same packages that you may have already seen from decent sponsors.
While trying to find sponsors for myself, I am offering to do sort of a photo shoot with the staff of whoever is sponsoring, Like me in full leathers and them standing in front of the bike with thier company name on it, ya know, so they can use it for some good PR. Just a thought......
Sponsorship comes in many forms. You have to provide some value to their business. You can be substituted by a highway roadsign. Come up with 3 levels of assistance, and determine what you can do with those 3 levels. (i.e. If they give you a set of stickers, you'll put them on the bike. If they give you 65 sets of tires, you'll do a safety presentation at the elementary school of the CEO's children.) Ask for anything, but be creative... that why they went this route. Anyone can take out an ad in the Yellow pages. If you're still not sure, add in something extra to hire me as your "creative coordinator".
Good point & good suggestions... approach potential sponsors with something different, something valuable, something no one else has put on the table. For a short while I worked for a parts distributor, 100s of riders approached them, and their only promise was "I'll get your name out to the public." Think about it, does just their name on your bike at a race series reach a substantial amount potential customers? [This message has been edited by Eric (edited 12-10-2001).]
Here's another idea, once you've gotten a bite and have told them what you can do for them. You might explain in a high-level way what your expected expenses are for the season and (if you have them) what some other teams spend, so you can show them how expensive racing compeditively is. No, I've never tried this approach so YMMV... ------------------ James Greeson Senior Wannabe, GS Posse
Super-clean bike that can be diplayed in their showroom between races or at least during promotions. Be active in their social events. This is good for in-industry or out-of-industry sponsors. T-shirts with theirs adn you rname on them. They are cheap about 15 each and makes the whole team look better.
And park it next to filty, rusted, wadded up, crashed bike displaying their competitor's logo... The wreck draws attention, and yours can say "Ride with the winner." (am I full of it or what??? Hey that's why it's FREE advice.)
