Sponsor-Seeking Racers, listen-up!

I completely understand. I'm a cost accountant right now and I'm having to go through with explaining why one plant can't just get free material from another plant even though it's sub-prime grade material. Someone has to take the expense, you can't just scrap the material and get free stuff without someone taking the expense.

 

Haven't you been paying attention, he doesn't want them at cost he wants them freeeeee....

 

If you were professional in dealing with said rider with several suits and he "hung up" because you weren't able to provide another.... then that rider doesn't need to be sponsored, IMHO. Don't care what his age is.... he needs to figure it out. Let parents assist, or ask others for help on how to seek & keep sponsorship.

You said you weren't gonna mention said racer's name, but after posting above, along with other comments (not quoted).... you might as well had. Bad move there, IMO.

For everyone saying... "racer's wearing it on his leathers, racer's on the box, mentions it when interviewed, etc., that's great... as racer should be doing, but racer should also be showing some professionalism & respect to business sponsoring racer... as the other way around also. Nowadays... racer's should be grateful for what sponsorship they can get.

 

I want the op to raise his right hand, place his left hand on the keyboard and swear or affirm to the almighty beeb whether or not he spoke with the racer himself in the "hang up" conversation he described.

 

I think his lame attempt to bash this young man on the worlds largest motorcycle forum has backfired. We'll not hear from him again.

 

Dits, it seems to me like he's saying he dealt with the father/manager/representation, not the racer himself. Though I do agree his first post conveyed otherwise.

 

That's my understanding of how it went down. I think it needed to be made clear. It seems like someone who didn't deserve it took an unwarranted hit.

 

I don't think it worked out quite the way he envisioned it.

 

The voice of reason



































hate to say this next part, but as usual

 

Ding Ding Ding!!! We have a winner here! I have colleauge that is a diving instructor and he received a free top level diving suit only to do exactly what you mentioned. Promote the suit to new and even experienced divers. Everyone wants the "Ben Spies", "Rossi"... to wear their stuff, but sometimes it's the little guys who really connect, spend time, build trust with people and have the opportunity to market/send potential buyers to the manufacture/retailer.

Hats off to Tood @ HEROIC as he gets this. Todd is out to the New Jersey Motorsports Park races and trackdays all the time. He is there helping out whomever he can. He even worked with one of the trackday promoters to outfit the coaches with his leathers (coming soon). I doubt the coaches are getting free leathers, but I'm sure they are getting a good deal on quality leathers and I know they will get A1 service from Todd. More and more vendors/retailers should evaluate this as an opportunity to increase visabilty, drive awareness, build a strong realtioship with your customer base, and drive sales of your serivces or products. However, please remember the 6Ps (Proper Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance) i.e. do your due diligence and be preared to deliver on what you preach. This goes for both the sponsor and the sponsored. As we leaned in this thread.

Shit, I went out and bought a brand new leftover 08 R6 after having the opporttunity to do a free demo ride twice with NESBA. I was on Suzuki foreve,r 5 GSXRs in 9 years. I know I'm not the only one who went out and bought a Yamaha, because I had the opportunity to ride one for free. Think outside the obx and you may get rewarded.

Just my .02

 

+1
I had the "top of the line" cortech gloves... they blow and fell apart on me (Peeegram uses them). I was at a few track days that todd was at... a bunch of instructors I know got those gloves for a good deal from todd... I talked to the instructors I know and trust. They said the gloves are awesome... I then went up and bought a pair of these gloves from todd. I never once thought to buy whatever the guy on TV has, although I am sure alot of people do.

 

Somebody stepped on their dick, and happened to be wearing golf spikes.

The damage is already done, but who knows, maybe N8 could use a suit.

 

Maybe you can set up a blog for him on your website or twitter so that he can have a tad bit more of an impact for your company. IDK just a suggestion so that the relationship isn't severed.

 

I have run various racing programs....from Formula Ford, to Formula 2000, to a 35 person bicycle racing team.

I studied up on giving the sponsor value for dollar. That is why I have been able to race since 1986 with much, if not all, the cost subsidized by sponsors.

I wish some of my cycling team would have understood that. We had a big time sponsor in the way of Enzymatic Therapy, a nutrition company, completely sponsor our mountain bike, road bike and cyclocross racing for three years (jerseys, entry fee, travel money, lodging....100% reimbursement). Each year, I tried getting the members of the team together for a nice team photo in front of the company's HQ sign, along with a nice scenic shot at the top of a cliff along a huge lake nearby. Seems like many of the racers were quick to grab up free shit, but when it came to taking 20-60 mins out of a single day once a year to stage a photo, they couldnt be bothered.

We (meaning I) did do huge promotions for our sponsor, they used team action photos in their marketing, I appeared with them at trade shows, we got on local news for trail maintenance and cycling rights issues, newsletters, human interest stories, press releases etc. But all they asked was to have a group photo to hang in their lobby and 90% of the team just couldnt be bothered. After we lost the sponsorship, I culled the team.

Funny, none of them ever got any further funding other than getting a free jersey and 20% off from a single bike shop.

I see a lot of entitlement issues in racing. People of talent, sometimes marginal talent early on, get things for free, be it sunglasses or clothes, and forget why they are given those things. They expect MORE. Gimme MORE. "Do you know who I am"??

Its funny. In talking to companies about their involvement as a sponsor, none of them asked "how good are you"? They were not interested if I finished first or DFL. They wanted to know how I would promote their product or service in the most favorable light to the most people.

Sad. I'm with the OP in this case. I can just imagine that all he wanted to do was help out a rider and the rider took that for granted.

So, here we are.

 

it is sad, sad you didnt hear him mention the companies name on the podium interviews, sad you didnt hear him talk about his suit and the company during the fan walk on the grid, hopefully you saw the name on the leathers. some people think that just because someone is young they are irresponsible or dont act they way you think they should, yes it is sad when people jump to conclusions

 

+1 Heroic will be next suit, if not for any other reason than the work and support I see Todd put in each race w/e. (I dig the suits too)

Same with Metric Devil Moto's, Mike Fallice. Always at the track and willing to answer a lot of questions and help with bike setup. This industry blows with customer service so when I find someone who actually enjoys helping people, likes their job, and does a good job...then I'm sticking with them. They're just hard to find.

 

Clearly this is beyond my stage, but I've been a part of Superbike Toy Store's affiliate program for a couple of years now.

I have had the pleasure of having a racer request sponsorship through my shop, and pretty much get the finger by their father when I explain how it wouldn't be possible to provide them the support they were looking for.

Wait for it... here it comes...

Patrick is a stand up guy. Seriously! What attracted me to his company is the fact that he is a regular guy, a former Marine, and someone who goes out of the way to keep customers satisfied (I could provide examples, but I'm sure that isn't necessary). I also am very thankful that he took a leap of faith in supporting this nobody who hasn't won any races and seems to be stuck as a terminal novice.

Frustration, especially due to a lack of gratitude, can be a bitch.

 

Bottom line is if the sponsor does not feel they are getting value for what they are putting in, they'll cease the sponsorship. Toy Store at some point felt that any more product/cash/service would not reap respective rewards. In my example, Enzymatic Therapy did get rewards, but they (correctly) got the vibe that the entire team but a handful were not appreciative of the effort to that point and decided to not reward that "take" mentality.

The unnamed racer in question may have mentioned the name, but further involvement by the sponsor was not perceived to be of value. Is that the fault of the sponsor or the sponsored rider?

 

After seeing Roberto's crash in the 09 Daytona 200 on tv, I sure want to buy those gloves. No further endorsement was necessary.