During my 10+ years involved in motorsports sponsorship, I have seen racers commit just about every mistake known to man, and I've committed a few myself. While the title for this article could easily be "100 Sponsorship Mistakes to Avoid", I've decided to narrow it down to the "Top 6" sponsorship mistakes that I see committed most often. See how many of these mistakes you, or someone you know, have committed in the past:

1) Offer the wrong actions or NO actions to a potential sponsor. When discussing sponsorship, racers need to realize that "actions" are what they and their race team have to "sell" to a sponsor. An action ranges from the simple display of the sponsor name/logo on the race car all the way to extravagant hospitality functions, and everything in-between. Any racer who is SERIOUS about sponsorship should have an "inventory" of at least 100 different actions they can offer to a potential sponsor. When approaching a company for sponsorship, it is likely they will only be interested in 5-10 of the 100+ actions you offer as a race team. Your job is to discover which actions your potential sponsor is interested in... then list those actions, and ONLY those actions in your marketing proposal. When your prospect reads your proposal, you want a positive reaction from EVERYTHING they read... that's why it's critical to offer the RIGHT actions to a potential sponsor! I am always surprised at how many racers will actually approach a sponsor and offer NO actions! In this day of fierce competition for sponsorship dollars, don't come to the gunfight without a gun. If you are not willing to offer any actions that have VALUE to a sponsor, you need to accept the fact you will NEVER be a sponsored racer.

2) Target the Wrong Companies for Sponsorship. Not every company is a good "fit" for motorsports sponsorship. There are many deciding factors, but two biggies are demographics (who does the company sell to?) and the size of their marketing budget. If you approach a company for sponsorship whose target demographic is overweight, middle-aged women, you probably will NOT get a sponsorship from them, regardless of whom you "know" or how good your presentation is. Why? Because motorsports generally DOES NOT REACH that demographic... period. Reread the previous sentence until it makes sense to you. The smart racer finds companies whose demographics closely mirror the motorsports demographic, and pursues them for sponsorship. The second consideration is budget size. It makes no sense to pursue a company, even if they are the "perfect company for motorsports", if their marketing budget cannot support your sponsorship. Perhaps that company would be better as an associate sponsor than a major sponsor. When dealing with budgets, realize you will probably not get more than about 5% of the total marketing budget for your sponsorship. So if you're looking for a $50,000 sponsorship, you need to be targeting companies with a marketing budget of about $1,000,000 (because 5% of 1 million is 50k).

3) Over-Value Your Race Team and/or Actions. Although most racers seem to under-value their actions, I have seen some proposals where the opposite is true. The rule of thumb is: Don't be greedy... marketing people are NOT dumb! A racer I know approached a multi-billion dollar, worldwide company for sponsorship... and tried to get $20k for merely placing their logo on the side of his Sportsman race car. Needless to say, he left the meeting empty-handed. Most marketing departments see PLENTY of proposals from racers and race teams, so they have a good feel for what various actions are worth. Price your sponsorship fairly and reasonably... don't try to buy your vacation home in Rio on the back of your sponsor!

4) Set Your Racing Budget Too Low. In the excitement and eagerness to sign a sponsor, many racers will accept an offer for less money... without adjusting their actions! This is a big mistake. If you have priced your program fairly, and you are offered less money for sponsorship, there is NO WAY you can complete all the actions you proposed for less money. The proper way to handle this situation is to explain to your sponsor that you're happy to work within their budget, however you will need to adjust the actions offered in order to "fit" your program to their budget. You are dealing with business professionals, and they don't expect to get anything for "free".

5) Mail UNSOLICITED Materials and Proposals. Many racers will spend a lot of time, money and effort to create a professional proposal... and then they mail it to someone who NEVER ASKED TO SEE IT! This has never made sense to me. You are dealing with busy executives who probably work 60 hours per week, and do not have time to read all the UNSOLICITED mail that crosses their desks... no matter how professional it looks. There is another word for unsolicited mail: Junk Mail! What do YOU do with all the unsolicited mail you get at home or work? Sadly, your $50 unsolicited proposal will meet with the same fate when it hits the desk of a busy executive. The best way to convert your unsolicited proposal to a solicited proposal is to call someone in the marketing department of your prospective sponsor, and engage them in a conversation about what you do and how it might "fit in" with their marketing needs. At some point, if you've done your homework and targeted a company that is a good "fit" for motorsports, they'll ask for more information or to "see something in writing". Now when you send your proposal to this person, they'll be expecting it... maybe even looking for it. The chance of having your proposal read increases dramatically by using this technique.

6) Give Up Too Soon! Although I'm a racer myself, I sometimes don't understand my fellow racers at all. I know racers who will lose in the first round, or fail to qualify for a race, for weeks and months on end... yet they always come back to try again. If only most racers would show that same dogged determination when it comes to sponsorship! Unfortunately, many racers will get one or two rejections or get a few doors slammed in their face, and they'll say, "I can't find a sponsor... it's not meant to be." Where is that never-say-die attitude that will drive the very same racer to come back, week after week, until he becomes a successful driver? Finding a sponsor is not easy work... if it was, everybody would have a sponsor! But it's NOT impossible either. When you get a door slammed in your face, or another rejection letter, or a phone hung up in your ear, remember this: The NEXT contact you make might be THE ONE. And if you quit now, another racer who had enough perseverance to make ONE MORE CALL, will end up with your sponsor. Think about it!

Thanks to:

www.racingarticles.com
www.sponsorship-101.com

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