I dont mean for this to be a total bash, but I am upset and suddenly things make sense!

I have bent over backwards to help countless people on many boards when they need last minute decals. I have the tools to do the job but I dont need the money it brings in. Its simply a tool I bought to help myself that helps other people occasionally.

So I spoke to two friend who race and we were talking decals and other things. Apparently that bullsh|t I am always told of "Ill tell people about youi, thanks soo much............"

Needless to say the promises never come to fuition. One of the buys knew someone I had helped and he referred the person to someone else, how nice...

We then started discussing sponsors. One guy owns a body shop and another owns a fencing company. We asked if they would sponsor a race car and the answer in both cases was no! Apparently before they started racing people would ask if the would sponsor and they tried it out.

The amateurs promise the world and dont deliver.. I can honestly see why its hard as hell to get a sponsor.

Maybe you have a sponsor you service well, but so far I dont see the delivery of the promises made 90% of the time.

Sorry for the rant!
~J

 

The fact that there are no spectators (potential customers) watching club races probably doesn't excite the sponsor.

 

Your describing users or leeches!

I try to do everything I can for my sponsors. They get mentioned in everything I say about my racing, and I am always looking for new ways to promote them because I could not do the racing and winning I do without them!

BTW, check my sig for me sponsors. Some of the best parts in the aftermarket world!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by prkiller &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I try to do everything I can for my sponsors. They get mentioned in everything I say...</TD></TR></TABLE>
I'll bet your wife just loves that on date night...

 

i also mention to people of my sponsors and tell them to buy them from my sponsors and say they heard it from me. Just ask Any of my sponsors. They help me and I try to help as much as I can.


Edo
Look at My sig.

 

I think in the ranks of amateur racing, you have to offer things like:

- quality photography with their logos on the car
- agree to make specified appearances with car in good condition for special events
- If you can do an HPDE (with approval) offer to take them in your car for a session (obviously take it easy enough you don't wreck )
- offer to have a 'sponsor table' with presentation materials at each event so you can speak to the quality of merchandise or service.

- This one's hard - but you have to be honest. Don't do it for the $$. Otherwise you're just another salesman using somebody for your own good.

These are just a few of the things I am either already doing or presenting.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Track rat &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The fact that there are no spectators (potential customers) watching club races probably doesn't excite the sponsor. </TD></TR></TABLE>
You are absolutely correct, except maybe for Hyperfest out here in Virginia.

It becomes the paramount responsibility of the owner or driver to make sure the car is seen, and very few amateur racers are good at this kind of marketing. They all have regular jobs to pay their regular bills, and do not really have time to showcase a car for the sake of the sponsor who has paid for part of the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The fact that there are no spectators (potential customers) watching club races probably doesn't excite the sponsor. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Too many of us approach the whole club racing sponsorship wrong. Like you alluded to, the "sale" of the sponsorship is not the amount of people who are watching races at the events. Sure, it is a small part of it, but shouldn't be the club racers focus. Take some time and think about what you might be able to do for them!

As an example, one of my sponsors (Canton Auto Exchange who sells very nice, high quality used cars less than 4 years old). I noticed they didn't have a broucheur in their lobby. I made one for them and had a bunch printed to show my appreciation. This was a few years ago now and they still have them displayed in the show room.

Get the employees involved in your racing. The body shop's employees thought it was so cool to work on a racecar (even though it was just an old rusty '87 Prelude). One of the guys used it to play with mixing a bunch of pearl colors (which back fired when we needed to try to match the paint later).

Invite the employees to come to the races and treat them well. You don't have to spend much money either! You can do something as simple as having a folding table, some snacks, and of course a case of beer.

Heck, when speaking with my sponsors (looking for more!) the biggest reason they became involved is because they thought it was cool to help someone trying to race and liked to tell their friends they are a part of a race team.

Be creative with your efforts!! I can't give away all my secrets here.

 

Hello Edik,

Are you no longer sponsored by G2IC?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by DB2-R81 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hello Edik,

Are you no longer sponsored by G2IC?</TD></TR></TABLE>

http://edomoto.com/sponsors.html

 

The few "sponsors" that I have gotten over the years mainly give me free service and/or discounted product. In return, I give them credit in all forums I belong to but what probably works the best for me; in giving something back to the sponsors, is taking the racecar to several shows/meets through out the year. I tend to reach people that normally I wouldn't have.

 

From a sponsor's point of view, I think you have to look at percentages, and ratios. For example, how much of a return are you expecting on what amount of exposure? Of course its unreasonable to expect every contact / potential customer to return as a sale, but if you're not seeing the amount of sales as you would like, I think maybe it has to do with just not getting enough exposure.

For example, its like throwing spaghetti at a hole in the wall and expecting to close up teh hole with spaghetti. You'll have a better chance of getting spaghetti to stick and to close up the hole if you throw more spaghetti. Of course spaghetti is expensive and you don't really know how much it will take to get it to stick and close the hole, but thats part of the risk. Its reasonable to assume that you will need to spend quite a bit of spaghetti to get what you want though.

I have no doubt that our drivers have been doing more than their share of promoting our products - in fact, I know for sure that they have been really spreading the word via word of mouth and references (in addition to performing very well ), but on the other hand we can't rely solely on our drivers for exposure. Because as a driver, they can only do so much to promote our product and our name. They never promised us anything beyond what they have done, because its not reasonable to ask anything more.

Of course, if you sponsor a person who's car is in pieces 9 races out of 10, doesn't go to meets and does not enter the car in shows or anything, and finishes dead last in the one race they gets into, you've got to start looking elsewhere of course.

edit: ^ in addition to good points brought up by others in this thread. We've been lucky enough to find very pro-active drivers, who know that they will grow if we grow, and vice versa.

 

To add, from a consumer's point of view, there are ways for you to help (or not help, for that matter) a sponsor/supplier of yours. If you are genuinely happy with their support and products, I think you will be more inclined to support them and tote them as a sponsor of your car.

On the other hand, if you are not satisfied with the service or product or support you're getting, then you might not be motivated to push them as a company to others, or suggest their services/product to others. In this situation, neither party benefits IMO and the relationship should be severed by one (if not both) of the parties involved before it leads to bitterness and squabbling.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">So I spoke to two friend who race and we were talking decals and other things. Apparently that bullsh|t I am always told of "Ill tell people about youi, thanks soo much............"

Needless to say the promises never come to fuition. One of the buys knew someone I had helped and he referred the person to someone else, how nice... </TD></TR></TABLE>

If I understood this correctly, they paid you for these services?

 

I would also do anything to help promote a sponsor who has helped me. I guess some people like myself, and some others in this thread, feel very inclined to express their gratitude to their sponsor. Also, with things like honda-tech, and myspace a person doesn't need to go very far out of their way to promote.

I think as long as the driver is motivated, honest, and happy with what they got from the sponsor, then the sponsor should be the one who benefits from the investment.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by steverife &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

If I understood this correctly, they paid you for these services?</TD></TR></TABLE>

We agreed they would pay cost AND they would supply repeat business and referrals.- The usual crap a con artist says to close a deal.

Its not exactly easy to go back to them and say "hey wheres my business? I want the $50 I should have charged you on top of it"
Needless to say, if they asked for anything again the price would be reflective of my anger.

 

We share similar sentiments as PIC Performance. It's easy to pour money into an amateur racer for promotion but many companies will never see a dime of fruition because the only people that really care about amateur racing are amateur racers. That's not to say it's a bad thing by any means; it's been keeping amateur racing pure for years. The best way to support amateur racing from a business stand-point that we've found is to attend races and help out our fellow racers, offer discounts to them, etc. As for straight up sponsoring a driver, few shops can make the numbers seem like a good idea. However, many, many shops wish they could.

-Jesse, one member of a staff full of current and former amateur racers.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Want2race &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">We agreed they would pay cost AND they would supply repeat business and referrals.- The usual crap a con artist says to close a deal.

Its not exactly easy to go back to them and say "hey wheres my business? I want the $50 I should have charged you on top of it"
Needless to say, if they asked for anything again the price would be reflective of my anger.</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm curious- what EXACTLY did you expect in return?