Posts
85
Joined
11/11/2019
Location
Pensacola, FL, USA
Edited Date/Time
12/20/2021 7:39pm
I'll try to keep it concise, but any advice is helpful!
23 year old guy planning on racing the areas and regionals in the B class, went to Loretta's on 50s and 85s. This is my first season on my own after graduating college, and the financial gravity of the sport sure is setting in. It isn't deterring me from chasing the dream so here we are.
When I was growing up there was sponsorhouse.com (not sure if it still exists), and I'm not even sure what all it entailed saying I was sponsored by Scott for goggles and M2R for helmets (maybe they gave my parents discount on gear or something? or it didn't entail anything and I was just riding with their sticker on my graphics. some clarity on that would be nice).
I guess my main questions are what is the best approach to getting support from more mainstream companies in the sport? And on the opposite side, what are some successful approaches for reaching out to local shops or businesses for their support? I'm not going to be the next Chase Sexton, so marketing my skill won't bring the Brinks truck to my door, but just looking for something to make this spring/summer a little
easier on the wallet. It's a very open question, so take it how you want and any advice is greatly appreciated!
23 year old guy planning on racing the areas and regionals in the B class, went to Loretta's on 50s and 85s. This is my first season on my own after graduating college, and the financial gravity of the sport sure is setting in. It isn't deterring me from chasing the dream so here we are.
When I was growing up there was sponsorhouse.com (not sure if it still exists), and I'm not even sure what all it entailed saying I was sponsored by Scott for goggles and M2R for helmets (maybe they gave my parents discount on gear or something? or it didn't entail anything and I was just riding with their sticker on my graphics. some clarity on that would be nice).
I guess my main questions are what is the best approach to getting support from more mainstream companies in the sport? And on the opposite side, what are some successful approaches for reaching out to local shops or businesses for their support? I'm not going to be the next Chase Sexton, so marketing my skill won't bring the Brinks truck to my door, but just looking for something to make this spring/summer a little
easier on the wallet. It's a very open question, so take it how you want and any advice is greatly appreciated!
Get on Hookit as well, it's a good place to start. You're probably not going to get a great deal from anyone and some aren't even worth using as you end up paying more for the products after shipping. However, it opens the door to build a relationship with some companies. My kid got a deal through Hookit with a company that was a small discount that really didn't account for much. Well that year at Loretta's we met some people from the company. My kid spent all of 5-10 minutes talking to them and left there with a much better support deal with that company. We now go direct to them instead of through Hookit.
As far as local shops, go talk to them. Bring them a resume and tell them what your goals are and what races you'll be attending. It also helps if you've bought bikes from them and not just a random person to them.
Don't expect to get enough support to make any real difference in the cost of racing though. There are kids winning and pulling podiums at Loretta's year after year and have very little support.
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DM me your instagram, if you are fun to follow you will at least have one more follower..
I am absolutely all for people being themselves but if you try to go the social media route, look through your pages/posts and remove anything that is negative or in bad taste.
If you meet with business owners in person, make your self presentable and learn how to like speak, like clear, and um like, make it easy to like, get your point across.. Remove "um" and "uh", and "like" from your everyday vocabulary.
Also, I'll add, have a clear goal to explain to these people of what you want to do, how you are going to do it, and how you can help them help you.
Put yourself in the other peoples shoes, "why would I want to give this guy a discount or even money for riding his dirtbike? What is the benefit to me other than being nice?"
Last thing, have fun with it, get out and meet people and make friends and acquaintances while you can (acquaintances can pay off later especially with job opportunities). You are trying to do what a lot of us dream of doing, or wish we would have tried. So enjoy it!
Sponsorship is cut from every businesses advertising budget so how are you helping them advertising to repay them?
What Is Rider Support?
https://fasstco.com/blogs/fasstcompanynews/rider-support-series-blog-1-…
Resume Building
https://fasstco.com/blogs/fasstcompanynews/rider-support-series-blog-2-…
Making The Most Of Rider Support
https://fasstco.com/blogs/fasstcompanynews/rider-support-series-blog-3-…
Developing Relationships
https://fasstco.com/blogs/fasstcompanynews/rider-support-series-4-devel…
In fact, I'll sponsor you myself - I'll give you $30k per year. All I need from you is to drive $100ks worth of business to my door. If you can send me an e-mail containing details of exactly how you can drive that business to my door, Im all ears.
Switch your thinking- its not what the COMPANY can do for YOU- its about what YOU can do for their company.
Contact them and rtell them how you can boost their business, if its viable, they'll write you a cheque.
The best advice I can give is to be as professional as possible in appearance and presentation. One of my pet peeves is to see an individual have misspelled words, using the wrong your and you're, etc. Put a little effort into proofreading a resume and/or cover letter. Or even a post on IG. If you aren't a good writer (you're a college grad so you're ahead of the curve there), have someone else proofread it. Ask for their most updated logo. Ask how to spell their names so you know you got it right. If someone comes in to see me in person, the least we write a check for is $100. If someone mails me a request that they mailed to everyone in town, they're lucky to get $25, if anything.
I gave $350 to a racer one time racing in Texas (I'm in Wyoming). Didn't help my business at all. Didn't change her life, but it damn sure filled her tank a few times. It all adds up.
I once sponsored a local race. The "promoter" printed posters and handed them out around town with my name and the WRONG business. Zero effort. One of my clients paid out of his own pocket to reprint them correctly and go round them all up.
Pit Row
HEY BRO,
IM LOOKIN 4 SPONSOR SO HMU IF YOU WANT FREE ADVERTIZING I DO MY BEST TO SHOW UR PRODUCTS AN GIVE IT MY ALL.
THANX,
AYDRYAN
Instead of approaching this as what can they do for me tell the company what you can do for them. As in promoting their product, social media, running their logo's on your bike, trailer and wearing their swag. Once you have a sponsor stick by them. I see riders all of the time jumping to another company because they feel the product is better. It's a small industry and you do not want to burn bridges.
Apply as early as possible which is normally in September. I have received huge discounts on motor work, free suspension, gear, helmets, boots, graphics etc. for my son over the years. The sponsors would keep track of the business I referred to them and would offer my son deeper discounts. My son was a decent amateur on mini's and now is now a fast C rider. We are hanging in 1 last year and then to the B Class. So it wasn't about his speed it was how we presented ourselves and how we helped market their product and relationships.
I would normally have about 8-10hrs total invested in applying and answering e-mails. If you watch TV or play or on your phone then cut it out for a week or so. It doesn't take that much time and you will learn a lot in the process.
Last week I heard a parent talk about approaching random local companies with her sons resume. Of all things one of the business owners bought her son a brand new YZ 450F. That's not common but you never know!
If you have any questions feel free to DM me.
Good Luck!
but some people goo enough make $25-500 a weekend
-Make a resume. Mine was print; yours should be on hookit or some other media platform. Use the most exciting, color-filled photo you can on the cover. If you have room or pages for additional photos, use them. Pictures of you riding, spraying champagne, holding up trophies, etc. work well. There should be one headshot as well. This resume should list all your past accomplishments, especially including any local, regional or national championships. You should list your race results from the past 12 months in full and the races you plan to attend in 2022. Your overall theme should be that of a happy, likeable, winning rider who also is fun to be around. People want to be your friend. It's not ALL about your finishes, but those should be solid.
-Indicate what you intend to offer as a value to your sponsors. They want to sell more product because of your advertising exposure. How are you going to gain them more customers or make existing customers buy more? This is where lots of riders fall short. Just because you win doesn't mean you matter that much. I worked at a motorcycle shop, so I made the implication that in addition to influencing my riding buddies and competitors, I would push my sponsors' products to paying customers, and I did just that.
-Ask for something specific when you submit a resume. Depending on your skill level, this will vary. As an Intermediate in the 1990s, I got things like 50-70% off retail, occasional free product, and pre-production or pre-release stuff. I did not make salary or bonuses (unless you can call contingency a bonus.)
-Treat your sponsors like gold when they are with you, and pleasantly after your business relationship is over. Nobody wants a sponsored rider who will trash talk them when he leaves the company. It's for this reason that I still recommend Troy Lee Designs, Thor, Renthal, Spy, and Maxima in the right context. I am very grateful to the support I got from them back in the day, even though I am not sponsored now.
At least don't let them find out!
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