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Originally Posted by alexmtl_135i
Possibly the best thread I've read to date on 1addicts! So much win and so much useful information. Keep up the good work!
One question for you scott, what's the process for your sponsor search? I've done a sponsored road trip for charity last summer, and looking for sponsors was really difficult.
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Well, the process is a lot different now. I rely (and maybe a little too heavily) on our reputation and the relationships we've built with vendors over the last decade of racing. So a lot of times now it's an e-mail or phone call to set up a lunch meeting and we let the meeting work out the deal. But we've got a decade of history of delivering on our promises.
But back in the beginning, it was a lot of hard work and convincing people that you will actually do what you say. A big part of the problem is there are tons of people out there asking for sponsorship, but a really high percentage of them will not even really begin the project. So what potential sponsors are more likely to do is give just a little and see what you do with it. I call it the 'trust ladder'. Once you've demonstrated you can be trusted with a little, you can get a little more next time. And there is no telling how many people take a sponsors product and sell it instead of using it, which makes us all look bad.
Another problem has more to do with just how business and taxes work. It is so much easier for a company to give you product than cash for a number of reasons: 1) they have a lot of ways to write off product 2) if they give you product instead of cash, you are more likely to actually use their product 3) with cash, they have to report it as such and have you fill out a W-9 form and now you have to report it on your taxes.