SponsorHouse and Sponsorship

[Chili]

I posted this in our forum to keep it out of the main forums simply because I'm not sure the direction it will take and wanted to avoid getting a previous and possibly future sponsor flamed in the general forums.

We are currently getting a resume together for my son for the upcoming season to try to get some sponsorship help with product/costs. As a start to this process I sent an e-mail 2.5 weeks ago to Sponsorhouse to ask them if it would be in our best interests to use their product since we are outside of the USA. To date I have yet to receive any reply which makes me even more leary of using them.

Is there anyone here outside of the USA using the Sponsorhouse site and how effective has it been for you? I've seen several threads from those inside the USA that it seems to be an effective service but before I shell out approx $80 CDN I was kind of curious if there was any hope of getting any return on that investment.

My next question for those of you who have gone down this route, since my son is essentially a beginner (ran 7 races late last season) what would my best approach be in this search? Focus locally on out of industry type sponsors? Send off a gazillion e-mails to every potential sponsor whose product we use or may use?

I'd appreciate any advice you folks can offer to assist in this regard.

 

[_SOLO_]

This doesnt have anything to do with sponsorhouse, just putting a resume together.

I'm in the states, but I am a beginner. Even beginners can get alot of support. The sponsors main focus is to sell product, so the better you can get the word out the more likely you are to get help, make them believe you could persuade a farmer to buy cow crap. Don't go crazy on sponsors that you would never use. Only do the ones that have products you use regularly or would buy anyway. Even with sponsors things are still expensive so you could probably spend more money than you would normally spend anyway.

 

[CanadianRidr]

Chili, I got a sponsohouse membership and I have to say no dice on it.

Why?

Well I was STOKED at first, I had sponsorship's from LARGE companies. But at the best they were offering 30 percent off, which isn't bad, but it's peanuts considering the fact that they are making direct sales to us, no middle man. Some only offer 15-20 percent off. Basically once you factor in the shipping that they charge plus the customs (there is no way to avoid the fees because they are all registered companies)

So what have I learned? It is a good tool to meet or at least talk to some head honcho's of company's but that's about it.

I used my works connection sponsorship just because they can offer me 03 stuff right now and my dealer can't.

Your best bet is to make a good solid resume, make a cover letter specifically for EACH company and tell them why you like their products and what you plan on doing for them.

I have written quite a few in my day and still follow the sponsorhouse format, if you would like send me a copy and ill give you my opinion and send you the format I use.

Aaron

ps. In all honesty sponsorhouse is a decent tool, but mainly it just makes you buy more products than you orginally would have without the sponsorship.

 

[Chili]

Thanks for the feedback Aaron. I've got a copy of a Sponsorhouse resume from another DRN'er already and have used it as a sort of template.

I also wanted to make sure I was dealing in reality when I started to deal with sponsors as far as what to expect. It is hard to get a grip on what to hope/expect because not many of the local guys want to talk about their deals (guess they don't want others horning in on their action). Right now the local Kawi shop gives us a discount based on a point system the more points the higher the discount. You gain points by wearing their gear, riding a newer bike etc. I guess my hopes of a sponsor buying our ez-ups etc is a pipe dream :)

I know a few local guys have sponsors outside the industry that give them $ for entry fee's or parts.

 

[CanadianRidr]

Chili, your best bet is to look around and see what business's are suporting what sports and activities. Call the local business and ask to speak to someone about sponsorship, drop the resume off in person with a proposal saying what you will do for them etc...

And how many races you will go to, what exactly you will do to represent them *stickers etc.

You would be shocked at the amount of small business's that have a budget for this kind of stuff.

Believe it or not, I got my ezup payed for last year :aj: (haha long story, didn't actually require that much work... :laugh: