How important is building a personal relationship before sending a sponsorship deck?

Extremely important. Multiple panelists confirmed they rarely or never sponsor someone from a blind proposal alone. The rule of thumb shared was: wait until a brand representative knows your name when they see your face before handing them a deck. Chris Meyer from Maxxis noted that people will 'make bad business decisions with people they like.' Panelists recommended making introductions at races, trade shows, events - just coming up and saying hi. As Joe Bowman noted, only about 5% of teams actually get out and talk to sponsors at events, so being in that 5% gives you a huge advantage.