How to Get Sponsored by K&N Engineering

K&N is near the top of every racer's wish list. Tony Yorkman, who has handled K&N's product sponsorships and partnerships for most of two decades, told me he sees "a good five to 10 per week," more than 500 a year. Most of them fail for the same reason: they are about the racer, not about K&N. Here is what Yorkman and his longtime colleague Steve Williams say actually gets a racer in the door. ▶ See the full interview

Learn the plan before you pitch

Yorkman's whole approach comes from something an old boss taught him: "Never build a plan around your opportunities. Always find opportunities to fit your plan." "Ultimately everybody should know my plan is to sell filters," he said. "So if they figure out a way to tell me how they're going to sell filters, well, that opens the door." And: "Start knocking on those doors, but make sure that you have something to say when somebody does answer." ▶ Watch Tony Yorkman explain this

The core of that plan rarely moves. "It is about selling filters and how we can sell more filters and how we can always prove our, say, product validity within the space of motorsports," Yorkman said. What changes are the side plans, mainly new product launches. Those are your openings. ▶ See the full interview

Steve Williams, K&N's chief business development officer, says the plan is easier to find than most racers think. "You've got to really study the company and the business that you're going to be presenting to," he said. "And I'll tell you what, you'd be shocked at how many people will actually share what their goals are." His favorite example: an alcohol dragster racer who worked around shipping ports noticed that cargo equipment used big disposable filters and asked K&N if it could build a reusable one. "That's now part of K&N's business," Williams said, and the racer got a deal out of it. "Why wouldn't you want to help people race if they can legitimately help you grow your business?" ▶ Watch Steve Williams tell the story

Sell filters, not logo space

If your pitch is a list of places the logo will go, K&N isn't interested. "I'm looking for a marketing plan... and goals you can set for K&N, not a plan to race," Yorkman said at my Motorsports Sponsorship Summit. "We look for more tangible assets on how you're going to sell more filters," because "the generic Ricky Bobby logo placements on cars for a check isn't going to be enough for most people nowadays." ▶ Watch the clip

He would rather look like he belongs on your car than like he bought the space. "I've always had this feeling that I wanted to be a part of a program where it looks like they wanted me to be there and not that I paid to be there," he said. "We want the story to be the product and not the logo." Signage, in his words, "is not a big deal to us. It's really about inclusion, support, and that product validity." ▶ Watch Yorkman on logos

Race for credibility, create content for value

Racing still matters to K&N because it makes everything else believable. "There's no way that I'm going to get out there and be able to suffice a company like K&N and their needs by just saying, 'Hey, I run this filter in my car,'" Yorkman said. "I have to have some kind of credibility, and that does come from the track." But the value is shifting toward racers who are "really great at catching the consumer's attention." ▶ Watch the clip

His model is Martino Motorsports, a sportsman-level NHRA team that started posting maintenance videos. "What is really a big value to us from what he did was he creates consistent content," Yorkman said. "Content that actually includes our product and our brands and how we use it, down to like doing oil changes on his golf cart." K&N then pushed that content through its own channels to about 2 million people. ▶ See the full interview

Small programs welcome, and they start with product

You don't need a big program. "A majority of our programs are smaller programs," Yorkman said, pointing to a lawnmower racer K&N has backed for about 12 years because he shows the product to families at fairs and small events. Almost every cash deal grows out of a product deal: "We don't have one... monetary sponsorship that did not start in a product format of some way." That includes Vaughn Gittin Jr.: "We were his very first sponsor on his car," back when he was working in IT and drifting was something new. ▶ Watch Yorkman on small programs

Once you're in, effort counts more than reach. Yorkman asks for quarterly updates, plus monthly metrics if you have them, and keeps a grade on every partner. "Most of that grading is based off of communication, not necessarily on the performance," he said. What not to do: claim things K&N can't prove. Ambassadors used to say a K&N filter improves gas mileage, which put the brand in a bind. "There's no testing. There's way too many variables. You can never prove that." ▶ See the full interview

Williams adds a renewal rule that he and Yorkman lived by: treat the sponsor like a bridesmaid every year. "Being sponsored as a racer is a little bit like a marriage," he said. "You want to make sure that they feel appreciated in every way, whether you're winning, losing, delivering." The danger is the middle of a multi-year deal, "those middle years that go a little bit dark." ▶ Watch Williams on keeping sponsors

Send a deck any time, a proposal in the fourth quarter

A deck opens the door, and it doesn't need to be custom: "It doesn't have to be tailored to K&N. Show me what you've done for some of your other partners." The decks that win his attention are the ones "really focused about how they can help me exceed rather than I can help them exceed." Do your homework on where K&N sells: retail chains, distributors, direct to consumer, Amazon. ▶ Watch Yorkman on decks

Timing matters too. "I'm looking for decks all the time. Send me a deck any day of the week," he said. But "I won't really even look at a proposal until the fourth quarter," when K&N sets its plan for a fiscal year that follows the calendar. And don't count on a first meeting at a trade show. SEMA and PRI fall so late in the year that "usually I will not meet somebody for the first time at a trade show." ▶ See the full interview

Your checklist for K&N Engineering

• Open with a general deck, not a proposal. Show what you've delivered for other sponsors.
• Explain how you will help sell filters: retail, distribution, website traffic, or a business connection nobody else can make.
• Ask about new product launches and new markets. That's where the side plans and openings are.
• Expect to start with product. Cash deals at K&N almost always grow from there.
• Create steady, real content of you using the product, and send quarterly updates.
• Never make performance claims about the product that K&N can't back up.
• Time your formal proposal for the fourth quarter, and don't save your first contact for SEMA or PRI.