Prospecting: Pick the Right Company Before You Pick Up the Phone

Ask a room of racers which companies they want as sponsors and you'll hear the same dozen logos: the energy drinks, the big oil brands, the companies already plastered across the top teams. Those brands get thousands of requests. Meanwhile, the company that would get real value from your program may never hear from anyone.

Prospecting is the work you do before you network: figuring out which companies have a reason to say yes, and what that reason is. At my PRI seminar on networking and prospecting, and at the speed-dating sessions at my Sponsorship Summits, the marketing people on the receiving end explained exactly what they want racers to know before the first call.

Start with what's already on your car

The easiest prospects are the companies whose products you already use. Jackie Donahue, marketing manager at NGK Spark Plugs, told the PRI audience that NGK only sponsors racers who genuinely run its products. "I would suggest to any of you, look at what's in your engine and those are the people you should be going after," she said. "You're already using the product. You can easily sell that product." ▶ Watch Jackie Donahue on this

A racer who already buys a brand's parts can talk about them honestly, and the brand knows it. Make a list of every product on your car, trailer and tow vehicle. That's your first prospect list.

Follow the new products

The next question is what each of those companies is trying to accomplish this year. Eric Seibold of ITW Permatex gave a striking answer. Permatex already dominates its category. "If you want to buy a thread locker... or a silicone gasket maker, I've got a 98% chance of getting that sale already," he said. "So if someone comes to me and offers me, you know, sticker on a quarter panel or sticker on the hood, it kind of doesn't matter, because I'm getting that sale anyway." ▶ Watch Eric Seibold on market share

What does matter is what's new. "My team and my company and my personal goals every year are tied to our new products," Seibold said. "...It doesn't take that much to look at a company's website or their Instagram and see what they've come out with recently and what they're pushing. Whatever they're pushing is where you can help. It's not the bread and butter stuff that's been out for 20 years. It's the new stuff." ▶ Watch him explain it

Donahue was living proof on the same stage. NGK had just launched ignition coils, and racers kept asking her what they could do for the brand. "I'm like, well, that's a great question because I just got a KPI for next year to sell a million coils. So how can you help me sell coils?" When racers protested that they didn't run coils, she pushed back: "Well, you're selling yourself short because I know you drive a truck." People who look up to you ask what you use. ▶ See the full answer

Learn how the company makes its money

Brands sell in very different ways, and a pitch that works for one can miss completely with another. JR Twedt, president of K1 RaceGear, wants racers to "target the actual manufacturer or company that you're trying to garner sponsorship with and understand what their model is." Energy drinks such as Monster benefit from mass consumer marketing. K1 sells safety gear to a niche of people who race. "It's not hard to look out there and see, but without understanding it and sending some generic deck or an introduction and everything, it's hard for us as well to hone in on what it is that you're wanting and how we can help you." ▶ Watch JR Twedt on this

Bill Tichenor, corporate director of marketing at Holley, said the companies that sell parts want to know one thing above all. "Just tell us what you can do for us," he said. "What can you bring to the party to help us sell products instead of what you need?" For racers just learning a brand, his suggestion was to watch the people the brand already works with: "watch what other top racers or influencers or whoever it is is doing with the brand." ▶ Watch Bill Tichenor's advice

Match the brand's personality

Every company has a personality, and fit matters as much as reach. Chris Dickerson of Horizon Hobby, the radio-control company behind Losi, explained that Horizon sponsors racing to reach people who love the sport, whether or not they race themselves. It also has a clear image.

"We're about family values," Dickerson said. "If you want to be the bad boy or the bad girl or the kick-ass dude, that's great. You're probably not right for us. I can talk to you and tell you who to go talk to, but it's probably not us." ▶ Watch Chris Dickerson on fit

That isn't a judgment. It's a sorting tool. If your brand is loud and edgy, target the companies whose marketing looks like you. If you're the family program that does kids' days at the track, target the family brands.

Read what the company publishes

Most of the research costs nothing. Kyle Kietzmann, CEO of Racing Force, the company behind BELL Helmets and OMP, listed where to look. "Definitely looking at the company's websites, looking at different press releases, different sponsorship announcements, getting a feel for what the company's doing within these industries," he said. "...Also keep in mind that some of these companies are public companies, so it's really good to look at SEC filings and look at some of the investor information that's put out. I think that gives you a really good sense of what some of the company objectives are." ▶ Watch Kyle Kietzmann on research

Investor reports tell you which product lines a company is betting on, which regions it wants to grow in and who runs which division. That is exactly the material you need for a deck that speaks to the brand's goals.

Don't overlook the business down the road

Seibold closed the PRI seminar with a reminder that national brands aren't the only prospects. "Think local," he said. Local businesses are "getting hit up every day by the local high school and the newspaper and the radio station. And you offer something really unique and really different. And it's not necessarily that unique to me. I get a proposal a day. But the business down the road from you, you offer something really unique to." ▶ Watch the clip

Then find the right person

Once you know which company and why, find the person who actually runs the sponsorship program. Early in my career I sold bonds on Wall Street and had to find my own accounts. I wrote down the names of firms I walked past on my way to work, looked them up, and called the receptionist to ask who handled the kind of trading I was selling. Then I called that person, offered them useful information for months, and eventually landed my first account. Sponsorship works the same way. Call the front desk, ask who makes sponsorship decisions, and start a relationship with that person, not with whoever has "marketing" on a business card.

The takeaway

• Build your first prospect list from the products already on your car, trailer and tow vehicle.
• Check each target's website, social accounts and press releases for new product launches, and pitch help with those.
• Learn how each company sells (mass consumer, niche, through distributors) before you write a word.
• Match your image to the brand's personality, and skip the brands where you clearly don't fit.
• For public companies, skim the investor information for objectives and key people.
• Then call and ask who makes sponsorship decisions, and start with that person.