help getting sponsors

[afroengineer]

Well, I plan on trying my ways in the BFL next year as a co-angler, I'm not really there to win, but I do want to learn as much as possible. I wanted to get a few local businesses to kinda help me financially, and I'm pretty confident that they will help me out, but what is the proper way of asking for money from someone?lol The people I am thinking of asking dont really make products I can help get out, they are like construction, or excavating, businesses like that. Should I type something out and give it to them? If so what would I put. I'm thinking of having a shirt, and if they give me x amount I will put their name on the shirt, and if they give me x amount more I could put a sticker on my boat, because I fish locally ALL the time, so it would be good advertisement for them that way. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I'm also thinking of asking some sponsors on here but that will be on a different post, maybe discounts, etc. So basically what would I say walking into the business. Thanks

[JayPea2005]

If they are in construction, then offer to work a booth at a trade show if they are involved in those. Look at the products they are using and learn what their applications are. Are they products specialized for that company? If they are unique then offer to speak on their behalf about those products when dealing with the public.

An example of that is a company I am in talks with. They sell a specialized item to the wholesale air conditioning industry. If I land the deal, I will be working home shows and such to promote their line of environmentaly safe products to the general public. If the public is made aware of their product, they will specify it when calling a contractor to service their own HVAC system. The whole catch is based on the theme of protecting our environment. BASS and other tournament entities are about conservation, ie: wetlands, catch and release, etc.. There is a coralation between the 2.

Also think about starting a website that allows you to further pass on their name and products.

Hope these tips help. Take care and good luck!

[afroengineer]

Would I be better off going into the business and talking to the head person, or making a resume similar to what people post on this forum and sending it through the mail? I would think that talking in person would be better, but a resume would also be good because I can give a little about myself. What would I put on the resume?

[IneedAnewScreenName-93875]

afroengineer

I would see them in person.  When I was fishing tournaments I met with all of my local sponsors personally.  They knew me anyhow, as I assume these companies do you are preparing to contact.

When I asked for money I always told them how many potential customers I could put them in front of over the upcoming year's tournaments.

I would mentally add up my entry fees, then determine how many sponsors I wanted, then divide the number of sponsors by the total entry fee amount for the year.

If my entry fees were let's say $2000.00 and I was after 10 sponsors I would tell each one my sponsorship fee was $200 for the entire year, which breaks down to a little less than $20.00 per month.

Usually when I told them what it broke down to monthly - they were in.

You can promote almost any company (construction, excavating, etc) at fishing tournaments.  You can wear their logo on your shirt as you stated, place a sticker on your vehicle,

volunteer at trade shows, hand out marketing materials, brochures, etc.

The key really is to find out what THEY WANT you to do for them in exchange for giving you sponsorship dollars (advertising dollars to them).

Hope that helps a little more..........

[JT Bagwell]

This might help.

http://bassresource.com/fishing/Bagwell/bagwells_bass_tactics_11.html

Good Luck

JT Bagwell

[squid]

Well look who's back...nice to see you JT