The Karting Kid "Money, Money, Money, It's a Rich Man's World"

" Money, Money, Money, It's a Rich Man's World "

There is little doubt that our sport requires money to compete in it, some classes obviously require more than others. Many Karters can themselves afford to race or have parents who can afford to race them, but some Karters still run on a shoestring or don't race at all because they can't afford, therefore we see requests for sponsorship almost on a daily basis. So the million dollar question is how do you get sponsorship? The answer is with great difficulty, but that doesn't mean it can't be found.

Firstly you have to understand that any method could work, but sponsorship is only the selling of a commodity, the commodity being yourself as a Kart Racer and with all selling techniques some are more effective than others and they all don't work at times, so the first lesson is perseverance. If you think you can send out a few 'begging' letters and have someone give you their money, you're mistaken, to get one decent reply you'd probably have to spend more in stamps than you'd receive in sponsorship. Most send about 10-50 letters, some send around 100 and a rarer few will send out more, but all will tell you that on the whole it doesn't work and few will even bother to reply to your 'begging' letter, after all would you, if you were in their shoes? But all selling is a numbers game and if you send enough letters, then eventually you will receive success, only you can determine how determined you are.

The second lesson is to learn that you have to offer something in return for the money, eg could you sell an electric toothbrush to someone without any teeth? Benefit selling is the name of the game and to more or less quote JFK "It's not what your sponsor can do for you, it's what you can do for your sponsor", now if your imagination doesn't stretch far enough to see anything that you could do for a potential sponsor, then you'd be better finding a better job or paper round that would pay for your racing, as this is the crux, in that you do indeed need to be able to sell 'snow to the Eskimo's,' 'sand to the Arab's' and 'Coals to Newcastle,' What we are talking about is called benefit selling, but don't worry too much as few salesmen who sell for a living actually master benefit selling, but the more benefits you actually find for your sponsor, the better the chance you'll relieve him of some of his money. Be mindful that a benefit to one sponsor, may not be the same to the next one and you may have to think out each particular potential sponsor and how you can benefit their individual needs.

Now who do you ask? Much sponsorship comes from people who are already known to you or from an industry that you understand fully, in that you can work out and understand the benefits and requirements of that person because of your insider knowledge of them or their industry. Many won't ask family and friends, but that's your first and most obvious route and you having nothing to fear if you've prepared your case properly, ask any successful multi-level marketeer how they were successful and they'll tell you that they asked their family and friends, whilst others dare not do so quoting saying's like 'I don't mix business with pleasure,' fine sentiments that on the whole have left them poor people. You may notice that many of the people who can already afford to Kart, have sponsorship, which you might think unfair, but they have approached their acquaintances because they prefer to use other peoples money rather than their own to fund their hobby.

Timing is important, many large Companies spend their budgets up to 18 months in advance, so plan ahead, but most won't have the patience to wait 18 months for sponsorship and if this applies to you look for people to approach that need to spend immediate money for tax purposes or any other reason.

There is little doubt that even after following the advice above, your success will depend on your determination to hone your sales skills, people like Nigel Mansell had to mortgage his house to the hilt to sponsor his early career and Damon Hill used his job as a courier to canvass businesses for sponsorship, it wasn't easy for either driver but they both had one thing in common, they didn't give up until they achieved success, do you have their drive? If so you'll eventually find sponsorship, if not Clubs are always looking for extra marshals.

The Kid.
 

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