what a sponsor is looking for

ShootingArts

ShootingArts

Smorg is giving St Peter the 7!
Silver Member
What a sponsor is looking for in an individual:

Clean-cut, attractive, articulate, well dressed, and professional. The further you deviate from these standards the harder it is to receive sponsorship.

I have been on both sides of the equation and I decided not to sponsor someone who had all of the attributes I sought when I went and watched them compete. They lacked professionalism when competing.

There is no guessing how much that has cost Earl Strickland. At the very least if you are going to act like Earl at times you had better play as well or better.

When seeking a sponsor it is good to talk to the usual people who sponsor players or tours. However it is good to remember that these people have lots of seekers of their sponsorship. Think outside the box and talk to other people who could at least theoretically benefit from sponsoring you. Remember the best sponsorships aren't a gift, they are advertising.

Hu
 
ShootingArts said:
What a sponsor is looking for in an individual:

Clean-cut, attractive, articulate, well dressed, and professional. The further you deviate from these standards the harder it is to receive sponsorship.

Hu
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It is interesting to note that in your list of attributes, you never once mentioned skill. I think that is why I have been able to secure sponsorship at different levels despite not being a top pro. I think if you position yourself more as an ambassador of pool, and make that a conscious choice for your lifestyle, the money and the sponsorship will come.

Of course, you have to stay true to yourself, too. I would imagine that might be a stretch for some players. :rolleyes:

I also think that is why the women have been doing a good job of getting personal sponsorship for themselves in general.

All kidding about the QUEEN aside, you do need to believe in your abilities, or at least your potential, and look at it from the eyes of the business...what benefit will THEY receive in return? What can you do for them? Are you willing to go out of your way to talk about your sponsor's products? Wear their logo? Sit in their booth? Setup and take down their displays, etc? It really has to be a 2-way street, not a handout.
 
skill

Winners that dominate the sport can be nice to sponsor but an up an comer or even a veteran that is a solid contender with the other attributes can please a sponsor. Some skill is required to keep a sponsor but I have seen folks with little or no skill get them and perennial back markers keep them.

You are right that first and foremost, you represent the sponsor in the public's eye. Alienate fans, fellow players as a group, or the powers that be and sponsorship money dries up fast.

A lady approached me for sponsorship. Ladies were and are fairly rare in the sport and I was interested. She sounded reasonably professional on the phone and if she was not double coyote ugly she was likely to be popular with the fans.(I know that isn't fair but it is life) A little checking and I found that she had a bad reputation with drivers and many fans. She would have alienated a substantial portion of my potential customers. Choosing a more universally popular driver made better business sense.

In the end I sponsored everyone and nobody. I helped many teams and my business name was on over a dozen cars with "thanks" over it. I forbade anyone to put "Sponsored by" on their car, even the one car that got far more help than most.LOL

By the way, as you mentioned about things being mutually beneficial, the car that I provided major components for, technical support, and even worked on a bit was owned by someone who helped me out of a bind occasionally at my business, no strings attached.

Hu

rackmsuckr said:
It is interesting to note that in your list of attributes, you never once mentioned skill. I think that is why I have been able to secure sponsorship at different levels despite not being a top pro. I think if you position yourself more as an ambassador of pool, and make that a conscious choice for your lifestyle, the money and the sponsorship will come.

Of course, you have to stay true to yourself, too. I would imagine that might be a stretch for some players. :rolleyes:

I also think that is why the women have been doing a good job of getting personal sponsorship for themselves in general.

All kidding about the QUEEN aside, you do need to believe in your abilities, or at least your potential, and look at it from the eyes of the business...what benefit will THEY receive in return? What can you do for them? Are you willing to go out of your way to talk about your sponsor's products? Wear their logo? Sit in their booth? Setup and take down their displays, etc? It really has to be a 2-way street, not a handout.
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I wish it were all that easy. The player is automatically representing the sponsor, and the player's name is synonymous with the sponsoring entity. There is responsibility to each, and believe me, I have seen both sides (players and sponsors) breach every rule imaginable. I work a lot with both players and industry people, and I am amazed that most people do not understand what sponsorship is for or what is expected of everybody.

I have encountered many players that believe that sponsors merely take care of their expenses while they can just sit back and shoot pool. Sorry, but nobody is going to pay you for just being a pool player no matter who you are. It's a 2 way street, and players have to hold up their end of the deal. As a player, it is your responsibility to play at a high standard so that the sponsor does not feel as if they are just tossing snowballs in a furnace. Many players are reluctant to assist in promoting the sponsor and/or their product - nor are they willing to look at the agreement as a business partnership. A lot of players (not all) view sponsors as ATM machines instead of business partners.

Sponsors need to understand that sponsorship isn't merely paying a players entry fee into an event. Sponsorship is a business partnership where the sponsoring entity is utilizing the player and the player's image to promote their business/product. You get nothing for nothing and darn little for 2 cents. So if you are a sponsor with short arms and deep pockets, don't expect much. Even if the entry fees are paid, the players still needs to come up with travel expenses, food and lodging, and all of this is quite expensive and it adds up. Some players require more than one sponsor just to cover the overhead. As a professional player, you spend most of your time in debt. Sometimes you can finish pretty high in the money and it still doesn't even come close to covering your expenses or your credit card debt.

In recent months I have changed my protocol when uniting sponsors with players. With the influx of IPT money, relationships between players and the industry are going to go through another exciting phase of development. The players I have worked with know that I take a very professional approach when dealing with this aspect of the game. I believe that the more "professional" you are as a player (ie - Ralf Souquet, Johnny Archer, Thorsten Hohmann, Jenn Barretta, Angelina Paglia, Jeanette Lee) the more sponsors you will attract. The days of saying, "I'm just a pool player, all I do is hit the balls" - all of that is in the past. As a professional, you are a representative of the industry and the game of pool. That applies to both sponsors and players.

As a player you must present yourself as marketable and as a sponsor you have to be willing to assist the player more than just financially - but also sponsor them as you would sponsor any valued member of your business entity. I say that because one year in Vegas I saw an executive from a well known industry leader staying at the Mirage in a very nice suite. Across town, the player he sponsored in the event was packed 4 to a room at a Motel sleeping on the floor because that was all he could afford. The player should be given the same treatment. I'm not saying saying put them up in a penthouse, but $100 a night expenses for a room is reasonable for someone that is willing to represent your company in a professional event.
 
Blackjack just wrote about all that matters and only thing i want to add is the personality in that meaning that if you want to attract sponsors it's not enough to be good player but you hav eto be "media sexy" too. Meaning that those persons who can be in front with their personality in good way and be interesting and also exciting will get the best deals.
 
I sell sponsorship as part of my living as an event organiser / sports marketer.

What the sponsor wants depends a lot of what type of sponsorship you're looking for....

Some sponsorship options:
1. Direct from small businesses / pool clubs etc.
2. Via an athlete agency.
3. From a marketing division of a larger company.

I usually work in the 3rd type, but the advice I can give you will be very useful in obtaining types 1 and 2.

The number one thing a sponsor wants is to please their boss, without having to do all the work.

How to do this?

Be able to provide them with an attractive professional looking report that documents exposure (BTL {blow-the-line} and ATL{above-the-line}), branding relevance, implementation method etc. including photos, graphs, web-links etc. It should have introduction, index, detailed categories....lots of explanatory images. Something someone can flip through in 3 minutes and get a pretty good feel for all the benefits and exposure that occured.

This is something the marketing manager is pleased to show to his/her boss to show where that 10k went. Or what the agent can introduce to a potential sponsor, or what a business owner can show to his clients and friends as evidence of his support for the community or sport and feel justified in continuing the sponsorship.

Don't be waiting for some professional to walk into your life and produce all this for you. Learn to do it yourself, and then the sponsors, agents etc will be happy to work with you.

Good luck,
Colin
 
all very interesting posts.

now i do got a question, i think i posses most of the qualities presented. professionalism, 2way road, ambasador, looks, atitude, contacts, etc etc but at the end , im just a B player who would just like to have training for free and having my entress payed.

is it conscevable that a B player ever will get a sponser? or is there at least a minimum of achievements (tournament wins) needed or a minimum of level (a or touring level at least?)
 
Solartje said:
all very interesting posts.

now i do got a question, i think i posses most of the qualities presented. professionalism, 2way road, ambasador, looks, atitude, contacts, etc etc but at the end , im just a B player who would just like to have training for free and having my entress payed.

is it conscevable that a B player ever will get a sponser? or is there at least a minimum of achievements (tournament wins) needed or a minimum of level (a or touring level at least?)
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If you have all the attributes the sponsor wants, the next step is to make a calculation of how much it will cost the sponsor to support and promote you for a year. Then multiply that by 4 or 5 and honestly determine how sponsoring you will bring that much benefit (return on investment) to the sponsor.

If you can honestly do that and if you can sell yourself, you may be able to find a sponsor.
 
Solartje said:
all very interesting posts.

now i do got a question, i think i posses most of the qualities presented. professionalism, 2way road, ambasador, looks, atitude, contacts, etc etc but at the end , im just a B player who would just like to have training for free and having my entress payed.

is it conscevable that a B player ever will get a sponser? or is there at least a minimum of achievements (tournament wins) needed or a minimum of level (a or touring level at least?)
Click to expand...
You could start by managing a couple of higher level players, setting up a website, get some media articles about them etc. You might be able to get a package deal from a club for you and the better player to train free, if you offer them enough benefits.

Possible benefits: Help manage and promote some competitions, training courses, exhibition matches. Set up a website for the club to promote and give coverage of the events etc.

When the player you manage receives internet coverage, contact the administrator to ask to include the sponsors name beside the player's name or at the end of the article with link to the club / sponsor website. Collect all this exposure and put it in a report for the sponsor. That should impress them. Check out www.110sport.com for some ideas.

And keep practicing and learning from these better players. Then you'll have the structure in place when your results improve.

Maybe getting a part time job is an easier way if you just want to practice, but remember, for every playing professional earning a decent living from playing, there are probably 1000 other people making a living in the industry.
 
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ShootingArts said:
There is no guessing how much that has cost Earl Strickland. At the very least if you are going to act like Earl at times you had better play as well or better.
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Hu...Interesting that you use Strickland as an example. Are you aware that he has THE biggest sponsorship deal in pool...and has had for 10 yrs.? I'm not saying Earl is a great example of what a sponsor wants or doesn't want...but he did get the best deal of any player EVER. His ridiculous behavior apparently has not cost him anything...at least so far. Janet Shimel may not care too much for his outlandish behavior at times, but she's not about to kill the golden goose (Allison is her other 'golden goose', and a complete antithesis of Earl)!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com
 
Colin Colenso said:
You could start by managing a couple of higher level players, setting up a website, get some media articles about them etc. You might be able to get a package deal from a club for you and the better player to train free, if you offer them enough benefits.

Possible benefits: Help manage and promote some competitions, training courses, exhibition matches. Set up a website for the club to promote and give coverage of the events etc.

When the player you manage receives internet coverage, contact the administrator to ask to include the sponsors name beside the player's name or at the end of the article with link to the club / sponsor website. Collect all this exposure and put it in a report for the sponsor. That should impress them. Check out www.110sport.com for some ideas.

And keep practicing and learning from these better players. Then you'll have the structure in place when your results improve.

Maybe getting a part time job is an easier way if you just want to practice, but remember, for every playing professional earning a decent living from playing, there are probably 1000 other people making a living in the industry.
Click to expand...

thx for the extra info and idea's. i actually proposed a person to make/reshape his website for some free lessons, but i havent gone further in it due to lack of time at the moment. He is the only professional player in belgium and he gets his earnings by working and promoting aramith. but some idea's might work, as im setting up a new club in the capital and i dont think they have any website yet.

the guy that i offered to make his website, is the only belgium pro that i know of. any other player, no matter how good u are will never be a pro poolplayer, pool in my country just dont has this kind of money. so im really not dreaming of thinking of becoming a pro player, just my trainings and entreefees is all id want. (to give u an idea, winning the national titel gives u something like 200$), getting into the quarter finals in a national rankings gives u your entree fee back :p so its just impossible to become a pro by playing.

mmm a quick calc about how much it would cost/ask for a year :
40*12 (monthy trainingfee) + 15 * 12 (monthly rankings) + 20 *12 (monthly opens) = 900€/ year + expenses like transport, drinks, etc.

about media articles :p i dont think there has ever been ONE single media article about pool in a national paper. maybe in some small local papers, no one ever reads. but u surely gave some other options to get sponsers true other ways then playing. i might even solve the trainingpart as im maybe starting up a new poolhall too, where id be the manager and id give my poolexpertise. then i just need to find a sponser for the entree fees and expenses...

mmm ill start making a plan this summer on how to get a sponser. u never know :D
 
PoolSleuth said:
Thanks for the link.

As far as Earl’s antics, he is no worst than some other Professional Athletes in MLB, the NFL, the NBA, Hockey, NASCAR, or other sports...
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I didn't even read the article. I just Googled her name and billiards. I wasn't trying to make any kind of statement about Earl.
 
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