question about sponsorship

[CALL AAA]

I am looking for sponsorship from a restaurant. I don't want to say which one, until something happens or doesn't happen. I'm not sure what I should ask for. I am looking for them to pay some of my race entry fees, and in exchange, I wear their logo in some form. I'm not a pro or anything, I'm just looking to get a certain business to help me with the high costs of triathlon, marathon and maybe MTB racing. I'm thinking more about the entry fees, and not so much about equipment and stuff.

I will be meeting the manager tomorrow, but I'm wondering what I should ask for. The restaurant is a franchise, and the chain isn't huge. I'm not sure if that even matters, if it's the one store that I will be working with.

Anyone have any info or suggestions?
Thanks.
Tony

[Paul]

couple things to consider... whatever amount of $ you ask for as a part of the deal identify how many races you will be doing, how you will be promoting the company.

[CALL AAA]

They don't have race clothing, just sweatshirts and stuff. I don't think they have stickers, either. So unless I made jerseys, I wouldn't be able to represent them during the race. I guess if they pitched in to have jerseys made, that would ge me something to get their name out there.

I also don't know how many races would be reasonable. This year would be a pretty low number, because I am getting ready to go to sea in June. Maybe that's a good start, so we can both try it out.

[ncttrnl]

Stick to the basics. You need to know what you can expect from them and they need to know what they can expect from you.

They may or may not expect their logo on your clothing. They may just be happy with you wearing their sweatshirts and t-shirts pre/post event. They may want race reports.

For most of the amateurs that are sponsored, it seems like its more an emotional thing than any sort of actual business deal. The business doing the sponsoring usually likes the athlete and their story.

[gest24]

Go to them with a clear plan for your race season. The races you plan on attending, the dates etc. Also, be able to tell them how you could promote their brand, whether it be a jersey, a t-shirt in the pits/podium, stickers on your bike, temp tatoos for Tris, etc....

I'm in the middle of gathering up sponsors for my mountain bike team. Its not too terribly hard. You just have to have a good idea/plan. Good luck with the meeting tomorrow. If you need a shop to back you, I can help you out with that. As for cash sponsors, I'm still working on that one.

[Slapshotnerd]

This is a business proposition.

The simple question is - how will giving you XXXX benefit them?

some things to consider:
- what is the restaurant's target demographic?
- how does the demographic of people who attend the races / shows you go to overlap?
- If they spend money on a radio ad / newspaper ad / billboard / etc, how many people see that? convert that to $ per person
- If they spend similar money on a sponsorship with you to pay for your race fees / show entry / etc, how many people from their target demographic does that expose them to? (the key is that you want to show them that a sponsorship with you costs them less per potential customer)