How do Pro's first get sponsored?

[pjb45]

Shooting is a lot like most other sports in this regard.

First it starts with some type of meet and greet dialog either between the sportsman and the company rep or someone who knows the company rep and the competitor both.

Second, they talk about levels of commitment; like free gear, money for match fees. Sponsors look at two things; first is who is representing their company-if you are an arrogant jerk you better win a lot but mostly they want someone who is engaging and will talk with members of the sporting community. You do not always have to place well but you must be willing to talk with everyone. The sponsored shooter is really the ambassador of the company.

As a windsurfing instructor, I received discounted equipment. I was always loaning my board or sails out to people who I talked to on the beach. It worked, the shop was the third best Mistral dealership in the country and i live in the desert. Later, I was given several boards to take to the lake for people to use. At the end of the season, I could either sell the boards and or keep them and pay for them at wholesale. Some sail makers would loan you a sail for a race and if you placed well you either got paid or the sail.

With skiing, I worked part time in the rental shop. I got either shop or pro form pricing on equipment. It turns out they found out the people in the shop do more to push a product than a ski instructor so our discounts were quite large. Additionally, we go custom fitted gear. Once I got match skis that came out to the race room for pennies on the dollar. Another benefit was discounts for tickets and lodging. But the pay sucked.

I know several sponsored shooters, some big name and some not so big. Typically in shooting they look at someone who does well. Our sport does not lend it self well to loaning out equipment to others. Many shooters have sent in their shooting CV to companies or take it to the Shot Show. Remember that we have about 19K members for pistol shooting, there are about 150K registered skeet shooters. Our industry vendors have a very limited group of people to sell their product. With all the matches around and match directors asking for handouts for the prize tables it really eats into their bottom line. I suspect you will see a smaller set of fully employed sponsored shooters. Most sponsored shooters have to augment their income in other ways; Matt and Todd for example starting equipment companies or TT and Max et. al, doing training.

Only a very few every earn a decent living as a sponsored shooter.

[Team Amish 1]

I'd want to be sponsored by a donut maker.

My shirt could say "America Runs and Guns on Dunkin".

That'd be friggin' sweet.

[kellyn]

First of all, I think you need to do well at matches. Consistently good performances are important. Second, some companies care more about your personality than others. Some care greatly as to how the shooter behaves at matches, others not so much. Some companies sponsor some real jerks, others won't sponsor jerks no matter how good they are. Some really care about how well you press flesh at trade shows like SHOT and others not so much. Third, I think they want shooters with presence, meaning you are an active participant on the scene. Try to figure out what your target sponsor wants from its shooters before moving in for the kill.

I have both been recruited by and actively sought out sponsors. A good line of attack is "Hey, I won this match, that match and the other match with your product, so might as well give me some support!" A resume is a good idea.

You need to find out what they expect from you and what you will get in return. If your potential sponsor wants you to get up and do shows like Leatham does at SHOT, you better be able to do it. And certainly not everybody can be a showman like Rob can. I certainly can't but I'm not asked to (thank GOD!)

I also think personal connections are critical. Who you know is often more important than what you know.

[eboos]

When I was in BMX, I had a great deal from a major component manufacturer. I never had to pay for anything except frames which they did not make. I was horrible in contests, but I traveled a lot, and I was active on the internet. I promoted the crap out of those products, and the company knew it. Unless you are top tier, I don't think any company is really going to care about your match performance. What they will care about is how supporting you is a wise investment for them. . . how it will translate into more sales.

[rowdyb]

Have thousands of Instagram, Facebook or Youtbe subscribers.

 

Go to a dozen or more major matches a year.

 

Be in contention to win. Be a contender in some way.

 

Talk to people, make connections and relationships.

 

Understand sales and the business of making someone else money.

 

Be a member of a niche market, unique in some way.

[MAC702]

Be super good.  Or be a girl.

 

If you happen to be both, the sky's the limit.

[Mikeski]

Back when I was in the Golf industry, the Club Pros, like myself, were the ones who seems to get the better deals and the ones who were asked to really push the product. Since the Club pros are the people who are out on the course, giving lessons, and giving product recommendations. My guess in the shooting world, since there is no real prize money, sponsorships are the best way to keep ones costs down. I would have no problem advertising and promoting ones products, as long as I feel the products are good. If it's free product or reduced costs, as long as I can keep shooting I'm good. 

[Dutchman195]

17 minutes ago, rowdyb said:

Have thousands of Instagram, Facebook or Youtbe subscribers.

 

Go to a dozen or more major matches a year.

 

Be in contention to win. Be a contender in some way.

 

Talk to people, make connections and relationships.

 

Understand sales and the business of making someone else money.

 

Be a member of a niche market, unique in some way.

Also Attitude is critical. You need to be up there taping targets every stage, no exceptions. You need to be out there shaking hands and talking to people about product. 

 

[rowdyb]

I guess I expect taping targets, helping and having a good attitude to be a minimum. A given and not something to be mentioned. I was listing the things above and beyond the minimum. And yes, the human element can not be under rated.

[B_RAD]

I've talked with a couple sponsored shooters. One or two at the very bottom of the "sponsored" level and one shooter who is one of the biggest names in the competition shooting world.  Both of them really like the gear they were using/promoting! 

 

Seems like there's pros and cons. Most have already been listed here. 

 

Would I want to be sponsored? Yes. For the right deal and by the right company. 

 

Would I wear a jersey with XYZ dohickie on it for a 5% discount?  Probably not. 

 

I'd like to promote stuff I really like. I do that anywyas for free!  

  

Edited April 6, 2017 by B_RAD

[MemphisMechanic]

47 minutes ago, B_RAD said:

Would I wear a jersey with XYZ dohickie on it for a 5% discount?  Probably not. 

 

How about a 40% discount on your primary sponsor's product ... after you paid $50-75 for the jersey?

 

 

 

There's another issue at play here: supply and demand. There are far more shooters angling for a sponsorship (and the accompanying "look how awesome I am!" shirt) than there are companies in need of someone to donate their gear to.

[PatJones]

It's just easier to work a couple extra hours at your job and buy your ammo.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[hwansikcjswo]

First year of shooting, I sent out a lot of emails with my resume and got 2 responses back.

 

Second year of shooting, I sent out a few emails with statistics to show that my social media presence will help them sell more products and got all of their sponsorships(2 companies).

 

I have not yet shot 3 years. So this is it so far. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by hwansikcjswo

[B_RAD]

1 hour ago, MemphisMechanic said:

 

How about a 40% discount on your primary sponsor's product ... after you paid $50-75 for the jersey?

 

 

 

 

Now that you've explained it, no thanks 

Edited April 6, 2017 by B_RAD

[TonytheTiger]

Screw that. It would take a lot more than some free stuff to get me to waste all my free time on social media pushing products.

[rowdyb]

without disclosing anything i signed an NDA on, here are my personal experiences in regards to sponsorship and what's happened in my shooting "career", roughly in chronological order.

 

1. guy i shot idpa with worked at a indoor gun range i went to. wear our patch on your vest and we'll move you to the front of the membership line, let you draw from the holster and shoot as fast as you want. oh and cut a big chunk of the price on your membership. so i was offered something because someone saw me at a match and liked me.

2. blue bullets contingency program back in like 2013. good deal. but open to anyone willing to wear the jersey or patch. i was looking around and found it.

3. another guy i shot with often was (is) the west coast director of Academi (Blackwater). he could tell i was seriously trying to be better and we happened to be friends off the range as well. he had an advertising budget to spend on us shooting matches and such. i was also able to use their indoor range when no clients were around if i asked nicely. how? because someone saw me and my actions and we happened to be friends. this was an awesome deal but the funding was cut.

4. i saw open calls for shooters from different companies on their fb or ig pages. i sent in material as requested. i was not offered anything.

5. a shooter on another team said they had an opening and put my name in to their boss. after a phone interview i was not extended an offer.

6. xx2i, the farm team for rudy had an open call on fb. i asked and was accepted. i changed my mind before signing anything.

7. a website company saw my postings and videos on another forum. they paid me cash on a regular basis for helping their website and employees. i had to generate content and lead employee range days. how? my social media presence drew attention and we gelled well in person. a rare non-industry thing. i was later replaced by a more well known shooter.

8. i emailed a marketing person at various companies the pdf i have about sponsorship and such. most came back with an offer of a kind i was not looking for so i respectfully delcined. how did i get offers? i asked for it and i have a professional lookign pdf. sometimes this has gotten a positive response, sometimes not. gun manufacturers, bullet makers, athletic wear, anything that i use or could be a secondary market for shooting i've approached them.

9. automatic accuracy contingency program. i came in second place. so i was constantly on their radar as someone winning small things but up and coming. i shot with mink a few times at matches. i took a class he and vogel taught. we were having a conversation one day and he made me the offer i have with them now. how did i get it? years of shooting and just being on their radar. good communication and someone knowing who i was.

10. i have multiple family members who are professional motorcycle racers, xgames, supercross, endurocross etc. factory riders at one time or another. i used to race mountain bikes and had low level shop, tire and sunglasses sponsorship. so i have some previous experience seeing what this is all about in other sports.

11. my shooting and winning local stuff got me a job offer to instruct at a shooting school, which i took and enjoyed.

12. blog posts i made for a sponsor were asked to be turned into articles for Front Sight and Tactical Journal.

 

so in two years of shooting idpa and three years of shooting uspsa i'd say quite a large number of things came my way. some i worked for and asked about and others came to me without my knowledge.

 

so there a million different ways things can happen and each person is unique. want to make money shooting uspsa? win stuff well enough to teach classes, sell dvds and have a web store. the only money you can make from shooting is leveraging your reputation and experience.

 

i know it's a story i've told here before but i did have a meeting with a well respected sports agent for olympic shooters, motorcross racers and other extreme athletes. they were not interested when i answered their questions that went like this:

-is your sport on tv?

-is your sport in the olympics?

-is there a world championship?

-is there  a regular competition schedule?

-is your sport covered in print journalism in a magazine that'd be at barnes and noble?

-how many people in the US do what you do?

-what is the best guess of the income of the top person in your sport?

-could anyone sell a signature model of something with your name on it?

-how many views and subscribers do you have across all platforms?

-how many deals do you have right now?

-what percent are you away from the top guys in your sport? (interesting way to phrase it as that's what we use)

-how much money would you need a year for topline support, to cover everything? everything.

 

at the end of it all they basically told me to get better, get more well known. and hire a publicist. (obviously i didn't) so in my sponsorship cases they all seem to have had an aspect or 1. knowing someone 2. having good results 3. understanding sponsorship relationships 4. being at a lot of matches