How to Sell Your NHRA Racing Program

Video Transcript

"TINA STULL: Hi, I'm Tina Stull and I drive the Top Dragster for Interstate Batteries. On behalf of Expert Village, today, we're going to talk about the basics of racing. Other things that you can consider is that you need to keep track of the stuff that you get. When you get newspaper articles or you get magazine articles or even it comes down to when you do interviews. And if you do interviews on--for TV shows, you keep it all in one package. And when you have somebody who might be a potential sponsor, they're going to want to learn as much about you as they can. A lot of times, they might be so far away that they can't come and get a one-on-one with you, but by having a packet together that you can pass on, that gives them a little bit of an idea of what you're all about. Mainly, you can mail a hundred of those out and not have one hit, but if you mail one out to the right person that might be the hit. So don't just mass mail people. Too often, everybody's getting hit up for money. And a lot of times, the first thing, when they hear anything about, "Hey, I want money for--to go racing," they're going to shutdown because you've lost sight of what you actually are. You're there as a billboard for them so you really need to tell them straight upfront what you have to offer. You need to know also who your audience is. There's statistics out there that you can get, demographics that will tell you what percentage of our fan base is male, what percentage is female, what are the age groups, where is it the most popular. Those kinds of things are going to help you when it comes to selling your racing program. And also you need to come to them and tell them what you can provide for them: Will you do appearances? Will you host people at the track? Do you do any other events? Through a lot of activities away from the track, that's where I get the majority of the exposure that I got, and it's mainly through word of mouth from person to person, working with good, strong organizations that are very active in the community and active also in the Internet. As--if I do an event with them and they are putting that on their Web site, that in return is helping me out. So it's kinda one of these compounded things. The best way though is stick with things that you really believe in. Stick with companies you believe in. And if you're going to do charities, stick with that 'cause it's got to be sincere. If you're doing it with the thought that "I'm going to go help this organization 'cause it's going to bring me money over here," then I'd say you're pretty much dead in the water because that not only comes off badly, it'll come off badly for your sponsors. So stay genuine to where your heart is"