How to Get Sponsored by BFGoodrich

BFGoodrich is the tire most off-road racers want on their truck, and the brand knows it. Peter Calhoun, who has run racing programs for both BFGoodrich and its parent company Michelin, told my Meet the Sponsors webinar that he receives "up to a thousand proposals a year." BFG does sponsor racers, in desert, short course and road racing. The real question is what makes one proposal out of a thousand worth a yes. ▶ Watch Peter Calhoun on this

BFGoodrich races to sell tires

Nate Hunt is the BFGoodrich program director at Jackson Motorsports, the agency that runs the brand's motorsports programs. He doesn't dress it up. "We're involved in motorsports because we feel it's a great platform to showcase our product, it's a great platform for us to do R&D for future product, and it's a great way to market the product and show off the toughness of the tires," he said. "At the end of the day, we're not involved in off-road racing, or racing in general, to win races or to fund some racer's dreams of driving a race truck. We're there to sell tires." ▶ Watch Nate Hunt explain why BFG sponsors

Calhoun calls it a three-legged stool: R&D, marketing and brand awareness, and commerce. "R&D is at the pinnacle of why Group Michelin, for both our brands, goes racing," he said, but the money side is never far away: "Selling tires is what gets our paychecks every other week." ▶ See the full answer

That should shape your pitch. When people ask "how many free tires could I get from BFGoodrich," he said, "probably we're not going to walk away with any type of a deal." The racer who gets his attention says, "I've been thinking about this and I think we can sell X amount of tires." His rule: "If you can't come to us with how can we sell more tires, it's probably again not going to be much of a relationship moving forward." ▶ Watch the session

Calhoun offered one way. Many grassroots teams are funded by a family business, and "if their day-to-day business has a fleet of vehicles, guess what, fleet of vehicles need tires." BFG has built sponsorships around fleet tire purchases, which works like a rebate that also supports the race program. ▶ Watch Calhoun on commerce deals

Performance and professionalism beat exposure

Everybody in off-road already knows the name, so stickers aren't what BFG is buying. "Performance is a big one for us, more so than exposure," Hunt said. "We're looking for somebody that can elevate our brand, who can bring authenticity to the brand." ▶ Watch the clip

His model is Rob MacCachren. "I've never had to say, hey Rob, you forgot a decal on your car, you don't have BFGoodrich on your suit, or you didn't mention BFGoodrich on the podium," Hunt said. Chasing those details wastes his time, and "one of the worst things I hate doing is pulling up a contract and say, hey, you owed us this and you didn't deliver." With MacCachren, he said, "it's not something we have to police... rather than policing, let's promote." ▶ Watch Hunt on the little things ▶ Watch Hunt and MacCachren

MacCachren described how the deal started: "I was with another tire brand, but I knew where I wanted to be, and thankfully... I was able to come over to a team that was supported by BFGoodrich, and we've been there ever since." Asked how he landed deals before social media, he said, "I really treated my motorsport racing career as a job, as a business." Even his son Cayden got no shortcut. Hunt told him, "You don't just get tire sponsorship because you're MacCachren. You have to earn your tire sponsorship." ▶ Watch the full conversation

Do your homework, then show up where BFG is

"If you're asking a company for something, do your homework, do the work," Hunt said. "I shouldn't have to explain everything about BFGoodrich tires." Start with the BFGoodrich racing page and the brand's social channels to see where it's headed. ▶ Watch Hunt on homework

Then go meet the brand at the track. "On site I find is the most valuable, just because I'm a face-to-face person," Hunt said. He wants to see "how professional they are in the pits and around other racers." His blunt truth: "If you're somebody that BFGoodrich is looking to sponsor, we probably already know you. And if we don't... you should be able to know how to find us, because we're at the places that we're interested in sponsoring racers." If you can't get there, he pointed to the brand's 1-800-RACE-BFG line to find the right contact. ▶ Watch Hunt on approaching BFG

A deck still has a job, as an invitation to meet. "Use that maybe as just a, hey, here's my deck, and I'd love to meet you. I'll be at blah blah blah race. Will you be there? Let's meet up." Hunt also said BFG is "doing a lot of contingency-based type sponsorship," so earning tires through contingency is a real way in. ▶ Watch the clip

Know who reads your request. Todd Steen of Jackson Motorsports Group said the agency vets sponsorships for BFGoodrich and Michelin: "A lot of times we get stuff from people that says, I contacted Michelin's customer service, or someone at BFGoodrich, or someone at the track said we need to talk to you guys, and you do indeed need to talk to us." ▶ Watch Todd Steen explain

Ask clearly, on time, and prove it every year

Calhoun's process is specific. Don't make first contact through social media or text: "Call them or send them a formal business structured email for that initial introduction. I also would not send your full deck in that initial introduction." His team replies to every inquiry, and then the deck should make "the ask" and "the deliverables" clear. Get that first contact in by September. "If you present a program in February for a race season that's going to start in March or April, you're too late." ▶ Watch Calhoun on timing

Expect product, not checks. Support "could be a complimentary product, it can be discounted product, it can be product contingent on your results," Calhoun said. Ask for exactly what you need, because too often a deck lists a racer's resume "but there was never an ask." Bring a one-, three- and five-year plan, and come back each year with proof. Calhoun ignores made-up dollar values: "What I want to know is year to year trend. I want to see that their audience grew and the engagement grew." Last, over-deliver, because "if you can deliver above and beyond, you're gonna make friends and they're gonna pick up the phone when you call." ▶ Watch Calhoun's closing advice

Your checklist for BFGoodrich

• Pitch tire sales, not free tires. Show how your program, your fans or your family's business will sell BFGoodrich product.
• Study BFG's racing page and social channels, then meet the brand at the races it supports. Use a deck to set up that meeting.
• Run the right tires and logos to earn contingency. It's how many relationships start.
• Make first contact by phone or formal email by September, and save the full deck for the follow-up.
• Put every decal, patch, podium mention and social tag in place without being asked, and over-deliver on the contract.
• Report year-over-year growth in your audience and engagement at the end of each season.