How to Get Sponsored by K1 RaceGear

K1 RaceGear makes firesuits, gloves, shoes and team apparel, and it sells them to the people in the pits. That changes everything about how it sponsors. JR Twedt, K1's president, has joined my Sponsorship Summits several times, once from the back seat of a rental car at the Chili Bowl, and he keeps coming back to the same idea: understand what K1 actually needs, then use the relationships you already have to deliver it.

Know K1's business model before you call

Twedt wants racers to understand the difference between brands like energy drinks, which "benefit tremendously from push-pull marketing," and a company like his. "We're a consumer product, right? We are a niche market," he said. His advice is to "target the actual manufacturer or company that you're trying to garner sponsorship with and understand what their model is." A generic deck makes that impossible: "It's hard for us as well to hone in on what it is that you're wanting and how we can help you." ▶ Watch JR Twedt explain this

He is blunt about decals. "Do stickers on a car still matter? Not to me so much," he said. What K1 measures starts with the relationship: "It's what kind of a personal and intimate relationship we have with the individual that we select to represent our brand." ▶ Watch Twedt on ROI

Ask the question that opened K1's door

Twedt's favorite story is how sprint car driver and team owner Brian Brown earned his deal. They met at the Knoxville Nationals, next to Brown's hauler. "He just said to me, 'What would move the needle for your brand? How could I do that?' And this is not somebody who was wearing K1 at the time," Twedt said. Twedt mentioned he wanted distribution, and he'd noticed a Smiley's Racing Products decal on Brown's rig. Brown said, "Give me a minute." About half an hour later he walked the Smiley's buyers into K1's trailer. "Never asked me for anything, and within the next week I think I got a $150 to $200,000 purchase order from those guys... And of course Brian followed that up with, okay, I need five suits and five pair of gloves." ▶ Watch Twedt tell the story

Brown explained his side of it at the same Summit. "I could have came up and said, hey JR, I'd like to get five free suits and gloves and uniforms and I'll put it on," he said. Instead he thought about what K1 needed. "He could probably care less about the decal on the car, but his thing is how can we push the needle and get distribution. Instead of trying to sell a uniform at a time, how can we sell 100 at a time?" His rule for every partner: "You have to slow down and really learn about what the company is looking for as a whole, as a partnership, rather than just telling them what you want." ▶ Watch the full session

Off-road racer Ryan Beat used the same opener. "He walked up to me in a shop, he looked me in the eye, and he shook my hand, and he said, what moves the needle for K1, and how can I leverage my team and partnerships to help that?" Twedt said. "That was the first thing he asked me." ▶ Watch the clip

Your leverage is worth more than your logo space

The lesson Twedt repeats is leverage. "Do not underestimate the value of your relationships and the leverage that you have. You may not understand it yet," he said. ▶ Watch the clip If a distributor, a retailer or another sponsor on your car could sell K1 product, that introduction is your pitch. "Come to that conversation with value. What is it that you can do for me and I can do for you? I don't care what the dollar amount is... That's just an equation," he said, adding: "Look somebody in the eye and talk to them. Stop staring at your phone." ▶ Watch Twedt's advice

He also has a number in mind. "Generally speaking, every dollar we spend is a five-to-one ratio proposition," he said. ▶ Watch the clip

Skip the deck

"I don't like decks, okay, for my brand," Twedt said. His reason is nuance: every brand needs something different. "If you're pitching decks and you're showing us impressions and all that, great... But everybody is different. Every brand is looking for something different." Instead, "align yourself and foster an authentic connection." ▶ Watch Twedt on decks

K1 would rather sponsor a driver than a team, because a driver can represent the brand where K1's small sales staff can't go. "It's far more important for us to align ourselves with racers than with teams, because they become an extension of your marketing at events that you can't go to," he said. ▶ Watch the clip

Timing: right after PRI, not at it

K1 is always looking. Asked if he wanted more athletes, Twedt answered, "Every day. The dollars make sense, let's go." The window is "shortly after PRI in December," and "the early bird gets the worm with us." ▶ Watch Twedt on timing

Don't pitch him at the show itself. He said 35 to 40 percent of K1's first- and second-quarter revenue comes out of PRI. "So no, I'll be very blunt in that. Don't approach me." Say hello, meet the team and learn the product, then follow up. Better than a cold deck: "Write a letter introducing what it is that you are attempting to do," and keep it brief. K1 gets roughly 3,300 to 3,400 proposals right after PRI, he said, so you need to stand out. ▶ See the full answer

Find K1 at the racetrack

"You're going to find us at the racetrack. This brand was built at the racetrack. It's never going to change," Twedt said. He works 25 to 30 races a year himself. "Come over, introduce yourself, shake hands, touch and feel the product." ▶ Watch the clip

Most deals are product. "The majority of our sponsorship is product sponsorship, from levels of discount all the way to full sponsorship. Cash these days, cash is tough, but it's not impossible." He has sponsored people he has never met when the proposal was "brief and succinct" and mentioned leverage they could bring. Content matters too: "Your content really needs to be good, or you need to be partners with somebody that it is." ▶ See the full answer

His closing advice: "Be genuine... Really understand the companies that you're targeting. Do a little bit of research." And know "how much power you may already have on your race car." ▶ Watch his closing advice

Your checklist for K1 RaceGear

• Learn K1's business: it sells safety gear and apparel to racers and wants more distribution.
• Open with "What moves the needle for K1?" before you ask for anything.
• List the distributors, retailers and partners on your car who could buy or sell K1 gear, and offer the introduction.
• Don't send a generic deck. Send a short letter that says what you're trying to do.
• Approach shortly after PRI, not during it, and meet the team at the track first.
• Expect product or a discount to start, and earn more by returning more than K1 spends.