How to Get Sponsored by Permatex

Most racers pitch Permatex the way they pitch everyone: a logo on the quarter panel in exchange for product or cash. That pitch runs into a basic fact about the brand. Eric Seibold, who leads product management at ITW Permatex, put it plainly at my PRI Show seminar: if you're buying a thread locker or a gasket maker, "I've got a 98% chance of getting that sale already. So if someone comes to me and offers me, you know, sticker on a quarter panel or sticker on the hood, it kind of doesn't matter, because I'm getting that sale anyway." ▶ Watch Eric Seibold explain this

So what does matter? Seibold has given racers a clear answer at my Summits, PRI seminars and a Meet the Sponsors episode.

Tie your pitch to a new product

Permatex's goals are built around what's new. "My team and my company and my personal goals every year are tied to our new products," Seibold said. "So pushing the new products is what counts." The best first contacts he's had came from racers who noticed a launch and offered to do something with it. "Anytime I can tie something to a new product launch, that's where my goals are going to be based for the whole year." ▶ Watch the full seminar

He also wants to see the product used for real, which is something advertising can't deliver. "It's not about overall brand exposure. We can buy that with advertising and online digital ads. We can buy that stuff all day long," he said. "What we can't buy is people using our products in a functional way and basically at the track, turning our products into an experience." ▶ See the full episode

Know who the customer is, and where they race

Seibold explained why drag racing fits the brand so well. "I'd say about 60 percent of our end users are professional mechanics, about 40 percent are heavy do-it-yourselfers," he said at my Drag Racing Sponsorship Summit. "The professional mechanic is at the drag races." Racers who can show they reach that crowd have something to sell. ▶ Watch Seibold on why Permatex sponsors

The brand doesn't have huge ad budgets, so reach it can't buy is worth a lot. "We don't have massive marketing budgets to spend on traditional advertising, so we look for how can a racer help us connect with people we otherwise wouldn't be able to connect with," Seibold said. One of his favorite deals was a pro-pulling tractor racer in a regional series who reached out to a Permatex marketing director. It didn't cost much, and it worked well for both sides. ▶ Watch the clip

Your look has to match the brand, too. Permatex has been around more than a century and sees itself as "trusted, reliable. You can depend on us." A mother-daughter team won his attention with a deck that fit those values. "Your deck is your example or your opportunity to present your personality on paper," he said. "And that's really what the brand is buying into." If you're a better fit for a sister brand, he may pass your deck along: Slime for desert racers, or Gumout and Black Magic, which are "a little edgier. They do a lot in drift." ▶ See the full episode

Ask what they're trying to accomplish

The most common mistake Seibold sees is a racer leading with what they want. "Very few if anyone comes to me and says, what are you guys focused on this year? What are you trying to accomplish?" he said at my Motorsports Sponsorship Summit. "Every company has, say, three to five objectives that they're moving towards." Asking about them sets you apart right away. So does talking about his return: "If someone came to me and said, 'I'm really interested in giving you a great return on investment,' all of a sudden that tells me that they've got me in mind." ▶ Watch the clip

Permatex doesn't calculate a formal ROI, which is an opening for you. "If you can show any sort of ROI, even if it's wrong or an estimate, it's probably more than the marketing people have," he said. The bigger goal is protecting the brand's standing: "We don't want people to think of us as just a glue or a sealer." ▶ Watch Seibold on ROI

Skip the race résumé and the cold email

Seibold gets roughly one deck a day, and email is the worst way to reach him. "I'm buried in emails all the time. So I really look for that relationship piece where people have done a little more homework," he said, like a LinkedIn message or following the brand on Instagram. What he cares about least is "an email with an attached race resume and schedule." ▶ Watch the full seminar

If you do send a cold email, write the subject line about him. One that got opened read "Using Permatex and Fast Orange in front of live race fans." As he put it: "The subject line was about my needs, right? Not about the racer's needs." Long biographies don't help either. A four-page life story "doesn't tell me anything about what you're going to do for my brand." ▶ See the full episode

Start with product, and play the long game

Don't expect a big check up front. Permatex runs one or two large programs a year and treats those drivers almost like staff. The racing itself, he admitted, is "almost what we care least about... we're really leveraging the content they're giving us and the connection." For new names, "it's kind of always going to start with product," and "someone's showing up that we're not familiar with is never going to kind of get a six-figure deal from us." What he rewards is patience. "Who's out there like looking to build a program, who's hungry enough to build a program?" ▶ Watch Seibold on the drag racing panel

Once you're in, keep the program fresh. Permatex had a ten-year sponsorship with a Top Alcohol Funny Car that went flat. "He was going to the exact same races and seeing the exact same fans and he was doing the exact same off-track appearances and the program had gotten stale," Seibold said. A sponsor won't spend more on the same thing year after year. ▶ See the full episode

Your checklist for Permatex

• Check Permatex's new products before you reach out, and pitch around a launch.
• Show how you reach professional mechanics and serious do-it-yourselfers.
• Ask what the brand is trying to accomplish this year, then offer an estimate of the return.
• Reach out on LinkedIn or through someone you know, not with a cold email and a race résumé.
• Make your deck show your personality and match the brand: trusted, reliable, dependable.
• Expect to start with product, and stay in touch even when the answer is "not this year."
• Bring something new every season so the program never goes stale.