How to Get Sponsored by Stanley Black & Decker

Stanley Black & Decker is one of the most integrated sponsors in motorsports. Its brands are in NASCAR, NHRA and F1, and its tools are in the pits and the haulers of most top teams. Tony Merritt, the company's vice president of marketing sponsorships, has spent decades running those programs, and he was a source for my book. He has joined my Sponsorship Summits and seminars twice, and his approach is the most metric-driven of any brand I've interviewed. If you want his attention, you need to show how you'll help sell tools.

Know which brand you're pitching

Stanley Black & Decker isn't one sponsor. It's a family of tool brands, and Merritt said "each one of those brands require different KPIs or targeting different customers and demographics," covering Mac Tools, Craftsman, DeWalt, Stanley and Black & Decker. ▶ Watch Tony Merritt explain the brands

He laid out the targets. Mac Tools goes after the professional mechanic, which is why it's on a Top Fuel dragster. DeWalt targets professional tradespeople. Craftsman goes after younger do-it-yourselfers, roughly 18 to 30, which is why it's on a truck series full of young drivers. Your pitch has to fit one of those customers. "It's really about knowing as much as you can about that brand and about that company," Merritt said. "Just sticking a logo on a race car is not going to help me show return on investment with our brands."

He was honest about the odds, too. Pointing to how many cars and sponsors fill the field at the Chili Bowl, he said, "Really today, I would hate to be trying to sell sponsorship. It's a tough world." ▶ Watch the full summit session

Every deal has to return three to one

Merritt measures everything. "Our goal is to see a three-to-one return on anything that we do," he said, and his team reports results on quarterly dashboards. Each week he also sends a report on hospitality, activations and social media to about 200 marketing leaders around the world, including finance people who otherwise see only the money going out. ▶ Watch Merritt on ROI

The measure has shifted from visibility to sales. Twenty years ago, he said, it was all about visibility. Now "it's moving away from awareness to consideration to actually purchasing." That's why so many proposals fall short, even from people he would like to help. "I get proposals every day from people that are passionate about what they do... and would love to sponsor every one of them," he said. "So, how are we going to sell more product by partnering with you? That's hard to do." ▶ See the full answer

His tracking includes TV visibility, social engagement, in-store promotions, and two show cars that make 200 stops, selling tools at each one. A big piece is business-to-business sales, like selling Stanley Engineered Fastening products to the carmakers it races with and tools to delivery fleets. Customer entertainment is another: "We want to be where our customers work, play and where they spend their money." ▶ Watch Merritt on how he tracks ROI

Offer your car to their customers

The tool Merritt thinks racers overlook most is pass-through rights. Stanley Black & Decker regularly gives its space on the car to a customer, such as a construction company or a Mac Tools franchisee, through what it calls an end-user logo program. The customer gets the logo, the VIP experience and memories for life. "It's not every day that Alex could put his logo on the hood of a NASCAR and get national TV visibility," he said. "Think about that as you're running your race teams." ▶ Watch Merritt explain pass-through rights

The goal is the relationship that follows. "They're never going to forget, and so the next time they need to buy tools, they think of Stanley Black and Decker," Merritt said. If your proposal shows a sponsor how to reward its best buyers with your car, you're speaking his language. ▶ Watch the seminar

Ask for advice, not money

Merritt likes being asked for help more than being asked for a check. Picking up on a point Monster Energy's Phil Kauffman made earlier in the same seminar, he said: "I get reached out by a lot of athletes or teams or drivers and they just want to ask a question... can you go to have coffee with me?... They're not really looking for a sponsorship, but they're looking to see how I could possibly help them improve their brand so they can attract sponsorship." Proposals that hammer him get the same test: "Visibility is great, impressions great, content's great, but how can we sell more?" ▶ See the full answer

A proposal gets his attention when "it's showing me ideas how to sell more product, if it's giving me what kind of content they're going to build for us and how they can tell stories for us. Then that's probably where I pick it up." He wants to meet you, not get a cold LinkedIn request. "I don't want to just accept somebody because they're going to pitch me a sponsorship. I want them to come up to me and hand me their business card," he said. "'Hey, we'd love to have breakfast with you or a coffee or just a phone call.'" Proposals come straight to him and his team. He uses agencies for promotions and customer hospitality, not to negotiate deals. ▶ Watch the seminar

Stay in front of him

Persistence works with Merritt if it's friendly. He described a woman racer, whose daughter now races too, who kept turning up at events to say hello. "We've never sponsored her. We've got a great relationship. But who knows? When we're going to look for an athlete that might fit her, I know who to call." ▶ Watch the seminar

He'll also be checking up on you. "Manage your brand. Remember, everybody's always going to be looking at you, watching you, listening at you. The first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to look at your social platforms." ▶ Watch Merritt's advice

Pitch in the summer

Stanley Black & Decker budgets January through December, and Merritt starts reviewing sponsorships "in that July, August, September timeframe." The money usually goes to the brands that can show the biggest return. Even when his roster is full for the season, he said, "That doesn't mean you can't reach out to me. That doesn't mean you can't send me a proposal. That doesn't mean that you can't keep in contact with me." ▶ Watch Merritt on timing

His final advice: "Promote yourself. Do your homework, know who you're talking to before you call them, and be willing to do whatever it takes to take care of that sponsor." ▶ Watch his closing advice

Your checklist for Stanley Black & Decker

• Pick the right brand: Mac Tools for pro mechanics, DeWalt for the trades, Craftsman for DIYers.
• Build your proposal around selling tools, with content and storytelling ideas.
• Offer pass-through space on your car for the sponsor's customers and franchisees.
• Get your proposal in during July, August or September.
• Meet Merritt in person and ask for advice before you ask for money.
• Clean up your social channels. They're the first thing he checks.