What a Good Agent Actually Does All Week

Racers tend to picture an agent's job as one big moment: the phone call, the negotiation, the signed contract. The agents on my Sponsorship Summit panels describe something different. The deal is a small part of the week. Most of an agent's time goes into keeping information current, keeping relationships warm, and keeping sponsors happy enough to renew. Knowing what that work looks like helps you judge an agent, and if you're doing it all yourself for now, it's a job description to copy.

Negotiating is the easy part

Jimmy Button, a vice president for action sports, motorsports and Olympics at Wasserman, raced motocross before he represented riders. He told a motocross summit audience that agents get involved in everything from finding a client the right doctor or attorney to helping with a home loan. As for the part racers think is the whole job, "the negotiating of their contracts and their endorsement deals is actually probably the easiest part of what it is that we do. That's a very small window."

The rest, he said, is relationships. "You're just relationship building, not only for yourself, but you're also doing that for your clients." Sometimes it means splitting people up, too. "Sometimes you got to be a divorce attorney as well, right? So when things happen to separate from one brand to another, you have to be a little bit of a mediator." ▶ Watch Jimmy Button on this

Keep the numbers fresh every month

Bob Walker of Connexions Sports & Entertainment represents the Deegan family, and his office runs on current data. "Every one of our athletes, we have separate bios, we have separate overview decks," Walker said in a Meet the Sponsors interview. "I have a staff that keeps track monthly of all of our athletes' social media analytics, followers, engagement, etc., and those decks are updated on a monthly basis so the numbers are always fresh."

His staff also keeps a PR list for each athlete, covering current and potential sponsors, and Walker keeps sending those brands useful information even when he isn't selling. He described spending a whole day emailing industry information to partners and prospects one by one. "It allows me to keep a seat at the table with them and let them know I'm not just trying to push a hard sell on them, but I'm actually trying to provide a service to them." ▶ Watch Bob Walker explain this

The racer still has to open doors

Having an agent doesn't take you out of the sales process. Walker said his athletes often message brands directly, and the agency takes over once the brand replies. "We started having our athletes DM the brands directly, and then they get a response, and then turn it over to us," he said. ▶ See the full interview

On a later summit panel he explained why it works: the brand can click on the athlete's profile and immediately see their followers, content and existing partners. He tells his clients the work is shared. "You are your own brand, you are your own business," Walker said. He also wants them doing their own posting. "We feel strongly the athlete should be posting on their side to keep it real and authentic." And no contract is finished until the athlete has used the product. "It's got to be on brand for the athlete as well." ▶ Watch Walker on this

Service the deals you already have

Once a deal is signed, the work becomes delivery. Travis Clarke, executive vice president of action sports and Olympics at Wasserman, described it at the Off-Road Sponsorship Summit. "We are throughout the year incrementally adding value to the relationship through tracking all the social deliverables, putting together wrap-up reports on what the partnership is worth in the year, helping with any activations, scheduling around appearances, production days," Clarke said.

His teams plan social content in detail. They do monthly planning so they know "exactly what they're posting, for what sponsor, on what day, and what the campaign looks like." ▶ Watch Travis Clarke on this

Walker's office does the same basics on a smaller scale. "We get a Dropbox of photos Monday morning, and they're sent directly to all of our sponsors. All rights are cleared; they can use them however they want." At the end of the year each sponsor gets a recap with images, press links, results, social growth and the best-performing posts. Walker calls it "a nice little fluffy piece that we use for the renewal." ▶ See Walker's answer

Teach the brand what looks authentic

When a big brand from outside racing comes into the sport, a good agent protects both sides from mistakes. Button remembered how much his agency had to educate Butterfinger when the candy brand sponsored Nate Adams. "You're trying to educate them on what is right, what is factual, what is cool in our world, so that you look authentic," he said. If the work doesn't connect with the athlete's fans, the big check doesn't help anyone.

Agents also compare notes, which is something a racer working alone can't do. "We know what's going on. We know what every team's doing. We know what they're paying, for the most part, or we know who we can call to get that other intel, just to know what market rates are," Walker said on the same panel. ▶ Watch the panel

The 6-to-10 p.m. shift

Ask Walker what an agent does and he starts listing: "Take out the trash, carry their helmet, clean their goggles, fix their flat tires, do their legal work." He isn't joking. "I've actually had to be a spotter at races," he said. Athletes train and test all day, so his phone gets busy in the evening. "I get more phone calls between 6 and 10 p.m. every night than I do between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m." ▶ Watch Bob Walker describe the job

Part of the job is career management when results aren't coming. Walker told a summit about a client having a bad season. "I'm like, you need to ramp up the social. You have the social platform; use that to counter what's going on with your racing." ▶ Watch the clip

Button summed up why it matters, especially in motocross, where careers are short. "We try to shoulder all the effort of anything that these guys or girls need, so that they can go out and do the best job that they are capable of doing." ▶ See Button's full answer

The takeaway

Whether you hire an agent or act as your own, this is the weekly checklist:

• Update your deck and numbers every month. Followers, engagement and recent results, so you're always ready to send.
• Keep a list of current and target sponsors, and send them useful things that aren't a sales pitch.
• Send sponsors cleared photos within a day or two of every race, plus a year-end recap built for the renewal meeting.
• Plan content by sponsor and by date, and post it yourself.
• Open doors personally. A message from the racer gets read. Then let your agent, or your business side, close the deal.