SponsorHouse helps you present the right information companies require so they can quickly review your profile and make a decision on whether you meet their criteria or not. SponsorHouse gives you an easy-to-use profile builder to post all your information and submit sponsorship applications online to a variety of companies, all of whom are on SponsorHouse to support athletes. We’ve been helping athletes and companies with online sponsorship since the beginning, so we’ve seen it all. Follow these simple SponsorHouse tips to ensure you have a good experience and to have the best chance at obtaining sponsorship.

1. CREATE A PROFESSIONAL PROFILE – This is the most important element of the site since your profile is a way to promote yourself and your current sponsors. Our profile builder provides a ton of different ‘modules’ for you to choose from, as well as different templates to help you create a professional online profile. Examples of modules include competition results, photo galleries, current sponsors, and a more generic text module to post important information about yourself. Spend about 30 minutes thinking about which modules you would like to use and what information you want to present and check for grammatical errors. It’s tempting to use all the cool social networking widgets available now, but try to refrain from putting MySpace code, java script and other things that may break the functionality in your profiles.

2. BE HONEST - Don't ‘exaggerate’ about your results, years competing or your current sponsors on your profile. The sports industry is actually pretty small and everyone seems to know each other through a friend of a friend. If a potential sponsor conducts a simple background check like calling a sponsor listed on your profile or contacting your local event promoter and discovers that you weren’t being honest, it’s pretty safe to say you’ll destroy your credibility, as well as any hope of getting sponsored by that company.

3. WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY – If you compete, don't list every result you have ever finished over the past 10 years. Team managers are most interested in your experience from this season and the past year or two so focus on your most recent results and work backwards. Take the time to do the research or keep track of your results for each event. Highlight any major events you participated in, include a full list of results for this season and highlight 3-5 results for the past two years (overall rankings, large events or championships).

4. PREPARE YOUR SELF BEFORE SUBMITTING APPLICATIONS – Most companies on SponsorHouse include information on their profiles and within their sponsorship listings about their company and sponsorship requirements. Review their profiles carefully prior to submitting your applications. Don’t make silly mistakes and misspell the name of the company or the contact person on your application. Use the spell-check feature on your computer and ask a friend or parent to double-check your profile and sponsorship applications before sending off.

 

5. SENDING APPLICATIONS TO POTENTIAL SPONSORS – Don't submit an application to every company on SponsorHouse with a “To Whom it May Concern”. Choose companies whose products you use and believe in. Always have a backup that you are also interested in, but stay specific. Always respond to sponsorship offers even if you are turning down the opportunity. Every interaction is documented on SponsorHouse so sponsors can review their communication history with athletes. Polite communication is the best way to keep the door open in the future. Do not send sponsorship applications on SponsorHouse then follow up with another application by email and/or mail, it overwhelms the companies and adds confusion to the entire process.

6. FOLLOWING UP – Every company has their own process and timeframes for how they handle sponsorship applications. Depending on the size and interest in the company, the response time can vary from a couple days to a couple weeks. If you haven’t received a response to your application, here are a couple polite things you can do to follow up without overwhelming the company.

1) Send a polite email. ‘Hello, my name is …, I submitted an application on SponsorHouse and would like to inquire whether you’ve had time to review my profile and application. Here is a link to my profile: www.sponsorhouse.com/members/screenname. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to your response. Sincerely, …

2) Call the Company. Follow the same dialogue as above. Have your link ready so they can quickly find you and review your profile.

 

Following these simple tips will ensure you are prepared and are presenting yourself in a professional manner. If you’re interested in viewing more sponsorship resources, visit the Resource section for more tips and information on sponsorship, self-promotion, and interviews with team managers from the industry.