On several occasions I’ve jokingly referred to myself as the “gray-bearded rookie,” but I like to think that with age comes experience and a little bit of wisdom. Before I started fishing full-time, I had a variety of life experiences that I believe prepared me for the business side of this career.
When most pros give seminars or work boat shows, the number one question that we get asked is about how to acquire sponsors. I have some strong opinions on that topic that I’m going to share in the space below. Not all of them will be popular, but I strongly feel that they’re all based in fact. I can’t provide a precise roadmap to success in this difficult pursuit, but I can help you avoid some of the pitfalls.
Past experience
My history in the business world is lengthy and varied. At the University of Tennessee I majored in advertising with a concentration in marketing. Most advertising people are creative types, but I always gravitated to the business side of things. I couldn’t draw, and I wasn’t great at coming up with catchy slogans, but when it came to business decisions I seemed to have a pretty good knack for things.
I obtained an internship with a company called Roberts and Associates that specialized in billboard advertising, and they hired me after graduation. I worked for them from 1993 to 1999, at which point I bought the company and built it until we had $22 million in accounts. In 2002, I had reached my goals, so I sold the company and started building houses. In 2006, I sold my share of the construction company to my partner. As you may recall, the next year the housing market cratered. I didn’t know anything special, it was just fortuitous that I got out when I did.
Looking for a new mountain to climb, my wife and I both took the rigorous training to be approved to operate a State Farm insurance agency. My other business ventures had been profitable, but with four kids we were looking for an opportunity that would provide long-term stability. Only a small percentage of participants pass the program, but we both made it. One problem: They wouldn’t give us two offices, so we had to choose who was going to take on the new challenge. I assumed it would be me, but she was itching to try it. I was excited to realize that would free me up to go fishing.
As always, there was a catch.
Two phone calls
“If you can get your fishing paid for, you can do it,” my wife said. I’m sure she figured that was a non-starter. I went up to my office and in 10 minutes I was done. I called one of my fraternity brothers, Jon Nix of National Coal, and he agreed to foot the bill for my entry fees. Then I called another good friend who was high up at Pilot Travel Centers, and he gave me a gas card.
Was I lucky to have those contacts? Of course I was, but I also believe that you make your own luck. These were powerful people to whom I’d proved my seriousness and commitment over time. I wasn’t cold-calling them.
John and I had fished together during college. Even before I had kids of my own, I coached the kids of the guys at Pilot in baseball. I didn’t do those things with an eye toward how they’d benefit me down the road, but I truly believe that good works and being a good steward led to those contacts. They knew that they could trust me, and they understood what I could give them. It was a business decision first for them, not an act of charity. If an aspiring pro angler were to ask me whether it made sense to go to college, I would point to those examples as good reasons to do so. Perhaps most importantly, when the opportunity presented itself, I knew what to ask for.
Knowing what to ask for is one of the most elemental parts of the sponsorship process, yet it’s also one of the most misunderstood. My basic theory is that you should never go out with anything less than your entry fees paid for. Fortunately, our sport has a staircase of fee schedules that makes it pretty easy: the Weekend Series and local events cost a certain amount, the Opens cost a little bit more, and the Elites are more than that.
Sponsorship associations
One of the problems I see most frequently is that younger or less experienced anglers will get up on the stage at a local tournament and thank 22 different sponsors, all of whom have given them something small, perhaps a discount off of product or a few baits. Don’t get me wrong – every little bit helps, but rather than trying to get a ton of different logos for your jersey I believe that you’re better off getting one, two or maybe three sponsorships where you can work your butt off for them and really move the needle.
In business, they call it “proof of concept,” and essentially what that means is that you show them in the short term that an association with you is going to provide a substantial long-term benefit. They may care about how many additional widgets they sell because of you, or they may just care about the additional brand awareness that you provide, but by focusing on serving a small number of “clients,” you can provide them with measurable results in the units that they specify.
Throughout my career, I’ve made it a point not to submit a proposal to anyone until I’ve had a meeting with them or at least a phone conversation. You can get a meeting with just about anyone if you work hard enough. If there’s no tie-in, it’s not worth anyone’s time to take it any further. In fact, sometimes you can gain more by admitting that there’s not a fit – the company might refer you to some other entity where a relationship would be mutually beneficial.
Again, I don’t fault the guys who take a discount on product. If that’s where you’re at in your career and that satisfies you, then go for it. I’m just saying that taking 22 discounts only gets you so far. At some point, if you’re going to treat this as a business, you need more than worms and line, and in my business experience I’ve learned that an unfocused shotgun pattern doesn’t get you there.
Other angles
I recognize that as an angler it’s my job to get the full value for what I do for a company, but I’ve seen this industry from other angles as well. With a Japanese friend I import baits from his home country. Additionally, I own a tournament trail in Tennessee. When the shoe is on the other foot, and I’m the owner of the company rather than just operating as an individual angler, I have to make choices there too. For example, the industry is now full of all sorts of incentive programs and contingency prizes. They are one of the most brilliant marketing moves I’ve ever seen – you get people to buy your product, they have to advertise for your product (in the form of a patch or sticker), and sometimes they even have to pay a fee to be a part of the program – then you pay out a fraction of that value in prizes to a few high-finishing anglers.
My trail incorporates some of those contingency programs, so far be it for me to put them down, but when I put on my “pro angler” hat, I have to consider whether they make sense for me. The conclusion that I’ve reached is that they make sense if I’m already affiliated with a company. For example, I already ran a Ranger and used Power Poles, so it was a no-brainer to enter their incentive programs. But, I’m not going to spend a lot of money to chase the chance at some more money, and I’m certainly not going to participate just to add a patch. As a businessman, that makes no sense to me.
I treat each of my business interests with the same level of seriousness and devotion. On my tournament series, I’ve had companies approach me with offers of discounts in exchange for exposure, and I turn them down every time.
One other event that I’m heavily involved in is an annual boat giveaway. Last year 20,000 people physically put their hands on that boat. That’s worth something, and I’m not going to give it away. The least expensive sponsor on my trail is $2,500, and the least expensive sponsor in the boat giveaway is my wife’s State Farm agency at $3,000. Yes, you heard that correctly – I charge my wife and she’s glad to pay it because it’s a bargain. Business is business, regardless of which side of a deal you are on.
As I stated above, I’m still a rookie. I don’t claim to have everything figured out, but I’ve had some successes and I’ve made some mistakes. I hope others can learn from them.
After spending a number of years on the FLW Tour, I feel like I’d figured how to make that model work for me, but the Elite Series is a totally different animal, so as I prepared to transition from the Opens to the Elites I had to rewrite my business plan. In some respects, I’m starting from scratch. I’ll treat each decision as a business matter, just as I would if I was running an ad agency or a construction company. It’s a challenge for everyone to figure out where they fit in, and I’ve never walked away from a challenge.
