In nearly 10 years of reviewing athlete sponsorship proposals for my previous employer, I’m sad to reveal that I saw very few good ones. That doesn’t mean that had they been better, their authors would have had any better chance of lucrative endorsement deals. What it means is that if you’re going to take the time to write a sponsorship proposal and send it, why not make it as strong as possible? Even if you get rejected, atleast you’ll have respect.

So with that in mind, here are 5 tips to making sure your proposal gets to spend atleast an afternoon on a Team Manager’s desk, or maybe longer…after all, they could be traveling on business.

1. Do your homework. Is the company you are pitching big or small? Core or mainstream? Check their website. Do they have athletes like you anywhere in their portfolio, ie a grom squad, a flow program, a vast collection of people that they call their “Army” or something slightly clever like that? Or are they filled with the creme-de-la-creme of people in your sport? Because if you’ve never filmed a full segment with a world-class film company or won a major contest before, you probably shouldn’t be sending a proposal to rock a major department store’s logos on your gloves.

2. Keep it short and simple. No matter how many contests you’ve won, or how much editorial coverage you’ve received, no one cares that you were 4th place in your county rollerblade race in 1993. Your contest results should note podiums and best tricks only. Editorial should be limited to major endemic publications at a minimum. If you don’t have these yet, you may want to think twice about submitting a proposal for sponsorship at all right now. Get back out there, keep practicing, and set your goals. (*Exception to this rule: Skier Dan Treadway once gave me a 100-page book of his editorial coverage. When I asked him who tracked all his coverage over his career, he said, “no one, but my girlfriend did this one for me just from last season.” Dan didn’t get an official sponsorship, but that was so hot we gave him a gas card for his sled and truck for 3 or 4 years)

3. Make it Pop. You shouldn’t be surprised to hear that your proposal is one of five, one of ten, one of fifty that the TM for Massive and Amazing Brand X receives every week. TM’s are inundated with proposals, so they barely have time to leaf through them when they arrive bundled in with their current athlete roster invoices, mag subscriptions, and court subpoenas. OK, hopefully not subpoenas. But in any case, your proposal absolutely must stand-out to have a shot. What does that mean? What pops and what doesn’t? Here is a quick list for reference:

POPS:
– Prominent action-sports magazine cover photo of you tightly cropped, scanned as .jpg, and used as your cover sheet
– A simple, tight layout that demonstrates your successes, coverage, and goals for the future in 2 pages or less
– Typing in big letters, “PLEASE DON’T THROW ME IN THE GARBAGE. PLEASE DON’T THROW ME IN THE GARBAGE. PLEASE DON’T THROW ME IN THE GARBAGE (until you’ve atleast read me).”
– Good, tasteful accent colors – orange, gray, red, etc. Anything Nixon would use.

DOES NOT POP:
– Photo of you with your cat, dog, car, highschool girlfriend, headshot (no matter how pro it is, save it for page two) as cover page
– Fun typefaces that look great to a 9 year old. Save the funny fonts for your next homemade Birthday card for Mom or Dad. Use a simple, pro font for your proposal
-Any font colors other than black. Sorry, but this is not open for discussion

4. Manage your expectations. If a Team Manager wants to sign you, 95% of the time they will find you via their vast network of other athletes, media, industry, and coaches. So if you’re fortunate enough to be part of the other 5% of cases, be prepared to start at the bottom. What does that mean? That means often being content to start with product-only deals. From there, you can work your way up to some light travel support (or as other TM’s call it, “a couple favors”), and/or a photo incentive, until finally actually making a legitimate retainer for representing a product.

5. Be persistent, but don’t be a pest. Note that the word ‘pest’ is part of the word PErSTent. There’s nothing wrong with attempting to contact an individual whom you’ve emailed or mailed a proposal to. But to pursue them with the fervor of your first high school sweetheart could lead you into the dangerous territory of becoming an industry goat. Emailing, calling, or Facebooking a decision-maker to-death won’t get you anywhere. In fact, if they had previously liked your proposal, this can actually work against you. So what’s the right amount of time to wait before making your first follow-up inquiry following your proposal? Your first communication may take place within 2 weeks of the date that you believe your proposal should have been received. This is usually the “Hi, __________. Just wanted to make sure you received my sponsorship proposal. If you didn’t, or if you have any questions, please contact me at ___________. Thanks, Jose!” But for your next follow-up, you should wait atleast 6 weeks. Why? Because assuming that the TM you’ve pitched ever reviews their proposals (more likely, their intern, or merely their weekly garbage collector), they certainly do not do it frequently. So cast your net in the first couple weeks, hoping you get lucky and catch the TM top-of-mind about your glowing proposal, and if not, try to grab them on this next round. After that, your chances of hearing back decline significantly, however, you shouldn’t feel badly about a 3rd or 4th inquiry in a 3-month period. After all, this is technically part of the job of being a TM. Its just the part that they forget the fastest.

The road to getting signed to your favorite company isn’t named “Easy Street,” and your talent, attitude, and connectivity will all get you further than a great proposal. But heck, if you’re going to take the time to put a written proposal together and send it in, you might as well make it count for something. Good luck.