big sponsors hate good teams

[mipo0707]

why is that so many successful teams dont get the big or even enough sponsorships?
like just why? they r successful just help them a bit and in return they will advertise ur company,
u will feel good that u helped a team and so many kids on that team

[magnets]

This isn't true. Talk to 254. They're incredibly successful, and sponsors love them. I talked to some of their members in St. Louis, and the sponsor program they have is amazing.

[bobjones227]

Don't be so hasty with your conclusions. There are plenty of successful teams that have many sponsors that are also large.

[evanperryg]

This isn't true in the slightest. Actually, the most successful teams often have a lot of sponsors, including some very big ones.

[z_beeblebrox]

I'd say that it's hard for any FRC team to get big sponsorships, not just good teams.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by mipo0707

why is that so many successful teams dont get the big or even enough sponsorships?
like just why? they r successful just help them a bit and in return they will advertise ur company,
u will feel good that u helped a team and so many kids on that team

I believe it is 'true'. There are indeed 'many' successful teams that don't get a high level of sponsorship. But as prior responses say, there are ALSO many successful teams that DO get a high level of sponsorship.

There are also teams that have a high level of sponsorship, yet are not 'successful' (by various metrics of success.)

A successful team first needs good people (quality/skilled mentors/students) to be successful-- they can often be successful with lower sponsorship because of factors other than $ and sponsor resources.

I suspect a team having trouble getting sponsorship is due to either a lack of local willing sponsors and/or a lack of effort (or the wrong type of effort) by the team to recruit and retain sponsors.

[artK]

Originally Posted by mipo0707

why is that so many successful teams dont get the big or even enough sponsorships?
like just why? they r successful just help them a bit and in return they will advertise ur company,
u will feel good that u helped a team and so many kids on that team

You seem to make a number of assumptions about a successful team. I recommend you take a read of this post about what successful teams do, especially stereotypes #1 and #2, which goes into monetary and machining resources of some successful teams.

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by artK

You seem to make a number of assumptions about a successful team. I recommend you take a read of this post about what successful teams do, especially stereotypes #1 and #2, which goes into monetary and machining resources of some successful teams.

I think the OP is concerned that some teams he or she is familiar with have found success and are disappointed that attempts to recruit additional or 'big' sponsors have not met with success.

If anything, the presumption was that many successful teams are not able to become 'rich' despite being successful. The referenced post is about teams thinking that all successful teams must be 'rich' (and other stuff.) That's a different issue.

[Michael Hill]

In my experience, big sponsors will sponsor a successful team over an unsuccessful one. Marketing departments tend to like their brand to be associated with winning. Sad, but true. If you're a team that performs well at competition, but still no big sponsors, I would suggest doing more outside of just your robot (outreach events). If companies see you're out in the community and supporting the community and doing good things, it's very easy to justify a sponsorship. Perhaps you also need to learn how to talk to potential sponsors. Unfortunately, that's a big personality thing. Find the kids most enthusiastic about robots and your team and have them approach the company. Only very rarely do mentors on our team approach a company. Most of our sponsorship comes from kids pounding the pavement and basically doing cold calls. We publish an annual sponsor book and place those in the businesses that sponsor us (as well as in the chamber of commerce). Some other team told us about this fund raising idea (sorry I forget who it was), but it has had very good results. We have best results when kids bring a robot with them.

In fact, we only have a few "big" sponsors. We get a lot from local places giving smaller amounts. In a way, I like to think it's more stable (though more difficult). If one of our big sponsors pulls out, we're not dead in the water money-wise.

[bkahl]

This thread is cute.

[Sperkowsky]

Getting sponsors is all about impression. We are a tiny team who finished last place in the sbpli regional. Yet we got northop grumman and cable vision to sponsor us.

Sponsors don't care much about the quality of the team.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by bkahl

This thread is cute.

195 is the perfect example of a good team with more sponsors than I can count.

[jman4747]

Some teams have large sponsors some teams don't. Others have a long sponsor list some don't. If you have enough money you will do okay. What enough is varies a lot though.

I think mentors matter more in the long run so long as you:

1. Can register ($5,000)

2. Can buy robot parts ($2,000 - $5,000)

3. Have basic shop tools (???) Tool donations = victory

4. Matirial/Product/Tool Donations = Victory

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Getting sponsors is all about impression. We are a tiny team who finished last place in the sbpli regional. Yet we got northop grumman and cable vision to sponsor us.

Sponsors don't care much about the quality of the team.

Yes and no. I can't speak for all sponsors, but Bosch does care about the quality of the team though not as much the performance of the robot. If we were cussing and carrying on and being stupid at events, I would not expect to stay a Bosch team. If we were seeded dead last but doing the right things and presenting ourselves well? Fair shot.

[Jared Russell]

With each passing year I realize more and more that getting sponsors has almost nothing to do with on-field success, and everything to do with your tenacity in going out and getting sponsors.