THE COMPANY
John Force Racing, Inc. (JFR), is one of America's great sports dynasties with multiple championships, hundreds of wins and a huge fan following from around the world. JFR remains the sport's undeniable "Home to Champions" as the winningest team in motorsports history.
Starting in 1993, John Force won 10 straight NHRA titles, dominating like no other driver or athlete in history. JFR became the first multi-car team with a lineup of talented young drivers throughout the years including Force’s daughters who followed in his footsteps. They were featured on their own reality show, Driving Force on A&E, and their fanbase grew as fans, sponsors and the media loved the family dynamic of the team.
In 2017, JFR rewrote their own record books winning both the Top Fuel and Funny Car championships in the same season. Brittany Force broke through for the first JFR Top Fuel championship and Robert Hight took home his second Funny Car title. Both drivers dominated in the Countdown.
The company has offices located in both Yorba Linda, Calif. and Brownsburg, Ind. In total, JFR has earned 21 NHRA championships and claimed 282 professional victories in Funny Car (271) and Top Fuel (10). The team is comprised of owner and driver John Force, Robert Hight, and Brittany Force. John is a 16-time Funny Car world champion, 1996 Driver of the Year for all of American motor racing, 2011 International Motorsports Hall of Fame inductee, and driver of the PEAK / BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, JFR is additionally comprised of Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS driver Robert Hight is the 2019, 2017 and 2009 Funny Car world champion and 2005 NHRA Rookie of the Year driving in the Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camero SS. As well, 2017 Top Fuel world champion and 2013 NHRA Rookie of the Year, Brittany Force, drives the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac car...
THE POSITION
Our client wishes to attract an outstanding professional to become Senior Vice President – Business Development for the company. The successful candidate will be responsible growing the overall revenue for JFR through the pursuit of world class sponsors and partnerships for all John Force Racing programs and operations, including Top Fuel (NHRA), Funny Car (NHRA), JF Entertainment, and other assets owned by JFR. This includes the introduction, negotiating and closing of single-year and multi-year sponsorship programs and the development of a world class sponsorship sales organization. The successful candidate can be located in the Yorba Linda, CA or Indianapolis, IN offices.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
· Initiate opportunities, lead development process, close, and help activate sponsorship opportunities for the organization. This includes managing contract negotiations, asset allocations and deal components.
· Ability to grow the total revenue of the organization including John Force Racing, John Force Entertainment, the Yorba Linda Shop, and the Indianapolis Shop. Create new platforms that deliver value to sponsors beyond stickers on cars. These platforms could include but are not limited to: digital media, content production/distribution, esports, sports betting/gaming, and non-fungible tokens (NFT).
· Work with company executive team to coordinate the writing and signing of agreements and contracts that reflect the agreed upon sponsor-team relationship.
· Provide all the administrative functions including budgeting, margin structure & management, project budgeting and oversight, analyzing and summarizing data trends & metrics and marketplace intellectual capital providing the sales organization and the company the ability to be successful. Provide leadership for the execution development, delivery, and presentation of proposals. Build ROI support and strategies enabling corporate partners to justify the buy.
· Anticipate market trends in sports and entertainment sponsorship competitive activities and customer’s strategies to identify and size appropriate opportunities for the company. Maintain competitive analyses of all similar sales deals within the sports, entertainment, and other pertinent industries.
· Assess present sales structure and develop a comprehensive plan to create a world class, proactive organization to maximize the ability to increase the company’s sales and margin goals. Present to Team Owner/CEO and President and when approved, implement necessary changes.
· Recruit, develop, and train a topflight sponsorship sales team, in the near future, to enable the organization to achieve its sales and profit potential. When appropriate, accompany sales professionals on calls, providing assistance in the targeting of opportunities and conversion to innovative and profitable business.
· Continue to build strong relationships with present sponsorship partners working with professionals at all levels to truly understand their business and sales strategies in order to enhance present sponsorship relationships. Oversee sales cycle from early-stage involvement such as concept of item to market.
· Create an entrepreneurial environment and culture that strives to consistently develop new, innovative, customized value-added opportunities for the company’s sponsorship clients.
· Contribute to the leadership team in the development of both tactical and strategic plans. Constantly monitor market and competition activities and provide feedback to Team Owner/ CEO, President and other members of the leadership team and other functional areas when appropriate. Cultivate strong working relationship and communication between all departments within the company.
· Maintain industry knowledge by continual participation in educational opportunities, monitoring publications, maintaining personal networks, participation in professional organizations and industry meetings.
· When appropriate, attend pertinent race events and ensure all sponsors, sponsor-partners, potential sponsors, and guests understand and receive appropriate entertainment value for their contributions to the teams. In addition, represent the company demonstrating potential value to prospective sponsor organizations of involvement with John Force Racing in motorsports.
QUALIFICATIONS
A. Experience
· 10 to 15 years’ experience in successful sales and sales management with a minimum of 5 years in a significant leadership position. This must include selling solutions within a business-to-business market and a track record of effectively creating a robust pipeline of profitable sales.
· Demonstrated track record of developing, managing, and closing six, seven, and eight figure multi-year sponsorship deals with multiple deal elements including (but not limited to) sponsorship, media, marketing and on-site activation in the sports, entertainment or other pertinent industry where one is selling an intangible product or service.
· Experience in a conceptual sales and marketing environment. Track record of success in creating unique concepts through aggregating assets, developing a value proposition, and establishing premium pricing.
· Strong negotiation skills and a track record of effectively completing contracts with business partners is necessary; A very strong understanding of business and how businesses operate is necessary; this includes solid analytical skills and understanding of P&L’s; some acumen in contract law would be helpful.
· A strong aptitude and understanding of digital and other media assets and offerings.
· Proven ability to successfully operate among senior executive levels on the client side up to and including C-Suite executives.
· Experience in some of the following areas would be helpful:
o Brand building management
o Advertising and public relations
o Promotions
B. Education
An undergraduate degree is necessary. An advanced degree, with preference for an MBA, would be an asset.
C. Personal
The successful candidate should possess many of the following characteristics:
· A conceptual thinker, energetic, resourceful, and able to operate with minimal directions. Pursues objectives relentlessly and serves as an effective role model in terms of personal commitment and excellence.
· Superior verbal and written communications skills are necessary.
· Infectious enthusiasm and high energy level with an unyielding commitment to success.
· A very professional executive presence, persuasiveness, and the ability to articulate well, both verbally and in writing.
· Drive, maturity, self-motivation, success orientation, and the ability to function both independently and as a member of a team.
· Assertiveness, with strong self-esteem and self-confidence, balanced with a sensitivity toward and concern for other people.
· Ability to create strong morale in teams, share successes and wins, foster open dialogue, and promote team success.
· Leadership and the ability to source, recruit, develop, challenge, motivate and retain top-notch professionals.
· Risk taker with an entrepreneurial spirit.
· Passion for Motorsports preferred
D. Travel
Travel as needed
TO APPLY FOR ONE OF THIS ROLE PLEASE EMAIL DAN@ASCENSION-SPORTS.NET AND ATTACH YOUR RESUME/CV FOR CONSIDERATION. PLEASE UNDERSTAND DUE TO THE NUMBER OF APPLICATIONS WE WILL ONLY BE SCHEDULING FOLLOW UP PHONE CALLS WITH THOSE CANDIDATES WHO BEST MEET THE NEEDS OF THE ROLE AND JOHN FORCE RACING.
