Frozen
boxes or tubs of cookie dough are easy to use and as a foodstuff they
are consumable and promote repeat customers. What's not to like?
The
competition in the novel fundraising arena can be extreme at times and
you should be prepared with some unique fundraising ideas. To ensure
that your cookie dough fundraiser or any new fundraisers are a smashing
success here are six no nonsense, time proven unique fundraising tips.
1.) Goals
You
should set sales goals for each and every member of your sales force.
Use awards and prizes to set intermediate goals. You can actually
structure your prize program in such a manner as to predetermine your
results. There are a very few fundraising companies that have literally
turned this approach to fundraising into an art form.
2.) Get Your Sales Force Ready To Hit It Hard
One
novel fundraising tip would be to suggest that you might create a
script that your sellers can commit to memory. If possible rehearse the
script with them until they become comfortable and the flow is natural.
This actually works best with a small group. If you are in charge of a
school wide fundraiser, this is not really practical. However, that
does not mean you can not make suggestions to them about how to go
about selling the products you are sending them home with. It simply
means that in a large group, your instructions on "how to sell" will
not be heard and understood by all of them.
3.) Incentives
It
certainly is not a unique fundraising tip to perscribe that you use
incentives to motivate your sales people, but you would be surprised to
the sales statistics on the difference that a good incentive program
has on the outcome of a fundraiser. Offering prizes that are worthwhile
to win for every student or player that participates is the key to a
successful fundraising event. This is actually an understatement. I can
not tell you the number of schools that we have had double or triple
their previous year's fundraising sale because of a simple change in
the way they structured their incentive program.
4.) Timing
When
choosing your new fundraisers timing, be sure that you give plenty of
lead time to get things set up for properly promoting the sale. You
will need to organize your forces, plan your campaign, and promote your
event. Everything that you do should be done with the goal of getting
your sale started, ended and delivered on the timeline that you have
set.
When you are planning any new fundraisers you should define
a specific starting and ending date and stick to them. No one likes a
fundraiser that seems to go on forever. It is not fair to all of those
who turned their orders in on time to have to wait for delivery because
a few have trouble turning in their order forms on time.
5.) Community Awareness
Be
aware of other fundraising activities in your community and try not to
overlap with them. Many customers will purchase from the first sales
person they see in a given day or week, but may decline other offers in
the same time frame. If your fundraiser must occur in conjunction with
another ongoing campaign at or near your school, make sure that you are
not selling the same product. If you have a unique fundraising product
that no other schools in your area are doing, so much the better. At
the very least offer a brochure with larger or different selection of
goods.
6.) Let the Whole World Know
Start your advertising
campaign in a big way at least two weeks before you begin your sales
drive. Pretend that you need to let the world know about your new
fundraiser drive. It is better to assume that doing too much in this
regard is never enough. Place advertisements in the newspaper, and on
the internet as well as through email, the school marque and flyers.
Get your message out to as many people as possible.
Follow these six guidelines and you will find that your new fundraisers will be the best that they can possibly be.
