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I hear this at the end of every Fall fundraising season... "I wish we had done better." Or, "I don't know what happened, but we didn't do as well as I thought we should have."
We hear stories like this alot because we run hundreds of school fundraisers every semester, I can tell you my take on "WHY" most of these groups didn't meet their expectations. The only problem with me saying it is that most people seem to nod their head in agreement (just being nice) and then go on their way forgetting the piece of gold they are hearing simply because it sounds to easy to fix or it goes against their own idea
of what works and what doesn't.
I can say that without a doubt I can tell you that as long as a school does a main stream product line in their fundraiser, they can and do have above average sales IF they do one thing. One simple thing, that's it. The answer to a great fundraising program can be summarized in three words... Do Great Prizes!
That's it! If you do average prizes you will have an average sale. If you skimp on prizes, you will have a poor sale. If you partner with your fundraising company and go whole hog into giving premium prizes you will make more money than you thought possible. Period. The fact don't lie.
This is not my opinion. This is based on the results that even you could take a look at on our website. If you "Wow" the students and families with the prizes and incentives you offer with your fundraiser, they will "Wow" you with the results that you did not expect. In short, if you make it worth their while to participate in your school fundraising drive, they more than likely will do just that... participate!
And participation is where you make your money.
The method of going about how you put the "Wow" in your incentive program is a little more involved that adding a drawing for a 40 gig IPod, but it is pretty simple. In fact, if all you do is add a $200 IPod or Xbox game as your top seller prize, the only thing that will happen is you'll waste $200.
But, there is a way to structure your "Wow" factor that will increase your participation and the level of that participation. In most cases, the first time you set up your incentive program in a "Wow" way, you'll more than likely see anywhere from a 40% - 200% increase in your previous sales.
Well, like I said earlier, this is too simple and the claim just a little too far fetched for many people to actually believe it. It's simplicity and outlandish nature however, does not change the fact that it works for school fundraisers almost every time it is tried. Period.
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