Show 'em the Book

Suggestions to a fundraising chairperson to give your group a great start

A fundraiser will be more successful if you can have a kickoff meeting to explain to your members what they are selling, what the fundraising needs and goals are, and set the end date to collect remaining books and money. And of course distribute the Attractions books to your members to sell!

In your distribution talk, always remember to:

• Set clear goals for your fundraiser: extremely important!

  For example: 100 books sold = $1,000
  For 33 members, thats only three books sold per person!
  This is a much smaller number that won't intimidate people from feeling like they can help reach your fundraising goals.

• Tell your members what the money will be used for.

  If the money will go to new uniforms, its important members know that. Knowing why they are raising money will help keep your members focused and selling.

• Ask for 100% participation from your group to lighten the workload.

  If everyone participates, you will see more competition among members to sell the most books, and everyone will try harder to reach the "number of books per person" goal.
  Also, when everyone who is participating knows a fundraiser is going well, it gains an extra energy to sell books easily. Suddenly your group has charged past its fundraisng goal in a very short time! Your group can maximize this benefit by having every member involved in selling.

• Select a committee of volunteers to help you.

  Attractions is here to help you in any way we can, but the motivation to sell is stronger among your members with personal relationships. Enlist several people to be your cheerleaders and share the fundraising message. It needs to come from your group, not from one individual.

  Feel free to call Attractions for help. We are going to be best at helping you with logistics (delivering flyers, packing books, etc), but we are also committed to making your fundraiser successful any way we can.

• Mention ten restaurants that you think will be popular with your group.

  Is the pizza parlor where the ball team goes after home games listed? (We hope so)
  Is the new fine dining restaurant listed?
  Mention the pizza places again.
  A local or chain ice cream parlor is another good pick.
  The first two pages of the Fun & Savings section will both be winners.

• Set an end date for your fundraiser (and stick to it).

  This is another important part of setting goals. Select an exact date to have all remaining money and books turned in. If you think your group is really forgetful, you can move the deadline up a week from the real deadline to get everything back in. Plan on your fundraiser running about 30-35 days.

• Distribute the books!

  Count on everyone being excited by this point! If this is your first year fundraising with Attractions, distribute no more than two books per member at the first meeting. One copy is usually purchased by the members family, and the other copy can be used with a sign up sheet to take more orders.

  Count on your committee to help distribute books and control the rush of eager people. Books may take a few minutes to pass out, and you should have someone ready to keep record of who has received books and who has not. Start distributing early enough that you finish before everyone runs leave to catch their ride, bus, etc.

  Once the books are passed out, people will be looking (at the book), but probably not listening for the first few minutes. Hopefully you said everything important before now!

The "No-Fail" sell

Tell your group how the saving add up to quickly exceed the retail price of the Attractions book.

• Home Depot coupons for a $50 savings!
• Dick's Sporting Goods for $40 in savings!
• Pizza coupons worth over $200!

The following blurbs will also get your group excited about selling the Attractions book:

• Use the book once or twice and it pays for itself!!
• Coupons won't expire until January 1, 2010.
• Huge Profit for your group! With up to $10.00 profit for each book sold, every sale is a huge step towards your goal!
• Just take Attractions books to work, and SHOW'EM THE BOOK!! They will want to buy it.
• The books sell easily but you've got to SHOW'EM THE BOOK!

Make copies of the Attractions sales flyers to distribute before the meeting. (Our custom flyers are available here!). Distribute them during the meeting and ask people to hang them up at work and put in people's boxes. Ask people to put their contact information on the flyers first.