Fundraiser Flop: How Do I Not Get Discouraged?

[krzymomof4]

I am trying so hard not to get discouraged, but it is sooo hard. To make a long story short, I just closed my first fundraiser. I was so excited because I was expecting it to be at least $1000 in sales. When I met with the chairperson to close the show, the total was only $465. She said everybody ran into the same things...I just bought something from another show, or the biggest one was that stuff is just too expensive. I am having trouble wrapping my brain around this. I don't know what else I could have done. There was only 2 bookings from it (the chairperson and her mother, but both are catalog shows).
How do you not get discouraged from doing another fundraiser? It was nothing at all like I had hoped.

Leslie

 

[Christa]

Try not to be discouraged. I knw its hard. My first F/R was a flop, but I got a call for one next month and I think it will be better because the host is motivated. I can not understand people thinking PC stuff is too expensive. There's so much in the catalog that's not. When I was just a customer, I never felt that way-anything I couldn't afford made me want to have a show every 6 months to get it!

Hang in there!

 

[MicheleC]

It's easy to set your hopes high on fundraisers but so much depends on the support of a large number of people to make it a success. Unfortunately there are still a lot of people who don't know the quality of a PC product and the fundraisers. I don't know what your average show is but that's close to my average so don't feel too bad about it. Maybe something will come of the catalog shows. Just like all cooking shows aren't great so all fundraisers won't be great. Don't give up on them as they're still a great area to expand your business!

Michele

 

[annew]

Well I just had a Relay for Life FR that was a flop too! My sister's team has 21 people so I was thinking how hard is it to collect 100/person....well obviously too hard. I'm not sure what the sales are but only 9 team members showed up to the BINGO! We'll see what it actually turns out to be. I'm trying to keep my head up too so don't feel bad

Anne
in NY

 

[pchefinski]

I'm wanting to pump up my fundraisers, so when I talk to the contact in setting it up, I'm letting them know that $100 per person IS really easy -- the average TPC order is $35 to $40 (for me anyway) so each person just has to get 3 orders --- that's it! Maybe if instead of $100 per person, you should try 5 orders per person. If the average order is placed, that person could get almost $200 in orders.. Offer a little competition (nothing too huge) by giving a gift (season's best cookbook, quikcut knife or bamboo tongs) to whoever gets $100 in orders.

 

[DebbieSAChef]

Products for everyoneMaybe next time have a sheet typed up with products that are priced under $10 and $20. That way everyone can help. I have a fundraiser coming up in August and I know it will be a good idea for those who think our products are too expensive...that just means that they have spent their money on other things at the moment and can't afford another purchase.
Our products are not expensive considering their high quality, warranty and the many uses each product has. Most people go out to eat and spend more than they would on some of our higher priced items and they would have something to show for it.
Anyway I plan to use this idea for my fundraiser. Since we have our 3.5 cents discount at Copy Max I plan to take advantage of this. There are I believe 30 cheerleaders and I want them all to get involved so I am offering the highest in sales a gift card to either a movie theater, depending on ages maybe toys r us, or even to a cheerleading supply store!!
Better luck next time. This business is full of disappointments but when we get a big wonderful show, it makes the disappointments disappear!! AT least until the next one comes...LOL Don't forget to have fun!!
DEBBIE

 

[PampMomof3]

My first fundraiser was a complete flop! It was for a middle school and they were trying to raise funds to go to Universal Islands of Adventure. The school had catalogs for 2 weeks prior and our thought was that I would get there to do a final cooking show well, about 10 people showed up but they didn't even know why they were there! It was terrible. I did get a $40 order that night but that was it.

I did a fundraiser on April 1st (this Saturday) and right now the sales are at $735! The pre-teen is trying to raise money to go to Washington D.C. I hope the sales get bigger!! I am pleased with the outcome though!

 

[spoiledchef]

I've got two fundraisers going on this month, and I'm hoping they're successful. But -- what I've found is that people want to see the MONEY that's in it. So, I made sure that EACH packet had a copy of the profit breakdown. One fundraiser is for my son's preschool, and they have 40 students. So, I'm asking each child to get 5 orders. I then gave the profit breakdown for $30 and $50 orders. So, by actually seeing how MUCH the preschool can earn, I'm really hoping they'll WANT to succeed. I don't know if you did this, but if not, try it next time. I'll have to report back in May (when I'm submitting mine) to let everyone know if it helped at all.

 

[AlowayFamily]

Sherrie,

How did your fundraiser go? Can you give me an idea of how you showed the breakdown of the profit on your sheet? I want to do this, but I am mathematically challenged and I want to make sure I do the breakdow right.

Thanks!

 

[CarlyK]

There is a flyer that has the breakdown. I'm not sure if that is what she is talking about, but I will post it anyways for you to see!

 

[AlowayFamily]

Thanks Carly - that is helpful!

 

[gilliandanielle]

I am also very discouraged by my lack of success in the fundraiser department. I am just trying to think positivly and make a list of things that I wish I had done (send a mailer to all past guests, put up flyers anywhere with a board, etc.) then I can use it next year when I do HWC. In the fall when school starts I am going to send an info packet out to all the PTA chairpersons in my area, then call to see if they have questions. The only way I can move on from my dissapointment is to look forward to doing better next time.

 

[RachelNguyen]

I think that Fundraisers are the one thing that PC could do better. I would love to see a rate of 20% for them. It is really hard to sell 10 to 15% if you ask me. And I don't want to have to contribute my own commissions just to get the rate into a reasonable range.

I just had my first fundraiser last week and it was kind of a bust too. Less than $400 in sales. I learned from it, though and will probably do better next time!

 

[jwpamp]

Hey, I had a Fundraiser that raised NO funds...not a dime! The chairperson had my info, 20 catalogs, order forms, HWC pins for all the order takers (10 of them) and a bunch of other info. but NO orders...I offered to meet with the RFL team and give them the info, ordering ideas, etc, but she said they were all too busy for that and she would deliver the catalogs to them and give them info.

No, really....NO FUNDS!