Melissa Karcher's $34,704.25 Fundraiser Success | Bovee Team Congratulates!

[ChefKarcher08]

with such a huge amount in sales, did you have any trouble with checks bouncing? Also, how many catalogs did you have to order?

how many catalogs did it take?
"i ordered 800 catalogs the first year - 600 for the fundraiser, 200 for shows and any request for extra catalogs."
i made packets for each student...these packets were made with the following (1 large manila envelope, 1 small address label, 1 shipping label [the size used for the invite using mini catalogs], 1 catalog, 3 outside order forms, 1 guest host special flyer, 1 explanation letter to parents and 1 printable postcard [i printed on both sides one side with benefits of booking a show and 1 side with common facts about pc products]
each student got a packet and parents were instructed if they needed more order forms they could be picked up from the school office. On each packet...the shipping label i made myself in microsoft word...it had a line for the students name, for the teachers name and the students goal for orders. Address label just had the packet return date on it. I made sure that the students name were on each of the order forms also, along with a code i'd made up for the grade and teacher (ie. Grade was kindergarten, teachers name was clark, code = students name -kc)...this helps later for the sorting process when product is delivered.

For those of you wondering by now...my thought process going into this (from my business standpoint) all along was simply this - "if you want to make a little money, you have to spend a little money." i had around 1800 dollars both years invested in this fundraiser, between supplies for packets and prizes for the go getters

the prizes worked like this:
Top seller over all - choice between $200 cash or ipod touch
top seller each grade level - $25 cash
top selling classroom - sweet treat party/popcorn & soda party
and then a drawing for each student that collected at least 3 orders their name went into a drawing twice for a dell netbook.
**please note all of these items i bargain shopped for, the ipod and netbook anyway, the "sweet treat party" was donated by local dairy queen and i received anonomyous donations for the cash up to $150.

You have to give the students something to work for...and even a little, the parents trust me...they'll sell for a free netbook.

i should note, this year my top seller was a kindergartener and she sold almost $1100 herself

 

[Teresa LM]

Did you sign her? LOL! Think where she could be by the time she graduates!

 

[ChefKarcher08]

With such a huge amount in sales, did you have any trouble with checks bouncing? Also, how many catalogs did you have to order?

I did not have to deal with bouncing checks, all checks were made payable to the PTA and the PTA wrote me one check when everything was totaled. I did this to avoid the bounced checks, now the credit cards were a different deal. I did have one parent with a declined card...YES this holds up the whole show...I covered it with my own personal credit card and then when it was delivered to school the principal held the entire order until the parent brought in cash. I felt I had nothing to lose with this...after all if she didn't pay me then I had some great product to add to my kitchen that I can always find use for, lol.

 

[ChefKarcher08]

Did you sign her? LOL! Think where she could be by the time she graduates!

If Cookie Lee Jewelry hadnt recruited her mom I would have, lol. I felt terrible for her mother because I'm sure she had alot of help in the sales and think of the host benefits she coulda had. But she was terrific about it and is considering hosting her own show this fall.

 

[PamperedK]

I hope I'm not asking too much but would you share any of your written materials? I'm looking to do something similar and would love some ideas.

 

[Teresa LM]

I've never heard of Cookie Lee Jewelry either. I really need to get out more! I haven't heard of so may of the other DS stuff.

I bow to you. You did great! I said after this little one that I had, "First, last, never again."

Now, I have just agreed to do another one! This would be for one of the "I was too busy" people, which she was. You have inspired me to try again and to invite others to "shoot for the stars".

I have found quite a few people that have said, "I would have ordered." So, it could have earned more but they did do great! It was short notice when this was approved and if I were ever to do it again for a big group, it would have to be different.

I had a check that seems to have blown away in the wind. Seriously. It was so windy yesterday, I almost got blown backwards, trying to go into a store. And the dirt from the parking lot was terrible with that wind. A group of people evidently did all their orders on one form and came up short. When I met the person that was trying to collect orders, she said that the wind had whipped some of the money around. I ended up with $31 short. They can't answer how this happened, so I went ahead and submitted the order, thinking that anything they didn't pay for would be mine to do whatever I please. That lady was so nice and so helpful and I think she will be doing a catalog show in the fall, after the new release.

I hope you will give us your insight on what works best, worst and what to watch out for. I know I learned a lot on my first try! I hope it was easy for you (relatively speaking. No way that could have been easy!)

 

[ChefKarcher08]

The sorting of the product, when it came, was better this year because I knew what to expect. 85 boxes is alot of boxes, I took one afternoon to inventory each box, I did this personally because I knew the product best and I wanted to know if I was missing something from the start (this had happened the year before). With all the product thats ordered...its easy to miss pick the boxes at home office, and there were a few items missing this year, but I knew this ahead of time and could prepare the order pickers for this. We put the boxes on the gym floor in rows of ten, the pick sheet that comes in box 1 tells you which box to find the item in. I sorted the order pick lists by the class code and we picked the orders one class at a time. It took 18 volunteer parents, the principal, the PTA president and myself about 4 hours on a Saturday morning to sort it all out.
If there were items missing, we kept those orders out (there were about 10 orders that weren't complete after picking all items) and when I could determine what we were missing, we noted this to the parents and let them know the item was coming. Let me note here that REGARDLESS of show type, all orders are shipped by weight (KUDOS to the shipping director at Home Office, he has his work cutout for him HOURLY ...each box is weighed and shipped by weight...which meant that we had boxes with 5 pieces of stoneware and 2 kernel cutters or 1 corn butter...an item small and easy to lose!) We had 3 evenings when the parents could come pickup the orders (the items couldn't go home on bus due to stoneware and knives) and at the end of the week I placed ONE product adjustment for the fundraiser after all the parents had time to let me know if something was wrong or missing. I only did one product adjustment because this is better at the Home Office and much easier for me to keep track of.

I did have a lot of time and even money in this fundraiser, but it has all been worthwhile, because it got my name out there to SOOO many people! I have people calling to order items and see people out everywhere and am picking up orders it seems everywhere. To help all of you understand, McLeansboro is a town of less than 3k people, the whole county probably has less than 15k...its a small community, but everywhere I go now people know me and they know they can order from me and they also know that I am willing to give for the youth in the community. And not to brag on myself, but one thing that I've heard most from people in the community is the fact that I dedicated so much time to raising funds for the kids and I don't have a child in the school district, I have a now 4 year old son and he'll be there soon...I want something good for him when he does go to school, thats the way I see it! I continue to get business...so yes it might slow business down for PC for a month or so, but it picks back up and with a positive attitude and solid host coaching...you can seriously get the sales you want regardless. Our product is something everyone can use and will use...even if they have 2 of everything!
I love what I do, and anyone can too! We have a place in every home, that's for sure! I really feel like I accomplished more than just selling alot of product and raising a great amount of money for the school...I put PC product in some homes that I'm not sure would have them without me...that makes me PROUD and feel very accomplished!
Any of you have the ability to have the same success I've felt...its out there for sure!

 

[Melissa78]

Melissa! That's great! What organization did you do it for and how did you achieve that much in sales??

It was a FR for the American Heart Assoc thru a team participating in their Annual Heart Walk (just like Relay for Life only for the AHA instead of ACS). I distributed 100 catalogs to the organization (Large healthcare system) with order forms in each and specials on a flyer stapled to inside cover. Label on front cover saying it was a FR and proceeds benefit the Heart Walk Team. The orders were dropped off in HR (oh yeah - to me! hehe) and then I did all the rest of the work. I donated 25% to them which they thought was rockin' and then I was the poor sap that did the work of sorting it when the 22 boxes arrived. I didnt want to burden others since they were doing me a favor by having it so I will say it was SOOOOO MUCH work but well worth it in the end. (Oh I also put the show online and got several online orders).

 

[ChefKelebel]

OMG! I'm so impressed It's so inspiring to hear about such a successful fundraiser. Congratulations to you, it's well deserved!!!

 

[ShellBeach]

Wow! Congrats!

.... She was looking for a "fresh" fundraising idea for the PTA, too many parents were complaining about selling "chocolates and wrapping paper or sausage and cheese". ..... I never used the 15% until after all of the orders were collected and turned in...and then I told only the school principal and PTA president, by then it didn't matter...they knew they were making almost triple what they'd made in their last 2 years fundraisers.

This gives me hope. I've tried pitching to my son's school to get rid of the wrapping paper & the trash bags they use for fundraisers. They probably get orders under $10 and not from every family, and it's still quite a bit of work to keep track of it all and get it distributed.

Can you explain more about the secret shoppers? And you paid for the prizes out-of-pocket?
Also, about keeping track of what each child sold, I'm not understanding that part.

I am glad that I set it up with individual accounts. I would feel horrible knowing that the slackers got the same cut as those that worked for it. It's more work for me but on this fund raiser, I am glad!

 

[Chef Kearns]

Thank you so much for sharing what worked for you!!

Fundraisers can be so frustrating, time consuming and painful. It is great to hear a story from someone who is doing them well. Good job!!

 

[cincychef]

And I pitched it to them like so "If each student sells atleast 40 dollars worth your profit will be roughly $4500 and I'm willing to donate half of my commission which is roughly $3000, making your profit somewhere around $7500!"

Did you donate half your commission the 2nd year too? Also did you break even or make anything the first year? I am assuming you earned a trip!

 

[Teresa LM]

Can you explain more about the secret shoppers? And you paid for the prizes out-of-pocket?
Also, about keeping track of what each child sold, I'm not understanding that part.

For my fundraiser, I had 21 kids involved. Only 7 participated. When they got their first order, I made a file in a pocket file. I put their orders and receipts into their own individual file. They will get their own portion of what they sold, coming out of the larger organization check. This way, if they sold a lot, they got a lot. I don't think I would do it this way again though and no way could you do it for a larger group.

We are in a small community, so I just picked 6 names of people that are out and about every day. I told the kids to "ask anyone that eats" if they would like to place an order. I chose the band director, the school administrator's wife, the school secretary, the lady from the Dairy Queen, a lady that has always supported the band and choir and the lady at the gas station closest to the school. I thought the incentive might get them working to ask everyone and it did inspire some of the kids. They were very excited when they heard that they had found one and had earned the bonus!

Yes, I am paying the bonus out of my own pocket. They will each get $10 for finding a secret shopper.

 

[Teresa LM]

How long did it take for them to ship your order, I wonder? And, how long before the check came?

People keep asking me about the fundraiser that I just did and I have no clue what to tell them on either question.

 

[ChefKarcher08]

I worked with the home office ahead of time Teresa, to let them know it was coming. With a fundraiser that large your Pampered Chef debit card is only valid up to 5k, anything past that has to be bank verified etc red tape etc, lol. But they set me up with a Consultant Career Solutions rep and I handled everything with her. I turned in the order on a Friday, and both years they picked it and shipped it within the week. The check was received at the school by the time I got my commission check so probably about 3 weeks tops by the time I submitted the fundraiser.

CincyChef,
I did not give them half of my commission this year, I gave them $1500 this year. I gave them that much this year because they were working to put "SmartBoard" Technology in every class room (there are 21 classrooms) and they received matching funds from an organization, my $1500 donation with matching funds bought one "SmartBoard" and thats all they really asked of me this year. And the first year, yes I did break even...my commission was 6200 dollars, I gave the school half and I still made 1300 dollars after expenses. And I did not travel last year, for personal reasons my year went downhill for awhile. However, I am excited and happy to say that with 318 dollars more in sales and 2 recruits...I will have qualified for Taste of Travel this year. However, last year I did qualify for Excellence Award in Individual Sales category...so I got my ring Now just working to add a few diamonds to it for bling No seriously, none of that really matters so much to me, its an honor to be recognized for Excellence Award etc, but its more about contributing to my community and giving to others.

 

[Teresa LM]

Thank you for the information about working with the home office. If all the kids had participated and done as well as the 10 that did participate, I might have been in some trouble with that $5000 limit. That's good to know for the future.

My fundraiser turned out exactly as I had hoped, as far as the shipment went. The delivery came yesterday and I was able to sort it and have everyone pick up their items last night, after the kid's farewell concert. There will be some people trying to pack their suitcases and get the stuff delivered today but that's the way they wanted to do it too.

I was surprised to find out that the check came yesterday too! Wow! That was fast! I didn't have the kid's accounts totaled, so they won't get their funds in their accounts until after they return home. The accountant that was working with me is going on the trip too, so the rest will get done when they get home in 10 days.

 

[ShellBeach]

....I made packets for each student...these packets were made with the following (1 large manila envelope, 1 small address label, 1 shipping label [the size used for the invite using mini catalogs], 1 catalog, 3 outside order forms, 1 guest host special flyer, 1 explanation letter to parents and 1 printable postcard [I printed on both sides one side with benefits of booking a show and 1 side with common facts about PC products]......

Melissa, could you tell us what was in the explanation letter to parents, and the what was on the postcard? Thanks!

 

[annew]

You're AMAZING!

 

[mountainmama74]

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I'm inspired to try to get something going with my childrens' school for next year! I had no idea about the $5000 limit and it never would have occurred to me to work with Home Office, so thanks for that, too!!

 

[pcdawg]

This is an amazing story. I am a primary school teacher and would love to put this into action at my own school, but I wonder if it's crossing the line of ethics. However, we have no PTO, and I put on our largest fundraiser every year which is the Fall Festival. Parents have complained and refuse to participate in the candy sales and stuff. Plus, nobody really knows where all of the money goes. Maybe if I propose this as a means to get Smartboards (since we don't have a single one) it might fly with my principal. Thank you so much for your inspiration!

 

[Bren706]

Kudos to you Melissa!!!! That is amazing all away around!