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Scanner Friendly Suppliers “I have offended God and mankind because my work didn’t reach the quality it should have.” -Leonardo da Vinci New this month - Integra Products
“A Lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.” -Mark Twain Rus Lemieux for your note from AFRDS saying that you appreciated the “fair treatment” of the room situation at the Las Vegas MGM Grand. Dave Mattice – and welcome to a new RUNTIME participant. We’ve known Dave for several years and will vouch for his integrity. If you like what you see, I know he’ll work hard for you. Give him a call. Neal Adamcik for mailing with us again this month. “Man - a creature made at the end of the week’s work when God was tired.” -Mark Twain Over the past several years of mailing RUNTIME, there are some principles that I have learned in regard to newsletter mailings. Obviously, I break all the “how to write newsletters” rules by putting out a nearly all text publication. But, as long as I meet any of the following criteria, there is significant response. Let me tell you what they are and see if they are applicable to your school mailings.
Applying these principles to your school mailing programThe mail listHow much information do you have about your recipients? Are you mailing to “Attn Prin” or “Attn PTA President”? Consider your response when you get one of those “Current Resident” mailings. Not personal. Not interested, right? It is relatively easy to get principals’ names from a current school directory. Make sure it is current, however, because those people move around a lot, especially in larger city corporations. There are also sources of PTA names from list specialists. If you’re sending $2.50 in brochures and materials and paying for postage, spending a little extra to increase the likelihood that it will get to the right person is a wise investment. Keep track of who you mail to and who you hear from. The best way to do that is with a contact management program. QDP’s February issue of PRIORITY News focused on the contact management program we use. Mail regularly - but not everything all the timeThere have been a few times where someone mails with us one time and stops because the particular item they were promoting did not hit a hot button and generate high response. Especially with schools, who do already get stacks of mail, you need to establish yourself as a regular. Don’t take my plain gray envelope as your example, unless you want to establish that as your recognizable feature. There are several creative ways to design your envelope to attract attention. Pick an idea and stay with it for a while. How often should you mail to schools? Obviously, there are just a couple times when sending brochures for the timely receipt of decision-makers is prime. But you don’t always have to send your heavy-duty mailing. Perhaps 2-3 other times throughout the year you could send your Newsletter, a Christmas Card, and invitation to your showroom, or announcements about your booth at the Principal or PTA conventions. A Deal with a Discount and a DeadlineThe car dealers do it. Ask one when the best time of the year is to buy a car? There’s the Tax Time emphasis, the New Model Emphasis, the End of the Year Specials and new model introductions. Our suppliers do it with their Early Buys. Many distributors use various Early Sign Bonuses. That certainly qualifies. We have sometimes promoted “Bonus Programs”, brochures or products from suppliers where we have a higher markup and can offer something extra to the first group in each area to commit to it. Make sure you have a deadline with your discounts. Most people wait ‘til the last minute, and some even call the week after. I ought to share with you sometime a list of the excuses why someone did not call before the deadline. But you need that extra incentive to do something now rather than later. Give ‘em a reason to open the envelopeDo you offer samples for those who respond? Ever send one with your mailing? I always open the envelope from the personalized pen people because there’s always a pen inside. What do you do with your leftover 2-yr calendars, for example? Or, you could write about educational concerns. William Bennett has a new book called Our Sacred Honor that is a collection of quotes and speeches from our founding fathers that you never heard of in your public school education. A unique hurdle in this regard, however, is the fact that the parent leadership changes yearly so the challenge to get them to open the envelope returns to something they will see on the outside of the envelope. Have you seen those mailers with one entire side as clear, displaying one of your brochures? “To do great important tasks, two things are necessary, a plan and not quite enough time.” -Anonymous “I try to take one day at a time, but sometimes several days attack me at once.” -Ashleigh Brilliant The first time I experienced collection was my first year in the business, 17 years ago. It almost cost me my job with a national company when I had three groups in one year fail to pay. I was told I needed to screen my accounts better. One was a bowling league on an Air Force Base. When they didn’t want to talk, they just didn’t clear me through the front gate. It only took the security guard about 5 seconds to convince me that I wasn’t getting past the gate without clearance, whether they owed me money or not. The second was a church youth group. That was before I learned that some groups calling themselves Christian are among the highest of the risk groups. The sponsor eventually signed her paycheck over to me in her living room. And the third was a Girl Scout troop that was led by the secretary at a Lutheran School I had worked with. The Air Force, the Girl Scouts and the Church – I had no idea they could be so tough. If you’re in one of those areas where everything is pre-pay, then you don’t have any of this. Although I’m still convinced I average more per seller than when pre-pay, I do have to put up with hard to collect from groups. The most frustrating are Day Cares. Day Cares are great to work with, high loyalty, high production… but with everything from franchised sites to church-run mission projects, to the group that uses the profit to meet this week’s payroll, they can be a challenge. It seems that this year we’ve struggled more with collecting those accounts than usual. See what you think of the results of an attorney letter and contact. Obviously, since this letter does go to in-state competitors, the names have been altered, but the stories are true. Church Name Day Care is connected with a local church. They had a small, but successful sale. Everything went smoothly except the payment. Early on, we were told that several people didn’t turn in their money and they didn’t have the money to pay the bill, but they would make payments if we would only give them some time. Numerous statements, letters and phone calls accomplished nothing. I even left messages on the church’s answering machine for the pastor, who never returned a call. After Max’s first letter, we heard from the pastor indicating 50% is on the way immediately and the balance will be here in two weeks. As of this writing, we’re in the midst of that one, so I cannot report final and complete success yet. Kids Are Important To Us Day Care had a significant candy bar sale. When the rep stopped by a month after delivery, they had no candy to return, so he left their final billing. No payment. After mailing a couple statements, we began calling. “I don’t know why she hasn’t paid that” was one of the typical responses. Then we heard an interesting story from the new owner. Since we failed to pick up the candy, mice got into it and they had to throw it all away. The claim was that they had called us monthly with zero response and so it was our fault and we should even pay them the expense they had of someone having to clean up the mess. Their first response to the attorney letter was anger. They were going to report us to a whole list of agencies. They were going to file a counter suit if we started action. They were going to get their lawyer involved. After a couple phone contacts from our attorney, there was the offer to pay by credit card. No deal. Just this week, we received the money order for the entire amount. Hometown Guard, a band Flag Corps that got our name from some list, called and ordered a small amount of candy and then ignored every attempt to collect. The principal said it was a band thing. The band director claimed it was a guard thing, and the guard person refused to respond. So, Max sent letters to both the high school principal and the guard person. Payment in full. Closed for Good High School. Now that’s the trick. Run fundraising accounts and close the school. Actually, this one is not concluded yet, but as long as the school system is in place, Max thinks we have a chance. We’re going for it. Part of our difficulties are our own fault. Probably like you, we don’t like to “hassel” our customers. So when a rep is slow to follow-up and close the account, or when we are hesitant to mail a statement or make a phone call, we increase the opportunity for collection headaches. I’ve never experienced such a successful ratio, even from collection agencies. When I asked permission to promote his efforts in RUNTIME, he offered to include the following for your consideration. Perhaps I should negotiate a sales commission for QDP, you think? I hope you’ll take him up on whatever he offers. “I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it.” -Jonathon Winters
and comments as they relate to QDP Too hot in the office. We actually have people move to specific areas to avoid air conditioning. Too cold in the coffee. Never heard that one. Not enough storage/filing space in workstations. Mega-dittos here. Poor Janitorial Services. My partner’s wife does that, so I’d better not comment. Poor air quality. Not here. We’re out in the country and often open windows. Not enough conference rooms. We have zero. Workstation / office too small. Probably, but I haven’t heard it. Elevators too slow. Obviously not a fundraiser specific list, right? Inadequate parking. Absolutely. Uncomfortable chairs. We normally address that when we hear it. -Italics from The International Facility Management Association A politically correct introduction “Distinguished faculty, parents, friends, graduating seniors, Secret Service Agents, class agents, people of class, people of color, colorful people, people of height, the vertically constrained, people of hair, the differently coiffed, the optically challenged, the temporarily sighted, the insightful, the out of sight, the out-of-towners, the Eurocentrics, the Afrocentrics, the Afrocentrics with Eurailpasses, the eccentrically inclined, the sexually disinclined, people of sex, sexy people, sexist pigs, animal companions, friends of the earth, friends of the boss, the temporarily employed, the differently employed, the differently optioned, people with options, people with stock options, the divesturists, the econstructionists, the home constructionists, the home boys, the homeless, the temporarily housed at home, and, God save us, the permanently housed at home.” -from an opening speech by Gary Trudeau, the Doonesbury cartoonist, at Yale University’s Class Day. “Struggle always comes before success. For most artists, when they have arrived at what the public and the critics term success… all the pain and struggle - all the strife that preceded - is forgotten.” -Jascha Heifetz, violinist “Many persons thing that by hoarding money they are gaining safety for themselves. If money is your only hope for independence, you will never have it. The only real security that a person can have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. Without these qualities, money is practically useless.” -Henry Ford It’s not what you say but how you say it.First Impression Voice = 37% Appearance = 55% Content = 8% -Successful Meetings, 633 Third Ave., NY 10017 In mid to late August and through most of September, you’re feverishly kicking off fundraising projects. You’re typing and printing parent letters, stuffing brochures and letters into student bags or envelopes, getting the right samples for the right kickoff and, hopefully, getting to the right school on time each day. By mid-September you’re starting to pick up brochures and getting them tallied. At this point, you may be kinda-sorta keeping up with them, perhaps putting in a couple extra hours here or working part of a Saturday there. But by mid October you’re picking up brochures faster than you’re tallying orders. Most end up down one of these paths: 1. You do it because you’re the only one who can so you just have to put in the required hours to get it done. You don’t want to hire anyone because you like the control you have and want to avoid employee hassles, but oh, the hours. 2. You hire additional data entry people. As I talk to distributors nationwide, this seems to be where most struggle because no one is as conscious as you are, right? No one cares as much about your group as you do. No one can do it as well as you can. And so the main challenge is finding people you can depend on. With low unemployment, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find dependable, available workers. People jump from employer to employer as they find higher wages or an extra benefit – and you have to re-hire and re-train, normally when you can least afford the time to do either. One company had to delay handing out paychecks ‘til the end of the day because when they handed them out in the morning, someone always failed to return after lunch. You’ll get through it, but what if there was another way? You ship brochures to another service provider who is probably in the #2 category on a larger scale. Even when you’re depending on the best (we think that’s us), you give up some control when you let someone else do the work. First you spend time worrying about shipping safety and turn around time, then you worry about accuracy. We’re working on a major (not cheap, but major) alternative. See a demonstration in Las Vegas. Last month’s editorial on Chinese product did not (yet) generate the level of response I anticipated. I wonder if I completely missed the boat on that one or, more likely, you were too busy to read and respond. I heard one particular supplier had certification that none of their Chinese product was produced by child labor. That is a good thing, but wasn’t the point I was addressing. Anyway, here is my attempt at presenting a balanced picture with a different viewpoint. I hope to present a balance set of arguments as I continue my research into the pros and cons of purchasing Chinese product. In a recent issue of RUNTIME, I argued against purchasing product from China. In an article called “The Eagle and The Dragon”, Op-Ed by Jeane Kirkpatrick, Jack Kemp, Lamar Alexander, Steve Forbes and Donald Rumsfeld and printed in The Wall Street Journal, June 23, 1997, the following paragraph ends the argument that we should end MFN (Most Favored Nation) status with China. Those whose concerns about China’s human
rights practices have led them to advocate
nonrenewal of MFN status might wish to consider the
following. In the life of the ordinary Chinese citizen, there is more
freedom in the economic realm than any other. Trade can
help maintain that freedom, and help expand that freedom
to other realms of China’s culture and society.
This was never, ever the case with the Soviet Union’s totally
centralized and controlled economy, but it is the case with
China. These are important distinctions that clarify
what our country can do to pursue our interests in China, and
our hopes for greater freedom for the Chinese people. In a nutshell, that paragraph contrasts what I said in my last newsletter by putting forth an interesting argument; that by increasing trade, we offer increased opportunities for individual freedoms for the Chinese citizen. Even at QDP, one expressed the belief that the value of the persecuted Christian in China would be decreased if that individual could not work. Interesting point. There are over 1500 confirmed laguni camps in China. These are not prisons for criminals, but for political (which includes Christian) enemies. In a recent letter smuggled out of one of those camps, the inmate described working 14 hours a day in a rock quarry and then in the evening making artificial flowers. The markings described on those flowers have been found on product sold in the name brand store down the street. To date, I haven’t found evidence of fundraising product produced in any of those camps. But the fact that the camps exist causes me a problem. What about you?
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Last Modified: 05/27/2008 |
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