Are We Afraid?
Getting On-Line
How We Try to Communicate
Distributor Survey
Part of the Pitch

Is Fundraising a "risky money making scheme?"

In July's RUNTIME, I included a partial article (one distributor called it a 'teaser') from our PRIORITY newsletter entitled, "Will fund raisers survive, thrive, or not?" We've initiated more PRIORITY subscriptions since then than any other month since PRIORITY began. What does that say?

Wow! Did I hit a hot button, or what? I must have. What are we afraid of? A lot has happened since the fundraising days when you could go from school to school signing up several groups a day, with services that included bulk shipment to the school on a common carrier truck sometime during the next three weeks, the opportunity for band directors and parent volunteers to tally their orders, phone them in, unload the truck, pack the individual orders from the bulk shipment, and call you to pick up the check -- and they got to keep a whopping 40%.

Now we find ourselves in competition with 10 other distributors for every significant group, having to go through a 2-3 level elimination process where we are expected to give away 50? -- 55-- did I hear 60% profit, plus tally, plus pre-pack (which must now include a standard-sized class box which costs you @$1.30ea), guaranteed delivery date, guaranteed profit amount, an outstanding prize program, gifts for the school, a toll free number for the end customer, credit for all returns….. and a partridge in a pear tree.

While the competition is increasing, the number of suppliers is limited. Really, how many options do we have for a large shopper brochure? Few distributors are large enough to import direct and no one (personal opinion coming up) is crazy enough to want to work with dozens of different suppliers to try to get product for their fundraising program. So how many companies can give us that kind of total service? You can count them on one hand.

And as the supplier ranks dwindle, those left can reduce services, increase minimums -- and they can get away with it.

In addition to that are the growing number of web-based fundraisers attempting to go directly to the group with 70% profit. As your customers increase in computer skills, they will be searching for fundraising offers on Yahoo and Infoseek, in addition to looking through your information packet.

While those web outfits are getting established, we have many national companies getting involved in fundraising in a more significant way. Pizza Hut sells coupon books, Target has gift certificates worth 100% of the value to the consumer with a kick back going to the group. We have the grocery store fundraisers (order groceries -- school gets a percentage) … and more direct mail campaigns than ever before.

Send me your war stories.

What does it take to get on-line and why should you consider letting QDP be part of your plan?

By far, the biggest advantage to having QDP in your technology corner is that we can have proven ourselves proficient at taking technology and applying it to fundraising in an understandable language. We are fundraisers first. We walk the walk and can talk the talk right along with you.  And some of you need to talk.

I've taken a few phone calls recently that seem to indicate some misunderstandings of what is required to have a web site -- and how they work.  One caller indicated that he had registered a domain name but didn't think he could justify a web page because he really didn't want to add another phone line. Unless you're going to host your own site internally, it is not necessary to add a phone line.

Basically, your "site" will be "hosted" on a computer somewhere. It doesn't matter where that computer is. When someone types your domain name, they go to that computer.

One person wondered what happens when someone visiting a web site clicks on "contact us", as in what happens if he's not home when they click. Most of the time, clicking on a contact link is going to open an email note pre-addressed to the contact person.

The most common comments I hear are, 1) How do people find you and 2) I'm going to be too busy to think about it for this Fall…… maybe after the end of this season.

First, unless you're fortunate to have a superb name, or have been out there long enough, or have enough money to pay for some of the high placement spots, I am convinced that relying on search engines to bring people to your site will be disappointing.  Recent issues of PRIORITY News have included, and continue to include ideas for getting your site up and then drawing people to it.

As for those people who think it will take a long time, we can get a presence on the web for you in a matter of days with some basic information that you already have together.

Use your Web Site to promote your company, products and  services. Enable visitors to communicate, request additional information or quote, place orders or request Customer Service.

Consider an On-Line Store:

• Additional profit for the group. Each coupon has a discount code which identifies the group. Anyone purchasing product from the on-line store and using that discount code will have a certain percentage rebated to the group as additional profit.

• Coupon with brochure.  Long distance relatives can be instructed to go on-line, order and get credit for the group by using the coupon code.

• Coupon with order.  Maybe they like what they ordered and want more. Perhaps you're selling chocolates, but they can go on-line and order from your other brochure lines.

• Discounted product for the user.  In this case, the coupon code will automatically reduce their total product amount at checkout, according to how you set it up.
• Money making opportunity for individuals.  Do you have a parent volunteer who is a go getter, who could use a part time job? What about students who want to keep selling? Set him/her up with a coupon code…. perhaps the customer gets a discount and the Independent Contractor gets a commission.

Additional On-line Store Possibilities

Your own store / with current brochures or overstocked items

With your brochures and a listing of items and pricing, we can get your on-line store operational in days. You need to have an email address and the ability to process credit card orders.

We can take care of everything except setting up your credit card processing capabilities. We went through our local bank and NOVUS for software to process Visa, MasterCard and Discover from our computer. There are lots of sources for such capabilities.

Your products on our store

In this scenario, the products would be in your warehouse and you would ship to the customer. A customer would select your product from our on-line store. We would process the credit card and send you the order with shipping instructions, and a check for a percentage of what we collect.

The only thing that might slow us at this point is the fact that Sara now has a waiting list of people wanting to talk about web sites and e-commerce.

Buyer Beware e-commerce

Be careful what you read and consider when it comes to e-commerce. The vast majority of what is out there is geared for huge business.  For example, Maximizer, the Contact Management software we use and like now has a new add-on. They call it Entice and it costs $50,000. Yeah, right!

Business Week magazines are full of page after page of companies that are going to get your products out the e-commerce door. I've researched a couple, and the huge price tags include a lot of fulfillment options.

Yahoo has an on-line store where you pay a monthly fee for a limited number of items. You still set it up.

After looking seriously at about a half dozen possibilities, we have settled on a site that actually hosts your on-line store for free. We get to look at a few ads as we set up your site, but none of those ads appear on your site and none of your customers see anything not related to your site. Actually, you're the target, and you'll see additional information when you go to the site to process an order.

How it works.

1. Customer visits your store. We recommend a separate domain name @$35/yr. You would also have links to the store on your fundraising web site.  With just a brief header welcoming them to your store, they see brochure covers.
2. Select a brochure and view an item. We don't put too many pictures on one page. For example, if a customer opens our shopper brochure, the next options are to select Gifts, Food, Jewelry, etc.  As they select a category, they see the items from that category with a small thumbnail picture, brief title and price. They can click on the picture to see an enlarged version, along with additional information and item number. 
3. Select items to go into the cart. Using the analogy of a grocery store, you are pushing a cart into which items you want are placed. The customer enters quantities of items to go into the cart.
4. Check out.  The customer enters shipping information, email address and a credit card. Also an ID and password so that next time they come back, they won't have to re-enter everything. Prior to finalizing the purchase, the itemized order is listed, which can still be changed. Once approved,  tax and shipping/handling charges are added.
5. Order processing.  Two emails are sent automatically. The customer receives one giving them an order number and telling him his order is "pending". Simultaneously, a second email goes to YOU, announcing an order to process. You go get the order information, use your computer to process the credit card and ship the order. Once you do that, the customer automatically receives another email informing him the order has been processed and giving him an order number.

Consider the Two Main Advantages

You have the email addresses of all customers. Since it is free to send email, you can announce when you've added new items to the store, or offer periodic special "coupon codes" to offer special deals. Not all of those people will be the school's decision-makers, but some of them might be. When you post your new brochure for next year, they will all hear about it faster than you can mail or visit….. for free.

Make more money on additional purchases. If you use our recommended formula of a $10 off coupon, the first item, once you add your $5 shipping, will be about break even for you. Additional items, however, are ordered at brochure price, full retail. Normally the school would get half the $10 item and pay you $5. Now you get $10 + additional shipping. And, if you're using the school code, our suggestion is for a limited time offer. So, on additional or significantly later purchases, all money comes to you.

Consulting with QDP

We'll do our best to answer a few general questions about web site development or e-commerce in our newsletters, on our web site, in follow-up materials and even on the phone.

If you're serious, however, we will charge you a $250 consulting fee to spend more considerable time advising and helping design your site. 100% of the consulting fee goes toward the cost of getting your site up and running.

1. RUNTIME is our promotional letter.
2.  PRIORITY is our First Class subscription letter, where we try hard to give you your money's worth.
3. QDP-eNOTES is our FREE email note for breaking news, updated info or short-term specials.
4. WINULTRA 1.2 users recently received a fax asking them to tell us how they want to be informed of changes, corrections or enhancements.
5. QDPCORP.COM is our web site. On the front page is a list of what's new, so you don't waste your time looking at stuff you've already seen. There is a "News" section where we post dated news as well as a "Specials" page. We can efficiently use the Specials page when we have a limited volume of something to move, because we can quickly remove depleted inventory or offerings.
6. TRAINING Seminars. Except for the busiest times of the season, Sara will be available to provide training -- at your place or ours.

Last month's RUNTIME included a fax-back survey. It is our intention to send a more detailed report to those who participated plus those who subscribe to PRIORITY News, but here is some of what the trend is as the surveys continue to come in.

Suppliers listed as Top 5 Suppliers by more than one distributor included (random order) Giftco, Global, Pine River, Dots, Greatway, VSA, Scotts, Trophy Nut, CPS, Ashdon, and Olympia.

Others mentioned were Better Results, Hershey, M/M Mars, Morley, Play By Play, I-Mark, Chippery, DaySpring, Lumi-Lite, Hincor, Raising Dough, SAI, Springwater, Darlington, World's Best Cheesecake, Jane's Cookie Dough, Giani's Pizza Kits, Wolfgang, Pine Valley, Wang's, Rhode Island, Pennies to Dollars, Kaukauna, Prime Design, Quality Wholesale and Sunshine Art.

There are still too many distributors NOT scanning on the pre-pack line. Think about it, though. Why don't the grocery stores still do check-out manually? Increase both speed AND accuracy and get a super quick pay back.

Most who said you are scanning also mentioned that you will not purchase non-bar-coded product. The suppliers have taken notice and most fundraising product is now properly bar coded.

Very few say they're using a DOS program for tallying. As for accounting, there is a clear preference. Encouraging to us at QDP, is the number who are not yet scanning on the pre-pack line who rank doing so as a high interest item.

When making the presentation to the decision-maker, we all talk about ourselves, our company and our products. Following are some of the comments we make as we present our services, as well as the reasons why. If these comments would beat you in a cattle call, give us a call.

Almost everybody claims they computer tally. Not all tallying is equal, however. For example, several distributors have described using spreadsheets. Those are okay with small brochures, but formulas have to be set up. Then, at the end of the tally, each class/team's totals are re-entered to generate a summary report (room for error). Using a spreadsheet is very difficult with a generic order taker. And don't forget additional information, such as money collection envelopes or packing slips.

When we pick up your orders, we will  tally them with a program designed by a Charter Member of our national fundraising association, and used by nearly half of the membership. With it, we can give you a wealth of information.

The Summary Report lists all classes or teams and gives you the total each sold, ranks them in sales order (by either dollars or items - your choice), and gives you sales totals, including the average items and dollars per participant.

Then, for each division of your group, there is the Class/Team report, which will list participants alphabetically. Sellers are ranked, their qualified prize level is indicated and even the prize selected is shown. Then, you can see the total items, dollars, sales tax or profit raised, and an itemized list of what each person sold.

With items and calculations that automatically match your printout, we provide each seller with an itemized report. If you've collected money up front, that information will be on a bar coded Packing Slip.  Name Labels will be placed on the seller's package and also on the class/team box. Notice how professional it looks to have the name "highlighted" for easy reading and distribution.

If you're collecting money as product is delivered to the customer, we provide this Collection Envelope that includes information for checks payable, when to return money, who to give it to. That is certainly helpful if a parent drops the envelope on the school counter, because where it goes is easily identified. It not only looks more professional than a standard #10 business envelope, but it holds more money too. Package labels are also printed with the envelope.

Notice that we offer the customer use of our toll free number for customer service. Printed on the bottom of every envelope or packing slip is the phrase, "If you have a question about your order, call 1-800-FIRST-OK." That's us. We'll take the calls and deal with them, so you don't have to. Obviously, we wouldn't offer to do that if we were expecting large numbers of calls.

The bar code you see printed on the envelope or packing slip is used to electronically verify order accuracy. We use a special program called UltraScan, which isllike the grocery store in reverse. Instead of scanning the product from your cart to see what you have, we already know what you should have, and then scan the product to give you 100% accuracy. Have you ever experienced a "lost" order? UltraScan verifies for us that every order has been scanned. So we will catch even that rare instance of two orders sticking together or of one falling behind the packing table.

It is possible for a damaged item to get through. And, we even could make a mistake tallying the order. But you should not get any calls from someone claiming the product was on the order but not in the package.

Of course, you'll describe how you organize the packaged product for delivery. Some of you pack alphabetically while others place orders in class/team boxes. You may also have unique packing materials, such as grocery bags with handles, draw string polybags or open cut boxes so you can see the product without opening the package.  But on with the QDP software presentation…

We offer you a Prize Problem report that lists sellers who qualified for a prize but failed to select one, and those who selected a prize from the wrong level. Prize Labels identify both the prize and the recipient.

Our Overall Rank Report can list any number of top sellers for you, and our Top Seller Report can give you that information per class/team. If you've ever had to manually figure out  a large school's top sellers, you'll especially appreciate these reports. And, of course, they can be generated based on dollars or items.

One of the prizes I like to use is an Ice Cream Party for all who sell $100 and I can print you the Invitation List.

Similarly, one of the reasons I use Grand Prize Drawings (i.e. your name goes into the pot for every $50 sold), is because I automatically generate Drawing Tickets.

And finally, because I've made the investment in these state-of-the-art programs and have them in house, I also control the quality of people who are providing the service.

One of the scariest experiences of my sales career happened several years ago when I went to the home office of the national fundraising company I was working for. As I approached the gate, I noticed both inbound and outbound lanes were being used for a mass exodus, so I sat across the street for a couple minutes and noticed an unbelievable variety of humanity zip out of that place. When I finally got to the corporate offices and asked what it was that I just saw, I was sickened by the response, "That was the packing crew".  I guarantee you that I don't find my employees where they found theirs because when I put my reputation on the line for you, I want to have and offer you the confidence in the most critical areas of tallying and packaging your orders. If those people mess up, it doesn't matter how good the product was, or the profit percentage, or the unbelievable gimmick.

Have you experienced or seen anything that sounds more organized than this? Are you satisfied that scanning orders for accuracy will reduce your problems of mis-packed orders? May I work with you this year?

Last Modified:  05/27/2008