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Welcome to New RUNTIME Recipients As we do after every AFRDS show we update our mailing list. We're not finding as many new people as in the past, but there were some again this year and we're happy to welcome you aboard. If this is your first issue of RUNTIME, you may want to request a complimentary copy of the January 2001 issue, which seems to have hit a hot button with our descriptions of the seven most common brochure design flaws forced upon distributors who don't have the resources to do anything about it. Buying groups have been around, but now they're the craze. It's like "everybody's doing it". Ok, for starters, what are they, how do they work and how do you join?The theory behind the concept is "strength in numbers". Logical. Three or five distributors getting together to purchase brochures and product can get both exclusivity and better pricing, enabling them to compete aggressively with the larger companies. Several and certain types of buying groups have failed. Just try to get multiple distributors to agree on a vendor or brochure to use. Or better yet, try to put together a private brochure with input from several people. Then, get one of them to be the one that actually orders the product, and/or is responsible for doing the group's tally and packing, on the promise from the rest of the group that they're good for the money, and mix in some unexpected circumstances and a smidgen of dishonesty -- and people can, and have, gotten hurt. But there's a new type of buying group that seems to be working well. As I've talked to different people involved in different kinds of groups, I'm reminded of part of our mission here at QDP: to help the smaller distributor compete with the larger companies. Now, it seems, in addition to having to compete with the larger companies, there is an increasing need to consider the mid-sized competitor who is part of a buying group. Would you like to be part of a buying group? Are you getting a 4.5x mark? 5.0? 5.5? How about 6.0? Higher? QDP will be researching buying groups and exploring possibilities. Watch for more details in PRIORITY News or via our FREE QDP E-Notes (send your email address) or call John. No need for such attack tacticsDid you get it? That wacky letter postmarked from Dayton, Ohio with names re-spelled to emphasize the writer's disgust? It seems like just about everyone did, probably AFRDS Distributor members, although I can't say that with certainty. If you are a loyal customer it was a nasty letter. If you are a competitor or a dissatisfied customer, you might have considered it humorous. But it was vicious and unnecessary. Personally, I had a very smooth Fall with the target company. (Hey, would the person who faxed last year's critical editorial to that company forward this one so it too can be answered?) I'm not anywhere near the top of their biggest customers list. In fact, I'm probably closer to the lower middle, so my good reason was not due to size. I'd like to think it was good planning and projecting. When I asked Susan, the QDP'er who orders product, whether she had any problems last Fall, she was very complimentary of our customer service person at that company. As a product and service provider myself, I know that sometimes there are unexpected bumps and potholes in the road that are difficult to fix before someone hits them and knocks their steering out of alignment. Any supplier who promises perfection, unless they have absolute control over every facet of manufacture, delivery and distribution, is a liar. There are two types of good companies. There is the one that is always out there trying to keep the road in good shape before you get there with a relatively high level of success. And also, the company that reacts and responds when there is a problem. Of course, if the company doesn't keep up, then the customer has ultimate control in choosing which road to take. Nasty letters accomplish nothing. We missed you, ArtArt Dalziel couldn't make the show this year due to some health situations. That's probably the first show he's missed . . . so we wish him a speedy recovery. Sunday doesn't work and neither will IIt certainly is an expensive sacrifice for my company to not man our booth on Sundays. When we enrolled as a Charter Member, the shows were not on Sunday. Here are some of the reasons I've heard FOR Sunday shows, along with my responses: Distributors can use the Saturday stay-over to reduce air fare. Yes, but we can schedule our shows to take advantage of that AND be tolerant of those with religious convictions. If the show were to start on Monday and end on Thursday, we could arrive on Saturday, vacate on Sunday, do the show and fly back any time. Put the GOLF outing on Sunday if you have to -- those things that don't force companies like mine to choose between customers and conviction. If the show went Tue-Fri, I could do my vacationing on Saturday, go to church and fly back on Sunday to get the lower fares. Distributors need the week days to sell. Really? I've been in this business 20 years now and, yes, we can make some sort of sales call just about every day but the only less productive sales call time than the first couple weeks in January might be the first couple weeks of July. Distributors can bring children without missing as much school. Well, we can't use that one any more if we're going to put statements in the program about keeping children off the show floor. I think we show over the weekend because that's the bargain time. I suspect that most industry types take the position that the weekdays are for conducting business and the weekends are for family and fun. If I'm right, then the rates for conventions and hotels are probably higher during the week and lower on the weekend. My little company paid $1000 for dual membership (that's another issue), about $2400 for booth space, and nearly $4000 in hotel and travel expenses. How much more would I have to pay? AND BESIDES….. word I got was that traffic on the show floor Sunday was dismal, especially in the afternoon during the Football playoffs. Yes, between the time I returned to the hotel from church Sunday morning and the time I left to tour the area Sunday afternoon, I saw several vendors watching TV at the hotel, and others walking toward the hotel in time for the kick-off. C'mon football fans. C'mon those of you who agree with me but don't know what to do about it. Perhaps if distributors will use Sundays to have worship, family and fun, eventually the vendors will speak up and somebody at AFRDS (and/or our elected folk) will listen and respond. Perhaps, if it turns out that all three of our next shows in Tampa, New Orleans and Las Vegas include Sundays, that I should take my own advice, let my membership lapse and skip a couple shows. I did indicate that possibility on the after-show survey sent out by AFRDS. Will they listen? Doubtful. For those of you who don't know the difference, here it is. RUNTIME is our "promotional" newsletter. Without a field sales force, it is our most focused sales tool to keep you informed of what we're doing at QDP. Yes, we try to make it informative and entertaining, but the goal is to motivate you to buy something and send money (hint, hint). PRIORITY, on the other hand, goes only to subscribers. The purpose there is to give you opinions and information to help you as you strive to stay on the cutting edge of the fundraising industry. Here's some of what just went out via this first class subscription letter: Show and AFRDS trivia. For those of you who are not members, I share some of the basic trivia such as number of distributor and supplier members as well as attendees. But I also did some basic math that shows some interesting numbers. For example, how much money was paid for the booth spaces plus the distributor membership dues plus the supplier membership dues. No judgments, just numbers. Show Awards and Special Notes. Especially on the last day of the show when traffic is sparse and exhibitors are standing around waiting for the first sound of packing tape guns . . . I get a chance to walk the isles with a pad in hand and make some observations that you probably didn't.
Last January had the most new subscribers out of all of 2000. Let's do it again. We'll keep trying to give you more than your money's worth. Based on the number of renewals, I'd say we must be doing pretty well. Just mailed . . . Detailed information about our upcoming "Hands-On" seminar(s) and a first opportunity to reserve a spot in our limited availability event(s) was sent in two separate mailings to PRIORITY subscribers and WinUltra v1.2 users prior to inclusion in this newsletter. Be the first to know. Now that QDP has switched to a fee-based support system (60 days FREE plus some FREE incidents with purchases of modules, systems and updates) for ongoing tech support, you might like to consider our ideas of how to avoid paying for tech support. Since one support incident can be $50 and a subscription to PRIORITY is $49, add this one to the list of reasons to subscribe. It's been happening to us. Now it is happening to our suppliers. Schools want percentage. Distributors want markup. You probably know some of the games distributors play to play the percentage game. But how are the suppliers doing it? Wasn't there an AFRDS rule that says an AFRDS supplier can't exhibit in a non-AFRDS event? I was almost certain that there was. Did I miss the change? I must have, because it seems that several of our AFRDS suppliers exhibited in a non-AFRDS Atlantic City Show in February. I'll tell you what I think. Can't afford a full day of on-site training, but still want the benefit of "hands-on" so you can either "try before you buy" or "practice with the pros"? Here's a first for us and we think you'll like it. We don't give lots of seminars. Or, at least, we haven't in the past. Hopefully, we'll be able to provide more, but don't bypass the first in hopes of a second. Most seminars involve overhead projectors, Powerpoint Presentations and a workbook for filling in blanks and taking notes. Yeah, we'll have that, but what will be different is that you'll have a computer to use. We'll be using a computer classroom at a local college. So instead of showing you how inventory works, we'll give you inventory to enter. Procrastinators Beware! Seating is limited -- and we're not bluffing. This is a classroom, not a football stadium. Reservations will be taken on a first deposit paid basis, with a pre-RUNTIME announcement mailed to PRIORITY News subscribers. Getting the Most Out of WinUltra 1.2Far too often we'll have a caller ask about the need for a function that is already in our program. After we explain that, the number one comment is that they wish for an opportunity for us to go through the program in detail. Although the manual does explain the entire program, it is sometimes easier to have someone walk you through it. For this reason, we have teamed up with the local college to offer the first "hands-on" training. You will be led step-by-step through the major portions of the program and will be given examples to try out along the way. During the first session, you will complete an entire tally: from entering inventory to printouts. The second and third sessions will build upon those skills and include topics such as Purchase Orders, Customer Data File, and Output Profiles. We guarantee that you will learn something new at this seminar, even if it is a faster way of doing something. You will also receive a workbook detailing what will be covered and examples to try as you learn and improve your skills. I recently opened a piece of AFRDS mail and my little membership card fell to the floor. On the back of that card is our official "Code of Ethics". As I took a minute to read and reflect on it, I thought I'd share those reflections with you. Here they are: We, as members of the Association of Fund Raisers & Direct Sellers, will be guided in all of our activities by truth, accuracy, fairness and the highest integrity. Truth, accuracy, fairness and integrity . . . so what about all those people who got into the show using someone else's card? Right. They're not members, so they're not bound, right? Yeah, but what about the crooks who let them in? I took nine people to Phoenix. I had three booths, which meant I could only get six people into the show. I had to buy a second membership. If I'm going to play by the rules, I expect everybody to play by the rules and, as has anyone who has paid for membership, I will be as vocal as possible about it. Ok . . . so it doesn't hurt anybody . . . it is a dumb rule anyway that you have to be a member to get in (I do agree with that) . . . but as a vendor, do I trust that distributor's Application for Credit and signed promise to pay? Nope. Integrity? What about the distributor who has four names, four addresses and four telephone numbers IN FOUR YEARS? One of those got in. What about the thief who carried on a conversation in the aisle in front of my booth -- who finally paid his bill to me only when he had the name of the local attorney who was going to begin the seizing of his property? In one case, I'm at least the third supplier to be taken by one of the Phoenix attendees. He still gets in. We will, at all times, provide quality products and quality
professional services that ensure maximum effectiveness for our clients'
investment of time and money. Of course, our suppliers will give us what we demand. Unfortunately, we've given them some mixed signals. We want mark-up. As a result, we have cheese vendors putting out product that they can no longer call "cheese" because of the ingredients they have removed or replaced. We have chocolate vendors who have to supply candy under other names, because their trademarked name requires ingredient minimums. We're getting scented candles with no fragrance. I had one school return 30% (that's three zero percent) of their single product line as defective and cheap. And it was. I was embarrassed -- but I got markup. We have vendors who will change their price if you threaten to leave. It infuriates me to think that I might pay a higher price for my product simply because I don't make a stink. I don't play one supplier against another. I ask for the best price and I'll take it or leave it. Why isn't that good enough? Professional service. Is that what we get when our suppliers hire temporaries to perform services upon which our reputations depend? I'd better go on to another paragraph. We will keep fully informed of the latest techniques,
developments and knowledge that pertain to the industry's effectiveness. That probably means we'll go to the show. And, if we paid our dues, that was probably our intention -- so we're probably doing pretty well in this regard. We will utilize every opportunity to enhance the public image and
the growth of the industry as a professional service. Far too often, fundraisers are treated as something in between a used car salesperson and an insurance agent. Of course, both are (or can be) honorable professions. We shall not use our membership in the Association or official
position within the Association in any manner that would suggest the
seeking of unwarranted financial gain or unwarranted benefits,
advantages or privileges for ourselves. I have never known one of our associational officers, board members, or committee chairs who violated the trust we put in them. I think we have good people involved in this association. Someone has to find the hotels / convention sites. They probably need to visit those places to evaluate and negotiate. I have no problem with that. Getting to travel to the different potential locations to check them out would be a benefit, but not an abuse. We accept this Code of Ethics as a condition of membership in
this Association. As professionals, we share the responsibility for the
impact of our activities with all sectors served by the industry. "As a condition"…. ?? Wow. We signify our agreement by membership in this Association that
standards must be maintained that are acceptable to ALL segments of the
industry, from the suppliers to users of the products and services
provided. Leasing software and equipmentFundraisers are faced with tremendous challenges. You need to grow and retain market share. You need outstanding productivity from employees. You need to constantly innovate and improve to stay ahead of the competition. In essence, you demand incredible results, all the time. Software programs like WinUltra, UltraScan and TallyScan, along with an effective web presence and an on-line store can keep you on the cutting edge of the fundraising business. To acquire these products, you need capital. QDP's new leasing arrangements can provide a solution. Get the capital you need to purchase technology through innovative financing solutions. Solutions that preserve working capital. Solutions that leverage tax benefits. And, most importantly, solutions that fit the individual needs of your business. Obtaining capital from banks and other sources can be a long, enduring process. We can help keep it simple for you, so you can get the technology you need to blaze the trail to a bright future. According to The Equipment Leasing Association (ELA), 8 out of 10 companies use leasing and the majority of those companies plan to increase their use of leasing over the coming years. Direct Lease Corporation says that "The IRS does not consider an operating lease to be a purchase, but rather a tax-deductible overhead expense. Therefore, you can deduct the lease payments from your corporate income." Consult your tax advisor about your specific situation, of course. Lease WinUltra for monthly payments as low as $75. Add WinScan and a Scanner to the WinUltra system you already have for under $100/month. WinUltra plus WinScan and our top of the line hand scanner can be under $170/month. For more information call John at QDP for connections to our leasing source. UltraScan becomes WinScanWe now have a Windows based version of our
packing room scanning program. Functionally, it is very similar to the
DOS program, but we've added a few new features. Sound goes through your
sound card and speakers instead of being controlled by the speaker in
the computer box. You can choose from a variety of sounds for your
different audible signals: 1.
Invalid Item
- doesn't belong in this order 2.
Invalid
Quantity - too many of this item 3.
Order Scanned
Correctly The
Report Module is not new, but since we're shipping it at no charge with an update to or
purchase of WinScan, we wanted you to know some of what it does for you. ·
Compare the number
of orders with the number of orders scanned. If you didn't scan all
orders, you can see which ones were missed. When a school accuses you of
"losing" an order, this report can prove to the school that
you scanned the order, which means chances are real good that you packed
it and delivered it to the school. ·
Compares total
items with total items scanned. ·
Lists orders that
were "accepted as is". These
would be those who had something missing, but you used the
"accept" bar code to accept the order as scanned, but to keep
track of whose orders were scanned short. UCollectFor post-collect sales, the UCollect disk gives your customer a computerized way to keep track of money turned in. The screen shows you sellers (alphabetical or by class) along with amount due, amount paid and balance due. A pop-up window enables you to indicate additional product taken or items returned. Search for a student by name. Reports printed can be alphabetical or by class. Get an entire printing, a list of those who have paid or those with balances due. As we were demonstrating UCollect at the show, several of you mentioned that you already have organized volunteers at your groups who are taking the information you provide and creating their own spreadsheets. Think of the time this will save. Laser LabelsWith an update to WinUltra 1.2, you can now print seller, roster and prize labels on laser label sheets. Web DesignA web page and e-commerce presence adds on to your business like a room addition to your home. Anybody can do it, right? You can go to one of those big home building places and buy a couple books, read and study the "do it yourself" drawings, then register with the city for all the necessary permits, make your supplies list and go shopping . . . and build it yourself. Obviously, you'll spend less money. But how much time did you spend out of the field to get it all done? How well will it be done? There's a room addition to a house here in Huntington that everyone interested in designing their own web page should come see -- it is actually the inspiration for this particular article. It is the same concept when it comes to selling your house. You don't want to pay the realtor that big commission, do you? On the other hand, most people will because they have other things to do and they want the professional to handle the transaction. When you sell your house, do you take care of the legal portion of the transaction yourself -- or do you hire a lawyer? If you purchased a $49 legal software program or a "do it yourself" legal kit, then you probably don't want us to design your web page -- or maybe you do. If you experienced legal loopholes, or had to do re-wiring because the city inspector said your work wasn't up to code, or spent three times the time you expected in your project, then you are, pardon the pun, so ready for QDP. Consider your web presence like the room addition or the sale of your house. We can take care of searching for and then registering your domain name because we already know how. We can design your site because we already have the equipment in house. We can set up your on-line store because we already know how. Can we do it for less money than you? No, and neither can the builder or the realtor or the lawyer. Check out some of our sites and give us a call. Are you looking for something that, 1) is "new and different", 2) offers you higher than normal markup/profit, 3) is a great deal for both your school AND the end consumer, 4) helps you reduce excess inventory profitably and 5) involves both you and your customers in an important component in the future of fundraising? What is it? You've seen the Discount Cards that either have peel off coupons or that look like a credit card with printed ads from local vendors. The PriorityStore.com card looks like a credit card and steers people toward an on-line store where they can use the card as often as they like, for a pre-determined discount. For example: $10 off means that on THIS visit the customer gets $10 off. Also on the NEXT visit and EVERY visit up to a pre-determined expiration date (just in time for next year's fundraiser). This concept fits the new and different category. How does it work? The card has a discount code that, when used during check-out at the online store, adjusts the customer's amount according to the discount. The formulas for pricing the card are flexible. An example: You sell the card to the school for $5 and they retail it for $10. The schools gets the 50% profit you promised them and the customer can get more than his/her money back. Depending on quantity, if we sell you the card at $1.50, that makes it 6.5+x markup. Pretty good, huh? How is it sold? As a Direct Sales product, they would sell just like candy bars; where you order a quantity for your school. Consider it as a brochure item on your custom brochure. Or, as an item to put onto a sales sheet insert to add to any brochure program. You can also use an order form to Take Orders for cards. Our card has a bar code on it, so it is scanned and packed on the prepack line just like any other product. Whose product is on the on-line store? Well, that depends on whether you want to use the card as a high mark-up product only, or if you want to have us help you set up your own store. If you are a PRIORITY News subscriber, you've heard more about the details. Otherwise, send a check for $25 for the PriorityStore.com sample pack, which includes cards, pricing options and marketing ideas. As this letter is written, our brochure for Fall 2001 / Spring 2002 is being designed and prepared for the printer. Ours is a brochure designed from the distributor's perspective. We've chosen the best from the best with product from Scott's, Giftco, Imagination in Action, Hincor and a few other specialty vendors. We've picked product targeting men, kids and the kitchen. We've got Santas, Snowmen and Angels. We've got a food collection I'll put up against anybody's. And then there's our jewelry page that does several things for the brochure. It makes it "different" because it doesn't look like everybody else's brochure. But it also enables some higher markups. We sell product on the front cover, the back cover and on every page inside. We cut one portion of the cover so that if you use a personalized order form, the name will show when you insert the order form into the brochure. Instead of 4 pictures per page, where the candy can be bigger than life, we'll have as many items on our 12 pages that most industry brochures take 20 to show you. Because we're not printing millions, our price per brochure is higher per page, but not per product. We didn't put roll wrap in the brochure, but have a single sheet with wrap that can be inserted when needed. All our holiday items are on the four center pages, which can be removed at the end of the Fall to leave an all occasion brochure for Spring. What that means is that you can order more liberally. It also means that next spring you can purchase other distributors' "overstocks". And here's a plus. If you want to
source the product yourself, at least one of the major vendors on our
brochure will offer you a higher mark on their product placed on our
brochure. Tallying Order We've been tallying orders for fifteen years. We know what we're doing. If you are handling or packing your own product, we can do the tally work and print the printouts that include YOUR company name on them. Tally Orders plus
Pre-Pack Don't have a warehouse? Don't want one? Many are finding that the slightly higher profit they made from doing all the work was cutting into selling time. With reduced sales and increased overhead, many have decided to allow companies like QDP to become a service provider. We will pack our own brochure (see description), which will contain a variety of product from major suppliers. We will also pack Scott's of Wisconsin's "Snowy Days" program. In addition to using our industry standard WinUltra program to process the orders, we are also using WinScan to verify accuracy on the pre-pack line. Total Service Provider Many fundraisers who have been in the business a long time started out by working as a sales rep for a larger company. They were successful because they were good at sales and that is all they wanted to do. The company took care of all the logistics, including accounts receivable -- and paid a commission. Now, the reason most of us left those companies was that they became top heavy. Good salespeople were pulled out of the field and promoted to management positions. At Princeton Industries, we had Division, Regional, District and Selling District Managers. My sales had to support a lot of people. Good salespeople left those companies because they wanted to keep more of their own money. QDP can offer you the best of both worlds. We can tally, pack, invoice the group and pay a commission…. and because we're relatively small with low overhead, we can probably pay a higher commission that you ever got as an employee rep. With our Customer Direct Priority Hotline and super support staff, we can take excellent care of your accounts and pay you a commission in a timely manner. Two points to make. First, not all scanners are equal. Shortly after we had selected the scanners we wanted to use, the question of price came up. We went out and found a "cheaper" scanner so we could offer customers a choice. We found out some of the differences in price. The lower priced scanner wasn't rated to survive drops in the warehouse. Also, the laser itself was "less aggressive", which meant it was less effective. The trigger on the gun had to be squeezed after every scan. And the sound the scanner made was considerably softer. We'll quote you the best, but we can get the rest, if you really want it. Also, originally we offered discount pricing on our scanners and an optional service called expedited replacement. We discovered that Express Replacement was too important to be optional. So we include it in the price of our scanners. What that means is that if your scanner has a warranty issue, we will ship a replacement to you while WE coordinate your scanner's return to the manufacturer for warranty repair. By the way, the warranty on our top of the line scanners is 30 months (2 1/2 years). Just in case the question arises, we have good reasons for using a computer key with our scanners. We don't limit the number of times you can copy the WinScan software because some of you will set up several packing lines. And, we don't print your company name on reports like we do with WinUltra. So, basically, the way we protect the integrity of our software from illegal duplication is with the computer key.
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Last Modified: 05/27/2008 |
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