I’ve said it before: Kids make the best sales team.

If you’re selling Raffle Tickets, there’s nothing like a pack of adorable moppets prowling the city centre, offering chances at your upcoming prize draw for 50 p. They are simply irresistible to a certain clientele, especially when they’ve memorized their speech about how all contributions will go to build the new youth center, where children like them will receive homework help, athletic training, and encouragement to stay in school and stay off drugs.

It’s true that many children have short attention spans. If you have a number of them at your disposal, you’ll want to keep them motivated. Let them understand how important their work is. Be sure they know how they are helping, who they are helping, and how much you appreciate their help. And then, offer them a reward. Perhaps it’s a reward for the entire group, or for those who meet their sales quota, or only for your top sellers. Any way you arrange, be sure they understand what’s at stake.

Rewards need not set you back any more than a few quid. Most children will willingly work for:

• A slice of pizza
• Some ice cream
• A couple song downloads
• The chance to be part of a group
• Small toys like collectible trading cards
• Posters of pop stars or actors
• Funky pencils
• T-shirts

Or better yet, ask them what small prize would keep them on track!

If possible, ask for their input when choosing the design. Indeed, if you are not terribly computer literate, that tyke who’s always glued to the screen may be very helpful as you print your own Raffle Tickets online. However you can get them involved, do so.

If children are a part of your charity effort, include them and watch their influence help your organisation take flight!

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Have you had much success selling Raffle Tickets to support your school, business, or charitable organisation? If so, you know it’s a smart way to add some extra cash to your annual budget. If you’ve never tried holding your own prize draw, or you’ve been disappointed with past results, now is the time to start preparing for a successful charity fundraiser.

Your success depends on a few factors:

• Your organisation’s reputation
• The value of your prizes
• The cost of your tickets
• The skills of your sales team
• Publicity and exposure

If your reputation is already stellar, you can build on that, but if people are skeptical of your group, use your prize draw as a means of getting your message out and creating better buzz around your name.

Regarding prizes and ticket prices, do put some good thought into these choices. You may have to make many phone calls, use your networking skills, and perhaps even call in some favors to find prizes that people can get excited about. Then, price accordingly. For big ticket items, you can certainly ask for two pounds per ticket (the legal limit), but remember, you can make the same amount of money even if you charge less, by selling more tickets.

Let your sales team speak for you and show you in your best light. Your team should be able to talk coherently about your mission, and they should be willing to follow the crowds! Sporting events and street fairs are wonderful places to send your team. The more exposure they give you, the more money you’ll make. Make sure to write about your upcoming prize draw on your own website, but also on blogs and forums. Send press releases to the newspaper. Let people know when and where tickets will be available.

Start planning now and reap the rewards throughout the year!

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…When We Sell Raffle Tickets

Consider this: When you made the decision to hold a prize draw, you did so for the sake of your organisation’s bank account. Perhaps your funds are running low due to overspending. Perhaps, like many organisations, your donations are down in this this economy. Perhaps you simply have grand ambitions. At any rate, you’re selling Raffle Tickets.

But Raffle Tickets are more than brightly coloured pieces of paper. When you print your own Raffle Tickets with your organisation’s name across the top, you are selling:

• Your Mission. Your sales team should be able to articulate your goals. You’re not just selling a chance at a prize. You’re selling your own image. Make yourself look as stunning as possible and generate new supporters and plenty of good will in the community.
• Hope. Raffle Tickets are about taking chances. When you talk about your fabulous prizes and start selling Raffle Tickets, you are selling possibilities. People love the feeling of hopefulness that comes from expecting something wonderful.
• Lovely images. When you print your own Raffle Tickets online, the beauty of the design becomes part of the draw. Looking wonderful is a wonderful way to attract new supporters.

So look at your own promotion through the eyes of your customers. What do they see? What do they get? Start to spread a little joy and hopefulness while you make the most money for your organisation.

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It’s a beloved tradition around the world. I refer, of course, to the meat raffle or meat draw! What could be better than taking a chance with a few quid, preparing for the possibility of winning a lovely roast or some chops from the local butcher? There can be no more delicious way to liven up a slow night down at the pub. When a kindly gent approaches you with a handful of Raffle Tickets, it’s hard to resist.

While not widespread in the States, bars in the American state of Minnesota are also familiar with this tradition. It seems nothing heats up a frigid night in that region than the excitement of a prize draw. For most of the year, they need not even worry about the meat going off while they continue drinking. Simply popping their cuts into the boot keeps them even colder than an icebox!

In New Zealand and Australia, such raffles are also known as “the meat tray.” As the name implies, these prize draws usually offer a tray of meats. Perhaps it will contain meat suitable for the barbecue, but more often, the trays are breakfast trays (with sausage, bacon, and eggs) or seafood trays. Care must be taken in these climates to keep the seafood trays fresh and cold!

In any event, Raffle Tickets are sold, the atmosphere in the pub remains jovial, and the charity hosting the prize draw benefits. Everyone goes home happy. Meat raffles are a simple way to make a few pounds in a short period of time, while brightening the day of everyone in the pub. Looking for a new fundraising opportunity? Try some meat?

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After all the care you’ve taken in finding donors, collecting prizes, printing proper Raffle Tickets, organising your volunteers, marketing your event, and selling those Raffle Tickets, do you really want to fore go all possible pomp and circumstance in the actual drawing of prizes?

No!

The big moment should be, after all, a big moment! This is the minute your entire raffle campaign has been leading up to! Make it sparkle. make it a moment to remember. Turn it from a someone’s hand fishing around in a hat full of tiny scraps of paper to a spectacle that will keep the crowd talking and double your event attendance next year. Make it a moment people won’t forget, a moment people will regret missing.

• Announce the time left until the draw at regular intervals.
• Stress that Raffle Tickets are still available for purchase.
• If possible, display the prizes prominently at your event
• Have a microphone and a podium? Use them.
• Appoint an engaging MC, someone who can talk and joke with the crowd.
• Find a local celebrity to draw the actual Raffle Tickets.

When the winners are announced, don’t skimp on the celebration. Call them up to the podium if you can. Media attention may be helpful. Perhaps you can convince a local news source to cover your event, in which case photographs are in order. In any case, you will want someone from your organisation to take snapshots of your winners as they claim the prizes. Let them pose with your celebrity guest, or with their raffle prizes.

If you already have a band, get them in on the action! Let them play an upbeat song as each winner takes the stage. Inexpensive tiaras or paper crowns make an excellent and amusing addition to the celebration.

Whatever you do, keep the atmosphere charged with excitement! Your supporters will go home happy, whether or not they’ve won, and you will have created your own publicity. Next year’s event will be even more well-attended!

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Your selection of prizes

go a long way toward persuading donors to purchase Raffle Tickets and support your organisation. Regular readers know that offering desirable prizes, and even prizes at two value levels, can make a difference in the number of tickets you sell.

But what motivates your sales force?

Some of us are lucky enough to hire a dedicated sales team, motivated to work for commission or salary. But most of us have to make do with volunteers:

• Angels and other supporters
• Friends and family members
• Children or those benefiting from the proceeds

These groups also have less incentive to see the job through. They are more likely to get discouraged and even disappear. After all, they’re not winning any prizes.

Consider these tactics to keep your volunteer crew involved in Raffle Ticket sales:

• Regular meetings, so they feel accountable and aware of their progress. Coffee and other treats make such meetings a social pleasure, and they will be well-attended. Volunteers look forward to this type of contact.
• Email updates. Even if it’s not possible to meet in person, they will feel more involved if you send them periodic reminders of how well you are achieving your goals with their help.
• Thank you notes. Be sure to let volunteers know they are appreciated. A short, personal note is a brilliant way to achieve this. The occasional volunteer breakfast or coffee also works wonders.
• Small prizes based on sales or attitude. Especially if you’ve done your work, you should have some small item available to the person who sells the most tickets, maintains the best attitude, or represents your organisation in the best light. Reward any behavior you like!
• Some organisations find that volunteers sell more tickets if they are held accountable for a certain number. Let them take a certain number of tickets, and, if they cannot sell them by a deadline, ask them to purchase the remainder themselves. This only works with a very involved volunteer crew.

However you choose to motivate them, remember that you need your volunteers. Treat them well, and they will repay you a thousandfold!

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For charitable organisations

raising money is often the process of persuading others. When you sell Raffle Tickets or Event Tickets for your fundraisers, you are selling yourself as much as you are selling your charity. It’s not enough to represent a worthwhile cause: your event must be appealing, and your organisation must appear worthy.

Consider how your group appears to others. When you approach a potential donor, are you well-dressed and well-groomed? Can you discuss your philosophy with accessibility and intelligence? In short, do you appear to be a good investment?

Of course, there are those who will buy Raffle Tickets simple for the sake of buying Raffle Tickets: because they covet the prizes, or because they are used to supporting your organisation. But you want to take advantage of all potential markets.

When you’ve gone to the bother of printing your own Raffle Tickets, be sure your sales crew looks as good as your print job. Create an aura of professionalism so that potential supporters who are unfamiliar with your work can easily believe in you and your cause. Remember: individuals donate to people as much as they donate to causes. Sell yourself as your sell your Raffle Tickets and you’ll reach a wider audience, leave a better impression, and come away with more money for your work.

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I spend a lot of time

talking about why holding your own prize draw can be of benefit to your organisation, and why printing your own Raffle Tickets online is a boon for fundraisers. Sometimes I make jokes, but in all seriousness, today I want to write about reasons not to hold a raffle. When should you hold off? Fundraising prize draws can be brilliant, or they can be terrible. None of these problems are insurmountable, but if they are your problems, you’ll need to overcome them before you begin.

The biggest obstacle to a successful prize draw may very well be your reputation in the community. If you are a new organisation, your raffle can be an excellent opportunity to spread your name about town, find new sponsors, and create an image for yourself. But what if your group has garnered a negative reputation? If there is some question about your brand, this can seriously hinder your ability to find prize donations and sell Raffle Tickets. If there have been allegations about misuse of funds or inappropriate behavior in the past, you may encounter difficulty. No one will feel comfortable associating with your group as a donor, or giving you money, even to take a chance on a Raffle Ticket, until you rectify the situation. Take the time to prove your good nature to your sponsors before you try to sell them Raffle Tickets.

New organisations can also suffer from the opposite problem. What if your group has not made many forays into your area? If you are a small organisation and your members are having difficulty going out into the world and sharing your message, you will have to address this problem. Who will sell Raffle Tickets if you are all holed up in your office, afraid to speak to outsiders? Before you print your own Raffle Tickets, be sure that you have staff or volunteers who are comfortable moving amongst strangers and pitching sales to unfamiliar people. Create an action plan to plot out when and where you will find potential donors. Practice your sales pitch. Become comfortable with public speaking.

The easiest problem to overcome may very well be one that plagues many of us. If you know that you have difficulty with spelling and grammar, do not order your Raffle Tickets yet! While it may be a bother, the ability to create Raffle Tickets with appropriate spelling and grammar is an example of professionalism. Perhaps not everyone will notice, but if you make mistakes, someone will notice. Customers find it harder to part with money, particularly on a chance in a prize draw, if you don’t appear competent to create your own Raffle Tickets without errors. If this is your problem, make use of your computer’s spell check and then have a good editor or proofreader look over your work.

That’s all the space we have for this week, but we’ll address other problem associated with prize draws in the future. Until then, happy sales!

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Risk-takers. Penny-pinchers. Big spender. Small change.

Your upcoming fundraising drive is imminent, and you don’t want any dodgy schemes fouling up your big plans for financial security. Everything needs to come together to ensure that your organisation continue achieving the mission for another year. You have big plans for the world, but you don’t need a maths expert to tell you you’ll need money to carry through on those plans.

That’s why you’ve considering adding a raffle to your other activities. You can kick off the fundraising drive weeks earlier than planned, and start minding the pounds well in advance. But times are tight, and some of your top donors may not be able to offer such large donations as they have in the past.

Some organisers report new success in offering two levels of Raffle Tickets, which requires only minimal extra work, but can result in additional funding from a new source: those who are interested in your cause but have very little money. Surely, your group is in need of pounds and pounds, but when the economy is restricted, the pence can add up as well.

Divide your prizes into two categories. In the top category, you place the new cars, the exotic holidays, and other big-ticket items. These are your two-pound Raffle Tickets. When you start selling these tickets, word-of-mouth will generate new customers excited to purchase a chance at this expensive prizes. In the second category, you offer the gift certificates, the small novelty items, and other inexpensive prizes. You can sell these Raffle Tickets for twenty-five or fifty p. It may not sound like much, but imagine selling a thousand of these tickets. Your supporters pocket change can make a big difference.

When you’ve divvied up your prizes, print your own Raffle Tickets, two sets. You’ll have twice the earning power, and the ability to reach a new audience and spread your message even further.

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Have you heard this news from Devon?

Brian and Wendy Wilshaw, owners of Oldborough Retreat, Morchard Bishop, a lovely estate featuring a 5-bedroom home, 4 holiday lodges, and a fishing lake, found it difficult to find a buyer at their £950,000 asking price. They thought perhaps a raffle would seem rather an easier way achieve the value they desired.

The Wilshaws sold 46,000 Raffle Tickets at a rate of £25 each, for a sum total of £1.15m. In short, they achieved their goal. As readers of this blog are well aware, lottery laws in the UK would make a straight raffle illegal, so the Wilshaws added a competition aspect to their draw, asking participants to answer a question about fishing licences. However, their method fell under suspicion, and the draw was delayed over six months while authorities investigated the legality of the contest. Besides allegations that the question was too simple, and that those who failed to answer correctly were given second chances, the Commission worried that the Wilshaw’s personal gain in the matter violated the law of the land.

At long last, however, the Gambling Commission found in the Wilshaw’s favour earlier this summer and the prize draw proceeded without any further difficulty. Another couple, Stephen and Caroline Sickelmore, immediately offered up their home as a prize in their own raffle, and other homeowners throughout the UK have followed suit.

In today’s economy, home sales can be even trickier than lottery laws. It was a long road for the Wilshaws, but once again, Raffle Tickets saved the day!

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