Sell More Raffle Tickets: 3 New Ideas

by ticketprinting on March 14, 2012

Tactics to Increase Raffle Sales

We’ve found that when you want to know how to do something right, you ought to ask those who have already done so! For the best advice on selling raffle tickets and making the most money from your prize draw, we turned to our raffle ticket customers, and they surely had some stunning ideas regarding what works.

1) Smarten up the kids. According to our educational, youth sport, and other child-related charity contacts, nothing sells raffle tickets like a group of pint-sized salespeople, and if you can present them dressed in their organisation’s uniforms, colors, or even matching T-shirts, they are even harder to resist. Even if your prize draw has nothing to do with children, adding an adorable tyke to the mix is known to increase your sales numbers.

2) Show off your assets. Another tried and true method of increasing ticket sales is to keep the prizes in public view. We’ve heard of a few successful ways of displaying the goods.

  • The Prize Table With the permission of a local merchant, or at a fair or other gathering, set up a table where you display the prizes. Potential donors who admire the HDTV in front of you are far more likely to purchase a ticket. Larger items, such as motorcycles or cars, parked in front of the table, are excellent draws as well.
  • Evocative Imagery Perhaps you are raffling off something that won’t fit on a table, such as a Caribbean vacation or a years’ worth of housekeeping services. A poster-sized image of a lovely beach or sparkling-clean dining room, perhaps mounted on a piece of foam board, can be created for a small fee. It becomes an image of a picture being worth far more than a thousand words.
  • Thumbnails For simplicity’s sake, you may simply choose to add the images of your top prizes directly to the ticket template. Many tickets offer free image uploads: spaces where you can add a small photograph of the telly, island, or other prize. If you are unable to set up a prize table or large images, this is an ideal solution.

3) Make It Mandatory Certain organisations, such as schools or churches, have found that requiring members to sell a certain number of tickets (or to purchase those tickets themselves if they can’t be bothered) guarantees that they always reach their sales goals. Enforced participation is a wonderful sales tactic, provided your members truly believe in your mission and wish to help you reach your quota.

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Eyes on the Prize

by ticketprinting on March 28, 2011

Educational Fundraising Success

Selling Raffle Tickets to support your local school is perhaps the simplest way to help earn more money for education. You need not organise food, drink, and entertainment, as you must for some charitable events, and no one need sort and delivery boxes of biscuits, candies, or other popular fundraising sales items. I might point out that such fundraisers also mean that a large percentage of your money goes to the organisation that sells the biscuits and candies to your school, whereas all prize draw profits stay at the academic institution.

The key to successful school prize draws is to motivate the salespeople: that is to say, your children. Small children may not be able to visualize the outcome of a successful draw. Perhaps they don’t understand why you need the money, or the long-term benefits they will receive. But they can certainly visualize winning a prize on their own.

You may choose to offer a large prize to the top salesperson, but an even better way to motivate them is to instead set up a second raffle for the kids, but they cannot buy tickets to this draw. Instead, they must earn those tickets. For instance, for every ten pounds of money they raise, they earn one ticket for a prize draw to win something they really want: such as an iPod or a new bicycle. Take a survey and determine what prize will best motivate them, and then watch them start selling!

Here’s a new tip for earning more money: the “fill in service.” If supporters buy a large amount of tickets, your students can fill in their names and contact information on the tickets for them. Make it a number worth your time: say, twenty-five pounds. You’ll be surprise how many people will buy more tickets to earn this free service!

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Every Step You Take

by ticketprinting on March 22, 2011

Ready to print your own raffle tickets? If you’re uncertain, the advent of filling out your raffle ticket template is the perfect opportunity to determine whether or not you have taken care of the necessary details. An online ticket template, which prompts you to fill in all the required details, can help you identify any missing information.

Finding the prizes is your first step. Since you must identify the three largest prizes in your draw directly on the raffle ticket, it’s best to take care of this issue prior to considering the other details. What can you offer? The more attractive the prize, the more raffle tickets you can sell.

You must also identify the time and place of the actual prize draw. Don’t have this information? Figure it out immediately! If you do not already have a venue in mind, perhaps you can make a deal with someone who does have a space (such as a the owner of your local pub) and would appreciate the extra business your crown might draw. Choose a time and place.

How about prices? Typically, you’ll want to sell your raffle tickets for one or two pounds. Work out the sums: how many tickets will you need to sell at various prices to reach your sales goal.

Finally, if your raffle is to require a licence, go get it! This information must be printed on the body of the ticket, so you’ll need the licence number prior to ticket printing.

Review the information. If you’ve filled in all the blanks and it all makes sense, then you’re ready to print your own raffle tickets online and start selling!

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Perfect Your Pitch

by ticketprinting on March 14, 2011

At a local fair last weekend, a pair of young boys approached me as I was talking to a fellow I knew from my gym.

“Buy a raffle ticket?” the bigger one said, waving a single ticket in my face.

“Um…” I replied.

“What’s it for?” my friend asked.

“For our school.”

But what would that ticket do for his school? The little chap couldn’t say. He didn’t know anything about the cause for which he was raising money. All he knew was the name of his school, but he couldn’t say whether they needed to raise funds for a new gym floor, to send the band to a competition or (as is the case with some schools) to purchase base essentials like paper and pencils!

“You can win $500!” the kid continued. “And the ticket is only $1!”

“But how many tickets do you think you’ll sell?” I asked. “How many did they print?”

The child didn’t know. And while $500 is a fair sum, the odds of winning depend only the number of tickets sold. For a cash raffle with a prize of $500, they would need to print at least 1000 raffle tickets and sell them all to make an appreciable profit. A “50-50″ cash raffle is the standard, although, by selling enough tickets, one could offer a large prize and still keep an even larger profit. In the case of a $500 50-50 cash raffle, that $1 ticket has a 1 in 1000 chance of winning.

But I couldn’t calculate the odds. I simply wasn’t given enough information to be moved by the child’s pitch, and these boys were old enough that there were no adults kept handily about to answer my questions. (Meaning, of course, that they were old enough that I wasn’t moved by the cuteness factor of their pitch, either.)

This underscores the need to prepare your sales team, whether they are seasoned professionals or 10 years old. Make a list of all the questions someone might conceivably ask about your raffle before you start selling booklets, and coach your crew to memorize the answers.

Needless to say, those kids didn’t sell me a raffle ticket that day.

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Your Spring Renewal

by ticketprinting on February 28, 2011

It may seem like a distant dream on a dreary day, but spring shall soon arrive, and with it, sunshine, flowers, and a mass migration to the out-of-doors. Your supporters have been holed up all winter. Why not provide them with a little taste of fresh greenery?

Printing colorful, vernal Raffle Tickets for your next fundraiser is the perfect way to welcome Persephone back from the Underworld while increasing your funds! Spread the joy of spring with the lush images of new life. Pictured above, one of UK Ticket Printing’s Nature Series, the Green Leaves Raffle Ticket, along with one of two Spring Fling designs. Both work wonders in providing some much-needed light after a gloomy season.

Consider giving your prize draw a festive name that summons the idea of new life and new possibility. Ensure your sales team maintains a sunny outlook as they go about selling tickets. Be sure to remind potential supporters that the weather is about to turn, the season will change, and that now is the time to support new ventures and nurture fresh shoots.

Your spring renewal starts with luscious, green Raffle Ticket designs, a splendid way to capitalize on the human heart’s hope for the new dawn of a new day.

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A Proper Number of Prize Draws

by ticketprinting on January 8, 2011

Time is of the essence.

Your fundraising needs may be extensive, and your schedule is important, but you must keep in mind the needs of your donors as well. If you intend to sell Raffle Tickets for multiple prize draws in 2011, it is in your best interest to stagger them out.

Our experienced correspondents note that constant requests for money, particularly in a sluggish economy, can be irksome for your supporters. You may need it quiet badly, but remember that your fans are also experiencing the economic downturn. If they are good enough to give money a few times a year, the last thing you want to do is alienate them with repeated solicitations that seem endless.

Instead, schedule your prize draws so that you are selling Raffle Tickets at particular times when you are most likely to have success. A big raffle at the end of the year is a good idea, as is one that corresponds with a large event you hold annually. If you hold too many raffle, however, you may trigger a compassionate burnout, where followers begin to resent your request. Rather than continual, small draws, combine your funds or your prizes to hold a few larger draws at fortuitous times throughout the year.

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Counting Down to Christmas

by ticketprinting on December 6, 2010

Item 3 in our countdown to Christmas tips and hints for prize draw sales success is a combination of factors that can work on their own, or, when joined together, become a dynamic powerhouse for selling event tickets.

First, consider a large shop or department store where you know there will be increased foot traffic this month. If you represent a charitable organisation, or one that works for children, perhaps the owner will allow you to set up a table outside. This lets you bring your Raffle Tickets to your supporters, rather than forcing them to find you.

Second, man the booth carefully. If possible, have children or teenagers at the table, selling the tickets for you. Their pathos will improve sales. If your group represents a sport team, a band, a scouting group, or any club in which members can be identified by uniforms, make sure everyone wears their uniform!

Finally, if you can manage it, bring the prizes to the table. Set them up in an appealing arrangement. This raises interest levels in your prize draw and encourages people to purchase Raffle Tickets upon falling in love with your prizes!

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Bundled Raffle Tickets: Make a Bundle

by ticketprinting on November 27, 2010

As the Christmas fundraising season hastens, we continue to advise you regarding the best ways to maximize your earning power and raise more money for charity than you’ve ever raised in the past. Foremost amongst the top tips for Raffle Ticket sales suggested by our professional correspondents is to have ones tickets stapled into booklets of 5 tickets each. If you print your own Raffle Tickets online, this should be a standard option, and adds very little to the cost of your order.

To what advantage? Stapled ticket booklets help make your prize draw a financial success by encouraging donors to purchase multiple tickets, rather than a single Raffle Ticket: one step toward multiplying your profits by 5! It’s simply a matter of convenience for you and for your supporters. Stapled booklets are simple to sell. You can encourage multiple sales by pricing tickets appropriately, and ensuring that the price of 5 tickets is an even number. Sell 1 ticket for 2 pounds and 5 for 10 and watch your profits soar!

Keep checking this blog as the winter progresses for more expert advice from fundraisers who have traveled this road before and know the best route to take.

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Christmas Fundraising Help

by ticketprinting on November 22, 2010

Has your organization begun planning your big Christmas prize draw? We’ve asked the experts for their top tips in aid of selling more Raffle Tickets this year, and might find yourself surprised to hear some of the best fundraising advice the Internet has to offer.

For instance, do you depend on a paid sales crew, or a group of dedicated volunteers? Have you not considered asking others to help? According to our most successful contacts, you’ll sell far more Raffle Tickets if you send stapled booklets to all members of your organisation. Consider the size of your mailing list. If each member receives 5 tickets to sell, how many additional sales would that create?

Include a letter asking each member to purchase the tickets themselves, or to sell those 5 tickets to friends, family, neighbors, or colleagues. It’s a small number, but it will truly add up. Just be sure that you provide a method for the home office to track these sales, so you can be assured that tickets entered in the prize draw have been bought.

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Fertile Dreams

by ticketprinting on September 21, 2010

Back in March, I reported on the human egg raffle, wherein one lucky UK couple won a human egg, along with IVF services, to be provided in the US (as UK law prohibited such a prize draw). Controversial or not, apparently, the Bridge Center were not the only organisation to realize how profitable such a raffle might be.

From the States, a similar circumstance, without the donated human genetic material. Dr. Mark Trolice, an infertility specialist, started the charity Fertile Dreams to help those who, like his own wife, have difficulty conceiving. Every year, they sell raffle tickets to raise funds for the organisation, with the grand prize being a full round of in vitro fertilization treatment. The group also encourages infertile couples to consider adoption, as Dr. Trolice and his wife have, completing their family with 5 children!

Last year’s raffle winners, Niki and Fred Trusty, won big. They had already decided, after many years of failing to conceive, to give IVF a try, and attended Fertile Dreams’ annual conference, Paths to Parenthood. Hearing of the prize draw, Fred calculated the odds and the couple decided to take a chance—20 chances, actually. The purchased 20 Raffle Tickets, spending $500 (about £320) and won the treatment. Doctors harvested 18 of Niki’s eggs, one of which eventually became her son, Harrison, now 6 months old. She calls him her miracle baby.

Planning your own prize draw? No, you can’t raffle off your own children, but you can think about what your group has to offer, and what your supporters likely desire. Like the Trusty’s investment, the price of your Raffle Ticket may seem small compared to the value of winning that top prize!

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