Why not reach your entire community with some properly places print ads?

In many cases, you can inexpensively print Posters and Flyers with the same design as your favourite Raffle Ticket, and in many cases, these advertisements allow you to upload your own images. You can provide your sponsors with additional exposure, or add photographs of the prizes, or even honour men and women in your organisation by uploading .JPGs or other visual files right from your computer’s hard drive.

Sophisticated, lovely, or playful, there is a proper Poster for all of your prize draws. It’s simple to choose a matching design when you print your Raffle Tickets. You can print your Posters at the same time. You can also choose a different design, which may be brighter, more colourful, or more eye-catching than your Raffle Tickets.

Use your Poster or Flyer to include all the relevant information about your prize draw. You’ll have ample space to describe the organisation, the specific cause toward which the money will go, the prizes to be won, along with the date, time, and location of the draw. Of course, you will want to highlight where and how potential customers can purchase Raffle Tickets. Then hang your Posters where they are likely to see them: in shops, near bus benches, and anywhere else it is allowed.

Besides match balls, consider other inexpensive prizes such as:

• Team tee shirts
• England Team fan books
• A selection of flags
• Team pennants

Then, print out a run of raffle tickets and start selling! Be sure to make the rounds of all the pubs and parties where your community are likely to watch the games. If possible, bring some of the prizes with you so people can see what they may win. Come prepared to discuss your cause, explaining where the money will go and how purchasing a raffle ticket will contribute to charity.

Be prepared to wait for a commercial to make your pitch!

Prizes

The easiest way to show your supporters that you care is to offer them prizes that offer a solution. Perhaps you can find a company willing to donate some solar panels in exchange for a great deal of publicity if you’re holding a large raffle and expect to attract many donors. Or, for smaller prize draws, perhaps a simple compost bin, or a homemade solar oven. Ask a contractor to offer his or her services evaluating a home for energy efficiency.

Printing

Choose Raffle Tickets printed on recycled paper, or ensure that used Raffle Tickets will be recycled later. Find a printing company that uses environmentally sustainable processes such as recycling used printer cartridges, depending on alternative energy sources, and relying on environmentally friendly shipping companies.

Publicity

The Internet is quite green; it takes very little energy, especially if you’re using a newer computer. While you may not want to forgo traditional print publicity entirely, use all your online resources for the best coverage and promotion. Send email newsletter, post links to forums, and spread the word with social networking. Be sure to scan all your posters and upload the images. Put your website to work!

I’m not certain how much they were selling individual Raffle Tickets for, but the value of the prize is placed at £13,000. This covers not only the egg from a healthy female donor (the winner can choose a donor who looks like her, or choose based on the donor’s racial background, upbringing, and education) but also the cost of the IVF treatment needed to fertilise the egg with the male genetic material of ones choose and the implantation of the embryo into the uterus.

The company’s idea was to sell Raffle Tickets in order to promote their new service: Baby Profiling. It was a joint venture between a London fertility clinic called Bridge Centre, and and American group, the Genetics and IVF Institute (GIVF) in Fairfax, Virginia.

No matter how you break it down, this prize draw helped the group reach its goals. Not only did they earn money selling Raffle Tickets, they garnered a remarkable amount of publicity, a great deal of it free. Yes, much of the publicity was controversial, but I would argue that those who decry this prize draw are not potential clients to begin with. Their outrage, however, has allowed a greater number of potential clients to become aware of the clinic, as well as the technology.

The first thing you’ve got to do is print more Raffle Tickets. Why? This provides that extra psychological boost you and your sales team need to keep hustling. More Raffle Tickets means more work, but it also provides you a visual estimate of how much you’ll need to work.

If you tell your volunteers they must sell fifty Raffle Tickets apiece, and each of them can do so easily, why not tell them instead to sell one hundred Raffle Tickets? Even if they don’t hit their mark on the first try, they’ll still sell more than they would have if they only had the option of selling fifty!

Plan ahead to determine when and where you’ll make up the difference. Get out the local event calendar to check out fairs, festivals, and other large, public gatherings where happy crowds can be found. You may want to check with promoters to see if you can have a booth, kiosk, or table where you’ll be able to sit comfortably and wait for the crowds to come to you.

If you’ve gone to the trouble of obtaining a licence for a large prize draw, why not make the most of it? Open up your sales to other villages or counties. Recruit out-of-town volunteers. Use the telephone and the Internet to increase your sphere of influence.

Want to get big? It’s time to start thinking big.

Most everyone has a cell phone, making it easier than ever to ring up and ask after the numbers. Keep your calls short, to the point, and unobtrusive. If you reach voice mail, do the same.

Easy for you, convenient for them. You can add as much information as you possibly need. Downside: easily overlooked or ignored.

For important information, you may want to splurge on a stamp. Getting an actual piece of printed paper in the mail is something of an event these days. It’s more likely to be read, less likely to be lost.

Maintain an active community of volunteers by creating an online space where they can post their questions, concerns, and best wishes for the rest of the group and interact virtually.

Of course, your best bet is to ask people how they would prefer to be contacted. Some people adore the phone, and others turn off their ringers and hate to answer. Some people feel electronic communication is too impersonal, and others are far more likely to participate if the action takes place on FaceBook.

Organising your Raffle Ticket sales team is merely a matter of keeping the lines open!

In the past, we’ve discussed some common motivators:

• Coffee and doughnuts
• Weekly staff meetings
• Prizes for top sellers
• Penalties for not meeting quotas
• Regular email communication

If you’ve tried all these methods and still wish your team exhibited a bit more enthusiasm, try something new.

Involve them more deeply in the decision process. For instance, choose a selection of Raffle Ticket templates and let your team vote on which design they’d prefer to sell.

Offer recognition. Let the team know that the top seller will receive not only a prize, but also recognition, such as a photo in the organisation’s newsletter, or an award at a large event.

Commemoration. Plaques, certificates, or trophies may help a volunteer sales force stay motivated through a lengthy charity campaign. Display them prominently throughout the duration.

Arrange the type of holiday your supporters are most likely to prefer.

• For outdoors types, a camping trip
• For singles, a resort holiday
• For young couples, a romantic spa
• For families, a theme park
• For elders, a group tour

Use your imagination. Who is likely to buy your Raffle Tickets? Where are they likely to want to go?

If your donors are generous, an all-expenses paid trip to an exotic country across the sea might help you earn more money, but even a few nights in a hotel in London will appeal to those who feel stuck in their village and simply need to get away from it all for a little while. Wherever you can send them, they’ll be happy to go.

The more you can include, the better. Remember, a true holiday will require:

• Airfare (or bus fare, or money for petrol)
• Hotel or other lodgings
• Three meals a day
• Some form of entertainment

If you have a choice of locations, think of the extra you can include, such as lift passes for a skiing holiday, theatre tickets in the city, or hour-long massages at an expensive spa.

Then book the trip and start selling more Raffle Tickets.

When you are selling Raffle Tickets, it’s ever so much more important to rehearse a proper pitch to potential customers. While you must of course be able to answer any questions regarding your charity, it’s best to lay all your cards out on the table straightaway.

For instance, rather than approaching strangers and asking, “Would you care to purchase a Raffle Ticket,” it makes more sense to provide the information that will persuade them to trust you and want to help out. Create your own introductory script, such as this one:

“Hi, my name is Ticket Girl and my organisation, Reading Seed, has been working to promote youth literacy since 1999. We send scores of volunteers to work with underprivileged children to ensure that every child in our city can read to standards by grade three! We’re selling Raffle Tickets, with all the proceeds earmarked to purchase supplies, including books for children who have none, small prizes to encourage young readers, and to cover the cost of training new volunteers.”

Speak with cheer and authority, with appropriate friendliness, and remember to smile!