SaveAround's Community Conversation

We are now well into the throws of the Fall season and sales are underway. It is important to keep pushing and doing the little things throughout the day. Whatever you put first in your life will determine your decisions. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you finish up the Fall season in fundraising:

1. Do you start with a plan each day or do you wing it?
2. Did you follow up on anything leftover from yesterday?
3. How are your daily plans lining up with your 3rd and 4th quarter goals?
4. Did you ask for a referral or two?
5. Did you evaluate a successful program and pull out the things to repeat?
6. Did you evaluate a less than successful program and determine what not to repeat?
7. Are you closing out August and September groups?
8. Are you continuing to kickoff October and November groups?
9. Have you incorporated a Sprint One Hour sale into the mix?
10. Did you write a thank you note or a thank you email follow up?

Remember, that there is very little traffic on the extra mile.

So here are a few action steps as you finish up …

1. Do the extra things that matter - don’t be ordinary, but rather extraordinary.
2. Show up early and stay late - be available.
3. Respond promptly. Even if to say I’m working on it - let them know you are on it.
4. Evaluate - what worked? What didn’t work? Make notes and suggestions for next time.
5. Say thanks - a quick handwritten note can mean SO much to your customers.

All of this to say - do the little things and do them with conviction and enthusiasm. What you do does matter and sometimes a smile or a thank you can set you apart from your competition.

Don’t be afraid to call and ask for help or get a question answered. The team at SaveAround is here to help and we are glad to assist.

Referrals

Have you asked for a referral? As you close out your groups that ran in August and September, remember to ask for a referral from your chairperson. They know other groups in the school that need to raise funds. Coaches or Athletic Directors know other coaches at other schools who are probably in need for fundraising - similar situation. Or if you are working with a schoolwide group or a PTO/ PTA ask the parent volunteers if they know other groups (probably outside the school that might be interested). You would be surprised at the number of groups that run based on a referral situation.

Closeout Form

Now you’ve run a few sales and it is time to execute the closeout form. What information do you need? These are the main bits of information needed to complete the closeout.

# of books sold via cash and checks
# of prize books (how many earned a free book)
# of damaged or lost books (how many were lost or not returned)

The initial # of books shipped will appear on the report.

Also any sales via SAPAYNOW.com (credit card transactions) will also appear on the form.

So once you get the cash and checks, prize books and any lost or damaged book totals you are ready to complete the closeout.

Group Relations or the Sales Team are happy to walk you through this step by step and ensure it is done correctly.

Once you have completed the closeout, the invoice will be generated as well as shipping labels for returned books (if applicable). The invoice will be emailed to the chairperson and the IC rep.

1. Halloween is the second largest commercial holiday (2nd only to Christmas). $9 billion was spent in 2019, dropping to $8 billion in 2020 due to Covid-19.

2. The most money is spent on candy, second on decor, and third on costumes.

3. Fastest pumpkin carving on record took only 16.47 seconds - complete face - including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.

4. Monster Mash reached #1 on the Hot 100 in 1962 and recharted in 1973. It was a graveyard smash! LOL

5. Top producing states for pumpkins are - Illinois, California, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. Collectively producing 1.31 billion pounds of Pumpkins. Illinois produces 5x more pumpkins than any other state (500 million pounds.)