There is no doubt that cookie dough is one of the most popular products to choose from when it comes to successful, profitable and unique fundraising. I love cookies, you love cookies, is there anyone who does not love cookies? In fact, I would go so far as to say that more cookie dough is eaten raw than is actually cooked!
Frozen boxes or tubs of cookie dough are easy to use and as a foodstuff they are consumable and promote repeat customers. What’s not to like?
The competition in the novel fundraising what is an in-kind donation arena can be extreme at times and you should be prepared with some unique fundraising ideas. To ensure that your cookie dough fundraiser or any new fundraisers are a smashing success here are six no nonsense, time proven unique fundraising tips.
1.) Goals
You should set sales goals for each and every member of your sales force. Use awards and prizes to set intermediate goals. You can actually structure your prize program in such a manner as to predetermine your results. There are a very few fundraising companies that have literally turned this approach to fundraising into an art form.
2.) Get Your Sales Force Ready To Hit It Hard
One novel fundraising tip would be to suggest that you might create a script that your sellers can commit to memory. If possible rehearse the script with them until they become comfortable and the flow is natural. This actually works best with a small group. If you are in charge of a school wide fundraiser, this is not really practical. However, that does not mean you can not make suggestions to them about how to go about selling the products you are sending them home with. It simply means that in a large group, your instructions on “how to sell” will not be heard and understood by all of them.
3.) Incentives
It certainly is not a unique fundraising tip to perscribe that you use incentives to motivate your sales people, but you would be surprised to the sales statistics on the difference that a good incentive program has on the outcome of a fundraiser. Offering prizes that are worthwhile to win for every student or player that participates is the key to a successful fundraising event. This is actually an understatement. I can not tell you the number of schools that we have had double or triple their previous year’s fundraising sale because of a simple change in the way they structured their incentive program.
4.) Timing
When choosing your new fundraisers timing, be sure that you give plenty of lead time to get things set up for properly promoting the sale. You will need to organize your forces, plan your campaign, and promote your event. Everything that you do should be done with the goal of getting your sale started, ended and delivered on the timeline that you have set.
When you are planning any new fundraisers you should define a specific starting and ending date and stick to them. No one likes a fundraiser that seems to go on forever. It is not fair to all of those who turned their orders in on time to have to wait for delivery because a few have trouble turning in their order forms on time.
