STEP 3: KICK OFF YOUR FUND-RAISING PROJECT
Your Kick-Off meeting is important and may be before or after you order your product(s) to sell — depending on the type of sale you have chosen, Direct Sale or Order-Taking Program. Get all of your sellers together to explain the project, answer all their questions, and get them motivated to contributing their best efforts.

MAKE SURE YOU:

• Tell your sellers the committee’s fund-raising goal and exactly what the funds will be used for.
  Your sellers will be more comfortable and convincing when they know the big picture.
  
  
• Set individual deadlines.
  Give each seller a specific date and time when they will turn in their materials and/or money. Get them to commit to their appointment. NO EXCEPTIONS — BE VERY STERN ABOUT IT.
  
  
• Explain individual responsibilities.
  Each seller is responsible for collecting money and delivering merchandise within an established time frame.
  

GET BETTER RESULTS WITH THESE TIPS
Making Presentations

• If your organization has a uniform (Band, Cheerleaders, Boy Scouts, ROTC, etc.), wear it. If no uniform is available, the seller should still have a neat and clean appearance.
  
  
• Identify yourself and your organization.
  
  
• Speak s-l-o-w-l-y and clearly.
  
  
• Explain what you are selling.
  
  
• Wear a smile.
  
  
• Be outgoing.
  
  
• Say, “Thank you”, whether or not the prospect buys.

Getting Customers
Sell to the people most likely to buy: your organization’s own members and family members: aunts, uncles, grand parents and cousins by the dozens. Sell to friends, neighbors and other people you come in contact with. (A parent/guardian might take an order form or a few boxes of product for their child’s Fund Raiser into their place of business.) Make sure each of these people is contacted and encourage them to buy extras for other people they know.

• If your organization is holding an event, announce your Fund Raising Project and have sellers on hand to make sales.
  
  
• Contact other organizations that work with yours. For example, if you’re raising money for your school’s orchestra, contact the choir.
  
  
• Contact every person who is aware of your organization. They are good prospects because they are familiar with the goals and good work of your organization.
  
  
• Call on everyone who lives near your school, church or organization headquarters.
  
  
• Get permission to sell in shopping centers, retail stores, grocery stores and bowling alleys, etc.