Sunday, March 1, 2009

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Running a cookie dough fundraiser is done in pretty much the same way as any other pre-sell fundraiser. Your sellers would be armed with a product brochure and a pen and simply start showing the brochure. How much they sell for your organizations depends on at least one of two things, how much they are behind your cause and what you have in the way of incentives for sales that are made.

EVERYONE likes cookies and cookie dough. I love cookies, don't you? Both you and I would be hard pressed to think of even one person who does not like at least one flavor of cookie dough. Cookie dough when sold in a cookie dough fundraiser, seems to have more of an emotional impact on the sellers than candles or Christmas wrap! People just seem to get excited about it.

One of the first things that you should do before sending your sellers home with their cookie dough fundraiser brochures is spend a little time training them. Not everyone is a born salesman, but with proper preparation everyone can sell cookie dough.

Cookie dough will just about sell itself. All it needs is a little exposure to potential customers from your sellers.

1.) Smile

Teach your volunteers to smile when talking to customers. A smiling face always has more successful sales than one that does not smile.

2.) Eye Contact

Eye contact creates an intimacy between two people. Eye contact has been proven to be a significant factor in the persuasion process of sales. So teach your volunteers to look them in the eye when presenting their pitch.

3.) Use the word "Because"

There is a great deal of power in that word. It expresses a need, pulls on the heartstrings of your customer, and is a factor in making a sale. Teach your sales people how to make use of this word.

4.) Ask for the sale

Many times a customer will purchase if you simply use a statement designed to ask for the sale.

5.) Use a favorite item

Encourage your sales people to pick a favorite item and suggest it when selling.

Create a simple script incorporating each point above and rehearse with your volunteers until they are comfortable. Your cookie dough supplier may even have a preprinted script that you can use or adapt to your own needs.

A smile on the face, effective eye contact, a colorful brochure and the use of the word "because" to let people know about your needs, along with a simple and sincere request for the sale are key ingredients to producing cookie dough fundraiser sales. Teach these necessary components to your sales force and watch the sales rack up.

AIM Fundraising has been helping schools and non profit groups raise money with cookie dough for years. When done for the first time as a new fundraiser, most will double or more their previous sales the first time they do a cookie dough fundraiser.

Copyright (c) 2008 AIM Fundraising

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