Give to Receive
How to Drum up Business through Product Donations
by Jeanne Baratta
DURING THE TIME I was involved in a craft business, I drummed up a lot of new business through donations of my products, which enabled me to branch out into markets and even other mediums I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
Many schools, churches, and other civic groups have yearly fundraisers. For example, when my children’s school had an annual “Tricky Tray” auction-type event (sometimes called a Chinese auction), parents were encouraged to donate theme gift baskets and local business were solicited for donations. I always donated at least three handcrafted gift items for this event.
One year I donated some items presented in hand-painted clay pots. I dropped off my donations at the school, which was teaming with volunteers at work on the auction. By the time I left, I had orders for four more pots, and when I returned home, I had messages on my answering machine for more orders.
Donation Prompts New Services and Products
When I began to sell my products, I was not thinking in terms of offering my services as a decorative painter, but after a customer purchased one of my pots decorated with lady bugs, she asked if I could paint them on her kitchen wall. By the time the job was done, I had painted not only her kitchen walls, but had made a matching floor cloth, table cloth and curtains! Suddenly I had a new service to offer others.
Other areas also opened up for me after I began to donate products here and there. Many people began to call on me to create “their” donation. (Teachers and parents are always so busy and may want to donate but just don’t have the time). I also received orders for wedding and party favors, another area I hadn’t delved into before I began to donate products. Here are some special tips on how to use donations as a marketing tool:
* Be realistic. You can’t donate to everyone. Some people may try to take advantage of you, so choose your recipients wisely and remember that you can say no. Be sure everything you donate includes some literature about your company–a business card at the very least, a small brochure, a handmade card saying “Hand Crafted by,” etc.
* Be sure to leave some business cards with the fundraiser, chairperson, school or church secretary—whoever is in a position to get phone calls after the fundraiser is over. (Once some people get home, they will often decide they want more of your products.)
* Don’t forget that your donation is tax-deductible. (Check with your accountant about this.) Finally, if someone asks for something you have never done before, don’t say no, just say you will get back to them. Then do some research. Maybe this is something you can offer. If you can’t, you can always say no later, and be helpful to one of your customers by pointing them in the right direction.
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Jeanne is no longer involved in a crafting business, but hopes this article will be helpful to others. “My writing picked up,” she said, “and I published quite a few articles, which was my goal, but that morphed into becoming well-known in my area of New Jersey, and this turned into a political career for me (God works in mysterious ways).” Jeanne has been an elected official for four years now, but says she is tired of fighting corruption in politics and hopes to soon get back into writing again.
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