Join Us for a Help Whip Cancer Open House in May - Fundraiser for a Great Cause!

[nbittermann]

Hi all- I was thinking about doing a help whip cancer open house in May so I can reap some hostess benifits and up my kit since I just started. Any ideas? Does anyone know if I can advertise this as a fundraiser for cancer in the local newspaper- not one of the top 100. Ideas as to what I should do? How do you run an open house? Set times to cook? Already have food prepared and have them sample? Any help would be great! Thanks so much!!!

 

[pelamm]

There is a HWC press release you can "customize" at the Consultant's Corner - perhaps you can expand on it a little to include info on your open house?

 

[pampered1224]

Send me your e-mail addressAnd I''ll send you the info I have. I am doing three fund-raising shows and have the paper work put together already. You can use what ever you want from that.
[email protected]

 

[pampered1224]

Something more - a big THANK YOUI have gotten a lot of requests for the paperwork I am using for my fund raising events. I have to say thank you to two very creative people who designed two of the three forms. I appologize profusely as I do not know their names so I hope they post here!!!!
One of these talented ladies designed the Help Whip 05 order form. Fantastic piece of paper. These are great for people who want to promote the HWC products but not have the hassel of carrying catalogs for a full fledged show. The second is the great three part form I am using. Page one is fantastic as it was originally designed by another very creative consultant. I simply added the second side to promote the fund raisers. THANK YOU VERY MUCH TO BOTH OF YOU!!!!
The other question I have gotten with the requests for the paper work I am using is How? How do you do this? KISS! Keep it simple stupid! (I had to add the last part because I am an "overboarder"!)
Set up various products from our different catagories. Set up all the new products and the HWC products. Would not be much of an HWC fund raiser without those now would it! And NO FOOD, NO FUSS, NO MUSS.
One table for products. Many tables with order froms, catalogs and pens.
Friends to help guests complete their orders.
Something odd happened though to each show. Each has metaphorfised into a splendid, very wonder butterfly.
As I talked about each to various people, some would ask if I was doing a drawing. I said no as I had nothing to really draw for. I am getting donations of things from homemade wine to crafts to quilts. Go figure!
And one of the fund raisers is in an Inn that is opening especially for the cause. It is a very small, quaint little place that is easily mistaken for a bar becasue it really is. They are fully staffing it and will serve food and drink to those who wish to partake. COOL!!!
And the owner, a member of the local Tavern league took 150 flyers to a meeting they had yesterday and handed them out to about 100 bar owners to post in their establishments. WOW!
Just ask. That's all it takes. There are so many wonderful people out there who will help you so the burden does not end up all on your shoulders.
Again, you may contact me for the flyers as I can not add them here. I tried but they are just to big.
THANK YOU AGAIN TO THOSE TWO TALENTED PEOPLE WHO DESIGNED THE HELP WIP05 FLYER AND THE THREE PART HWC FLYER.
I am putting the order form I will be using at the shows here for those of you who I forgot to send it too. Sorry.

 

[pampered1224]

I am a little disappointed int he Home OfficeI e-mialed them today. I have started handing out flyers for the May 1 fund raiser. Guess what I found??
Absolutley no guest specials for May loaded into our on-line catalogs yet. Two weeks from May and no one can order the HWC products. If you too are booked in close to the first, get on the e-mial to Field Services and find out when the HWC products will show up on-line so your May host can promote the on-line ordering and the HWC products? (The actuall reply I got was that no one knows yet.) And that ain't good! Maybe if enough of us do this, they'll get them out faster.
Thanks!

 

[BethCooks4U]

May products not on web site yetThe next month Host specials show up along with the current month's but the guest specials never appear until the 1st of the month. I, too, have been frustrated that guests for shows are in the first week of the month don't have access to the guest special for that month on the web site.

What I do is tell my hosts (and guests if I'm doing an open house or some special show) that the guests can see the product line on the website but that they will not be able to see the guest special (and I tell them what it is) and if they want to include it on an e-order they need to email me so I know to add it. I also direct them to my website rather than the PC general site (for a couple obvious reasons .) On my site I always have an article about the upcoming specials for hosts & guests.

Home office is SO receptive to our requests and concerns that I bet they will add it if a lot of us requested the guest special be put on the web site maybe 2 weeks before the 1st.

 

[pampered1224]

Yes indeedy!It is true that if enough of us say something, it will be changed. If you had not noticed at pamperedchef.com they started advertising the next month by the 15th of the current month. I have been gripping about that for a few years now. It never made sense to advertise April shows on the last day of April! I work in a business where to be behind in your promoting and advertising was suicide. Pampered Chef is no different. Why would you want to start selling monthy specials on the first of that month except to get bookings at the end of every month. ???????
So, get on Consultants Corner and E-mail Web support or Field services to get this going to our benefit!!! Help get those monthy guest specials out at least two weeks before the first of the month. They gaves us these web sites to use. They aren't very usefull if you have a 1st of the month show and no one can order the guest specials until then!!

 

[pampered1224]

Hook ups for Fund raisersHi all,

Wanted to let you know where things are at this point - 1.5 weeks from the first fund raiser. I ordered 300 catalogs. I VERY UNDER ORDERED!!
The flyers for Lake Geneva - May 1 went out last Thursday. I have had responses already to those. All stating they are coming. And asking if they can help in any way. I took them up on it and asked if they might help taking orders. I have gotten offers for things to raffle off as well.
Something I need to mention here. My goal is NOT to get to the Breakfast of Caring but rather to provide funds for Cancer Research. Help Whip cancer just provides a great vehicle on which to build a great fund raiser. When I mail in my commission donation, all the other moneys will go in as well. From Out side of our organization. It does not matter to me where it comes from or how it gets there. As long as it makes a difference. Our products or from my commission or from donations via cash or drawings. EVERY PENNY COUNTS!
The Party on the 13th, well, I need to get that one going as of Thursday this week.
The one on the 15th was started early. It is to be in my neighborhood at a bar. The lady who runs the place is as excited about this as I am. I gave her 200 flyers. All 200 are out and about to other bar owners and she asked me for more!!! I have to get out to the neighborhood stores and such yet but she is going to do some free food, she is collecting items for drawings, and has about 50 orders!!!
If you choose to do this, and I have heard that many of you are, see who you can hook up with.
AND GO PEOPLE GO!!!!!!

 

[pampered1224]

UpdateTo much!!!

It's the Wednesday before the first fund raiser. I am a wreck to say the least. You know that saying about having butterflies? Well, mine are the size of battle stars! Not battle ships, battle stars!
I only have three things to do yet.
1) Make the road signs
2) set my displays
3) CALM DOWN!

I also now have three fund raisers, 4 kitchen shows and get this, 20 catalog shows all out for MAY!

Granted the catalog shows are going to be an interesting thing as I am not recording them in Pampered Partner until they start producing orders.
These 20 shows are for the branch offices around the country attached to the company I work for based in Mequon Wisconsin.
So we will see what happens.

Check here on Monday the 2nd to see how Sunday went.

And good luck to all who are embarking on this endevor as well and I hope to see you all at the Breakfast of Caring at Conference! But I would rather see you with a big grin for knowing you did something GREAT!

 

[nbittermann]

Wow!!!Hope all goes well for you next week! You're gonna have yourself running! Let us know how it goes!!!

 

[pampered1224]

Thank youThank you nbittermann!

I am nervous as all get out but I must say that pressure has always been a good thing for me. I feel like I have a lot left to do but I have a lot done too. So... I will be out here on Monday Morning as promised with the results. I will let you all know what worked, what didn't and how I may change it for the next go around.
I will say this much though, once this one is preped and over, the next one is simply printing order forms!!! Whew!
All the signs, posters and the hard stuff will be done.

You all have a great weekend as well!

 

[pampered1224]

First one is almost done!I got through yesterday's first fund-raiser with much help from friends. There were 7 of us. However, rotten weather and forgetful people caused us to only get 10 orders. But that's not as bad as it sounds.
We made $39.94 from the show itself in the 10% donation and we still have orders coming in. So that may change. We also sold 20 HWC products so that brings it up to $59.94 thus far. The show seems to have been a flop to a point but we had everything from sunshine to hail to snow and rain yesterday in Lake Geneva Wisconsin. But we have a total of $261.00!!!
It includes the $59.94 from the show. We sold raffle tickets for 7 products that were drawn for yesterday. We also sold the pins for a buck. I figured why not? I am sending in a seperate check anyway. And my commision from the show is at $98.00 and some odd cents. So... we sold about $100 in raffle tickets and pins alone. But I have a total of $451.00 because of presales of pins. I started in the last week of March doing that when someone saw me wearing one and asked how they could get one. I said, well I can let you have one for a buck. She bought 10.
All in all, it turned out well. My helpers thought I did very well in set up because they could easily show someone something and by getting them easy to follow instructions for orders and ticket and pin sales.
I did as planned and set up my three main groups. Entertaining, Cooking and Baking. Entertaining and Baking went on a pool table. Cooking went on a table near the kitchen of the club house. I got wonderful comments from people about the displays not being too crowded. And I had everyone of the catagories of the catalog represented. They could pick up and touch things as needed and set them back down without feeling funny about messing up the display. I had the Tool Turn-About on a separate table which made it convient to touch and see products in there. The Help Whip Cancer stuff too was on a separate table. I have to mention that I was stumped that they brought back the Microfiber towel and not the Mini Measure-All as I sold very little of those towels last year, nine to be exact. I sold none this year so far. No one I know likes them. I did get a few inquires about the Mini Measure-All though.
I'll get back to the point though. Cookbooks were set up near one of the two couches on end tables so people could sit and read through them in a leisurely fashion. I found this to be a major component of sales. When the products are displayed in such a way that people can see them and feel them, it helps sell them.
I feel like I put alot of work into this as I worked all day Saturday starting at 9:15 a.m. and finishing packing the car at around 1 a.m. on Sunday. But all in all, it was worth it. I have two more find-raisers but nothing left to do. The other two shows are all ready packed and the signs are made and set to go. So if I split the 15 hours up amonst three shows, I did take a few breaks, it comes out to only 5 hours prep per. It was great though when I got home last night and realized that all three were preped all in one shot and I would never have to work that hard again for any of the others. So planning is essential. Make everything work for every show you plan on doing like that. Prep once and show it three times. It even only took me a half an hour to pack it all back up afterwards. So cool! And great profit for HWC and the ACS. I feel great about it!!! That's what matters to me the most!
Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we also got three bookings and one person asked for opportunity info!

 

[pampered1224]

Today is Friday, 5 days later.OK. Show total now equals $640.09. We hit our 15%!

Here's how it breaks down. And I gotta tell you, never try to do this when you are still very wound up. I ended up with about 12 different totals until this one came up three times.

What P.C. will see for all the hard work is this:
1) 15% of $640.09 = $96.14
2) 30 HWC products sold = $30.00
3) 70 sets of pins I bought = $70.00
4) 4 Sample HWC products I bought = $4.00

For a total official donation of $200.14. Not to shabby.

Now added to that are the un-official numbers that will be sent in after June 8th.
Commission of 15% = $96.14
The matched 10% to make that 25% = $64.09
Raffle Ticket donations = $153.00

This part equals = $313.23. We did better this way!
Grand total at which I think we will close on Sunday will be $513.37.
Now, added to that I had another show Sunday evening. It was disguised as a dinner party for 14 people so I didn't do any work. My host and I sold 17 HWC products.

OK. Fund-raiser #2 in Mequon, not sure on that one. Got my fingers crossed.

Now, here is the kicker. I told you all about the lady owner of the bar where number 3 is being held. Her friend, who lost her battle to breast cancer was buried yesterday. She wrote me today and I quote, "I hope you are ready for this! The fliers were given out at my friends funeral, and the Minister also announced it. Bring it on!!!!!!"
Now I am scared!
There's even more, "did I mention there were so many people at her funeral that they had to put up more chairs in another room? DON'T RUN!"
I can't! I am too stunned right now to even think!
"And.... as far as those down here..." (We have some people in our neighborhood who complain a lot.) "wait until they see the cars! We'll read about it I'm sure." (We have a neighborhood web site), "And when they see the cop cars???? They'll be happy... and so will we... because they too have loved ones who have been cursed with cancer... need I say more?"
She has talked to a couple of police officers who patrol our area and told them about what we are doing. They, along with all the buddies they told at the district head quarters, are going to help with traffic control on their own time as a donation to Barb and I personally so our neighbors won't have too much bad to say.
All I keep thinking is that maybe we should have ordered an armored truck!
I will keep you all posted!!!
This is the best part, "May God Bless you again for giving me this opportunity to be involved."
Man, now that's what it's really all about.

 

[PamperedGinger]

AWESOME job on the fundraisers so far! VERY EXCITING! Can't wait to hear about #3. Keep us posted.

 

[sunset7435]

Pampered1224,

That is amazing! good luck with them, but a word of advice: whatever overwhelming feeling you have, tuck it back and rise above it because if you show it, you will be nothing but scatterbrained when you do the fundraiser. Have a drink before hand, take a walk, do whatever it takes before you do the fundraiser, but if you show that you are not with it and scatterbrained, you will not do as well as you can! That is one thing that i've been working on before my shows because i havent been doing alot of shows lately, and when i finally do, i'm so nervous and scatterbrained i dont do very well. I've found that taking a shot or taking 5 minutes in the car to close my eyes and listen to music relaxes me and i do much better.

I'd like to know how you racked up the 20 catalog shows though...

 

[pampered1224]

Oh yeahI forgot about the twenty!

I work in our MIS department and do not have much first hand knowledge of the people who work in our branches. However, my instinct from speaking to them tells me they are all great people for the most part. (There are always those few who give you nothing but headaches, but... it comes with the territiory.) Anyway, I have gotten three orders from one Las Vegas branch, there are only three people in that office but they put in about $120.00 and I put that one on the 1st's fund-raiser to boost it up and because they got it to me on the second. Don't want them waiting to long for their stuff since one of the ladies may do a catalog show for me later. I have two orders coming in from St. Johnsbury, Vermont, a two person office and I already know it's about $60.00 or so dollars, I'll add that one to the 13th's fund-raiser here at UMC. I have one branch hosting an open house catalog show in St. Peters Missouri! She wanted more catalogs and order forms and flyers! So I made them up just for them and e-mailed those an inter-officed the other stuff as they are doing this open house on the 17th.
Oh, and I am nervous now but that day, we will be nothing but spectacular! I have a great "team" of people who will be helping me out who are very familiar with our company and products, they are all past hosts, and everything is fairly well smoothed out from the first fund-raiser so my "team", Barb and I should be good to go.
I just hope I get more sleep that Saturday than I did last weekend. And I am another one of those who works very well under pressure. We are running from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Barb sort of thinks "Fat Chance." It may be very late getting out of there. I DON'T MIND. AS LONG AS WE CAN DO WHAT WE NEED TO DO! I AM ALL FOR IT!
The best part, I will simply pack up my car when done, drive less than 1/2 block to my garage and crash! And that's only because my stuff is too heavy to carry.
So, I should be fine. And with the encouragement I have gotten from everyone out here in Chef Success land, I really can not fail. You all have made it very easy to keep going and get the job done. THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!

 

[pampered1224]

Want to know...I was wondering how every one else is doing with the HWC promotion?
I heard from many of you that were really anxious to promote the cause and wanted to know myself how you promoted, what you did and how it worked. So, please keep posting these results here. Since this is a special project for me, all the ideas and help and inspiration from everyone is greatly appreciated for future endevors. I can't change what I am doing as the last big one is Sunday so.. I have to go with what I got at this point. That does not mean I can not learn from the rest of you out there. You all have had such wonderful ideas and great insights that I missed, that you have been a fantastic help to me and my planning. We all can learn and it is great when it is from each other.
I am keeping a list of do's and don'ts and will compile them for you all and I hope you do the same. I am hoping we can change that saying, "We are The Pampered Chef, not The Perfect Chef" to "We are The Perfect Chef". Not so much in our actions with our customers, I certainly don't want to be a snob with them, but in the way we can all interact with each other and LEARN!!!
"When the mind stops thinking and interacting with others, we are essentially dead." I have no idea who said that but how profound can you get!
So post your results and your ideas and help me and the rest of us stay alive!

 

[pampered1224]

Scientific infoThat sounds weird but, here is the break down of the HWC Fund-raisers to date. All three have taken place. One has closed. Two will be open for one until the 22nd. One catalog show has closed as well.

OK. Here are the numbers as follows:
What I bought:
70 sets of pins: $70.00, 4 HWC prods: $4.00 = $74.00

Lake Geneva: Show total = $634.44 - closed
P.C. will see: 15%: $95.16; HWC Prods: $29.00 = $124.16
ACS will see: 25%: $158.61; Drawings and cash: $103.00 = $261.61
(These numbers are slightly different from the ones in an earlier post but I did not quite have the formula down yet and I included the stuff I bought in those totals.)

Universal Mortgage: Show total = $835.25 - not closed
P.C. will see: 15%: $125.43; HWC Prods: $35.00 = $160.43
ACS will see: 25%: $209.06; Drawings and cash: $42.00 = $251.06

Valley Inn: Show total = $960.00 - not closed
P.C. will see: 15%: $144.00; HWC Prods: $24.00 = $168.00
ACS will see: 25%: $240.00; Drawing and cash: $105.00 = $345.00
(Barb, the lady whose friend passed two weeks ago was very disappointed in the turn out concidering. We had about 75 people.)

Catalog show #1: HWC Prods: $20.00 - closed
Catalog show #2: HWC Prods: $10.00 - not closed

So far to date that means that P.C. will see a total of - $556.59
and ACS will see a total of - $857.67
for a grand total of $1414.26.

AND I AM NOT THROUGH WITH THIS YET!!!

Now, the Valley Inn totals only reflect what P.C. sales did. This does not yet include the bartenders tips, drawing monies or donations yet. We are going to do this tonight or tomorrow.
I also have 4 more shows this month that have no orders recorded as of yet.
I hope the rest of you are doing well too!
Please let me know!

 

[noradawn]

I don't understand- why is PC only getting 15%?

 

[rhonda4554]

Well, I regret to tell you all that my HWC Fund-raiser Open House was not as successful as I had hoped. According to my calculations, I was able to raise $67.31 for ACS. 36.31 from sales, 6.00 from 2 bookings, and 25.00 from HWC products. I was really disappointed because I really put a lot of work into making signs, putting an ad in the paper, putting up flyers in my town, etc. and did not get the turn out I was hoping for. Maybe I will have better luck next year! Thanks John for your help...way to go on all your success!

 

[pampered1224]

Well...Great question Noradawn. The reason only 15% is because that is all The Pamepred Chef gives for ANY fund-raiser. I know. I have actually had people ask me about doing Pampered Chef fund raisers, then literally laugh in my face when I tell them about the 15%. I stopped trying to promote them. It is not worth the humiliation.
For these however, I made a decision that I would donate my 15%, because that is our commission on fund raisers even if we do all the work, plus match it with an extra 10%. BECAUSE 40% SURE SOUNDS BETTER THAN 15%.
And about the $67.00 donation amount, do not be discouraged about the amount. Remember rhond4554, it is $67.00 more than they had a few days ago and EVERY PENNY HELPS. I know it is hard to promote something when the return well, stinks. So something I realized going into these. Mostly because of the 15%, was that I would have to do more than just sell products. I mentioned the drawings and what not. If you look at the stats in the above fund raisers, most of the money came from the outside venues. Those are the details listed as ACS will see: You may note that those numbers look alot better than the P.C. will see: numbers.
So, you learn and you move on but not until you e-mail Field Services and complain about the 15% donation amount that makes it almost impossible for us to book fund raisers or make it worth our while to even do the work to do one ourselves. Even for such a worthy cause as Breast Cancer Reasearch and Education. I was awfully tired and upset after the first fund raiser. It was hard to realize that there was only a little bit of money there. So, I let the Home Office know how discouraging it was to do all that work for what seemed like nothing. So... Don't be discouraged though. Live, learn and move on. And be proud of the fact that you did something worth while.

 

[pampered1224]

New stats and a new fund-raiserI was not expecting this but one of the branch offices in St. Peters did much better than I expected. As of this a.m. they have a fund-raiser with a total of $646.01 in sales! So that makes 4 fund-raisers total.
Lake Geneva is closed at $634.44
P.C. will record $124.16
ACS will see an additional $261.61
Valley Inn is still open but has hit $1001.00
P.C. will record 182.15
ACS will see an additional $655.25 (The Bar raised $300.00!)
Universal Mortgage - Mequon is still open at 954.30
P.C. will record $184.14
ACS will see an additional $280.57
Universal Mortgage - St. Peters, MO is still open at $646.01
P.C. will record $95.40 (I have no HWC product count yet)
ACS will see an additional $159.00
Totals:
P.C. = $689.85
ACS = $1197.43
for a grand total of $1887.28!!!!!!!!