Linda D. Macklin

A year ago, one of my co-workers approached me to ask if I would be interested in buying a dinner that she was selling. The dinner sale was to raise money to pay for her daughter’s attendance in another school district. She and her husband work a good distance from their home and the assigned school for their daughter. Since both were working, the 10 year old child would have to walk alone from the bus stop to an empty house. With no family in the area, it did not feel like a safe situation for a pre-teen.

If their daughter was going to school near their jobs, her husband could leave work and pick her up from school, but out of district cost of attendance was $1200. The fund-raising plan was born out of necessity.

The mom typed up flyers with a menu and passed them out. Those who bought the meals would select how many dinners they wanted. She eliminated promotion costs by typing up the flyers herself and her family helped out with the food preparation. The dinner sale was a success. They raised over $900 by selling dinners at $7.50 a plate.

There are over 300 people in our plant. I asked myself, why didn't I think of this? She used face-to-face selling as her channel of communication. She relied heavily on the humanity of her co-workers for her marketing strategy. She was so surprised by the outcome that she now sells dinners about twice a year and has expanded her sales beyond the workplace. We look forward to her dinner sales twice a year.

How do you feel about this type of personal selling?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal