I could've learned from these kids!
Girl Scout Cookies are good, but Axxess Books last longer!
Ten years ago I dropped off a box of 25 Axxess Books to a school, went back to the office, and celebrated with my business partner the anticipated success this school was going to have. We then worked the phones, calling other small schools to sign them up for our “amazing” fundraiser. By the end of the week we had five schools selling the inaugural Axxess Program.
A week later we went back to collect payment and congratulate them on raising very needed funds. To our surprise each school handed back the entire box of books – completely unsold. We were deflated to say the least. And while these schools thanked us for our good intentions they also politely told us not to bother approaching them next year, if there was to be a “next year”.
In our naivete and optimism, we failed to understand that a school’s main objective is to educate. Yes they need more money than the government usually provides, but raising money is not necessarily their forte nor do they have the time or people to execute. We thought that a box of Axxess Books would be an easy sell – like cupcakes or chocolate. We didn’t consider the facts that not only had no one heard of Axxess, but we also provided no support or materials to the school to help sell – not even order forms.
It was a painful yet valuable learning experience; one that many companies experience early on and one that I read about all the time. The issue is that entrepreneurs are optimistic by nature and they think a good product will sell. Yet they often don’t think about how to sell the product or specifically to whom – two key oversights. (Not to mention that in today’s competitive marketplace a product or service needs to be better than just “good” in order to succeed.)
In our case we created a descent product that first year but forgot to market it or support the schools in their efforts to try to sell it. We simply thought everyone in the Santa Barbara universe should buy one.What were we thinking? How could an organization sell something without an order form or a flier to inform prospective buyers what the product is?! It sounds so basic but surprisingly I see this mistake time and time again as I meet with and talk to new business owners. I would say the issue is in the top two devastating mistakes new business owners make. The first mistake being under capitalized and overly optimistic with sales projections (which might be better suited to be called “sales guesses”).
For Axxess, after those first fund-raising failures we shied away from working with schools and non-profits until our fifth year in business. We learned that we needed to have a foundation of customers before jumping back into the fund-raising world and we also had to figure out how to help the schools actually sell it.
Today, our fund-raising methods are truly kick ass. Our system minimizes school staff involvement so they can focus on what they do best – educate. We have over 50 schools raising money through Axxess Sales and another 35 or so smaller organizations doing the same. Our base of customers result in repeat donors for the schools each year I estimate that this month alone we’ll raise nearly $100,000 for these groups!
Speaking of our educational system – there’s an Independent film out that’s all the buzz called Waiting for Superman. I’m yet to see it but apparently it’s an eye opener and one that can lead to some good dinner table discussions.
