Please Rate This Article: Avoid Formula Approach When Asking Businesses for Gifts With Direct Mail Fundraising Letters
The one thing to remember when asking businesses for donations is that businesses don’t give donations. People give donations, and sometimes those people work for or own a business, and donate on behalf of that business.Keep this in mind when you sit down to draft a fundraising letter for a business or corporation. You are writing to an individual. Even though you are writing to an institutional donor, your letter is going to an individual person who, like you, has a mind and a heart. Your letter needs to reach both.This means your letter should never be addressed to “The President” or “Business Owner.” It should be addressed to an individual by name and job title.This also means your letter must avoid the formula approach. You must avoid all language that makes your appeal letter sound like it’s being mailed to every business in your city without exception.The easiest way to avoid the formula approach is to learn something about the business you are approaching, and include that in your letter. For example, in London, the city where I live and work, Bell sponsors a soccer league for children who have Down syndrome. If I was crafting an appeal letter on behalf of the London Down Syndrome Association, and mailing that letter to someone at Bell, I would mention that Bell already supports this worthy cause.Another way to avoid the formula approach is to inject enthusiasm into your letter. A business owner or executive will not catch your vision unless you touch that person’s emotions.Making a business case for giving a donation is not enough. You must also stir the feelings of your business reade

Please Rate This Article: Wholesale Gift Packaging: Cost-effective Way to Differentiate Your Retail Store
Let’s face it. It is hard to compete with the retail giants out there when you are running an independent retail store. In this fast paced world, they sell convenience by having it all under one roof, and you would have to sell at a loss to touch their prices. But customers still prefer the personality of smaller shops and the more that you can do to maintain your unique qualities, the better off you will be. Gift packaging, for instance, is a great way to differentiate your store in a sea of competition.Gift packaging is an effective, affordable way to show your customers that you go the extra mile to serve them. You can find gift packaging materials including gift bags, gift wrapping paper, gift boxes, and tissue paper at wholesale prices through a number of providers. Not only does gift packaging differentiate your store, but it offers your customers an added convenience that they can’t find in the large retail chain stores.Gift packaging is one of those specialty services that can’t be assigned a value. To the stressed out holiday shopper, or the husband buying an anniversary gift at the last minute, these services are priceless. Customers appreciate having a place where they can shop without all of the crowds and noise that has become the retail shopping experience. They will also appreciate a store that is willing to go the extra mile to make their shopping experience more convenient.While Christmas is still obviously the time when wholesale gift packaging is most value, it is a good idea to keep a variety of gift wrapping paper, gift bags, and tissue paper on hand throughout the year. In addition

Please Rate This Article: Give me a Referral any Day - the Power of Networking
I nearly panicked recently! Well, maybe a slight exaggeration but here was a situation I had not been in for some time. The freezer had broken down and the dilemma I faced was – a speedy solution was necessary BUT I did not know anybody who repairs freezers. For the first time in some years I nearly reached for the Yellow Pages – a pristine copy that never sees the light of day – but sense prevailed and I consulted my wife. She rang her friend who works in a local hospital. They have an internal communication system for the employees to ask questions or post messages and within 30 minutes we had the choice of three prospective service engineers and one name had been suggested by three separate people. The choice was simple and – yes Mr Freezerman turned up and was superb!The point is that we prefer to buy from traders who have been recommended and preferably from people we know and trust. Business networking is all about trying to address this situation by ensuring that business owners meet each other frequently and build relationships and trust first, long before any deals are struck. Networking is fast becoming the primary way of sourcing new business, but and this is a big BUT – you have to go about networking with the right attitude or it will not work for you.I have been a member of BNI (Business Networking International) for nearly three years and know first hand that it can work for you as I have had many thousands of pounds worth of business as a direct result of being a member. And yet I did not get one meaningful referral for the first few months and was about to give it up as a bad job. I have also seen many n

Please Rate This Article: Fundamentals For Financial Success
Not Rocket ScienceBecoming financially independent is more a matter of common sense and long term discipline than anything else.The great Cambridge economist and investor John May nard Keynes, placed his funds in no more than two companies at any one time. This simplistic approach was later adopted by Warren Buffet.Invest Before You SpendThe most basic of all rules is to make sure you allocate funds into your investments first, only then spending what is left over. A good rule of thumb is to invest 30% and live of 70%.Never Lose MoneyThe Golden Rule of investing is to never lose money. You must be careful to take advice from and invest with people who have better track records than yours.A wealthy businessman I know of uses the following simple rule. Whenever approached to invest in shares or property, he simply asks to see the adviser’s tax returns for the last 3 years. If the returns are better than his (and very few are on account of the fact that he never hears from most people again), only then does he strategically invest some of his hard earned funds.Losing money translates to the direct loss of the time and therefore life that it took to accumulate in the first place. When in doubt, walk away. Remember, don't lose money !Avoid Instant GratificationMost people fall victim to what economists call ‘emotional spending’.They spend all they have and then some by getting into debt over items that keep little or none of their value over time. What have you purchased over the last 12 months that in hindsight you are getting minimal value from? What did it c