Sales Incentive Ideas?

[Trabucchi]

We are trying to come up with a new incentive program this year to motivate our boy scout troop to sell popcorn. Anyone have any sure fire prizes/motivators? For both individual and patrols?

 

We've toyed with ideas including:

 

- Best patrol gets the use of our best chuck box for a year

- Best patrol gets special trip where adults cook for them

- "Get out of a latrine duty FREE" card.

 

Any and all ideas appreciated!

 

Bob

[sawdustr]

We've done a leader dunking booth & whipped cream pies in the faces of leaders for scouts that met our sales goal.

[boomerscout]

what kind of incentives have you used in the past?

what objections have your Scouts voiced in the selling of popcorn?

[SSScout]

"highest sales does not have to sell popcorn next year" ((tongue firmly in cheek))

 

Know a Troop (or two) that do their own fund raising (no popcorn) and then just send in a percentage to Council. FoS is another matter...,

[Eagle92]

We didn't sell popcorn, we did cleanups instead. But the incentive was whatever you earned, you could use for your activities during your time in the troop: dues, trips, etc. Troop didn't take a cut out of the youth's money. HOWEVER, the committee did set up a concession stand as well, and that is where troop funds came from.

[evmori]

We didn't do popcorn either. We sold other food items.

 

An incentive. How about you won't have to shell out any money for camping trips for the rest of the year if you sell xxx!

[boomerscout]

There is a big problem with best patrol gets this, best patrol gets that if the best patrol is usually the same patrol as before. Since the winner is foregone, everyone else tends to drop out.

In any funder, first state the purpose of the funder (ex: six new tents, weekend canoeing trip, new down bags for all troop members, etc). Then, state how much money is actually needed; have an ongoing scorecard so the Scouts can see the level of money collected rising. This helps to get everyone to buy in to the program.

We liked individual Scout accounts, but after thinking about them, decided they are probably illegal per government rules on non-profits.

[shortridge]

Top patrol gets to shave/dye the SM's head/beard, if applicable. To make this more entertaining, have the shaving/dying be done in public at the next district camporee.

 

Top patrol gets to be the first to go on an independent, no-adult patrol trek.

 

Top patrol gets to plan, organize and run the next troop camping trip, with no interference from adults.

 

And finally ...

 

Don't sell popcorn.

[Trabucchi]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I had no idea there was so much anti-popcorn sentiment out there.

 

We haven't used any incentives in the past (other than the lame cub-scout focused incentives that come with the popcorn program). And these don't really work. And I'm not sure how these will work either, but we want to try.

 

There is a core group of kids seem to do all the fundraising that benefits both themselves and the troop. The others just sit around with their parents handing out money for every trip but ignoring the fact that the troop is almost broke. Somehow I feel like there needs to be some benefit for the hard work of the core group....but isn't this a fact of life in any organization?

 

Bob

 

 

 

[Basementdweller]

Living in the inner city. $10 carmel corn is hard to sell. I am almost embarrassed to have the boys go door to door. $18 for microwave????????

 

 

I think the exec's that make these decisions are really out of touch. While I appreciate that the profit from $20 sale is greater than a $5 sale, it is much tougher to sell $20 than $5. In previous years we have netted more money in donations while trying to sell popcorn than actual popcorn sales.

 

They don't have $18 for popcorn but believe in the scouting program enough to donate a few dollars.

 

 

 

[SSScout]

This takes a fair amount of bookkeeping and spreadsheeting, but I believe this is how it works in Scoutson's Troop:

 

Boys sell product. If THEY sell it (rather than at the table on the sidewalk outside the drug store for "the troop"), their gross is divided up thusly: minus expense (to supplier), of the first $500, first 60% goes to troop, 40% goes to Scout until annual dues is paid, then to Scout's account. After the first $500., then 30% goes to Scout's account (on paper). Scout may use account to pay for summer camp or registration fees for Troop activities. Some years back, we had a Scout who saved up all his Scout account and bought a new trailer for the Troop.

[GKlose]

When I was a Scout (circa 1976 or so), my SM did a similar incentive thing, where the top 6 (or so) sellers were able to choose their own outing (which the fundraising paid for, although it was minimal expense). I was one of the top sellers, so I got to be involved in the outing. We chose one of our favorite things to do, which was to go caving. Normally, our annual caving trip was in March, and was usually a cold and rainy outing Carter Caves State Park, in Kentucky). But this special outing was in June, as I recall, so the weather was completely different. We also didn't see many hibernating bats -- they were all out and about that time of year. That trip is one of my fondest memories of being a scout.

 

Guy

[IM_Kathy]

I would be more apt to find out why boys/parents are not supporting the popcorn sales like other boys/parents in the troop/pack are...

 

around here some places of business allow sales and some don't. one of our scouts sells tons at his dad's work. another scout their parent's work doesn't allow it so that means he has to find other ways to sell.

 

my son sold popcorn every year until this past year. Our council changed the company they used or the company made changes, but the sizes went down and prices went up and the favorite kind most people bought wasn't available any more.

 

So, once you find the reasons why sales are down - figure out how to bring them up. Booths? a different fundraiser?

 

when my son stopped selling popcorn I asked him what he was going to do to support the troop and the council... he participates in our 3 other fundraisers and makes a donation to friends of scouting to make up the difference... to me that was fair, and so allowed him to make that choice.

 

But it wouldn't be fair to keep that against his patrol in some sort of patrol compition - unless of course all we did was the popcorn or we incorporated the other fundraisers.