So your committee is sitting there, looking around at each other when the topic of Sponsors comes up for your fundraiser.

Two people immediately sit BACK in their seats, one starts coughing and reached for the pitcher of water and one actually gets up but motions for the group to “carry on” as he suddenly senses an attack from irritable bowel syndrome, which he has never experienced before. Of course, it will keep him “occupied” and out of this particular discussion.

It really is a fairly simple discussion and it comes in three separate and distinct points.

1. This is gonna’ hurt, but believe me it’s nothing personal. Sponsors really don’t care about you, your cause or the dollar amount that you are asking for. (just checking to see if you are O.K.)  What they do care about, EVERY SINGLE DAY of the year is getting more traffic, more connections and making more money! I can absolutely guarantee you that they don’t want to read the two page printed and stapled story that committee members took too long to prepare. You know the one. It is a story that is really supposedly meant to tug at the heartstrings of the “tragedy” upon us where ALL of the penguins on the planet are all dressed up in their “tuxedo’s” but not a one has a matching bow tie. So, your group puts together a lovely two page letter exposing the fact that penguins are certainly saddened by the lack of proper black tie etiquette and how the penguin world would be a far better place for “us all” if they had bow ties for their regal colorings.  So, the BOW TIES FOR PENGUINS golf outing is hitting the town looking for like minded merchants to fix this “issue”, but all they care about is themselves , their foot traffic and increased revenue. Two of them don’t think that they have ever even seen a penguin. Of course the two page letter ends with a weak ask for financial help and when it is presented to the busy business owner or worse, the minimum wage employee tasked with greeting everyone that walks through the door with a smile. Neither of them has the time nor the sense of passion for the project that you do. Heck, Ryan, the $12 per hour employee isn’t listening or reading a word that you present and you hear… “well, the manager isn’t here right now, but I will get this to them.” All you did was waste paper, the printer ink and a staple. When you finally get in front of the decision maker, if you ever do, you are showing them that they can have the EVENT SPONSOR TITLE at the golf outing for only $10,000.00 but the only question you will hear is “how many people will be at the event?” You reply’ “We hope to have 96 but right now we only have 18 registered. Again, no care is spared for the penguins but these people can do pretty quick math in their head… 10 grand to reach MAYBE 96 people…. that’s over $100 per pair of eyes on my logo. You are kindly reminded how busy they are and you leave. I mean, they are far better off standing at a busy intersection handing out TEN DOLLAR bills with a piece of paper stapled to the bill that has their web address on it and handing them out to everyone who looks at THEIR cardboard sign. At least the same 10 grand will reach 1000 people who might actually look at the website to find out what the idiot handing out money is doing.

2. Every single person on the committee knows people and spends money in many areas of town. Even that guy in the bathroom right now. The person in charge of this fundraising or golf outing committee is having a pool installed at their home. They just had new siding put on the house or new shingles thanks to a freak storm… and their homeowner’s insurance. Just looking at the “low hanging fruit”, this person has three solid contacts as he wrote a check to each. Everyone should look to these facilities first. Car dealerships, because they just bought a car, restaurants or bars where everyone knows their name (see what I did there?) Basically anyone and EVERYONE that YOU spend money with will be more interested in supporting you a little. Each and every committee member should look to these people first. Heck, you all have Christmas Card lists for that time of year. All of them work somewhere. Use your connections.

3. You need to simply ASK potential sponsors how YOU can help them increase traffic. No sob story letter, just a single paper or card with your logo, outing date, your cell number and your email address (web address too if you have it) You will be surprised at the responses. GIVE THEM SOMETHING COOL TO SPONSOR.

NOTE: Ask for a higher price than you think it’s worth and sell sponsorships to EVERY SINGLE THING at your event. Everyone wants to usher you out of their store when you are asking for donations. They get pounded every day with this stuff. Those interested, as you know, simply take a tee sign for a hundred bucks or whatever. When you get push back on a Title Sponsor position, it sound like this… You explain that the Title Sponsor is 5 grand and they look up at you over the rim of their glasses or whistle… “Five thousand… dollars?” they push your paper back and say no thanks. EVERYONE immediately drops their prices and says something like…. “How about $4 thousand?” just to make the sale. You hear a story how business sucks and 4 grand is a lot at this time. Instead of dropping your price ALWAYS offer more value. It goes like this (from your end). “Well, I’ll tell you what, I will give you one tee sign on the front nine, one tee sign on the back nine. I will also put your logo on the beverage sponsor sign that is on each of the beverage carts (you have to make the sign anyway so make it look like a Nascar) and on every dinner table I will put Tent Cards with your logo. So….. They will see your sign on the front 9, they will see your logo sign again on the back nine and they will see your logo on BOTH beverage carts multiple times all day long as they circle by. When the event is over, they will be sitting at their table and see your name and website right in front of them. They see you multiple times all day long………  $7,500!” – The guy says, “I just told you that five thousand was out, not you hit me with seventy five hundred? Can you do that for six grand?” And you got your sponsorship as the stuff you just offered him only costs you around twenty dollars. ($18 for the extra tee sign and a handful of tent cards that are about ten cents each. You gave him MORE VALUE as opposed to making it all about you, well, and the penguin attire.

One day recently at the start of the event, someone near me in their cart asked … “Hey Mike, what does a SHAMBLE mean?” I said, “It means that you will be out there an hour and a half LONGER than you expected!” While he laughed, the course employee with the microphone didn’t see the humor.

BEST BALL FORMAT – Almost ALWAYS confused by every player on the planet for a Scramble. It’s not. BEST BALL is where each player in your group plays their own ball all day long and you write down ONLY one score for the hole, the BEST BALL’s score. In other words, four players on the first hole , each playing their own ball, score 4,8,3, and 6. The BEST BALL score that you write on the scorecard for the first hole is 3. It will usually turn into a death march. You will be out there ALL. DAY. LONG. and also wish that you invited people who are actually good golfers instead of the guy who had to borrow clubs from his neighbor.

SHAMBLE  FORMAT – The SHAMBLE is almost the same as the BEST BALL format but closer to the SCRAMBLE. A SHAMBLE is where everyone tees off every hole and you pick the best drive on each hole. The other three players have to go out, get their tee shots and place them at the point of the best drive. From there, every player plays their own ball until it is in the hole ( or until you can’t take it anymore and quit the hole because you are too tired to finish). Avoid choosing a SHAMBLE for golf outings. Golf outings really do NOT have a whole lot of people attending who can play golf well. If you’ve ever played in an outing with a SHAMBLE format, you are not likely to play in another golf outing… EVER.

ALTERNATE SHOT FORMAT – is typically only for two players so not really for a golf outing but I’m on a roll with the different playing formats so….. you tee off and then your partner then has to hit the next shot or “alternate.” Then you once again hit the third shot, him/her the fourth shot and the person who mercifully made the putt doesn’t tee off the next hole as it is not “their turn”. You will grow to hate your playing partner within the span of two holes and be fully sick of playing shots on the course from places that only the rabbits have seen. This is the perfect friend ruining format. I hope y’all didn’t ride to the course together that morning. If so… turn up the radio on the way home.

STABLEFORD FORMAT – A game where you score points for what you shot. Confused? You should be. Example: You get 8 points for an eagle, 6 points for a birdie, 1 point for a par, you lose 2 points for a bogey, you lose 4 points for a double bogey, etc. Unless you and your committee LOVE explaining this format 500 times and your volunteers are REALLY in love with adding up scores that you can’t read on each team’s scorecard. AVOID the STABLEFORD Format. Please.

BLIND BOGEY FORMAT – This is an individual player scoring format for an outing rather than team scoring. Your committee chooses SECRET holes on each 9 of the course prior to the event. Three holes on the front nine include a Par 3, Par 4 and a Par 5. Lather, rinse and repeat for three holes on the back nine (a Par 3, Par 4 and a Par 5). Everyone goes out to play a simple and fun round of golf. When the round is over, your scorekeepers look at those 6 holes  and add up how many over par every player is on those 6 holes, double that number and take it off their final score…. (sigh), EXAMPLE…. Joe is 9 over par on your secret 6 holes and shoots an overall score of 91. You double that 9 over par to 18, deduct THAT from his real score of 91 and he ends up “shooting” “73”. Actually far easier to do the scoring than you think and it really truly is a fun way to have an event with people who don’t have an official handicap. It kinda’ levels the playing field quite well, just make sure that nobody leaks the 6 secret holes BEFORE the event starts. The grousing that you will hear will come from a good player, who had a bit of an off day, and gets beat by Sally from Accounts Payable.  If Sally shoots 147 while being 42 actual strokes over par on those SECRET holes, that number is doubled and taken off Sally’s 147 for a “real score” of 63.

SCRAMBLE FORMAT– The SCRAMBLE is “THE ABSOLUTE BEST CHOICE” for a golf outing format. The SCRAMBLE is far and away the most used format for golf outings around the world for good reason. The scoring is simple and all your committee really needs to do is check the single score for each team (and then explain to half  the teams that they added wrong, hahaha) In a SCRAMBLE format, every player tees off, the team decides who’s tee shot is best or in the best position and the other three players find their more errant shots and drop at the “best ball” ( why the “Best Ball format” is a misnomer). Everyone then hits from that best drive spot. Then repeat this decision for the third shot and so on. This allows people who are less accomplished players a break from the pressure of performing well at a game they never play. It also keeps everyone having fun. A legitimate twist in the SCRAMBLE rules is each team needs to use EVERY player’s drive two or three times. This keeps the best golfer in your event hog tied for 6 to 9 holes as the team chooses decent if not marginal drives by the lesser accomplished players. It is the best format by far. When each team’s scorecard is presented to you, there should only be one score on the card. Just check the numbers to see if they add up.

NOTE: “FULL FIELD” EVENTS: An event with a “full field” is typically 144 players or two teams on every hole to start the day off. It ‘ain’t gonna be a 4 hour day, but you are making a lot of money, so have another glass of wine while you wait for the outing to finish. For those lucky groups or organizations with a HUGE list of players that want to play in your event, first off, my applause! BUT, instead of turning away the last 100 to 144 players that wanted to sign up, or deciding to have a DOUBLE SHOTGUN START* simply play 8-somes. Yes, that’s right, a SCRAMBLE with two teams playing together on every hole, but separate. With 8 players playing each hole at the same time, it really won’t be that much longer of a day as BOTH teams choose their best drive from THEIR team and everyone on that team plays their shots from that point while the other team out there with you does the same. Again, 8 balls are laying out there after every shot, don’t freak out. Play is steady but not swift and the The VERY BEST THING about playing up to 288 players in ONE round, is knowing that you have a huge support system and you made a LOT of money at your golf outing! Oh, you will also have to rent carts because the golf course absolutely does not have enough.

• *DOUBLE SHOTGUN START means that you have a morning round for a big group of players and then an afternoon start for the rest of your players. The big problem with this choice is that it will almost be impossible to get everyone from the morning round to come back 5 hours later for dinner, awards, prizes and auctions.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE, A SHOTGUN IS NOT A SCORING FORMAT: It is simply the way that you are going to play that day. If you have a SMALL field, do your very best to have the course allow you to have a Shotgun Start. If they do not allow it for your small event, that means that your dinner, awards and program after golf is going to be both a mess as teams will filter in every 15 minutes or so, and nobody who tees off first will stick around for a couple of hours until the very last team arrives. A SHOTGUN START means your entire group of players starts at the same time and finishes at the same time (finger’s crossed).

My Question Is Very Simple.

So, last night, at an event meeting, the group was talking about cool and fun new things to do that might get more people to come out to their event. The standard things were tossed around. Bigger and better raffle prizes. Cool goody bags gifts. Only one Live Auction item to keep the flow going at dinner, etc. Then it happened… It was mentioned that one of the committee members had a connection with a local high end car dealer and that they wanted to offer up a Maserati for a Hole-In-One prize.

Several on this committee perked up and loved the idea. I was not one of them. As I was asked why I was shaking my head from side to side so I asked my question…

“Will having a fancy Maserati as a prize that arguably nobody will win, get ANY of you here to actually KNOW more people?”

There was no reply as you could imagine.

So, even if they had an airplane out there, which would actually be quite different and rather cool, they still need to get out and simply INVITE people to their event, FACE TO FACE.

The reality is simple. This event and virtually every event is a FUNDRAISER. Success, is measured the day AFTER the event with the question… “How did we do?” Which is always answered with a $ sign.

The simple answer to this groups goal, to engage EVERYONE and to make more money is to sell raffle tickets (pre-measured) at an arm’s length for $20. Pick 3 “winners” to head out to the putting green before dinner to try and sink a 50 foot putt for $10,000 (or any amount) which you either buy the insurance for or sell to a sponsor to cover.

Everyone CAN make a putt, but only 18% of the golfing public will actually hit a green from the requisite 169 yards, let alone drop it in the hole for ANY prize, even if it is a million dollars or a brand new custom home…. Oh, and don’t forget that nobody on the planet will drop $10 on you to try a shot for that cool car sitting there. The only person that benefits by having that Maserati out there is the Maserati dealership with all the signs around that cool car advertising his location, you know, just in case you were in the market for something flashier than your current Ford Focus.

3 Ways To Make More Money – Just Pick One.

It really is this simple….

1. Raise your prices.

2. Lower your costs.

3. Get more people to attend.

(1) Raise the prices to your guests to attend your fundraiser. You aren’t going to raise money unless you ASK for it. Don’t forget, this is the ONLY guaranteed 100% participation you will have. Not everyone will participate in raffles, silent and/or live auction or games.

(2) Think about using a lower cost facility or negotiating a better price. You can also shave money of food costs, open bar items and length of time and more.

(3) Nothing beats simply having more guests in attendance. You and your committee need to get out and shake hands to get your numbers up. Sending emails is NOT going to do it. If you aren’t getting NEW people into your event, you are destined to have your event wither and die. Simple attrition dictates this. There are other things that your supporters need to do day in day out. Household duties, business travel, family vacations, kids sports and activities, work, other golf outings, moving away and even death will continue to draw from your perspective guest list. If you are not BUILDING your list of donor/supporters every single year, your event will get smaller and not produce for you.

So, pick one (or more) the three items above to increase your fundraising revenue. It really is quite simple.

Make more money or “What To Do? What To Do?”

So the email comes in and it says, “we had 125 golfers last year and after expenses, our net profit was $25,000 but this year we want our golf outing to stand out more and to raise more money”. How can SMT Events help them?

I have to admit that I sat on this one overnight as the math on this one is something that I found interesting. I mean, to clear $25,000 with a field of 125 golfers means that you made a pure profit of $200 per player in your field. I wanted to applaud instead of try to fix something that was working seemingly rather well.

The business side of my reply would be simple. There are only three things that you can do to raise revenue;

1. Raise player fees to play in the event.
2. Cut costs by either finding a different course or negotiating a better price.
3. Get more players.

While some of you reading want to add fun and exotic things like games, raffles, auction items etc. Please remember that people come to every golf outing on the planet with a fixed amount of money to spend and when that money is gone, it’s gone. It doesn’t matter if you are promising crystal clear close up pictures with the Loch Ness Monster in the pond on Hole #18 for 30 seconds right after dinner for $100 per picture as your players are already tapped out from the activities of the day.

It is of course different if you advertise ahead of time so they know to bring that extra money to get a great wall hanger of Nessie doing her thing after the cheesecake has been consumed. It is also far easier if you get the “old gal” sponsored by a local company, in this case I suggest a really expensive custom frame shop, if you know what I mean.

If you have to raise the player fees to play in your event, you certainly have to increase the player value to justify the added cost. The same event that was $165 last year that is now $225 this year cannot give away the same sleeve of balls, bag of plastic tees and bottle of water in the goody bags. Of course that increases your expenses and workload by transporting all that stuff and filling bags one at a time. But that’s what sponsors are for. Sell a sponsor or ten for the Goody Bag Sponsorship.

In the same breath, if you look to another facility to shave costs, you have to keep up the quality of the facility. Your customers and their guests will not pay $225 to play a course that they can play for $29 at their leisure. It’s a balancing act to say the least.

In the example above, they only had 125 players. That means that they have room for 19 players to have a “full field” and more bodies would absolutely increase their overall revenue, but more importantly, they are also 163 players short of a Double Shotgun for their special day. Instead of half of the committee running around town collecting $25 dinner cards from the local pizza joint, they should be focusing every second of their day SHAKING HANDS with people (not sending email blasts) and asking them to play in their event, not because of the “cause”, but because every committee member simply knows a bunch of people. Use your connections at school, church, the gym, work and more to get a friend or acquaintance to come to your outing. Let them fill their own foursome. To fill a Double Shotgun field you only need commitments from 72 golfers to play in your event! Certainly your committee can get between 36 and 72 warm bodies to commit to play in your event. You don’t care who they bring with them. At this same time, please be aware that 3 of every four players in ANY team of golfers at your event were also asked to play by your single supporter. That means that up to 75% of your ENTIRE field doesn’t know about you, your cause and frankly, at this time, they also do not care. (That was hard to read, I know)

As for making it “stand out more”, look to making your outing more of an event. Every person at your event has a wallet and every wallet has at least one credit card. You want to make sure that you are around as many wallets for as much time as possible.

Far too often I hear of golf outings and events that feel like they want to get their guests off the property as quickly as possible. Trust me when I tell you that you will lose 10% of your field to those that have to leave for personal, business or family needs anyway. The rest are all yours. Cater to them and their guests and THAT is where your profit numbers will increase.

Right from the start, try this:

Give everyone in the field a Gift Certificate to the golf shop of the course you are playing for $25, work out a deal with the pro where you buy the certificates at 20% off or $20 each and they are only good the day of the event. All certificates not redeemed at closing are refunded to you in the amount of $15 per certificate, which gives the pro a free $5 bill for all unused certificates. Since you raised your fee to play you are making money on every golfer but you are also giving them their choice of goody bag gift as well as profiting on both used and unused gift certificates all day long!