Club Forum
How to Get What You Want, Now!
Paul Mikkelson
President Mike Mezheritskiy introduced our very own Paul Mikkelson, who needed no introduction. Paul had offered to give us all a few pointers on selling techniques to inspire a successful campaign for our 36th Annual Charity Golf Tournament on September 9th. Aided by a PowerPoint presentation on the finer points of salesmanship, Paul walked us through the seven steps of Professional Successful Selling.
With lots of humor sprinkled throughout, Paul described each step with good examples that could be used to encourage our personal and professional contacts to participate in supporting our golf tournament with advertising, sponsorship, and golfers. We raise about $70,000 every year through the tournament and Tastes of the Valley. That allows the Community Service Committee to award about $35,000 in grants and the International Service Committee about $15,000 per year. Our fundraising success enabled our $150,000 commitment to FAVARH for the new Rotary building opening this summer.
Using the example of our most successful salesperson, Paul invoked the Nancy Nation selling technique. We should all strive to emulate Nancy, our head Cheerleader.
Paul uses a "crib sheet" with all the pertinent facts about the event and his goals for each prospect. Make sure you understand what is important to each potential supporter and what level of support might best suit them. Be prepared, dress for success, be polite, make your case, and most importantly, "Don't leave without closing the deal!"
Paul closed by call us to action. We have a goal of raising $110,000 this year, which could generate $60-65,000 in net profit to support all of our programs and grants this coming year.