1. The Secret Sauce of
Advance Event Revenue
Jarrod Metzgar
Kendra Wright
2. PRESENTERS
Jarrod Metzgar Kendra Wright
Heart O’ Texas Fair Saffire Events
• Serves as Vice President, Fair • First job managing events
Division for non-profit
• Oversees every part of fair • Began building websites in
management, from booking 1995 for Fortune 1000
attractions to overseeing the company
grounds layout • Started own company in
1998
11. AGENDA
1. What the advance sale program is and
how it started
2. The 6 secret sauce elements
3. How you can “start small”
12. HOW DID IT START?
– Originally gave prize of a trip to top
volunteer salesperson
– Discovered that Chamber better
rewarded volunteers
– Turning point was awarding trips to a
much higher number of volunteers
13. WHAT IS IT?
– Volunteers sell advance tickets and
more
– Top salespeople are rewarded with a
trip
15. #1: THE ITEMS FOR SALE
– Important to give enough choices but not too
many
– Biggest sales items are:
• General admission to fair
• General admission to secondary event
• Family fun packs
• Sponsorship packages
• Calf scramble packages
• Meet and greet with performers
17. #2: THE INFRASTRUCTURE
Chairman Each team has
Vice
12-18 members.
Chairman
Division Division Division Division Division
Leader 1 Leader 2 Leader 3 Leader 4 Leader 5
Team 1 Team 1 Team 1 Team 1 Team 1
Team 2 Team 2 Team 2 Team 2 Team 2
Team 3 Team 3 Team 3 Team 3 Team 3
Team 4 Team 4 Team 4 Team 4 Team 4
18. #2: THE INFRASTRUCTURE
• Setting goals
– Set total goal amount – let’s say $100k
– Division leader goal is $20k (1/5th total
goal)
– Team goal is $5k (1/4 total division goal)
19. #2: THE INFRASTRUCTURE
– How infrastructure is set
• Fair chooses campaign chair and vice
chair
– Chair and vice chair is one-year commitment
• Campaign chair and vice chair choose 5
division leaders
– Division leaders are two-year commitments
20. #2: THE INFRASTRUCTURE
– Team captains are chosen based on sales
– Captains:
• Keep one member
• Draft 4
• The rest are randomly chosen by fair
– If there is an opening for division leader,
team leaders move up based on sales
21. #2: THE INFRASTRUCTURE
– Materials include:
• Committeeman guide and structure
– Letter from fair and chairman
– Campaign leadership
– Campaign goals
– Meeting dates and times
– Order form
– Details about items for sale
– Sponsor list (do not contact)
– Volunteer sales list (with volunteer contact)
– Frequently Asked Questions
– Selling incentives
22. #2: THE INFRASTRUCTURE
– Materials include:
• Leave-behind materials
– Sales materials
– Business cards
– A few other things
24. #3: THE KICK-OFF PARTY
– 4 months before event
– Invite current volunteers and a guest
– Sponsor involvement
• Held at sponsor location
• Sponsor can do additional promo
• Sponsor provides meal
• Bar with beer
• Drawing among attendees
25. #3: THE KICK-OFF PARTY
– Chairman (and HOT Fair) go over
program details
– Disseminate sales materials
• Sales packet
• Business cards
• Leave behinds
28. #4: ONGOING COMMUNICATIONS
– Meetings every two weeks
• Communicate anything new
– Division leaders speak
• Volunteers turn in money
• Reward people for hitting sales levels
• Sponsors involved in these too
• Keeps people energized
– Mega ongoing emails!
33. #5: THE INCENTIVES
• Set the “payback %” as 20%
• Gambled at first that not everyone would
get trip
• Leadership picks destination from in-
budget options
• Previous trips were
cruise, Jamaica, Mexico
34. #5: THE INCENTIVES
• Trip benefits:
– Volunteers get to know each other and
fair staff better
– They are more efficient volunteers at
the fair
– They almost become extended “fair
staff”
35. #5: THE INCENTIVES
• Who gets a trip:
– Chairman and vice chair (for two)
– Division leaders (for one)
– If division leaders reach goal, they can get extra
trip and 2% incentive
– If team leaders reach goal, they get one trip and
2% incentive
– There are also levels where you can get
merchandise and cash
– Individuals must raise $5,400 for trip for one or
$6,600 for trip for two
37. #6: THE TRACKING
At first, all tracking was in Excel
• Manually entered in all orders by
team
• Calculated rewards
• Time-consuming as program grew
39. THEN SWITCHED TO TRACKING SOFTWARE
Now teamed with a developer to
build tracking software
o Still enter orders, but it calculates
what is sold and if they get trip
o Figures division and team totals, as
well as incentives
40. STARTING SMALL
• Determine what is most important to sell
– For most, this is gate admissions
– Consider packages (e.g., family fun pack)
• Develop a way to track revenue and reward volunteers
• Find a volunteer to rally troops for the program
– Set up a small leadership committee
• Make sure you have a way to fulfill tickets
41. THANK YOU
Questions?
• Leave your business card, and we will send:
– This presentation
– Original spreadsheet
– Marketing materials
– Free subscription to The Dirt for online marketing
tips
– Invitation to upcoming Saffire educational webinars
Hinweis der Redaktion
Saffire Events was founded by Kendra Wright, who has been building websites since 1995, when the internet began.In 2000, she joined forces with Aaron Pederson, Saffire Events’ technical director, and Jeremy Emerson, Saffire Events’ creative director.
Besides their work in the event industry, their team does work for large consumer companies in a lot of industries. This gives a breadth of experience that they bring to marketing events online.
