Firsthand Tales of Creativity and Success: A Church Giveaway Bag

A rush order on about a week's notice for a local nonprofit might seem like an unlikely beginning for a great promotion, but for Jammie Hsu, owner of Las Vegas-based Proforma Element 7, that's exactly how it started. The weekend before Mother's Day 2012, one of Hsu's repeat clients, Victory Missionary Baptist Church, called and asked her to help put together a giveaway bag for the upcoming holiday.

Squeezed to the bare minimum of time, Hsu started work immediately. She needed to find items that could be produced and shipped within four days, in volume levels of 2,500 or greater. No easy feat, but with quick thinking, strong vendor relationships and a knack for high-speed multitasking, Hsu was able to knock out a great promotion to the tune of $18,000. Below, see her thought process and what exactly she did to make this Mother's Day job one of her best promotions.

NonProfit PRO: What was the church's goal for the promotion?

Jammie Hsu: To provide a Mother's Day gift giveaway for attendees that weekend, something that was useful and targeted females. They also purchased jotters that could be given away to male attendees.

NPPRO: What items were used in the promotion?

JH: Pocket jotters, purse hangers, organza bags and compact mirrors.

NPPRO: Did you run into any problems with the promotion, and if so, how did you overcome them?

JH: [One supplier] didn't ship on time but was able to expedite shipping for us on its behalf. Having a relationship with them was especially important for getting things fixed correctly and in a timely manner.

One of the original products the church wanted would not make our delivery dates, so we suggested jotters. But, we found out they were limited on inventory on the colors we wanted, so we just had to provide some suggestions on the colors, etc.

NPPRO: Any advice or insight you'd like to give on handling a rush job, working with churches or anything else?

JH: Use preferred vendors or ones you have close relationships with. Be creative. Rather than using just FedEx or UPS, we also used OnTrac, which has an overnight delivery service from California to Nevada that helped us get these rush orders completed. When a client calls and wants to meet right away, make time for them. We went to see them in a few hours and got proposals back to them within hours.

Rush jobs? Just breathe and multitask like you have never before! Also call to get tracking, delivery notices and follow up closely until your client says they have received them.

As for churches, build that relationship with the buyer. I work directly with the pastor and his assistant and follow up often.