Small businesses live and die on their reputations in the community and the goodwill hey generate. If they serve the customers well and help the local community and become involved they stand a much better chance in being successful. Often hosting a community fundraising and promotional event can help you meet new customers while simultaneously allowing you to give back to your town in a meaningful way.

You may wish to consider allowing a non-profit group to do a Car Wash Fundraiser, which you would sponsor. If you think this might be a viable option for you, I have written an online book for you to assist in this:

http://www.carwashguys.com/

You see, by doing a fundraiser correctly and raising a ton of money you can feel great about the efforts while simultaneously promoting your business and attracting new customers. All local newspapers run a Calendar Section and they will run the fundraiser event for two weeks leading up to the event with your Lots phone number as a contact and the name of your Lot as the location.

My How to Run a Car Wash Fundraiser book covers everything from picking a date, making provisions for a rain date, selecting a location (we already know this one!), finding volunteers, pre-ticket sales, sample pledge forms, publicity, motivation, supplies, insurance requirements and a complete "day of event" outline.

In this book you will also see suggestions on post-car wash activities such as post publicity events and contains sample thank you letters, which can be tailored by the organization you are helping. It gives them step-by-step instructions and all you do is provide the location. You can give the book out to non-profit groups or even just walk down to the HS or nearby church and offer your location as a high traffic spot to hold the event.

Happy healthy non-profit groups keep the community strong and provide you with some new customers. Talk about a win-win situation. There is Power in Promotion and it is fun, it is free and you can really feel good about giving back to your community. It is important to give a little as you grow, and let the community know you care. If the customers decide to choose you over your competition because you support the company and they do not; well Id say you deserve it. Think on this in 2006.

Lance Winslow

Currently Lance is retired at age 40 and is running an Online Think Tank Forum while traveling North America. Perhaps considering something extremely challenging to do that will exercise his mind and utilize all his experiences, observations and skills. Any ideas?