Just plain work!
by Matthew L
(CA, USA)
I decided the easiest way to do it was just go door to door and try to get sales that way, rather then set up a stand and let them passively come to me. After about 20 homes I had maybe 2 subscriptions, and I was feeling disappointed, but I kept going.
After a while my speech got better, and people began to buy more, and it was after I stood at one house for 20 minutes talking to the owner about my trip I realized that people weren't buying magazines for the magazines themselves, the ones that were buying them were buying them to help me.
Over the next few days I began to tell people why I was selling them, and talking about why I like baseball, and why it was important to me. Soon every house I went to was buying magazines, and I was able to raise $500 in a little over a week, and then I received a $100 donation from one house. My parents covered the other $100 and I was off to Mexico with my team.
Overall, I guess the best way to sell things to people is not to sell the item itself, but to sell you, and that will work for any fund raiser, because in the end almost everyone will want to help you if you make a good impression.