Community spirit abounds in Louisville! The area celebrates the signing of the US Constitution with a queen's pageant, a dinner and a huge parade. Flags are a vital and natural part of the town's celebration and activities. In our first year of our flag program (2009), we had approximately 480 customers. With a 94% renewal rate, at the end of our second year, we have 840 paying customers. We utilize 29 drivers running routes of about 30 flags per route to post & retire the flags. Other clubs have hired the Boy Scouts, Sunday School classes, or other groups to deliver their flags. By doing this, the club loses some control of the program. So far, we have been able to keep the delivery of the flags in house.
The Louisville Rotary Club was chartered in 1925 in a town and township with a total of about 19,000 people living in approximately 7,500 homes In 2003, our club was down to 6 members. We currently have 42 members. For the past 30 years, our club budget was about $3,500 per year. This was from proceeds from the annual Pancake Day and Rose Day sales. For 2011, our Net Income will approach $16,000. Next year, $26,500
Shooting for the Moon
When we had 800 leasing customers, we realized how easy it would be to triple the size of our customer base. If we paid a commission equal to the first years profit to any group that would sell a flag for us, we would receive all the proceeds for future years. Since our prices wen up in July of 2011 to $25, we keep about $23 of the $25 fee for subsequent years. The club did not agree to hire another group to help us sell because our route system was running so well. An influx of new customers could give us Route growth problems.
We have found that the key to success of this program is in securing the club''s unanimous support to manufacture, sell and deliver the flags. Key word: Unanimous support.
Your Manpower needs:
You'll need 6 managers and a driver for each 30 flags that you sell. We now have 900 customers and 29 routes.
Below are short descriptions of their duties:
Ken secured the following things for the prior to the start of the program.
(1) A permanent Tele # for our club with an answering machine. He used his personal cell phone.
(2) A permanent address for our club - he used the Treasurer's work address.
(3) A place to house our program _ we were offered an unheated brick barn with a concrete floor & a 10 x 30 work area for manufacturing. We built a rack 9'6" off the floor that would hold 1,200 flags stored vertically, with room to expand.
(4) Permission from the city - Ken contacted the City Manager and found out where the city would like the flags installed i.e. in front of or behind the sidewalk. In the City, the bases are normally 18" behind the sidewalk. In the Township, they are normally 54" off of the road.
(5) He also purchases supplies for the program:
10' electrical conduit, Lowes sell them to us for $1 each regular $1.90.
10' X 3/4", white, schedule 40 PVC for the bases (we cut these into 18" sections), we pay about $1.80 eachl
Wire Ties 8", we pay retail at Lowes,
Red Caps, we pay retail.(1.6 cents apiece) thru Sinclair & Rush Inc. 123 Manufacturers Dr. Arnold, Mo 63010 Tele 636-828-6800 www.sinclair-rush.com Model # T185
Flags must be made in America. We buy our flags thru Eder Flag Company 1000 W. Rawson Ave. Oak Creek, Wi 53154 Tele 414-764-3522 or 800-558-6044 E-Mail: sales@ederflag.com Model # 010124 (Endura Polyester Outdoor Flag) We are currently paying $4.20 per flag in groups of 200.
When creating outside signs to advertise the Flag Program. use 7 words or less outside. Our signs were extremely effective. Many, many new flags were sold over the phone after posting them. Next year, 4 pixs of signs will be attached
Any new customer leasing a flag after July 7th of any year will receive the remaining 3 postings of that year plus all 6 postings for next year.
To help you sell this program to your club, here is a free Power Point Presentation:
http://www.louisvillerotary.com/buildaflag/flag22canton.ppt Click here, it opens if you have Microsoft Power Point
In April of 2011, 6 pictures of our manufacturing process will be attached. We took 3 saw horses and laid a 2"x6"x36" on its side to build them up so we could drill into the horse and not damage them. After you mark the spot to drill, you will keep 2 of the horses directly under the spots for support. We lay 20 pieces of 10' electrical conduit (flag poles) together & parallel on a set of 3 horses with the ends flush. Using a 1/4" drill bit made of cobalt or titanium, drill the top hole 1" down from the top. From that hole, measure down the pole a distance equal to the distance between your flag's 2 grommet holes and add one inch. This will be the distance between the top and bottom holes. The extra inch is needed to keep the flag taut when you draw the bottom wire tie finger tight. We mark all 20 poles at the same time with a permanent magic marker. Then we use a punch to put a 1/16" dent in the conduit to help start the drill accurately. A batch of 20 takes 10 minutes to mark, peen and drill. Then we buff off the rough edges with a stationary wire wheel grinder. To assemble the flag on the pole: Insert an 8" wire tie thru the top grommet and the top hole on the pole. Pull the wire tie relatively tight. Then pull the flag down and make sure the flag is not twisted, insert the bottom wire tie and stretch the flag taut.
Making the 18" long pieces of PVC for the bases is a little dirty (white flakes). It took one man 1 hour to make 240 PVC bases. Using 5 sections of 10' PVC at a time, we set up a jig 18" from the cutoff saw blade and cut all 5 at once. We attached a Shop-Vac to keep the area clean
Our flags have been out 2 years and some of them are getting ragged. Next spring, we are going to dip all of our flags in a blend of General Electric Silicone Caulk and spirits of mineral oil to keep them from shredding in the wind.
All checks and applications go thru him, he receives the checks in Quickbooks and deposits them in the bank.
Renewals: - - - - - All we need for renewals is a check, no paperwork.
New Customers: - - - - - We only need an application for first time flags. He marks each New application Paid, and gives the Database Manager a copy of the deposit slip to print out the delivery sheets.
We use excel as our primary database program. Since I don't know how to email directly out of Excel, once a year, the data is transferred to Quickbooks. On March 15th, we E-Mail an invoice to each unpaid customer with an E-mail address. The E-mails worked, 80% of the E-Mailed invoices were paid within 30 days. On April 1st, we mailed an Invoice (USPS) to all the remaining unpaid customers. We have a 94% overall renewal rate.
Click here for an example of our Invoice. (both mailed and Emailed)
As I entered customers in the DB, most of them did not put their E-mail address on the application. We had to call about half of our customers and explain why we needed their E-Mail. We now have E-mails for 850 of the 1,120 customers. For 2011 we had 550 ppay off of the E-mail invoice. That saved us about $550 because we did not have to mail by USPS.
To assign the drivers to the routes, I'll enter 10 new customers, then sort the DB by street and look in the Route # column, all the houses near the new customers appear.
Our Route Summary gives us a quick look at current routes, route drivers & alternates. Click here to view Route Summary
We are offering a free copy of our Dollar Size Flag Application. (Highly recommended, they fit in your wallet, or by the teller's window at the bank) We originally had 5,000 printed. We will get 3 full years of use out of them. Our printer is Pinnacle Press, (330-453-7060) ask for Vicky, she'll call me and ask if you have my approval to copy our Dollar Size Flag Application and then she will insert your info. 1,000 cost us X amount, but 5,000 only cost us X times 1.3. Click here to view both sides of our Dollar Size Application, I will E-mail you a copy of our database created in Excel (minus the names), I built macros to speed up the incessant sorting that I need to do. I highly recommend that you create your own spreadsheet.
Good communication is essential for this step in the process. Ken sets up meeting times with each route driver prior to each posting and retiring. He then meets the drivers at the barn to distribute the flags and the route kits. We currently have 35 routes, 25 of which have a Rotarian as a primary driver. The other 10 drivers are local citizens interested in supporting our flag program. Flags are posted 2 to 3 days prior to a Holiday and retired 2 to 3 days after the holiday. Here is a link to his route summary: Link to Route Summary: Which denotes the drivers and their routes.
Our Route Kits: Here is what they contain: Next spring, I'll take pictures of tools in Route Kit
25' Tape Measure, Pry Bar to search for Red Cap in tall grass, Extra caps, rubber bands, Applications (curious neighbors will ask what you are doing) extra Pencils Aerosol can of white line paint and a Route List printed by the Database Manager sorted on; Paid - Street - House #
It takes us about 4 minutes to install a base. To determine the location of the base, we consider road visibility, safety, customer's preferences, & an easy spots to use as a reference for measurements. Whenever possible, we line up the installation with a crack in sidewalk, or in line with the end of a concrete drive. We built a tool to mount the base. (an 18" piece of 3/4" white Schedule 40 PVC) in the ground at each house. We took a 6' Spud Bar, cut it in half and ground the top half to a point. We can make 2 tools out of each new Spud Bar. The 1" shaft is perfect for the pilot hole needed to drive an 18" long PVC section into the ground. Some of the holes fill with water, but it is not a problem. After we install the PVC section, we measure back from the road or sidewalk and call this measurement BACK. Then we measure right or left of the sidewalk and convert the right/left to a N S E W measurement. hence: 18" back- 7' 11" North of sidewalk. Then, on the edge of the road, we paint a 9" Hash Mark (heavy not wide) at exactly 90 degrees to the road in front of the flag base. I'll include pictures of Hash Mark & Red Cap flush with the ground.
When we install a base, we paint a 9" white hash mark in the road in front of the flag base. The white mark, along with the Red Caps on the bases is usually sufficient to locate the bases for flag postings. Include pictures of Hash Mark & Red Cap flush with ground. The average route has 25 to 30 flags that can be posted in less than 80 minutes and retired in about 55 minutes. . To save fuel and time, drivers are encouraged to map out your delivery route before you leave the flag barn. In the event a base cannot be easily located, we use the information on the printed route list under the column Hole Location. The numbers prior to the hyphen equal the distance the hole is setback from the sidewalk or the road. We measure back from the road, and then measure the N_S_E_W offset distance from the drive or other measurement point. The intersections of the two probability arcs give you the exact target area to find the base. We scratch a 6" circle in that target area and can easily find the Red Cap and base. We use the curved end of the pry bar to jab the ground in the target area until the Red Cap is found. At posting time, red caps and rubber bands are kept in the route box to be put back on the bases when the flags are retired. When retiring, we use a rubber band to wrap each flag on its pole to store them orderly. After a rain, we wait until the flags are dry before we pick them up.
Occasionally, route drivers are unable to locate the red caps and bases. When this occurs, the Base Installation Manager will come out and put in a new base and "Post a flag" with new dimensions. Route drivers are urged to spend no more than 3 minutes looking for a flag base. As long as you have used the measuring tape and tried to find the base with the Pry Bar, management will come out and put in a new base and "Post a flag" with new dimensions. Drivers are also asked to note any corrections and/or notes on the printed route sheets so that sheets can be updated by the database manager prior to the next posting. We urge our drivers to act in a professional and respectful manner while out posting and retiring the flags.
A helpful Note from Post Office: All odd # addresses are on the N or W sides of the street. All even #s are on the S or E.
1 Louisville High School Football Stadium (19 flags on the top of the stands).
2. Soldiers Memorial City Hall (2 flags),
3. Soldier's Memorial site of old High School (2 flags),
4. Metzger Park Driveway (2 flags),
5. Molly Stark Park Driveway (2 flags),
6. VFW (2 flags),
7. Louisville Eagles (2 flags),
8. Edwards Accounting, (1 flag) as a thank you for loaning us the use of the barn to manufacture and store the flags.
9. One flag to accentuate one of the small signs advertising our program.
| Now Lets Do some Projectiontions | tions: | ||||
| History | History | History | Projection | Projection | |
| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| Sales Price / Flag | $ 20 | $ 20 | $ 20 | $ 25 | $ 25 |
| Renewals | 0 | 451 | 772 | 994 | 1141 |
| Net / Renewal | $ - | $ 18 | $ 18 | $ 23 | $ 23 |
| Renewal Net P. | $ - | $ 8,122 | $ 13,895 | $ 22,851 | $ 26,236 |
| Sold this year | 480 | 370 | 285 | 220 | 169 |
| Net / Sale | $ 12 | $ 12 | $ 12 | $ 17 | $ 17 |
| New Sale Net P. | $ 5,760 | $ 4,440 | $ 3,420 | $ 3,740 | $ 2,873 |
| Total Year Net P. | $ 5,760 | $ 12,562 | $ 17,315 | $ 26,591 | $ 29,109 |
| I used a 94% renewal rate based on the 1st year's | |||||
| renewals Note the projected renewals are based on prev year's sales | |||||
| We sold 23% less in the second year than the first. Therefore I used a | |||||
| '77% sales saturation rate 'to project future sales. Note the reduction in Sales / year | |||||
| I will change the saturation rate after I see the results for 2011 in Nov of 2011 | |||||
| Projections are exactly that. They are not FACT ! ! ! | |||||
The success of this program depends upon the club's unanimous support to manufacture, sell and deliver the flags.
Call us if you have any questions. Ken 330-417-1527 or Jim 330-875-1595