Manufacture and vendor contacts?

[thomas_crowe 0]

Hello everyone;

I'm helping Spence out again this year by taking on the task of trying to get stuff for the charity raffle that we have every year at the boogie.

If anyone has the contact information of who I should reach out to, I would very much appreciate it if you could share it with me. Last year I did this basically blind, and I still have those contacts. This year I'm hoping to do better.

There's something, in addition to swag, that I want to talk to them about too. Please don't worry, all communication will be polite, professional, and non harassing. I'm not putting together some type of bulk mailing list to copy everyone on, each email will be written by me (with lot's of help from copy & paste I'm sure), and sent from my real email address.

Feel free to PM the contact info to me, or if easier you can email me directly at my work address; tcrowe@redhat.com.

Thanks again;

Thomas Crowe, NRP
Nationally Registered Paramedic
Red Hat Linux Geek

[Remster 30]

Damn.... If only there was a thread called something like "Manufacturer Contacts On dropzone.com"... That would be really useful. But then, you'd have to go and find it in the forum, probably on page 241. Unless it was sticky and the very first post on this forum...

Remster

[thomas_crowe 0]

Those are great, but not always the same ones that one would use for fund raising. I should have worded more clearly, my apologies.

Thomas Crowe, NRP
Nationally Registered Paramedic
Red Hat Linux Geek

[councilman24 37]

http://www.pia.com/pia-members/yellow-pages

Probably best your going to get. Most won't serve up personal (non public) contacts they have.

I'm old for my age.
Terry Urban
D-8631
FAA DPRE

[NWFlyer 2]

councilman24

http://www.pia.com/pia-members/yellow-pages

Probably best your going to get. Most won't serve up personal (non public) contacts they have.

Agreed.

As someone who did quite a bit of manufacturer outreach in the past for another fundraising boogie, start with the people you already know. So, that list of people you contacted last year is a great place to start. Also reach out to people who already know you to find out who they know in the industry and who might be willing to make an introduction for you (either in person or virtually).

And cold call (or email). Even without any contacts you might be able to get to the right person by finding their "sales@" email address.

My other advice would be to keep the initial email short, sweet, and to the point. A brief description of the event /fundraising (with an offer to provide more detail as needed) and the specific request (again, brief), and a specific follow-up action "I'll try calling you [next week / first of the month / pick a time ]if we haven't had a chance to connect by then" (and then do it).

This is a small sport, lots of these places are one-person shops, so be patient (but persistent... to a point, then you're just a nuisance). I'd also recommend waiting till the first of the year (you may have already been planning that) as many will be closed for some or all of this week and next week (or even if they're not officially closed, staff may be vacationing and/or repping the boogie circuit).

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[thomas_crowe 0]

Thank you both very much! That is great and useful advice. I'm not real good at this kinda stuff (I'm a computer geek after all), and I appreciate all the advice that I can get, so again, Thank You!!

Thomas Crowe, NRP
Nationally Registered Paramedic
Red Hat Linux Geek