How to Build a Lease a Flag Program

1. How to Build a Lease a Flag Program

2. By Ken Smith & Jim Edwardsof the Louisville Rotary Club How to Build a Lease a Flag Program

3. www.louisvillerotary.comCLICK ON “How to build a Flag Program”to view this whole presentation at home.

4. “In a Nutshell” We lease a flag for $20 / year.   Since the flag cost $8, we make $12 the first year.   The second year to the same customer, we make $18. 

6. Louisville & Nimishillen Twp. have a total population of 19,000, 7,400 households. Every September, we celebrate the signing of the U.S. Constitution with a Queen's pageant, and a huge parade.      Flags and the Constitution Celebration go hand in hand.Over time, I think we can subscribe 2,200 households.

7. Membership Growth: In 2003, we had 6 Rotary members, today we have 42 members.   For the past 30 years, we ran our club on about $3,500 per year. - - Pancake & Rose Day.For 2010, our flag program made us $12,500 For 2011, our flag program will make us $17,300, plus Pancake & Rose Day.        Goals: As a Club, we have pledged to back the planned Louisville Community Center/Library ($4,000,000). (est. 2014)

9. In Sept, we saw a chance to quickly triple our 900 customers! If we would pay a large commission (the first year’s net) to any group that would sell a flag for us; then, we would receive all the profits for future years.    The club did not agree to hire other groups to help us sell because our route system was running so well. Rotarians run 22 of our 29 routes.Slow growth is the answer.

11. Overall Flag Mgr. Ken Smith Database Mgr. Jim EdwardsTreasurer Jay Barton Manufacturing Mgr. Jim & Ken & Ted & LanseBase Installation Mgr. Ted BurwellRoute Supervisor Ken Smith& Route Drivers One for every 30 flags. We now have 909 customers and 29 routes.  

12. Ken secured:   (1)    Tele # for our club, His Cell! / answering machine. (2)    Club mailing address - he used the Treasurer's work address.   (3)    Barn to house our program. We were offered an unheated brick barn with a concrete floor & a 10 x 30 work area for manufacturing.    (4)    Permission from the city – he contacted the city manager and found out where the city would like the flags installed. Either in front of, or behind the sidewalk.   The bases are normally 18" behind the sidewalk in the city.   In the township, they are normally 54" off of the road.   (5)    10' Electrical Conduit, Lowes sells them to us for $1 each! Retail = $1.90.X

13. (6) White schedule 40 PVC - each base costs us about $.30 (7) 3’ x 5’ flags Made in America.   We buy ours thru a local retailer in our home town at cost. She buys our flags through Eder Flag Company 1000 W. Rawson Ave.   Oak Creek, Wi   53154 Tele 414-764-3522 or 800-558-6044 E-Mail:   sales@ederflag.Com Item # 010124 (Endura Polyester Outdoor Flag)(8) Wire ties 8“,   We pay retail at Lowes     (9) Red caps, (tapered plug model # T185) We pay about 2 cents apiece thru: Sinclair & Rush Inc. 123 Manufacturers Dr. Arnold, Mo 63010 Tele 636-828-6800 www.sinclair-rush.com Model # T185 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. Then it’s fair to all concerned?Our 2’ x 2’ outside signs were extremely effective.    “Rotary Flags” 330-417-1527 13

14. We have E-mails for 79.2% of our clients. We use Excel. Once a year, we export the Database to Quickbooks to E-Mail the invoices. On March 15th, we E-Mail an invoice to each UNPAID customer.    80% of the E-Mailed invoices were paid by April 15th saving the Club $560 in USPS mailing costs. On May 1st, we mail an invoice (USPS) to all the remaining UNPAID customers.    Overall, we have a 94% renewal rate. CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF OUR INVOICE.I’ll give you a free template of our Excel database with Macros .X

16. Our Flag applications fit in your wallet, or by the tellers window at a bank or grocery store. We originally had 5,000 printed by Pinnacle Press in Canton. We will get 3 years of use out of them.

17. He receives the checks in Quickbooks and deposits them in the bank.  For RENEWALS - - - - - No paperwork, just a check with name & address.   For NEW CUSTOMERS - - - - - All applications & checks go to the Treasurer first, he marks each new application paid, and gives the database manager a copy of the deposit slip to trigger all the deliveries. X

18. We use a team of 4 to produce 200 finished flags in about 4 hours.We cover 3 saw horses with a 2” x 6” x 36” laid on its side. Now we can drill through the conduit and not damage the horses.    We lay 20 pieces of 10' electrical conduit (flag poles) together & parallel on the 3 horses with the ends flush.   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.   We keep 2 of the horses directly under the drill holes for support.   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.   A batch of 20 takes 20 minutes to mark, peen and drill.   Then we buff the rough edges of the holes 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 this wire tie tight.   Then stretch the flag down and make sure it is not twisted, and insert the bottom wire tie. 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.Many of our flags have been out 2 years and some of them are getting tattered.   Next spring, we’ll dip all of our flags (new & old ) in a blend of General Electric Silicone Caulk and Spirits of Mineral Oil to keep them from shredding in the wind.  X

19. A base is an 18" piece of 3/4“ schedule 40 PVC (white).   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 obvious reference for measurement. Whenever possible, we line up the hole with a crack in sidewalk, or in line with the end of a concrete drive.   We took a 6' spud bar, cut it in half and ground the top half to a point.   We make 2 tools out of each new spud bar.   The 1" shaft is perfect for the pilot hole needed to drive the PVC section into the ground.     We measure back from the road or sidewalk and call this measurement “back”.   Then, measure right or left of the sidewalk and convert the right/left to a N S E W direction. 18" back- 7' 11“ N. of sidewalk.On road, we paint a 9“ mark at perpendicular to the road in front of the flag base.   Then we install a red cap on the PVC to keep it open. Log the dimensions for the database.X

20. When someone calls our club #, we refer them to our printable flag application posted on our web page:www.louisvillerotary.comX

21. 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 have 29 routes, 22 of which have a Rotarian as a primary driver.   The other 7 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 our route summary:   link to route summary:  which denotes the drivers and their routes.Route Kits include:    25' Tape Measure  Pry bar to find red cap in tall grass Extra caps, Rubber bands Applications (curious neighbors)   Extra pencils    Aerosol can of white line paint Route list sorted on; Paid - Street - House #Next spring, I'll take pictures of tools in route kit. X

22. The average route has 32 flags that can be posted in less than 80 minutes and retired in one hour .    If you can’t find it quickly, use the coordinates on the printed route sheet.   We use the curved end of the pry bar to jab the ground in the target area until the red cap is found.   When posting, we keep the red caps and rubber bands in the route box. When we retire, we roll each flag to store them neatly.   Raining? We’ll wait until the flags are dry before we pick them up.Each base is marked with 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.   Write any corrections on the printed route sheets and hand them in. Spend 3 minutes max looking for a flag base; a manager will come out and put in a new base and "post a flag" with new dimensions.Helpful note from all post offices: Odd # addresses are on the north or west sides of the street.   Even # addresses are on the south or east.

23. COMPLIMENTARY FLAG POSTINGS   1.   LOUISVILLE H.S. FOOTBALL STADIUM (19 FLAGS)2.   SOLDIER’S MEMORIAL - CITY HALL3.   SOLDIER'S MEMORIAL - OLD HIGH SCHOOL   4.   METZGER PARK   5.   MOLLY STARK PARK    6.   VFW7.   LOUISVILLE EAGLES   8.   ACCENTUATE OUR SIGNS 9. WHERE WE KEEP THE FLAGS.

26. ANY QUESTIONS? We had “UNANIMOUS” support to MANUFACTURE, SELL and DELIVER!        KEN SMITH 330-417-1527 ksmith@neo.rr.com JIM EDWARDS 330-875-1595 jedwards@neo.rr.comwww.louisvillerotary.com

29. CLICK ON “How to build a Flag Program”to view this whole presentation at home.

30. TAKE TO SPEECHCOMPUTER & MOUSEMASTER LISTROUTE LISTSorted DB Street & alphaPPT PRESENTATIONAPPLICATIONSROUTE KIT, caps, list, tape, pry bar, spare apps, rubber bandsSLEDGE & SPIKEFLAGS CONDUITPVC