E-Watt Light Bulbs

[Ajennings8896]

Our team was wishing to get into the e-watt light bulb sales this year and I've been trying to get it set up but I can't figure out how to get it all set up. I've looked around these forums for answers but haven't found the answers I'm looking for. First, how can we order these light bulbs to sell them individually, and second, for selling to larger businesses how can we set up online orders? Again, I've looked for answers elsewhere and I haven't found anything.

Thanks.

[EricH]

Have you looked at http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...aver-resources, and all the linked documentation, thoroughly? If you haven't, start there.

[Ajennings8896]

Thanks a lot for the help, I actually haven't even been able to find that page before.

[nlknauss]

It's a great fundraiser. My group has had some success with this last year when we needed to do some fundraising in a pinch. I would recommend buying just one case to start and taking some pre-orders for future bulbs sales incase they don't sell.

[sanddrag]

For this season, all our team members are each expected to sell 3 bulbs, which I do not anticipate any trouble with if students are committed to being part of our team. I sold 17 within two days of trying. It's all in how you sell it. You need to pitch the idea that they save people money. The payback period on the initial investment is about a year, depending on use.

We did an all-team 45-minute training on the bulb and sales strategies.

There's no apparent discount to ordering more than one case at a time, so you can order as the need arises, so you aren't out a lot of money upfront.

[Ajennings8896]

ALright, thanks, we'll look at what we can do, right now we have a four person sales team to manage it with me at the head of it. One more question, I got signed up to order the bulbs and everything but theres only two options for us to buy, the only visible choices are a ten bulb box and forty bulb box of just the first gen light bulbs, is there any reason that might be? Any answers are greatly appreciated.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by Ajennings8896

One more question, I got signed up to order the bulbs and everything but theres only two options for us to buy, the only visible choices are a ten bulb box and forty bulb box of just the first gen light bulbs, is there any reason that might be? Any answers are greatly appreciated.

Those are the two options currently offered. The Samsung bulb, in quantity of either 10 or 40. I recommend the 40 quantity to lower the per-bulb cost, if you think you can sell them. They are at work on preparing the new "premium" dimmable bulb for team sales, but there's no ETA on this.

[Billfred]

I just ordered two cases of bulbs for 4901, and we're looking to work all the angles to move them (and many more).

Has anyone tried setting up in front of stores to sell them? Any businesses been kinder than others? (I know it's often a manager's call, but points of data never hurt.)

[HarryLee0915]

Hi, we are a rookie team this year and hope to get some funds for our team to purchase some basic tools and stuff. How to sell these lightbulbs to the companies. If we sell them at school, are the students likely to buy them? Any suggestion?

Thanks

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by HarryLee0915

Hi, we are a rookie team this year and hope to get some funds for our team to purchase some basic tools and stuff. How to sell these lightbulbs to the companies. If we sell them at school, are the students likely to buy them? Any suggestion?

Thanks

I would say students are extremely unlikely to buy them. Adults are a much better target market for this product.

[Richard Wallace]

You might try contacting facilities managers at local companies, especially those that sponsor your team. One of them at my employer purchased several cases of bulbs from our team, and used them in lobby overhead fixtures. Long bulb life, low power consumption, and the very competitive pricing our team could offer (relative to other sources for LED bulbs) made the decision to buy our bulbs very easy for him.

[fb39ca4]

What is the cost of the bulbs for the team, and how much is their suggested price? I'm trying to see if this is still a good idea now that LED bulbs have dropped a lot in retail prices.

[Bill_B]

Might depend on shipping. For my FLL team I calc'd $3.33 each and they offered a bulb for each $10 donation. Best part is having them to hand out, unlike cookies, wrapping paper and other funding things.

[fb39ca4]

Originally Posted by Bill_B

Might depend on shipping. For my FLL team I calc'd $3.33 each and they offered a bulb for each $10 donation. Best part is having them to hand out, unlike cookies, wrapping paper and other funding things.

Just to clarify, that's $3.33 for your team to buy each bulb, and they gave them to people who donated $10 to the team?

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by fb39ca4

Just to clarify, that's $3.33 for your team to buy each bulb, and they gave them to people who donated $10 to the team?

correct - you have to buy bulbs in multiples of 40 however and no refunds partial or whole case are allowed. It's a pretty easy s e l l though. I forget the exact payback period for our state's average energy charge. Grown-ups are usually impressed by a kid who can quote kilowatt hour rates and such like technical details.