Ferrari Mailing List: Re: Successes, failures and lessons learned...308's in '08 Review

[Rick Lindsay (rolindsay]

First of all; Thank you Jim for a fantastic weekend!  Second, let us buy 
t-shirts, donate, whatever, until you are back to break-even status.  There is 
no rational or moral reason that you should be left in the hole.
 
Ric and I talked about the event on our 10 hour drive back to Dallas.  I think 
the issue with the money is that we misunderstood our customer.  And I say "we" 
because although you spear-headed the event, we all are willing participants.  
The casino - except for nails - was a great venue for us but it was probably a 
bad choice for donations.  The crowd there was more likely to drop $10 in a 
slot machine than into a charity.  Add to that the idea that every aspect of 
the venue was oriented toward getting people on the buss and over to the 
casino, not strolling the grounds to a car event.  A nice hotel with no 
restaurant?  Of course, if your number-one goal is to get people out and over 
to the casino.  So what I am saying is; (1) Absolutely, lets make this an 
annual event., and (2) Lets rethink the venue.   Its a tough call on where 
might be best.  We want a place with lots of philanthropic-minded people but 
not so "green" that they hate anything
 that consumes petrol.  Hummmmm.  Ideas?  Perhaps we need to talk to people who 
run charity events regularly?
 
Last of all, I offer these words to foster frank discussion, not to discount 
anything Jim did.  The event was a smashing success from every angle but 
finance.  Still, we learn from ALL of our actions and we now know some really 
good/fun things to do and perhaps have a little insight into how we might 
improve.  If it is any consolation Jim, Nancy and I ran hundreds of dollars in 
the hole on every Hallett event we organized.  And I believe that the reason 
for that is fundamental.   We didn't and perhaps still don't, know our 
customer. 
 
Count on us for a donation.  Snail-mail address please...

Regards,
 
rick (and Nancy)

--- On Tue, 10/14/08, jim <jimshadow [at] verizon.net> wrote:

From: jim <jimshadow [at] verizon.net>
Subject: [Ferrari] Successes, failures and lessons learned...308's in '08 Review
To: "rolindsay" <rolindsay [at] yahoo.com>
Cc: "The FerrariList" <ferrari [at] ferrarilist.com>
Date: Tuesday, October 14, 2008, 10:03 PM

Well, as you can tell by the photos that have circulated, the event was a
success by most accounts.    We had a great crew on hand to hang out, talk
cars, swap rides and generally have fun.   It truly was a pleasure meeting
one and all who attended and it was good to see some old faces again.  (I
first met Rick and Nancy Lindsay and Ferrari Willi back in 2000 in Indy)
The biggest signal to me that this was a success was that each and every
person who drove/trailered their beloved Ferrari asked about "next
year."
So from that perspective it was a hit.   From another perspective it was not
so much a success....

In setting this show up, I had been in contact with the Habitat Director
talking about what we wanted to do.   He knew up front that we had some
costs to cover, both expected and later some unexpected costs.  He was very
understanding about this and said from the first moment that in a first time
show he just didn't expect anything.  He was looking at a long term
relationship and expected that this would be an annual event.  Unfortunately
at the end of the day there were just not enough people through the show to
be able to raise any $$ for Habitat.  In fact, we're (I'm) slightly in
the
hole on this one.   It just kills me to have to say that we struck out but,
the idea of the show was conceived in the public and it's only fair that
the
results are public.   I've been told that I'm being way too hard on
myself
over this but I do take responsibility for it.    

That being said, I've learned some valuable lessons for "next
year".   I
still like the idea of a car show to benefit a charity and I've already
laid
the ground work for an up front donation from Harrah's and now understand
what needs to be done in order to better advertise for the event, even
though we were in multiple print ads and 2 TV interviews...I've made many
notes in my binder already. :)

 

Memphis Habitat will not go completely unrecognized, however. I am planning
on making a personal donation on behalf of the event.   If anyone is
considering any charitable giving this year and wants to donate to the
Memphis Habitat on behalf of the "308's in '08" Ferraris you
can find a
donation form here:

 

http://www.memphishabitat.com/pdf/donationform.pdf 

The main website is:  http://www.memphishabitat.com/

 

I appreciate all the interest in this event and hopefully we can have twice
as many Ferraris next year!

 

JIM

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