As a parent with five kids in the district, I knew a lot of people from the various activities, years of being the “Yearbook Lady,” and being involved with the PTO and the school. With that comes a certain amount of people thinking we are good friends, the kind of friends that will do a favor for the friend, like get them a yearbook when they forgot to purchase one or helping them ignore the deadline after it has passed or even getting them a yearbook for free or find a book for them when you are distributing them because they never ordered one. It took me a couple of years to develop a few strategies for these situations, which aren’t just for “friends.”
I learned that setting a few sales deadlines helps.
- I have an “early bird” discount for ordering by a specific date with $5-10 off.
- I have my soft deadline, which I don’t call that – I call it the deadline.
- I have a secret hard deadline about a week after the “soft deadline.” I try to make it fall on a Sunday or Monday.
- I order 5-10 extra books.
With an early bird sale, the promise of a discount motivates many people. Inevitably, if the ordering deadline is far away, people will put it aside to do it later, and then they either forget or remember too late. This early deadline and discount have proven to be a great motivator for many.
As the year moves on and the notices and reminders are sent out through the classroom teacher’s email or the principal’s update/newsletter, the number of incoming orders slows down a lot after that early bird deadline. Usually, the next phase, as the first deadline approaches, is “Did I order a yearbook?” I get calls, texts, emails, and, of course, Facebook posts and messages about it. I’m certainly glad that the yearbook companies I worked with had digital receipts and email confirmations sent when someone ordered a book so I could tell them to check their emails and credit card transactions or search the online sales record.
When the soft deadline approaches, I post some social media posts and send messages to the teachers or principals to announce that there is one week until the deadline.
Once that deadline passes, the panicked calls to me and to the school, texts, emails, Facebook messages, and posts saying, “Can I still get a yearbook?” or “I totally forgot to order a yearbook,” etc. and sometimes they just try the link and order thinking they snuck in before it closed. This is the reason I have a secret hard deadline. It helps me to have that secret option that keeps me from having to say “no” to people and sell some more yearbooks.
Ordering those few extra books helps a lot, and I keep track of how many people request those books. Sometimes, I keep a waitlist for those people who start calling after the deadline. I make no promises except to try.
Some yearbook printings give us some extra copies due to an overrun or a small additional quantity on your order, which can be helpful. I will even end up with a few more extra yearbooks when people realize they double-ordered, forgot they ordered, or both parents ordered without realizing the other also ordered. I will usually refund their money so I can sell those extra books to people on the waitlist.
Distribution:
Work with your principal on a set date to distribute the books. It’s best if the books go out to every class/grade on the same day, especially if all books will be delivered to one sibling. Yes, I had a classroom teacher hold the books for two extra weeks until the last day when the oldest sibling was. Meanwhile, the two younger siblings watched their entire class get their books and miss out on the signing day.
Decide how the books will be distributed. Younger grades can have their books delivered by classroom, and older grades may have a pick-up day. Make sure you announce the dates as they approach.
Downloaded a list of all students who have purchased a book and included the parent’s name, who ordered it, and the date ordered. This is helpful when someone insists they ordered a yearbook. Ensure they check their email for order confirmation or their credit card statement for the charge (having the date purchased to reference will help them narrow the search) – I’ve had several parents insist they ordered a yearbook. However, when I looked back through my records, they remembered an order from the previous year and forgot to order in the current year.
What works to help save your sanity during the hectic time of year—the end of school year paired with yearbook distribution organization—is up to you, but always remember that there will always be someone who forgets to order a book.
I do several yearbooks for various elementary schools. The middle schools and high schools usually have a yearbook advisor and staff at the school, but we are here to help them if they need it.
We have a much shorter sales time to try to help avoid many of the stresses of forgotten orders. It doesn’t completely ensure that no one forgets if they ordered, but it does help. We start selling yearbooks in January, making our “soft” deadline the first of February. We allow a “grace” period of about a week, then we start charging a $10 late fee. I let this go for a month or two, allowing people to order late, but the late fee is non-negotiable.
We, as a business, order extra yearbooks to give to the school to sell, usually 10 extras. The school can order more yearbooks, usually taken out of their commissions from us. Most order another 10 yearbooks. This gives them enough to sell to anyone who forgot, give to retiring teachers, the library, principal, whoever they choose, if they choose. I don’t do online yearbook sales, but am considering it in the future. We only do our sales by paper form, or if parents call in to order, we fill out the form for them at the studio. I keep every order, organized by grade, class and alphabetically. This way I can always look up any orders to see if we missed it or if the parent is mistaken. I save EVERYTHING so I can always recheck. I like to have a paper trail.