I read this in an e-mail that was sent to me. I would like to know what you Guys think of this.

(Free Cake Your Way To Bigger and Better Sales!

If you have been baking cakes for a while, Im sure you have many
people, especially family members, who want cakes for free. Now, I am
totally against giving away free cakes unless you are getting something back
in return.

Heres how Andreaetta and I have done it and it has proven to be a
great way to build our business.

We tell our family members and close friends that we offering to bake
their birthday cake for free in return for 10 referrals of people, who
will potentially buy a cake. Then, we contact those people, using the
family members name as a reference and offer them a discount if they
place an order.

Think about this for a moment.

If you had 5 people give you 10 referrals, thats a total of 50 names.
Out of these 50
people , you should be able to get at least 10 new customers. These 10
new customers
will only cost you the time and materials to make 5 birthday cakes!
Plus, they will order from you again and again if you treat them special
and provide great tasting cakes and service.

It works, try it!)

S_S_SweetTooth

Hi SweetTooth! Well, I don't know about this, I'm pretty skeptical about how this would turn out. I have a mathemetician friend I'm going to ask what the odds are of the baker coming out ahead and get back to you later! Janice

I'm a little dubious myself ... I want to say I've read this one before somewhere.

This sounds very familiar to me as well. The marketing plan sounds alot like the one offered in Mary Kay Cosmetics. You ask your customers for referrals and then call all of the referrals for appointments. It takes alot of phone work and patience!

sounds just like a MLM marketing plan. Just to let you know, people don't like getting calls from people they don't know who are trying to sell them something. Also, people don't like giving out their friends information. It makes it all sound, at least to me, like it is not on the up and up. Just give them a reasonable discount and ask them to spread the word about your cakes, and also if someone asks how much they paid for the discounted cake, ask them to please just say something like 'for a cake like the one in this picture, she normally would charge $xx.xx amount'.

Besides, if they tell the people that they referred that they got a cake for free, all they had to do was give 10 names and numbers, you might have those people asking for the same thing. A box of more names and numbers than you could contact in a year won't do anything to pay for your time and expenses.

just my opinion.

edited to add:
Great idea in theory, but not too sure it would translate very well.

I personally don't like doing "cold calling". Most people's response is negative, at best. If they wanted or needed it they would have called you. I donate cakes to auctions or fund raisers. That gets my name out there and people are usually pretty intrested in dealing with someone who will go out of there way for a good cause.

I agree with jg556a...I don't do cold calls but I do auctions and fun raisers! I let my cakes speak for themselves!

HI (smile)

Well, since I am new at this I was not sure if this was how it was done. Thanks for your opinion.

S_S_SweetTooth

I was wondering if you might have children? if so.. a really good way to get seen and heard is to donate cakes to their school for fund raisers, also put your one of your cards on the front of the box so that everyone that passes it sees it..I also make time to do a GOODIE day for my daughters class.. I just pick any ole day to take a cake for a Happy and I have gotten tons of orders this way too. Oooo and also.. be sure to take it when its time to take your child to school this way all the people passing will say O MY what a wonderful cake & Who did it.. then say Oo ME!! also donate to fire dept. fund raisers. just 1 or 2 they could even be 1/4 sheet. I send 1/2 at least. =0) you know just to show off a lil bit ;0) Good Luck!

I also am not too sure of this method...I have actually tried something like this. People do not like sales calls...and if you say you are giving something away people are conditioned to think "Nothing is free"! I agree with the donating as well.

Great theory!! Wished it was that easy but I have to agree!! I hate getting phone calls for anything telemarketing or so called "Free" I just do as the rest have suggested...I have small kids so I am always baking cakes,cookies for preschool events and holidays such as Valentines day,St Patricks day,Easter,Halloween,Christmas...The kids mothers are always asking....Also maybe get involved in a bake sale where you can rent/have your own table.I do this every year at the local school and I get alot of business from there!! I set my table up like a show case with cloths etc...package up my goodies really pretty with ribbon and cellephane I get 50 % at Michael's craftstore .You can also put up free bulletins at schools rec centres/Community centres,Churches etc...

I think the donating is a great idea or if you have a couple friends that have kids offer to do their cakes once for referrals.. send things to your husbands work etc.. People will call for donations a lot once they hear about you though so give your self alimit for the year once that starts to happen. Having a website is a good idea.. it's your best marketing tool. There are also places to leave cards in stores... and the biggest thing. if you are starting a serious business is join some networking groups. Good luck!

i KNOW I DONT LIKE COLD CALLING... I had to be a telemarketer for Sam's Club for a while it's a miserable job I think and if someone can do it great for them.... I don't think I would do that either.