Before your group sets out to approach merchants, review Here Is My Coupon’s guides and marketing materials accessible after login. These materials will provide you with HIMC protocol - ensuring your efficiency and success. Read on to learn more about the resources you have available to your group:

Social Media Marketing

Get the word out about our coupons (that you have recruited to our website) by posting a link to our webpage, hereismycoupon.com , on your facebook profile, twitter, and other various social media platforms you or members of your group may use. HIMC buzz will increase the number of coupon “searcher”/ “savers” visiting our site. And the more people using our coupons, the more likely merchants will post coupons on our website. Finally, the more merchants that post coupons onto Hereismycoupon.com through your outreach, the more money you will fundraise for your group! Therefore, buzz = more money!! For you!!

Print Business Cards

Give Here Is My Coupon provided business cards to the merchants you approach! This will also them to easily identify and credit your group once they choose to register. Follow these steps for access to our business cards:

• Login using your group ID and password
• On your group’s page, click the “Publicity” tab
• Click on the “Business Cards” option
• Fill in the mandatory fields and save the business card
• Our system will store the card for other group members to access
• Print the business cards (ten cards per sheet) on firm paper (Avery Label 8371 paper)

Get HIMC article published in College Newspaper

Publishing this article will encourage your school community to use our coupons. The more our coupons are used, the more likely merchants will be to post coupons onto hereismycoupon.com . The ultimate result is your group being able to recruit more merchants to our site and, thus, making more money for your organization and its fundraising needs! Only one group can request to get this article published in their school newspaper and we are hoping that it is the first group at your campus! Follow these steps:

• Login to our site using your Group's Username/Password
• On your group’s page, click the “Publicity” tab
• Click the “Download Article for School Newspaper” option
• Download the PDF file
• Print or email this PDF to your school newspaper board to request that it be published

Post HIMC flyers around your school and community

Posting flyers in your area will encourage your community to use our coupons. Once again, the more users we have, the more confident merchants will be in posting their coupons onto our website. Therefore, the more awareness there is in your community about our coupons, the more money your group will make for its fundraising needs! Follow these steps:

• Login to our site using your Group's Username/Password
• On your group’s page, click the “Publicity” tab
• Click the “Flyers” tab
• Choose and upload one or more of the flyer PDFs
• Print numerous flyers to post around your campus and area. Your college may have location, quantity, and content regulations in regards to posting flyers around your campus so be sure to check with them before posting! Note: Penalties and fines may be enforced by administration and police for posting outside of authorized areas.

Create Sample Coupons

The group can create and use sample coupons if the merchant requests to see them in physical form. Your group can use and create custom coupons and/or use generic coupons to show prospective merchants. This provides a personalized view of what Here Is My Coupon can provide. Follow these steps to access our coupons:

• Login using your group ID and password
• On your group’s page, click the “Create a Sample Coupon” option
• Select a promotion type, we advise that you choose a promotion that a target merchant is currently running for a more personalized approach
• Print and save the coupon
• Saved coupons can be easily accessed via an ID that is located in the Saved Coupons folder for each coupon

Your group will earn funds through your sales representatives approaching merchant in your local area. These individuals (members of your group or hired by Here Is My Coupon) will share your group’s fundraising needs with merchants and request that they post coupons on our website. For every merchant recruited by your sales reps to our site, your group will earn $45, and the sales rep will earn $30. Below are some helpful tips for your sales reps to follow:

How Sales Reps can Target Merchants

• There are no limitations as to what types of stores you can approach. All merchants can post coupons onto our site.
• If individuals in your group consider themselves to be “locals” at certain stores / restaurants near your campus, consider approaching these places first! Those merchants that you know will be more likely to join HIMC as they will be helping you AND helping themselves.
1. If a merchant has already signed up on Here Is My Coupon but had not been approached by a group in their territory, they may have credited the House Account
2. If they credited the House Account, a "Picture of a house icon and ? with : HIMC House account" will appear next to the name of their business
3. These merchants are good ones to approach because they have already expressed interest in joining the program
• When thinking of locations / merchants to approach, consider using newspapers, magazines, blogs, and the Internet. You may be unaware of a strip of stores near you that is more than willing to help your organization AND post coupons for increased business traffic!
• Target and approach these merchants initially because people that you already share a personal connection with will be more likely to join the program

Divide and Conquer!

• For those students in your group that want to work as sales reps (earning money for your group and for themselves through outreach) plan a meeting to discuss how you will divide and conquer the various merchants in your area.
• Those who consider themselves locals or personally know a local should be the ones to reach out to these merchants first.
• Have each student declare how many merchants they feel comfortable approaching within an allotted time and provide them with a section of stores / merchants to approach.
• We recommend that students initially go in pairs when approaching merchants until they become comfortable doing outreach on their own.
• We also recommend that your team create a target number of merchants you want to approach (based on your fundraising needs) with deadlines to keep your group motivated, accountable, and focused

Bring HIMC marketing materials with you

• Merchants will feel more comfortable registering for HIMC if your group provides them with a sample coupon, flyer, and the HIMC decal
• Refer to “Group Marketing Materials” above for more information on how to access this material

BRING YOUR HIMC BUSINESS CARDS!

• To establish future contact between your group and merchants, it is CRUCIAL to provide them with a business card after you’ve finished talking with them.
• Remember that in order for your group to fundraise, the merchants you approach must credit YOUR group for its outreach. Therefore, a business card will help these merchants to remember and credit you.
• Additionally, the merchants you speak with may also want to reach out to you via email with questions. Providing them with a business card makes this communication easy!

How To Dress When Approaching Merchants

• Like a college student! Or however you would normally dress when representing your student organization.

The Best Time to Approach Merchants

• The best time to speak with merchant owners, managers, and/or is when they are LEAST busy. It is highly unlikely that they will want / be able to speak with you during their prime hours.
• Therefore, we recommend looking up their hours before deciding to approach them. For example, it is not a good idea to approach restaurants on Friday nights at 6 pm.
• Even if a store or restaurant looks pretty empty and it seems as though the owner, manager, and/or staff member is available to speak with you, make sure to ask, “Is now a convenient time?” This courteous gesture will go a long way.

How to Approach Merchants:

• Call merchants before you approach their businesses or stores and ask to speak to the manager or owner.
• Hi my name is _________ (name) and I am fundraising for _________________ (group). We have collaborated with online coupon website, HereIsMyCoupon.com, that displays FREE coupons for local businesses and also serves as a fundraising platform for college local community groups, organizations and student groups. I was wondering if you would be interested in paying only $180 to have coupon space on HereIsMyCoupon.com.
  
  With this coupon space, you could:
  
  offer hundreds of different deals in a given year
  track the success of your coupons
  
  
  receive free marketing and advertising from Here Is My Coupon
  
  
  receive a minimum performance guarantee, which ensures merchants a double return on their investment of only $180
  
  
  If you choose to register and post coupons onto the website, _____________ (group) will earn funds to put towards ___________ (cause).
  
  If you’d like I can email you the details and even come into your store to meet with you!

• Initially, always approach a merchant in person. After your first visit, it is okay to reach out to him or her via email or phone call.
• When entering the store, restaurant, shop, etc. introduce yourself to anyone working with your name, a firm handshake, and the group you are representing and from what school. Then ask if the manager or owner is available to speak for a few minutes.
  • For example, “Hi, my name is Jane Smith and I am from the Debate Team at Medford College. Is Green Owl’s owner or manager available to speak for just a few minutes?”
• If the manager or owner is not around, ask when he or she usually stops in and take note of this information. Go back to the merchant another time when he or she most likely will be in.
• If the manager or owner is currently at his / her store but is busy, ask him or her when the best time is to come back or when they usually are free to speak. Take note of this information.
• If the manager or owner IS around to speak, re-introduce yourself with your name, a firm handshake, your student organization, and your school. Then ask if he or she has already heard about Here Is My Coupon.
• If the owner or manager has already heard about Here Is My Coupon, ask if a group has approached him or her. If they are currently working with a student group, thank them for their time and politely say goodbye. If they are not currently working with a student group, offer to share how your organization is fundraising through Here Is My Coupon.
  • For example, “Our debate team is using Here Is My Coupon to raise money for our next debate trip to D.C. for the Annual Collegiate Debate Competition.”
  • Then continue to explain how the merchant’s use of Here Is My Coupon will help your group AND will help them. For example, “Our organization is using HereIsMyCoupon.com to fundraise for our trip. If you post a coupon onto this website, our group will be able to raise $45 for recruiting your coupon. This coupon of yours would be free for everyone to use – college students, locals, and visitors AND it only costs $180 for you to post one coupon per year onto the website. So, this $180 would help you gain more business traffic AND would help our student organization get to DC this semester. All you have to do is go to the website, HereIsMyCoupon.com, register as a merchant, and post your own personalized coupon.”
  • If you have had success with other merchants, mention their store names to increase the current merchant’s belief in our model.
  • Answer any questions the merchant may have and make sure to follow up with this information:
    • Merchants can track the success of their coupon to see how many times it is viewed, clicked, printed, or sent to an email or phone
    • Here Is My Coupon has templates that merchants use when uploading their coupon so it’s really easy. Merchants simply fill out what deal they want to offer and upload a picture.
    • Merchants can edit their coupon free of charge at any time if it is not performing as hoped.
    • There is a minimum performance guarantee. If a coupon does not perform to at least this level of performance, it will remain on the website until it reaches our minimum guarantee.
    • Here Is My Coupon is green as it is an ONLINE company with coupons that are available on one’s phone to be shown to merchants.
    • Merchants are also eligible for a tax deduction if the group is a non-profit. The group can issue a receipt for the amount that the group is generating for its portion of the over coupon price.
    • Coupons will be advertised by local community groups, organizations and groups around their campus and Here Is My Coupon advertises the coupons on their various social media pages along local media, press releases and interviews.
    • Merchants may post up to 3 coupons on our website ($180 per coupon).
    • Tell the merchants about the places you have approached that have chosen to post a coupon!
• Mention to the merchant that he / she has the opportunity to use HIMC for FREE for 30 days. This trial period will provide the merchant with the ability to check-out Here Is My Coupon, once again giving him / her the ability to track the success of the offer that has been posted, but also giving him/her time to decide whether or not to pay $180 to have a coupon space on HereIsMyCoupon.com for an entire year. Also, mention that if after the 30 day period he / she decides not to pay for the full year, there will be no charges or hidden fees applied. If he / she DOES want to pay $180 to continue to have a coupon space on our website for an entire year, the merchant simply has to log into their account, and make their payment.
• Final pitch to the merchant:
  • “Offering a coupon on a website for only $180 per coupon per year is much more affordable then the other coupon websites out there. The marketing of your coupons is guaranteed by our group and by Here Is My Coupon itself. Also, through posting these coupons you’re not only increasing your business traffic but you’re also giving back the local community! You’re also helping us and everyone truly wins!”
• When you are done speaking to merchants and answering their questions, ALWAYS leave your group’s business card (go to group marketing materials to read about accessing your group’s business card) even if they appear hesitant. They may change their mind! And if they choose to register, this business card will help them to remember your group’s name when registering and identifying you as the group that approached them.

Sample In-Person Dialogue with Merchant

Here is an example of a well-planned conversation between a student and merchant (see Video Section for actual examples of college students approaching merchants):

MERCHANT 1 scenario:

Student: “Hi, my name is Jane and I am a part of the Debate Team at Medford College (Make eye contact and shake merchants hand). Do you have just a few minutes to speak with me? My group is fundraising for our trip to DC.”

Merchant 1: I can’t talk. I'm really busy right now.

Student: “Okay, no problem! Is there another time I can speak with you today or this week?”

Merchant 1: “I’ll be free _______.”

Student: “Okay, great! I’ll come back at _________. Again my name is Jane. What’s your name?”

Merchant 1: “John.”

Student: “Okay, thanks again!”

MERCHANT 2 scenario:

Student: “Hi, my name is Jane and I am a part of the Debate Team at Medford College (Make eye contact and shake merchants hand). Do you have just a few minutes to speak with me? My debate team is fundraising for our trip to DC.”

Merchant 2: Sure! What’s up?

Student: “Our team/group/club is using HereIsMyCoupon.com to fundraise for our (Group's Name) If you post a coupon onto this website, our group will be able to raise $45 for recruiting your coupon. This coupon of yours would be free for everyone to use – college students, locals, and visitors AND it only costs $180 for you to post one coupon per year onto the website. So, this $180 would help you gain more business traffic AND would help our student organization get to DC this semester. All you have to do is go to the website, HereIsMyCoupon.com, register as a merchant, and post your own personalized coupon.”

Other Important Points To Mention To Merchants During The Conversation:

• Merchants can track the success of their coupon to see how many times it is viewed, clicked, printed, sent to an email or image on their phone.
• Mention to the merchant that he/she can also register and posted a coupon for free for the first 30 days. This trial period will provide the merchant with the opportunity to test HIMC's system before deciding to pay $180 for a coupon space for the entire year. If he/she decides NOT to pay $180 to continue having a coupon space on our website, no charges or hidden fees will apply.
• Here Is My Coupon has templates that merchants use when uploading their coupon so it’s really easy. Merchants simply fill out what deal they want to offer and upload a picture.
• Merchants can edit their coupon free of charge at any time if it is not performing as hoped.
• There is a minimum performance guarantee. If a coupon does not perform as hoped, it will remain on the website until this guarantee is achieved.
• Here Is My Coupon is green as it is an ONLINE company with coupons that are sent virtually and can be showed to merchants on one’s phone
• Merchants will be eligible for a tax deduction if they choose to post coupons onto Here Is My Coupon because they are helping a local student group fundraise
• Coupons will be advertised by local community groups, organizations and groups around their campus and Here Is My Coupon advertises the coupons on their various social media pages
• Merchants can post up to 3 coupons on our website
• Tell the merchants about the places you have approached that have chosen to post coupons!

Offering a coupon on a website for only $180 per coupon space per year is much more affordable then the other coupon websites out there. The marketing of your coupons is guaranteed by our group and by Here Is My Coupon itself. Also, through posting these coupons you’re not only increasing your business traffic but you’re also giving back to the local community! You’re helping us!

When you are done speaking to merchants and answering their questions, ALWAYS leave your group’s business card (Go to Group Marketing Materials on this same we page to read about accessing your group’s business card) even if they seem disinterested. They may change their mind! And if they choose to register, this business card will help them to remember your group’s name when registering and identifying you as the group that approached them.

You just approached a merchant in your area, shared your group’s fundraising needs, and briefly explained our model. And now, it looks as though the merchant is ready to jump onto the Here Is My Coupon Train!! Congratulations!!

• Give the merchant your group’s business card (Go to “Group Marketing Materials” on this web page to learn how to access the business cards). Tell the merchant that when registering he/she will need to plug in the ID printed on the card.
  • Once the merchant credits your group and activates his / her coupon, your group will receive $45 within 45 days. Remember that your group can earn up to $72 dollars per coupon. The more coupons you recruit to our website, the more you make from each coupon. (Go to “Group Payments” on this web page to learn about more).
• Refer the merchant to our website, HereIsMyCoupon.com, and refer them to “Merchant info” for more details. Remind him/her that registration is simple, easy, and the link to register can be found on our home page.
• Ask for the merchant’s contact information so you can follow-up with him or her to ensure that he/she has registered and credited your group.

At this point you have registered a group, compiled marketing materials, planned a sales strategy, approached merchants, and have merchant coupons credited to your group. Now it is time to maintain your base of merchants through communication and consultation. The following will help you to effectively monitor, preserve, and expand your merchant coupons:

Monitor:

It is critical to monitor the number of merchant coupons you have, the amount of time that has elapsed since your group activation, the thresholds your group needs to maintain, and each of your merchant’s account expiration dates. To check your group’s merchant coupons, time elapsed, thresholds, and merchant information, please follow these steps:

• Login with your group’s ID and password
• In your group’s page, select the “Merchant Reports” tab
• You can now view the number of merchant coupons your group has accumulated, the amount of time that has elapsed, the date of each merchant’s account expiration, and the coupon statistics for each merchant
• You can also view the total number of merchants that have credited your group but have not yet activated a coupon. This is important to track because your group will not receive any money until the merchant activates a coupon. If the number of merchants in this category accumulates, make sure to contact these merchants to support them in activating a coupon.
• Make certain that if a merchant’s account expiration date falls near the date of a specified threshold that the deactivation of this merchant’s coupons does not put your group below the required number of merchant coupons for this amount of elapsed time
1. Track this with the “Merchant Reports” tab
2. If these dates are close, encourage the merchant to review his/her account, and recruit additional merchants to avoid a possible disbandment

Expand Active Merchant Coupons Through Existing and New Merchants:

Having new merchants purchase coupons with Here Is My Coupon is always a productive way to increase merchant coupons. However, if a merchant has already purchased one successful coupon, now may be the time to suggest purchasing another.

• Follow the steps provided in the “Form a Strategy” and “Recruit Merchants” sections to accumulate more merchant coupons
• Call or consult specific merchants that have already activated successful merchant coupons accredited to your group to consider purchasing additional coupons. Be sure not to pester the merchant and only approach them if their business may prosper from an additional coupon
• If your group is successful, you may be delegated merchants from our “House Account”
1. Whenever a group disbands or if a merchant contacts our system without a student group, that merchant account is placed in the House Account which is controlled by Here Is My Coupon
2. Merchants held in this account will be distributed to the top state performers, so if your group is successful, your merchant coupons could effortlessly expand! Note: More on this will be released at our official launch.

Maintain Active Merchant Coupons

• Establish a relationship with a merchant
1. Send thank you notes for coupon activations
2. Send holiday cards
3. Go to their store and give them business
4. Use their coupons
5. Encourage others to use coupons
6. Divide up your group’s active merchants and assign them to different group members
7. Inform the merchant about the points a special coupon accumulates. This may be the most important thing for the merchants
• Monitor a merchant’s coupons (If given merchant permission)
1. Login with your group ID and password
2. Click on the “Merchant’s Reports” tab
3. View coupon statistics of individual merchants on this page
4. A coupon’s success is based on the number of points it accumulates
5. If a coupon is viewed, the coupon gets 1 point
6. If a coupon is printed, the coupon gets 2 points
7. If a coupon is emailed to a user, the coupon gets 3 points
8. If a coupon is sent to a phone, the coupon gets 3 points
9. Our minimum performance guarantee says that if a coupon doesn’t accumulate the minimum amount of points in 12 months, it will stay activated until it reaches this threshold
10. If a coupon’s points are low, send the merchant an email or visit his/her store for a consultation. This may be the time to work with the merchant to edit or swap out the existing coupon for a potentially more successful one
11. Assure the merchant that even if he/she purchases another coupon, it will pay for itself with our performance guarantee

At this point, your group has done what it takes to receive payments from Here Is My Coupon. You will get paid for each and every coupon that merchants credit you with, regardless of which tier you fall in at any time. Below you will find information to understand our payment plan and profit sharing system:

1. There are different tiers of merchant coupon accumulation
2. When your group achieves a higher tier of merchant coupons, the percentage of accumulated profits from merchant coupon activations will increase
3. The different tiers and their profit sharing percentages are expressed in the table below:

1. When your group reaches a higher tier, your groups revenue will increase
2. Once your credited merchant coupon is activated, the appropriate percentage of that payment will be sent to your group’s registered bank account through direct deposit
3. This payment will be completed within 35 days for electronic transactions
4. Possible group payments for different amounts of active merchant coupons are expressed in the table below:

• If your group succeeds and continues to maintain merchant coupons after yearly coupon subscriptions expire, your group could potentially accumulate an annual revenue stream of $12,528!
• Additionally, if you refer other local community groups, organizations and groups from outside of your college and they credit you in the sign up process, your group will receive a $200 dollar bonus as soon as that group reaches 25 activated merchant coupons. This referral bonus functionality is also available to individuals registered as searcher/savers in Here Is My Coupon’s system. If the individual saves his/her payment information under his/her account info, and he/she refers a group who credits him/her, and then accumulates 25 merchant coupons, this individual will receive a $200 referral bonus
• When you or your group refers a group and they credit you/your group as its source of referral, you will then be able to monitor the success of this group
• Once you log in to Here Is My Coupon using your email and password, click on the “Statistics” tab
• Here you will be able to view the success of the local community groups, organizations and groups that have credited you or your group as its source of referral
• Next to the group’s name will be a colored bar, as the group approaches the threshold of 25 merchants, the bar will fill up and become more green
• Once the bar is full, the group has reached 25 merchant coupons and a $200 dollar payment will be sent to you or your group
• If you or your group notices that referred local community groups, organizations and groups are not succeeding and not accumulating necessary merchant coupons, speak to them, consult them, and support their efforts in accumulating merchant coupons

In addition to your school's existing code of conduct, Here Is My Coupon provides a set of required rules and regulations in order to maintain the highest quality professional standards for Here Is My Coupon.

If Here Is My Coupon is notified that a group has violated any code of conduct, the report will be investigated and if proven guilty more than 4 times per membership year, then that group will be dissolved and all members will be forever revoked from participating in HereIsMyCoupon.com.

• No group can pose as another student group.
• All local community groups, organizations and groups must be school sanctioned and have a registered mission statement.
• All merchants must be approached on foot. The use of any other transportation means is prohibited.
• All students must be members of the same group at the same college.
• Each group must have 3 executives.
• The treasurer must maintain an accurate record of their group's finances. No group can refer more than 50 of the same group affiliation (ex. 50 of the same national fraternity).
• All local community groups, organizations and groups must have a faculty advisor currently employed by their institution.
• Groups must maintain a professional relationship and respect a merchant's privacy.
• All students must follow proper guidelines when approaching merchants.
• All payments must be applied to the group as a whole with no payments distributed to any individual members.
• Students cannot create or use salacious, offensive, unapproved materials. Here Is My Coupon reserves the right to remove any unwanted material without consultation.