They say you need a green thumb to get plants to grow well. But you don't need any thing other than the right garden tour ticketing software to have a successful event. Here's a quick look at just how easy it is to sell garden tour tickets online.
Tips For Home & Garden Tours
There are many different kinds of guided tours but few have more of a connection with the community than Home & Garden tours. Whether they are large, professionally produced events or just homeowners sharing the fruits of their labor with neighbors, garden tours can be ticketed events.
The advantage of selling tickets for a garden tour include raising money for a non-profit organization and spurring interest in gardening for a new generation. Of course a garden tour can be a money-making endeavor too, just like the other kinds of sightseeing tours.
In Dallas, Texas, there is a whole week’s worth of Home & Garden events schedule to start soon. One is the garden tour sponsored by the Collin County Master Gardeners Association. Another is the Summer Survival Workshop and garden tour that will demonstrate which plants can survive the notorious Texas heat.
Summer Survival Workshop is a good example of ticket sales benefiting a non-profit because the event is organized by the First Unitarian Church of Dallas. Tickets are being sold in advanced for $40 each with a portion of the proceeds providing much needed revenue for the church’s operating costs.
If you are considering selling tickets to your garden tour, here are some tips:
Aggregate the exhibitors
A popular event format for garden tours is a self-guided "walking tour" of each home. That is great for when the tour is just a casual collection of homeowners, but doesn't scale-up well if the tour includes hands-on workshops or other activities. Not to mention it excludes nearby business owners who can bring a lot of value to a garden tour if it were to be held in a more formal format.
To give the event a little more structure, you can have a central starting point, at a set time, and gather all the exhibitors (homeowners, professionals, guest speakers, etc.) in one place. This gathering can be inside or outdoors, or a combination of both. As the old saying goes "the more the merrier" and that holds true for a garden tour at a central location.
Reach out to real estate agents
You may be surprised just how knowledgeable local real estate agents are about gardens. It isn't that they have a genuine green thumbs, it is that a beautifully manicured garden is a big selling point for a home. Real estate agents are also experts at "putting on a show" since every open house is kind of like a theatrical performance.
When planning a garden tour, be sure to reach out to real estate agents and ask if they know of excellent examples of well manicured grounds. Crowds of people spending an entire afternoon touring the garden of a home that is for sale will help the agent with her business - and in turn, she'll help you with your event!
Avoid software that charges you per-ticket fees
Once you have decided to make your garden tour a ticketed event, beware of ticketing software that charges you unreasonable per-ticket fees. Or worse, ticketing software that won't help you take donations for a non-profit organization Look for garden tour ticketing software that fits your budget, is easy to use and can politely prompt people for donations during the purchase process.
ThunderTix Garden Tour Ticketing Software
Home & Garden events can be quite a handful to manage, that's why ThunderTix makes sell tickets online easy, so it is one less thing to worry about. We are experts at selling tickets for all sorts of guided tours and we honor the needs of non-profits.
Causing a person to donate generously starts with a well-worded message shown on the computer screen. Using ThunderTix, the message shown can be customized to match the tone of your event. Whether it's polite prompt like “Suggested donation amounts of $25; $50; $75; $100 are greatly appreciated!” or a call to action like“HELP US MEET OUR GOAL!!!”, we give you the tools for successful non-profit fundraising.
Not sure if online ticketing is right for your garden tour? Ask a us question in the comments below or give us a call and let's talk about how we can meet your needs.