Thousands of children now have a reason to smile this Easter

On Friday 1st March, businesses from across Lancashire, including CBP members, came together at the Big Outbound Easter Egg Drive – an event hosted by Big Presence and Community & Business Partners.

The aim of the event was simple… raise as much money as possible so as many underprivileged children as possible can have an Easter Egg this year.

The event, held at the Blackburn Enterprise Centre, started with a workshop from Big Presence’s commercial director, Jonathan Finch. The workshop had every salesperson’s brain buzzing, from the psychology of sales, to tips on storytelling in sales and mastering the art of emotional selling.

Linked to this workshop were some sobering statistics and stories from Community & Business Partners about the lives of local Lancashire children and families, who struggle throughout the year to afford even the basic supplies, let alone get to have treats such as Easter Eggs.

After the training workshop, Jonathan said “This hybrid event combines CPD and doing your bit to help others. I hope everyone here can reflect on their learnings from the training session not just to improve their professional sales approach, but to help gather as many donations as possible today.”

Poised with their new sales techniques and spurred on by the reminder of the difference they could make, the attendees took to the phones contacting their network and asking for donations to this wonderful cause.

With a big screen showcasing the donation total, a competition going around the room, and incredible(ly rubbish) prizes up for grabs, the numbers started rolling in. £100, £250, £500… the energy and excitement in the room took over and before the lunch time break the £1,500 marker had been smashed.

With just under an hour to go and the £3,000 target in touching distance, Jonathan ramped up the energy with a few quick fire sales tips and encouraging everyone to get on their phone, the target was hit with minutes to spare.

Since the event, the donations have kept coming in and currently stands at over £5,000 – hugely surpassing expectations!

The next job for Community & Business Partners is to speak to their local supermarket contacts (who they currently work with on collecting surplus food for their food banks) to purchase as many Easter Eggs as possible with the total amount raised. They will then go about distributing these, with the help of Big Presence and other attendees from the event, to disadvantaged children throughout Lancashire.

On the event CBP’s managing director Jaydee Davis states: "The Big Outbound Easter Egg Drive was a fantastic day, a big thank you to Jonathan for his informative workshop on emotional selling, it offered valuable insights upskilling all in attendance. 

"We were blown away by the number of donations given and the generosity of Lancashire’s business community smashing the target we set for the day. Thank you to everyone involved in the day and those that made donations you are all truly making a difference for so many children and bringing a smile to their face over Easter."

Keep an eye out for this second part of the heartwarming story soon...