Alaska Friends of NRA’s Secret Weapon

Reprinted from Traditions: Quarter 2 - 2010

By Brad Kruger
NRA Field Representative, Alaska

It is no secret that Alaska Friends of NRA has enjoyed monumental success in the past. Many people ask “What are you guys doing up there?” or “How do you do it?” or my personal favorite, “What is your secret?”, thinking we have some kind of super raffle or gimmick that just rolls in the cash.

The truth of the matter is that one of the big secrets to Alaska Friends of NRA’s success are the ladies on our committees.

When I first started in the Friends of NRA program I was the chairman for the Homer Friends of NRA committee. Me and my buddy, Dr. Rick Swenson, went out and secured a bunch of donations and purchased vendor direct optional merchandise and when it was all said and done, we thought we had done a spectacular job. When my wife walked through the door and saw all the guns and camo merchandise she turned to me and asked, “Where’s the stuff for the women?” Rick and I just stood there in silence. We took what she said to heart and decided not to make that mistake twice.

Being that Alaska is the biggest state in America (if you cut Alaska in half, Texas would only be the third biggest state), I have a lot of windshield time to think while driving between events. During such a road trip, I had a revelation— our most successful committees were the ones with the most ladies on them!

The ladies of Alaska bring a lot to the Friends of NRA table. At meetings, they are all business, keeping a meeting moving and on track when it can easily spin into conversations about ballistic tables or the scarcity of powder and primers.

They have a remarkable eye for detail that is fundamental in planning a big-picture event, they know better than anyone not to push the bulk of the work off to the last minute, and are great at anticipating often unforeseen circumstances that arise.

Most importantly though, they help make an Alaska Friends of NRA banquet a couples event!

Our committees host family-friendly banquets, and we’ve found that ladies spend just as much, if not more, at our banquets as guys do. The ladies on Friends of NRA committees really know how to produce a banquet that caters to everyone in attendance. They bring a whole other side to what is auctioned off, like a more women-friendly firearm package complete with training gift certificates, and ideas for what games are played or how to run an event, that prove invaluable to the program as a whole.

To add to their extensive repertoire, the ladies of Alaska take great pride in decorating the hall and organizing the merchandise for the live and silent auctions. I have watched some of our male volunteers set up tables before and often times it ends up resembling a garage sale more than a banquet hall. I have learned it is sometimes best to let the guys unload the boxes and let the ladies make it look good. Their knack for presentation in both merchandise and décor may not seem as important compared to all the other expertise they possess, but I am here to tell you that it is!

We are selling the sizzle as much as we are selling the steak here in Alaska; atmosphere is just as important as the items we have on the table. Like I said earlier, our events are couples events and often times the wife purchases the tickets because she had so much fun in years past. Having items for the ladies is just as crucial as having items for the men who come.

Once you incorporate these concepts into your banquets for a number of years, you won’t have any trouble selling dinner tickets. In fact, the ladies of Alaska do such an awesome job we have events scheduled in September and October that are already sold out! That’s because our events are very social and the ladies make our events into THE social event of the year.

To increase your bottom line you need to get more ladies on your committee and leave them alone to work their magic! They will surprise you— guaranteed. Having more ladies on your committee will attract more ladies to your events and that my friends, is KEY!

Attend an upcoming Friends of NRA banquet in Alaska! Contact NRA Field Representative Brad Kruger at (907) 235- 9059 or by email at bkruger@nrahq.org for more information.