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STAR 2018 Full survey results

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NinjaBob:
For me a big draw for the raffle has been what I perceive to be great odds. Many people love to gamble, not me because I feel the odds are typically stacked against me in a casino or a lottery. The MSTA raffle odds are much better. So I have bout at least 8 to 10 tickets just about every year. This year I was not excited about the Versys but still bought 20 tickets.




I am really puzzled by the low ticket sales!

stevegrab:
Is it worth doing a poll to all members, by mail or tear out page from STAReview, asking for feedback on the raffle? What factors impact buying tickets, what bike would they be interested in, etc.

We have limited members here, more on Facebook but still not everyone, and the STAR survey is only done my attendees. If we're trying to figure out why so few tickets sold this year, we need to hear from more members.

Even an online survey could work, with the request to fill it out sent by email to all members.

bcd:
Like Bob, I'm not really a gambler. The bike raffle odds may be better than the state lottery, but I still don't expect to win. I view my ticket purchase as a donation to the club. It's not that I wouldn't want a free(ish) bike, but that's unlikely enough that it's not my motivation to buy tickets. Most raffle bikes, if I won I'd probably try to cut a deal with the dealer or sell it. I'd still come out ahead of the $40 or $50 I spent :-)

I do think Pat is right on target about using multiple means to advertise the raffle, to increase sales.

I also think it would be worth looking into making the prize either the bike or cash, possibly slightly less than the bike cost. The convenience of a cash payout to someone who isn't excited about a particular bike seems like a selling point. What I don't know is how this affects the legality of the raffle, or the negotiation with the supplying dealer.

RichGrab:
Like many others, I too am not a real gambler. I like the odds of winning the raffle bike even if 5,000 actual tickets are sold. Not many places you can you have a 1:5,000 chance at winning a $7-15k prize? I too don't expect to win, and it was the shock of a lifetime when I did. Those who were close when it happened can attest to that. I also look at the money spent on a ticket as a donation to the club, and once again this year bought 5-10 tickets, same last year and the year I won. And there are also other prizes given away that you must be present to win - maybe that is part of the reason people see this as a STAR versus MSTA raffle since the only prize you can actually win, if not present, is the bike.

Also not sure of the possible legal or tax implications of the raffle with a huge prize in cash (it might even vary by state). The potential plus to the winner of getting cash versus the bike is coming up with the $$ to pay the IRS and State tax would be easier; and then they could buy what they want whether it's a car, bike, or whatever.

Paco Bulto:
My thoughts, if I may share.
I normally buy and returned raffle tickets when they were mailed. If I attended STAR, I tended to buy more there, as I have seen that at our raffle and at another that our dealer has each year to give away a Gold Wing, it seems that the odds of winning are a bit better if you buy right before the raffle. It has happened more than once at my dealer's raffle and I believe more than once at STAR. Regardless of that, this year I wasn't in the raffle. I was on another bike trip with my son during STAR, so didn't buy them there. It is no excuse, but without having the tickets in my outgoing mail folder, I wasn't reminded to send them in and so I forgot about going on line to buy them. I know that it costs time and money to mail tickets, but I think it is possible that we might get a better participation by sending tickets or having a page in STAReview with a ticket form that can be mailed.
As far as popularity of the bike, I am sure that has an effect on sales for some. I normally participate regardless of the bike, since I know that I don't have to keep the bike if I win, but I can still profit from winning. In 1996  I won a new Suzuki Bandit 600 in an AMA drawing. Since I had no use for it, I sold it, paid income taxes on the winnings and still had enough $$ left for me and Donna to take a nice vacation to Australia to visit relatives. Having said that, I believe that the popularity of a new exciting model does result in more sales, such as when we had newly introduced RC51 in 2000.
In any case, those are my thoughts for what they are worth. Bottom line is I think a newly introduced model bike with tickets available both on line and some type of hard copy may help spur sales. A page in several issues of STARreview would not add cost to ticket distribution, so I think that it would be worth a try.

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