Do’s and Don’ts for a Better Phonathon by Naomi Marshall

With this post, I'm happy to announce a new FLiP partnership! In the next few months you will start to see a series of posts from Academic Impressions. The organization, based in Denver, CO, works to create a dialogue about emerging trends in higher education. They promote conferences and events across the country, as well as produce all types of thought-leading articles and posts.

Almost every higher education institution has a phonathon, but not every one is operating as effectively and efficiently as they could. Making small improvements in your calling technique and watching out for hidden habits in phonathon management can yield substantial dividends in donor participation and dollars raised.

Most people, when thinking about the fundraising call, overlook the communication and negotiation skills needed to get the gift.  To help turn a good call into a great one:

• Communicate value. Your potential donor must believe in the cause if they’re going to give to your institution.  When on the phone, talk about your institution’s mission, what goals you’re working toward, and don’t forget to let them know why they should care and what’s in it for them.

• Be passionate. Even if your case is compelling on its own, your potential donor will pick up on a caller’s lack of passion for an issue.  Put heart into your call, and make your listener believe that it really matters to you.

• Say thank you first. If the person you’re calling has given before or volunteered for your cause, know that before you call them. Start off the call by saying thank you, and know what you’re thanking them for.  Retaining donors is as important as finding new ones, so take time to appreciate all they’ve done already.

Tip:  Why not turn your phonathon into a thankathon for an evening, and only call past donors to say thank with no new solicitation.  You’ll be surprised at the response and the gifts you’ll receive without asking!

• Don’t stop at no. There are a variety of reasons why a donor says no.  Be sure to find out why they turned you down.  Perhaps you didn’t ask for the right amount, or perhaps they’re interested in donating to another cause at your organization.  Listening to why will help you understand if there is still a possibility of a yes and can also serve to build rapport with the potential donor by showing that you care.

Many phonathon managers inherit what seems to be a successful program, and time pressure can keep them from looking closely at that success. It’s often easy to slide into habits that don’t have an apparent negative effect, but can hinder your phonathon performance if unchecked. Watch out for these four easy-to-overlook habits:

• Glossing over the warm-up. Oftentimes, warm-ups for callers turn into quick cheerleading sessions before you send callers to the phone.  Cheerleading gets old fast and doesn’t give the callers any value.  Be sure that your warm-ups have an educational component in addition to setting the tone for the calls.  Doing it right might take you longer at first, but in time you’ll be able to get through a valuable warm-up quicker, and you’ll start seeing the results from doing it right.

• Copy and stealing scripts. Writing your own scripts might seem like you’re re-inventing the wheel.  Everyone who has a phonathon has a script, why not just borrow?  Remember the obvious; your institution and your cause are unique.  Your task is to show that in the script.  Walking through the process of applying good communication principles to your situation is a valuable exercise for both you and your callers.  Look at other scripts to get fresh ideas, but don’t pop them into your script without knowing where and how they fit into your process.
   

• Ignoring participation as growth. Too often, a growth in participation takes a back seat to dollar growth.  If you’re too focused on upping the dollars and not concerned enough with getting more donors, you’ll be stuck with less money in the future when your donor pipeline starts to grow thin because you didn’t invest in finding new donors.
   

• Confusing calling pools with segmentation. Calling pools and segmentation are both valuable tools for improving your phonathon, but they’re not the same thing!  Calling pools should be used to group your prospective donors and match that group with a caller or callers. Segmentation should be used to analyze different splits in your results, so you can identify your strengths and weaknesses and improve your phonathon based on those.
   

Phonathon Managers and other annual giving professionals have an opportunity to rethink and rebuild skills in segmenting, scripting, calling techniques, and recruiting and retaining student callers at the Phonathon Bootcamp being held June 2-4, 2008 in Atlanta, GA. Learn more about the conference at http://www.academicimpressions.com/phonathon.php

About the Author
Naomi Marshall designs educational programming for advancement and development professionals for Academic Impressions, a leading provider of professional development for higher education. She can be reached at Naomi@academicimpressions.com.

Comments

[Tom Welsh]

These are great tips! Obviously based on a great deal of experience with phone-a-thons.

One thing that was not addressed, which I have seen produce heightened success, is the use of "pre-approach mailings." These can take many forms, from the simplest to more elaborate, depending upon the culture of the institution (and of course could be done elecetronically). They basically let the recipient know that a call is coming, and contain information relative to the campaign. They can act as a "silent pre-sale" message if done correctly.