The Extreme Fundraising Blog

In the last few posts, we’ve been gleaning from Seth Godin’s latest book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick).

If you’ve determined that you can be best in the world and that you are truly in a dip, not a cul-de-sac and not panicking, then you simply get to push through the dip.

Being in the Dip isn’t comfortable. Unfortuntately, too much quitting is done by people in the Dip. Most people think “If it hurts, I’ll just stop.” The short-term benefit outweighs any consideration of long-term payoff. As Seth says:

Short-term pain has more impact on most people than long-term benefits do, whixh is why it’s so important for you to amplify the long-term benefits of not quitting.

If you really can be “best in the world” but aren’t yet seeing the results you want, don’t give up until you’ve pushed through. Remind your board what the benefits of a strong fundraising program are and why yours can be “best in the world.” Celebrate whatever successes you have. (That’s easy to do if you’ve incorporated the Creating Donor Evangelists strategies.)

And keep reminding yourself of the long-term benefits. Our culture is geared to “look for the best.” If you’re the best, it’s easier to raise money. You’ll no longer have to say “We’re just like XYZ organization but different…” You will be XYZ organization–the one they already know!

You may not be at that point yet, but you can be. You’ve got what it takes.

The problem is that only a tiny portion of the audience is looking for the brand-new thing. Most people are waiting for the tested, the authenticated, and the proven (p. 49).

That’s why it pays off to move through the Dip.

Don’t fall in love with a tactic and defend it forever. Instead, decide once and for all whether you’re in a market or not. And if you are, get through that Dip (p.51).

According to Godin, the opposite of quitting is “rededication.”

So for the rest of this summer, since you’ve committed to being the best in the world, next commit yourself to rededicating to doing what you’re doing. Fearlessly ask if you need to change tactics. Read books, go to seminars, hire a coach.

(Yeah, that last was a shameless plug. But since the ROI on coaching is 300% so the investment is incredibly smart. Coaching studies are available in the “articles” section of Fundraisingcoach.com. )

In our last post, Fundraising in the Dip, we exlpored Seth Godin’s thoughts on “dips” and “cul-de-sacs” from his latest book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick).

Today, let’s look at the 3 questions Seth recommends we ask before we quit.

1. Am I Panicking?
“Quitting is not the same as panicking. Panic is never premeditated. Panic attacks us, it grabs us, it is in the moment. Quitting when you’re panicked is dangerous and expensive.”

Godin says that the best quitters always choose to quit before hand. At year-end, or any time we see our fundraising falling short of our goals, we may panic. But jumping ship in panic is not what quitting is about.

2. Who Am I Trying To Influence?
Are you trying to succeed in a market?…If you’re trying to influence just one person, persistence has its limits…If you’re trying to influence a market, though, the rules are different.

This is worth the price of the book. More than that. In fundraising we often get focused on individual prospects. So focused, that we forget we’re really trying to influence an entire community. Rather than getting a gift, our goal should be becoming the charity of choice for our typical constituent.

Read that one twice. It’s that good.

3. What Sort Of Measurable Progress Am I Making?
If you’re trying to succeed in a job or a relationship or at a task, you’re either moving forward, falling behind, or standing still. There are only three choices.

If money is the only measure of our success, we’re in trouble. No matter how much we raise, it’s never enough. Our board or boss or our own inner voice will want us to raise more.

But money is like a harvest. In my seminars, I stress that fundraising is pretty agricultural. A farmer can’t just go harvest. He needs to till the soil, plant seeds, tend the seeds, etc.

If all you’re measuring is the harvest, chances are great that you’re neglecting identifying good soil, tending the seed, etc.

If you’re simply in the Dip, the harvest of may not be there yet. But if you’re making quality contacts, cultivating them, and stewarding those that have given, the harvest is probably just around the corner.

Panicking, influencing, and measuring. As you look forward to the next 12 months, how can you work these into your plan?

Many of us experienced the end of the fiscal year on June 30th. Before taking a well deserved vacation, this is a great time for catching our breath and re-assessing our position. Some of what I’m currently reading, Seth Godin’s new book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), may provide a great launching point.

In a very brief summary, Godin posits that all worthwhile endeavors go through “The Dip.” The Dip helps sort half-hearted attempts from the truly world-class efforts. “Most consumers…,” writes Godin, “wait for something to be standardized, tested, inexpensive, and ready for prime time” (p. 48). You may be popular with a few early adopters, but to be “best in the world,” you need to go through the Dip, as hard as it may be. Only after proving yourself, will others feel comfortable joining you or donating to your cause.

This is so important to us in the nonprofit world. As I told my new friends at the Lowcountry Chapter of the AFP, we’re all in this world because we’re passionate about our cause. We love helping kids, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, spreading social justice, helping women start businesses, providing excellent arts, preserving land…and doing what we all do.

The causes are so good, we feel we shouldn’t need to fundraise. People should just “get it.” If they don’t, they should be able to come to their senses based on a website or a brochure.

But that isn’t how it happens, is it?

Incredible as it may be to us, people aren’t throwing money at our cause. Or if our cause is huge, it may seem that everyone is giving to that other organization rather than us.

According to Godin, this is where we need to decide if we’re in a Dip or a Cul-de-sac. A cul-de-sac is a dead end; a Dip is simply part of the journey. You’re in a cul-de-sac if you can’t become the “best in the world” at what you do.

Take some time to think of what your “world” is. Can you be best in the world at it? If not, you’re in a dead end.

The only thing to do in a dead end is to quit. Well, the only sane thing. Unfortunately, most of us prefer to endure the persistent pain of mediocrity rather than pressing on to greatness. But people and organizations that make the greatest difference, and reap the greatest rewards, are those that are “superstars,” best in the world.

Quitting takes guts. But if you’re in a cul-de-sac quitting is a very real, and can be an incredibly freeing, option.

If you’re not in a cul-de-sac, you’re in the Dip. Quitting in the dip would be incredibly dumb. You’ve come too far to give up now. If you find yourself in the Dip, the only sensible thing to do is to press on and push through. When you come out on the other side, you’ll be one of the very few organizations that will have come through the Dip. And you’ll be reaping the rewards of being world-class, including getting to help the people you help in more ways than you ever thought possible.

In our next issue, we’ll look more at committing to going through the dip. But for now, ask yourself:

Can you be best of the world at what your doing?

What is so special about your nonprofit? How can it be best in the world?

While you’re at it, what is your world?

[If you’d like to pursue this more between this issue and the next, check out my blog post Church Planting in the Dip and the accompanying links. Or you could buy your own copy of The Dip!]

I don’t talk much about the use of the telephone. I guess I’ve been scarred by too many phonathons.

But the phone is an incredibly important tool in the R.E.A.L. process of asking for money. Especially in getting a solicitation visit.

In his terrific book Asking: A 59-Minute Guide, Jerry Panas claims that getting the visit is 85% of the way to getting gift! Asking isn’t nearly as hard as getting someone to clear some space in their busy schedule. Once they do, you’re in a much better place to ask them for money.

• You’re not interupting them, they’re expecting you.
• You’ve already done the Researching and Engaging so your visit can be as succinct as 30-minutes. (If you were doing this cold, you might need more time.)
• And, they will have had time to think about how important your organization is to them prior to your visit.

So how do you make your use of the phone as effective as possible? First, smile. For decades, study after study shows that people can “hear” your smile even when they can’t see you. Your voice becomes filled with a contagious energy when you smile. So do it!

Stand up and walk around. There’s precious little excitement in sitting on your derriere. A wireless phone or headset can be great assetts, but even a long coil cord will help you. As you stand up and walk around, you give the person even more energy and the quality of your calls improve dramatically.

Finally, I’ve said this before but it bears repeating, use a script. Help yourself remember the point of your call. You want to set up an appointment. Don’t use the call to get the gift! 9 times out of 10 gifts from phone calls will be less than gifts from face-to-face visits. Even if you simply scribble bullet points on the back of an envelope before the call, help yourself make sure you cover what you meant to and no more.

Try these today. Using these 3 simple tips will help in all uses of the telephone. (Yes, even using it for a phonathon.)

Here in the US, we’re about a week away from Thanksgiving. Have you mentally checked out of work or are you preparing for the biggest time of giving in the calendar year?

Before you put your work on hold, consider implementing this tip from Jeffrey Fox’s book How to be a Rainmaker. (It’s the reason I got it in the first place. A colleague on a CharityChannel.com listserv raved about this list. She said whenever business was slow, she returned to this list and business always picked up.)

Here are the 10 things Fox recommends:

1. Send a handwritten note.
2. Clip and send an article of interest.
3. Talk to a satisfied client and ask who else you might help.
4. Send a thank-you gift to someone who referred you.
5. Give your business card to someone with influence.
6. Send a letter to the editor of a magazine your customers read.
7. Add fifteen people to your mailing list.
8. Leave a compelling voicemail.
9. Make an appointment.
10. Call a client you haven’t talked to in two years.

Isn’t this a great list?

Choose today which one you’ll do to help your organization raise more money. Now, commit to doing it before the end of the week.

Then have a great Thanksgiving! 

It’s easy to “keep score” in our field. We can track dollars raised, new donors acquired, donors retained, etc. But all of these are sort of rearview mirror, views of how you did in the past. Have you ever wondered where the windshield is?

In Jeffrey Fox’s idea in How To Be a Rainmaker of a point system for each day seems like a great candidate. This chapter was a special bonus–a free prize inside–when I read this book.

Fox recommends this point system:

1 point: Getting a lead, a referral, an introduction to a decision maker

2 points: Getting an appointment to meet the decision maker

3 points: Meeting the decision maker face-to-face

4 points: Getting a commitment to a close (a donation) or to an action that directly leads to a close.

His suggestion: work each day to get four points.

What if you started each day with this system as your windshield? Can you see how this could help focus your fundraising? None of these activities is wasted time. Each of these activities gets you to a face-to-face meeting. Each one leads you closer to a gift.

You’ll always have to process mail and other things that seem like time wasters. But what if you committed from now to the end of the calendar year to making each day a four point day?

No, I’m not going to talk about how much donor relations is like baby sitting–despite how similar they may feel at times! *grin* In reading Jeffrey Fox’s How To Become a Rainmaker, he devotes a short chapter to advice given to a babysitter. I found it to be helpful as a one-person development office for our hospital.

For those of you who are parents, when you hire a babysitter what do you want to come home to? According to Fox, one mother offered this advice to a babysitter she liked:

“Always say the kids were great, no problems. And always leave the house cleaner than you found it.”

Isn’t that great?

Think about this in terms of fundraising. Do you spend your time telling donors how hard it was to [fill in the blank}…get the gift, build the building, see the prospect, etc.? They really don’t care. That’s just your job.

John Wimber, a great church leader at the end of the 20th century, always said, “People aren’t interested in the birth–the pain, the groaning, the techniques. They just want to see the baby. Just tell them about the baby.”

So as you talk to donors and donor prospects tell them “the kids were great, no problems”–the pieces came together, look at this incredible accomplishment you helped us make!

The second part of the advice is just as important. It bugs me to no end to come home to a house as messy, or messier, than I left it. How hard is it to put dishes in the dishwasher or wipe a counter?

How could “leaving the house cleaner” look in fundraising? The first thing that comes to mind is to put plaques on the wall. And maintain them. So many of our organizations put plaques, often cheap ones, on doors and walls but forget to keep them when they fall off or the room is renovated.

Organizations that preserve the plaques and donor recognitions, even when the space has changed, show donors that they’re still grateful for the investment. Even if it happened decades ago.

Two local organizations that do this well are the Alfond Youth Center and Sebasticook Valley Hospital. Sebasticook has a special wall right in the lobby that showcases all the old plaques and donor recognition. Even though the building has changed, these rememberances are still prominently displayed.

The Alfond Youth Center does this extremely well. It’s practically a museum. Every where you look, you see community leaders pictures, names, and accomplishments prominently displayed.

At an event last month, a lady told me how excited she was to see her brother’s picture from the 1940’s on the wall. She was immediately drawn to this new multi-million dollar facility because they had done the work to connect her with the old location, even though it had been on the other side of town. It’s inspiring even to someone like me that doesn’t have the history here.

That’s just one “leave the house cleaner” idea. What other ways can you think of?

Another great tidbit in Jeffrey Fox’s “How to Become a Rainmaker”:

The Rainmaker always turns a customer objection into a mutual–customer/Rainmaker–objective.

Let’s say a donor says, “Gee, I’d love to make a $25,000 gift to the campaign but both my kids are in college right now.” A rainmaking fundraiser would restate that as, “So our objective is to schedule pledge payments that are smaller for you while your kids are in college, correct?”

Powerful, isn’t it? The tone is no longer adversarial, it’s now positive. Plus, the fundraiser can find out more information about the donor and how to best serve her. And, perhaps most importantly, you’re getting the donors agreement. Fox says “Rainmakers believe that objections are the way customers mask pleas for help and information.”

As I said in 5 Reasons to Love Objections (http://fundraisingcoach.com/blog/2006/05/16/5-reasons-to-like-objections/), objections show interest. So seek out objections. And see how they can become mutual objectives.

Last time, we looked at a concept in the book How To Become A Rainmaker by Jefferey Fox.

In that book, he say’s the “Killer Sales Question #1″ is

Do you have your appointment calendar handy?

What a great question. According to Fox, this results in an appointment more than 90% of the time!

If you’re like me, you’re the only person in your nonprofit solely dedicated to fundraising. Even thought I love fundraising, I keep getting bogged down by the aspects of my job that I’m not good at, the things that don’t come naturally: event management, receipting, pledge reminders, the never ending details of direct mail, etc.

These activities are necessary but they don’t bring in money to the hospital. Asking does. Especially face-to-face.

Most of my development carrier has involved a national constituency. I’d fly to a place, easily set up appointments, and make the calls. But here, 98% of our donors live in the area. Setting up appointments with local folks is an entirely different beast.

When you’re flying in, you’re a novelty. People make room in their schedule. When they see you each week at Rotary, you’re a great guy, lot’s of fun, but not a novelty. It’s easy to let the discipline of face-to-face visits slide.

This summer I realized that, even though I know who my 100 top prospects are, I’m not seeing them. So I’ve set a goal of at least 2 face-to-face donor meetings a week. I have a standing Wednesday morning appointment with myself to book the visits for the following week. And I’ve asked a colleague to call me to see if I’ve done the visits and if I’ve set up next week’s.

And I’ll be asking this wonderful question:

Do you have your appointment calendar handy?

We’ve spent the last few issues of Extreme Fundraising looking at the importance of story. While reading Jeffrey Fox’s “How to Become a Rainmaker” I recently read a question that will help you tell your story. Right at the beginning of the book he says:

Always Answer the Question, “Why Should This Customer Do Business With Us?”

What a great question for fundraisers!

It’s so easy for us to focus in the “need” we have. I’m shocked at how many prospective clients and colleagues have answered the “why should a donor give to this project” with basically “If we don’t have this capital expansion we’ll die.”

That won’t motivate many donors.

It will motivate employees. (Or have the opposite effect of getting them so stressed out they become paralyzed and ineffective.)

It may motivate a few donors. If you’re blessed with a core of diehard donors that have stuck with your organization for decades, this may be effective for them. But even they will get tired of “our future is doomed unless this happens” appeals.

So ask yourself: “Why should this donor make a substantial gift to us?”

If you don’t know why most of your donors give to you, ask them. Either in your normal face-to-face conversations or in a survey or in a focus group. Don’t ask them “Why in the world to you give to us?!” But ask them things like:

• What caused you to make us one of your favorite charities? 
• What do you like most about the work our organization does?
• What do you see as the most important things our group brings to the community?

Answers to these questions are gold! They will help you tell your story and attract more donors.
If you can’t come up with any answers as to why a donor should give to you…it may be time to dust off your resume and think of your exit strategy. Sometimes you just get burnt out at a place and lose the ability to see all the great things your nonprofit is accomplishing. If this sounds like you, you’re probably no longer serving your organization as well as it deserves. So start looking for the next thing, and for people that could take over for you.

For many of us, figuring out why a donor would do business with us is a bit challenging at first. But it soon becomes an excercise that sells us on our organization all over again. You’ll be thinking “Hey, we really are doing cool things! We really are ‘all that’ to some people!”

That enthusiasm will shine through as you tell your story and ask for money.

In the meantime, consider going to your library or Amazon to pick up Fox’s book How to Become a Rainmaker.