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?
