The phone is an important tool in the fundraiser’s tool kit. Whether your fiscal year ends this month or not, June should involve a lot of phone calling. But we often forget to do these three things.
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Happy phone calling!
Before you make your 5-10 calls, would you take this quick, 30-second poll about when your fiscal year ends?
Fun post, Mark! An added tip I’ll include is: Let the person you are phoning know that they are at the TOP of your list. Then when you’ve finished your call, cross off the name and now you have a “new” first person on the top of your list. 🙂 I’ve had people get quite excited when they realize they even made my list let alone were at the top of it for that moment in time. It’s fun and causes some interesting interactions.
Personal phone calls are KEY to fundraising success that’s for certain.
Lori, thanks for adding that tip. Nice!
As much as I’m not a fan of the phone, I do find myself enjoying the calls after a while. I get so many answering machines, it sort of becomes a game with myself.
Great tips Marc!
I think if nonprofits would make Thank You calls to donors a priority, they’d see their fundraising results go up.
Sandy Rees
Those would be great. These tips still apply, don’t they?
I think it’s good to script three sentences of the call: 1) the first thing you’ll say to open the conversation 2) the transition from any chit chat to the topic of the call (so that you do it smoothly) and 3) the sentence where you’re making the invitation (whatever you are inviting them to do).
Actually that’s not totally for a “thank you” call…more for a call in general. 🙂
Marc, nice video and I liked that you followed your advice, smiling throughout.
I want to second your tip to “batch” calls. It not only puts you in the rhythm but you aren’t mentally shifting from one task to another, eliminating transition time. So, in the end, you get more call completed in less amount of time – a BIG bonus.
Solid, simple tips, Marc. I would add to rehearse the call a bit before placing the first call to warm up – even if you can record yourself. Not to get too hung up on this, but it can really help to learn if you fall into the habit of saying too many “umms” or “ehhs” or “you knows”. Also, you can hear if you are rushing through the call. It can be quite disconcerting if the caller talks too fast and slurs words together.
Great addition.
I don’t have the discipline for that, but it would probably save some embarrassing calls! 🙂
oh this is gold.
Thanks. 🙂