In Secrets of Closing the Sale
, Zig Ziglar says:
Each year over 5 million quarter-inch drills are sold, yet it’s safe to say that nobody wants a quarter-inch drill. They want a quarter-inch hole.
Isn’t that great? We do that in fundraising too. Donations are our “drill.” We spend lots of time talking about donations and ways to give. But in reality, no one wants to write a check, enter a credit card number, or make a planned gift.
They want the quarter-inch hole: a specific impact from their gift.
Personally, this is alot like the problem I tend to have with the United Way. I can’t really get my head around all they do. And whether the money goes to them or the organizations they serve. So every year when I hear about the annual pledge drive, I hear “payroll deduction.”
I hear drill not hole. And I support them, but more because I have to than because I want to.
But recently, an interesting message that came through our internal email at the hospital. Look at the skilled way the sender sold us a hole:
As you all know, our 2008 United Way Campaign is coming to a close tomorrow. We are only 70% of our goal of $22,000. Please, please, please consider giving if you have already not done so! With some of our money raised last year:
- 5 domestic violence victims and their children had court advocacy and protection orders;
- Family of 4 burned out of their home had emergency food, clothing and shelter
- 10 individuals in crisis were able to get emergency response counseling
- 10 elders had a hot healthy meal delivered for 3 months
- 15 homeless individuals had 4 nights of emergency shelter and 8 meals
- 20 individuals received bereavement support due to the loss of a loved one
- 150 children had quality after school care until 6 PM
The storytelling in this email did if for me. They showed me the hole I wanted. (I’m sure they’ve probably been doing things like this every year, I just “heard” it this year.) I’m sure it helps that they listed one of my biggest hot buttons first: helping victims of domestic violence. The others are very compelling too.
What would you put on your list of holes?
It’s all about nonprofit storytelling. Do you see how telling your story can be done in one sentence? Some argue it can even be done in six words!
As we approach the New Year, will you join me in pledging to improve our storytelling ability?
If you said “yes,” here are some resources to help get you started:
Free storytelling resources
- Fundraising Coach storytelling blog posts
- Andy Goodman’s website
- an interview with Katya Andresen, author of “Robin Hood Marketing”
- Network for Good’s “7 ways to improve your storytelling”
Resources to purchase
- my Who’s Telling Your Story? – Storytelling ideas for nonprofit marketing and fundraising
- Beyond Bullet Points by Cliff Atkinson
- Jim Weiss’ retelling of classic stories
This isn’t nearly a comprehensive list, but it’s a good start. Feel free to use the comments below to suggest other storytelling resources!
As a former United Way Exec, I can tell you nobody “gets” your drill analogy better than United Way. In fact, after several years of donor relationship research, UW’s have refined their focus from supporting the work of local “member agencies” to Advancing the Common Good through improving the education, health and financial stability in their communities through new initiatives and partnerships. They recognize that today’s donors have easy direct access to charities, and hardly need a middle man anymore. So, there’s a whole lot more concentration on “the hole” and a lot less on “the drill.” This evolution has not been easy on agencies that felt entitled to their share of the dollars raised by their local United Way, but its a much better way to create and sustain lasting change in communities. United Ways that have adopted this approach have averaged, I think, about a 12% increase in giving and a significant decrease in designated gifts while United Ways still working the “old way” have seen stagnant or declining revenues.
I would urge anyone interested in more information on this method to contact their local United Way. They will no doubt be happy to share their success.
Good luck to everyone fundraising in this economic environment. Telling your story well is more important than ever.
Marc, PERFECT and so true. The “tool” vs. “result” analogy is dead on the money. After years of pedaling the “how to donate” message I’ve dramatically changed my method to … story telling or impact / result of giving. It has dramatically improved our results. For our agency I use a story from one of our clients and specifically tie to how a donation has made a difference in the life of that client or clients.
We must get away from the idea of telling donors the “how to” and move to how they “impact”. You are right, donors don’t want a drill, philanthropy is driven by the results of the drill, not the drill itself.
Marc,
Another great post. I often give my “what” vs. “why” talk. Perhaps Ill modify it to the drill vs. the hole.
Its funny-when I first joined my firm I was primarily a salesperson-listened to Zig Ziglar all the time-now as the owner of the firm-its back to Zig again!
I also believe we are all in sales-we development folks have much to learn from the likes of Zig Zilgar, Brian Tracy etc.
Laurie: Thanks SO much from your comment! It’s great having an inside view.
Troy & John: Thanks too!
HI Marc – very very important tips and very timely –
I’m participating with over 50 travel bloggers to raise money for Heifer.org – Did you know that $20 could buy a family a flock of geese and the hundreds of eggs those geese will lay? $30 will buy bees, a beehive and training in how to be a beekeeper. $120 will buy a pig and $500 will buy a heifer and the 4 gallons of milk per day that she produces.
We’re having a raffle with dozens of cool prizes that you could possibly win, just by being generoug. The prizes I’ve collected are a fantastic spa package from Erwin Gomez Salon in DC. If you or anyone you know has a trip coming up to DC they really should enter – Erwin is one of the most talented and and confidence boosting artists you’ll ever meet.
Here’s the link
http://thingsyoushoulddo.com/district-of-columbia/erwin-gomez-salon-spa
And I’ve collected 4 tour tickets for a great walking photo tour of Boston — Saba knows just where you should stand to get great souvenir shots instead of a photo where the statues head is cut off. And the tour is fun and interesting. Kids love it. I haven’t quite finished the writeup of the fundraising aspect yet – but it’ll be done tonight. Here’s the link
http://thingsyoushoulddo.com/what-to-do/history/photowalks
Again, thanks for the tips
Thanks Julie!
I talk about Heifer in all my fundraising seminars and in my book Ask Without Fear!. Wish I were closer to DC to participate in the raffle! Glad many of my readers are! 🙂
Thank for a great analogy. When I met my husband, he bought us both copies of Zig Ziglar’s See You at the Top. We underlined and highlighted both copies. I bought most of Zig’s other books and then stopped reading. The business of having children, being self-employed and then contracting with multiple non-profits took over my life and if I read it was fiction so I could disappear.
For 12 seasons as the Operations Coordinator for Wausau Whitewater, I have worked on our sponsorship and fundraising campaigns but never had such a clear idea of where I want to go with our message as you gave me in this post. I have been thinking about features and benefits for awhile. For example, we train firefighters and other rescue personnel in swiftwater rescue. We are most likely partnering with First Descent Camps this year targeting young adults with cancer. In addition, we provide healthy recreational and training opportunities for children and adults all season long. Have to work on the story… thank you!
Julie: Thanks for such an encouraging comment! Let us know how the story comes out!