On the Line...with Jason Fisher

Some Shortcuts in Phonathon Lead to Big Cuts in Productivity

We’re all guilty of taking shortcuts at times.  We tell ourselves that finding a quicker way to get things done will make our jobs easier and our bosses happier.  But before we stencil our name into the employee of the month trophy, consider that some time shavers in our industry have serious and often unforeseen consequences.  What starts off as a good intention or a passing thought turns into a more serious issue down the road.  We may not immediately notice a problem, but over a period of weeks, months, and years, results can suffer. 

 

Here are a few shortcuts in phonathon that aren’t worth the time saved. 

 

Copying and Pasting Scripts and Training Materials

Some things get better with age…wine, cheese, wisdom, a good story, etc.  But phonathon materials are not one of them.  In fact, using the same materials year after year will leave your message stale and your prospects unimpressed.  As a phonathon manager, your job is to deliver the vision of your institution or organization to your constituents.  There is a tendency to believe that “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”.  I think this is a mistake.  After hearing what is essentially the same scripted message 2 or 3 times in a row, your prospects will have a much easier time telling the callers no.  If your students are tasked with persuading the prospects, then at the very least they need fresh verbiage- even if the general message and reasons to give have not changed all that much.  Consistency is important in phonathon, but not at the expense of losing the listener.  Take the time at the beginning of the campaign to fine-tune training materials and thoughtfully revamp your calling scripts.  The quality of your calls will be better in the end.

The Art of Persuasion in Phonathon

At first glance, there appears to be a limitless number of factors that go into creating and running a top-notch phonathon.  Just take a look at the number of different topics that I blog about as evidence of how complex I consider a good-running phonathon to be.  If phonathon were simple and easy to run, there wouldn’t be any reason for me to continue writing this blog.  The fact is that most phonathon programs operate in a basic fashion that allows them to get most of the lowest-hanging fruit.  They produce results that are in line with the most basic of expectations, and anything else they are able to achieve is considered icing on the cake.  But the best programs in the industry always seem to have something extra in their performance, as indicated in their ability to consistently surpass their previous year’s numbers and set new records.  Make no mistake; their success is not an accident.  It’s the result of the ability to teach what I consider to be The Art of Persuasion to their callers.

 

One of the most common mistakes that I see in phonathon is that managers are not picky enough when it comes to hiring their callers.  Not every applicant that walks through the door has the skills to be hired, and not every student hired will end up being a superior caller.  It takes a combination of keen identification of skill sets and talent by the hiring manager, an outstanding training program, great coaching, and timely motivation by management to get the most out of your staff.  These management processes should be put into place to enhance and teach what I consider to be the common thread in all great student-fundraising presentations, and that is persuasion. 

 

I have a simple definition of phonathon persuasion that I use in all my materials and presentations:

The Text Message Revolution in Annual Giving

Last month was the first month I ever “out-texted” my wife- and I have the cell phone bill to prove it!  I’m not what one calls a “hyper-texter”.  I rarely break 200 or so per month.  But I’ve been catching up in recent months and finally passed her.  My first impression was that I just happened to carry on a few conversations with friends at more length than usual.  But upon further observation I noticed a serious increase in the number of text messages I received in the last six months or so.  Looking back on it, they’re not all from friends and associates.  Many were from political campaigns, businesses, and other marketing announcements.  Which leads me to today’s question- Why aren’t we using this technology more in annual giving?  I suspect I know the answer.

 

First, there has never been a time in higher education fundraising where the methods of communication have been more diverse and different than they are today.  Younger alumni are speaking a different language and are using far different resources than the older populations.  The gap has always been wide to some degree.  I’m reminded of the episode of Saturday Night Live from a decade or so ago where Dana Carvey played “Grumpy Old Man”, with the catch phrase... “Back in my day we didn’t have…”  But in all seriousness, the rate at which technology has grown in the past decade is truly mind-boggling and unprecedented.  The contracting economy may slow things down a bit in the coming years, but it’s safe to say that the gap will not grow smaller.

How the U.S. Federal Stimulus Package May Affect Phonathon and Annual Giving

It’s been no secret that higher education has been severely hurt by the economy in the past several months.  Coupled with already-tight state budgets, the upheaval of the financial system provided the opportunity for the worst-case scenario to unfold for many institutions.  Not only did the direct appropriations for many programs on campus shrink rapidly, but so did the endowments, student loans and financial aid for students, and in some cases, alumni giving.  Colleges and universities across the United States, and the world for that matter, have been facing their most daunting challenges yet.

 

House Resolution 1 passed both chambers of Congress this past week and will be signed into law tomorrow by President Obama.  Given the back and forth of the political scene, I thought I would take a minute to talk about what is actually in the stimulus package for higher education.  Whether or not you approved of this package, the reality is that it’s here and it will impact all of higher education in some fashion or another.  And yes, phonathon managers too!

Smart Rewards and Motivation Accomplish Much More than Happy Callers

As I’ve said before many times in this blog, phonathon is a business.  Good business owners and managers understand that human resources are their most valuable asset and do everything they can to hire, train, and keep good people.  The goal is to build a stable, motivated workforce that goes out each day and puts in a full effort to accomplish their goal.  And take it from somebody that has been in the business a long time- just offering candy and chips won’t cut it.  Additional money is appreciated by the callers and works as a short-term stimulus, but a true motivational reward structure is targeted and focused on several key areas in the phonathon- and in line with ethical fundraising practices.  Here are a few thoughts on how I recommend programs approach incentives and caller motivation to improve retention and maximize productivity.

Days Lost is Money Lost- Finding Time in a Restricted Calling Calendar

It’s never too late to think about ways to squeeze more donors and dollars out of the phonathon sponge.  Even in early February as we are now, there are decisions that managers can still make that will significantly impact the amount of time available to make calls.  And this is important to note, mainly because poor database completion strategies is the number one reason why phonathons miss their revenue goals.

 

To effectively maximize the productivity of the program, managers must leave no stone unturned.  Budget permitting, every hour possible must be utilized so that each prospect we have in our database of calling can be attempted in sufficient numbers to complete 75% of all prospects loaded.  This is especially true in the donor calls, but the same rule should apply to all prospects that have value.  In some cases, like recent graduate nondonors, you might spend a dollar to make a dollar.  But even at break even, these prospects are important for the growth of your program.  Leaving them as incompleted calls gives you little opportunity to plug the leaky bucket and increase your alumni participation rate.

 

As a general rule of thumb, managers need to apply three basic rules when deciding which days of the calendar to call.  1.  Will our alumni respond negatively to being called?  2.  Can I find enough callers to make it worthwhile to hold a calling shift?  3.  Am I spending my budgeted hours wisely?  Let’s take a closer look at each.

The Forgotten Focus on Average Pledge

Is it just me, or does participation dominate most conversations in phonathon and annual giving?  Total dollars is also a main point of discussion, but managers often try to influence total dollars through increasing participation.  See my point?  It seems that all our techniques and strategies are geared around increasing donor participation, often at the expense of average pledge.  Yet, when it comes right down to it, missing our mark with average gift is almost a surefire way to fall short of our yearly objective.

 

I’m not trying to start an industry movement to vault average pledge to the forefront of every phonathon strategy session.  But every now and then it occurs to me that we sometimes get a little too out of balance in focusing so strongly on participation.  I’ll be the first to admit that I believe participation to be the more important of the two calculations…mainly because the mission of the institutions we serve is more easily accomplished if more alumni, parents, and friends are invested in the cause.  But statistically speaking, participation and average pledge are like a set of scales or a see-saw.  They may not be perfectly even in importance at all times, but get them out of balance and your program’s results can certainly suffer.

Senior Caller Positions Encourage Program Growth

Ever wonder how the top-notch programs always seem to find talent to run their phonathons?  Here’s their secret- they promote from within the majority of the time.   They identify, nurture, and cultivate the next group of supervisors from which they eventually pick their manager.  This way they cut down the cost of finding outside help, have a manager ready-made that understands the nuances of their college or university, and in the process they motivate the next group of callers and supervisors looking to grow with the program.

 

I can attest first-hand that this method works.  While there are many, many examples out there to share, I’ll discuss the one I’m most familiar with- the University of Georgia.  After years of outsourcing their program, UGA decided in 1994 to start a phonathon program on-campus using their student callers.  As the first-ever phonathon manager for UGA, I was tasked with starting the entire program from scratch. I did not have a single phonathon experienced employee…with the exception of myself.  We had 24 automated calling stations and a total staff of around 36 callers at any given time.  For the first several weeks, I ran the entire program by myself.  I was careful not to elevate anybody to supervisor until I better understood the talent of the available candidates.  I eventually settled on hiring one supervisor, a senior, that I felt had the maturity to get me through that first semester.  Since I knew her time was limited with the program, I needed to find a way to cultivate my next group of supervisors.  To start building my program the correct way, I instituted a senior caller program that helped find talent and give them an opportunity to learn the job before officially promoting them to the position.