I'm a New Phonathon Manager...What Do I Do Now?

Congratulations are in order!  You’ve convinced the right people at your institution that you were the best person for the assignment and thus have landed your first phonathon management job.  Now the fun starts!  But wait…it’s just dawned on you how intense this experience might be.  You don’t understand much about your responsibilities right now, but what you do know starts to intimidate you.  The fundraising goal is the highest it’s ever been, your budget has shrunk due to some cost cutting measures on campus, and it’s already the first week in July…meaning the first calls are only weeks away.  The pressure to succeed suddenly becomes more clearly understood.  You knew this was going to be challenging, but now you’re worried that things might not come together the way you anticipated when you accepted the position.  And don’t forget about the “other duties as assigned” that includes class giving, reunions, and other fundraising programs within the development office.

Sound familiar?  I’m guessing that many of you either experienced this in your first weeks on the job or are currently feeling that anxiety because your first full year of phonathon management is about ready to start.  If you’re like most of us, you feel some of that pressure to succeed.  I certainly did.  But don’t fret too much…there are resources out there to help you through the learning curve.  Once your feet are firmly on the ground and you can see a clear path, the road is much less bumpy.  I’ve helped many new phonathon managers navigate this path…and I’m going to share a few tips with you for getting the job done right from the beginning.

Be a Sponge

My first advice is to read everything.  Use these first few weeks of transition to learn more about the field of work you have entered.  Many of you have prior background in phonathon as a student caller or supervisor.  That’s excellent…and it will help you greatly.  However, don’t rely totally on that experience to help you in this new position.  Phonathon management is a different skill set than student supervising or calling.  And while you may have the raw talent for the job, you probably only saw phonathon from one angle.  Don’t make assumptions that you know all you need to know to do the job well.  Go out and find additional information to help you.  Most of all, don’t let your ego get in the way.  Yes, you may have been an excellent caller or supervisor.  But I’ve seen 3 and 4 year supervisors fail in this position because they thought there wasn’t anything else to learn.  It’s a rookie mistake that doesn’t have to be made!

No matter your level of experience, I suggest you look for ways to supplement the knowledge you already have.  You’ve picked a good place to start by reading this blog, but please don’t stop here.  My book (The Phonathon Manager’s Planning Handbook, published by CASE), numerous CASE currents articles, fundraising magazines and newsletters, and popular websites all have valuable information that can help you avoid big pitfalls while gaining a bigger picture view of the phonathon landscape.  Google searching “phonathon” brings up quite a few articles too.  Read as much as you can, but make sure you keep your “common sense” filter attached at all times.  As with other industries, there are false prophets that proclaim how easy this is…or how much money you can raise if you only do this or that.  All that is shiny is not always gold.  Simple is good, but oversimplifying and taking shortcuts will hurt your productivity.  Be thoughtful and smart about which strategies you choose to implement for your program and you’ll be on your way to success.

Preparation is Golden

It’s important to take the time to completely scope out the phonathon from start to finish at the beginning of the fiscal year.  Attempt to think of everything you can ahead of time before starting the first calling segments.  Scripts, training materials, policies and procedures, segmentation, coaching, motivation, budgeting and labor costs, and much more should be included in your review.  My last blog outlined the importance of using a Phonathon Planning tool, complete with an accurate calling calendar for the entire year (your schedule of calling shifts) as well as a start to finish map of the segments you will call and how many completed calls you’ll make in each one.  Set challenging, yet realistic goals for participation, average pledge, and contact percentage (data quality) and methodically calculate exactly what you can expect for each segment in terms of pledges and dollars raised.  Leave nothing to chance in this area.  The more you understand up front, the less challenging it will be when the inevitable complications arise at some point in the year.

Have a Vision

What kind of phonathon do you want to run?  What type of leadership and management style do you want to implement?  What strategies will you put into place to reach your productivity goals?  These are some big picture questions that you’ll want to think about.  Knowing a little about your management style, strengths, and weaknesses certainly helps in this area.  For example, if you’re very creative by nature but numbers aren’t really your thing, then you’ll need to consider how to properly map your goal setting process despite your obvious preference towards caller motivation.  It’s important to run a fun and energetic call center, but achieving the proper balance between motivation and statistics is crucial to maximizing productivity.  Also, figure out what is most important to the decision-makers on your campus and find strategies to get there.  If your boss is very focused on creating a pipeline for major gifts, you’ll want to build your ask levels with that in mind.  Ultimately you may aim for a certain number of President’s Club gifts or perhaps a certain number of new donors to the annual fund.  Know what is important to your program and build around that focus.

 

Question Everything

The six worst words a new phonathon manager can utter are “It’s always been done that way”.  When you have an aggressive goal and a steep learning curve, the only way to overcome the obstacles and achieve the goals set forth is to ask a lot of questions.  Of course, there is a right and wrong way to ask questions.  But challenging assumptions is very important in running a quality phonathon program, particularly if your results need to be considerably higher than in years past.  The most reliable way to do more with the same (or less) is to improve the current operating procedures beyond what they have been in the past.  Managers who understand this are generally intellectually curious about how the program works and what “makes it tick”.  Review past procedures for understanding and guidance, but realize that keeping it exactly the same assures you of nothing beyond what you already achieved.  Be prepared to make smart changes!

 

Use the 80/20 Rule

80% of your daily focus should be on the short-term and 20% on the long-term.  It’s easy to get caught looking only at today and hardly ever at tomorrow.  But in the end you’ll be judged by what you’ve accomplished once the final call is made.  How many pledges will you be able to achieve?   How much money will come in after fulfillment?  Do you need to adjust your current procedures to avoid a potential problem down the road?  I often set aside Fridays solely for strategy planning and forecasting results.  This allowed me to check our progress towards the objective and identify potential roadblocks before it was too late to do anything about them.  It is important to keep a vigilant eye towards progress on the long-term goals while staying focused on the day-to-day tasks of operating a quality phone center.  Whatever your method, don’t take your eye off where you want to be at fiscal year’s end.

 

Ask for Help

Whether it is ego, embarrassment, or apathy, not asking for help is one of the most common problems of new phonathon managers.  There is no shame in not knowing an answer or in goofing something up- so long as the error was made out of effort.  But all too often, I’m asked to work with phonathons that have drastically fallen behind because the manager didn’t ask for help when they had the chance.  We all make errors in judgment at various times.  But in phonathon, there is a smaller margin for catching back up because we don’t have an infinite number of prospects to call.  I’m all for figuring out a problem on your own before calling somebody else in to take a look.  Just avoid unnecessary delays in asking for help that can influence what your overall productivity will be after the final call is made.

 

Summary

Being a new phonathon manager can be a scary experience, especially with the pressure of today’s funding demands at many institutions.  This is particularly challenging when the job is your first professional full-time position, which is the case for many phonathon managers.  But if you’re proactive and unafraid to ask questions, and you enjoy a challenge, then you can avoid many of the “rookie” mistakes that befall your peers.

 

As always, your comments are welcome.

 

Comments

[Kurstin]

Definitely read Jason's book. It's the one resource I inherited when I started this job a couple of years ago and helped me learn how to run an efficient, positive, outcomes-oriented program.

[Peggy Purvis Robb]

I second that about Jason's book. Also, if you can go to a CASE conference that covers Phonathons, that was a big help to me as well.

[DrewD]

Thank you Jason Fisher... Thank you!

[TaylorKM]

On Appendix 15, there's a form for callers to tally their activity. Is this recommended over tallying the numbers myself? I don't believe the students would alter their numbers to appear more efficient, but I want to make sure that the number are accurate. In the past, me or the student coordinator have counted every No Answer, Refused, Wrong #, etc. as they come in. It took a LOT of time and I just wanted to know if it's a good idea to implement a form similar to the one provided in your book.

Thanks!

[Jason Fisher]

I like the system of double-checking. Having the students tally their own results would not take the place of the student supervisors or manager also calculating the final numbers. Rather, it would be in addition to the manager's final tally. The two numbers are cross-referenced at the end of the calling shift to ensure accuracy. Even in an automated program, it's important to make sure the numbers are correct. Needless to say that in a manual program, it's absolutely crucial to the validity of the statistics. Plus, when callers take it upon themselves to tally their own results, they are much more conscious of their work- including statistical performance, time management, and accuracy. If nothing else, this adds an element of pride to their job for those callers who consistently turn in work with zero mistakes. And for those concerned about the extra time it takes for callers to tally these results, I've found that they get exceptionally efficient after just a few calling shifts.