On the Line...with Jason Fisher

The Competitive Caller Drives the Phonathon

What skills or traits do you look for in your caller interviews?  Personally, I like callers with a small chip on their shoulder; who take failure just a little bit to heart and who want to come back on their next call and get a pledge.  I want to look over at their calling station after they get a refusal and see traces of frustration- not because they believe they can never get a gift, but because they feel they could have done more on that last call to get the prospect to say yes.  These are characteristics of a competitive caller, and I like my phone room to be full of them.

 

Fundraising is an active profession, not a passive one.  It takes students who are sincere and passionate about what they do to be successful.  Callers who don’t much care whether they get the gift or not, or who are just happy to move onto the next call without thinking about what they could have done better really shouldn’t have a place in your program.  While not everyone you hire will be of a competitive nature, it is important to have a critical mass of these personalities to keep the energy of the calling floor at high levels so that nobody gets too comfortable with being told no.

 

So who makes a competitive caller and how do you find them?  Well, there is no single test you can implement to decide if this person is competitive.  But look at their application and resume for clues.  Previous sports activities may or may not show the type of competitiveness you seek.  Being involved in a ton of activities may just distract your applicant from focusing on their job and cause them to call out more often.  Leadership is important, mainly because leaders don’t want to fail in front of everyone.  Their pride and reputation is at stake, and they want to make sure they always come out on top- so certainly look for that.

Using Appreciation and Creativity to Retain Calling Staff

Improving results in the phonathon room is made much more difficult when caller turnover rates are high.  When management is constantly recruiting, interviewing, and training new employees, there is less time for coaching, motivation, and statistical analysis.  Most importantly, the learning curve that every caller experiences is always present, and as a result productivity tends to suffer.  Any improvement in the caller retention percentage can do nothing but benefit the program.

 

Getting callers to stay is more challenging than just offering a higher wage or giving out incentives to make them happy.  It takes a combination of several factors to keep turnover low, not the least of which is thoughtful planning that incorporates both a message of appreciation to the caller and building a positive atmosphere where students want to come to work.  It is in that spirit that I learned of a simple tactic with a resourceful twist that was implemented by a familiar college to improve caller retention rates.

 

Begin Staffing For January Phonathon Today

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Thanksgiving.  Can you believe it’s already December?  The time has certainly flown by very quickly and the final month of the calendar promises that rest and relaxation is right around the corner.  But before you begin making plans for what you’re going to do with all that time off, consider what January will bring and what you’ll need to do to adequately prepare.  I know that it’s hard to think about next year when you still have calling to complete for this semester.  But as John F. Kennedy once said, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”.  On that note, let’s talk about staffing for a minute.

If your program is like the average phonathon, you’ll lose callers over the holidays and come back after the first of the year with a calling staff suddenly smaller than the nightly capacity of your center.  It is not uncommon for managers to report that up to 20% of their callers decided not to return.  The reasons for the departures vary greatly but usually include grades, new class schedules, found another job, parents made me quit, or just a change in social priorities.  If they’re being honest with you, they might even tell you that the job really wasn’t enjoyable for them and that they didn’t look forward to coming back.  In any case, you may very well be faced with the need to hire a significant number of callers in a short period of time and adequately prepare them for making quality calls.

Since many phonathon programs are struggling to achieve their goal because of the tough economy, managers simply cannot afford to have an empty seat in their call center come January.  But to find these potential callers, interview them, select, hire, and train them properly, the work needs to start now.  There are few moments to spare because finals and the holiday break will create a natural period of inactivity.  Your plan will need to start today to be prepared for calling after the first of the year.  Here are a few tips I recommend for every program facing this challenge.

Review Current Staff

Callers seem to leave in bunches, often following their friends out the door and creating a situation where the phonathon hemorrhages good talent in a quick fashion.  Avoid getting caught off guard by reviewing your entire staff list for possible resignations.  You may even consider talking individually with callers to see how they are feeling about their job, how their schoolwork is doing, etc.  Often times if they are considering quitting they will hint at it ahead of time.  Of course, you don’t want to alarm them or put them on the spot.  But the goal is to be ready, and taking inventory now will give you an idea of what to expect later.

Anticipate the Worst

No matter how much preparation is done, it is difficult to accurately predict how many callers you will lose at a given period of time.  I know from my time as a phonathon manager that my assumptions often seemed to be lower than what actually happened, meaning that I was sometimes left scrambling at the last minute to schedule more interviews and hire more students.  After about two times of that situation occurring, I got the point and adjusted my expectations.  Following the review of staff I recommended in the above paragraph, I developed a “range of expectation” for turnover and subsequently prepared for the higher number.  You can’t stop turnover, you can only hope to contain it and lessen the negative effects.

Start Recruiting Today

Don’t wait to distribute flyers, table tents, e-mails, or other recruiting materials until after the first of the year.  By then it will be too late as many students have their schedules set and will have locked in their routines (and possibly employment) for the semester.  Instead, inform them now that jobs will be available and encourage them to secure their position for the second semester phonathon today.  Even if a few change their mind between now and then, the efforts you will have put forth to identify new staff will pay dividends in January when time is short and the number of callers needed is great.

Unfortunately, staff turnover is part of the job.  The best managers do all they can to avoid large numbers of students leaving, but they are realistic enough to know that they must prepare for callers quitting well in advance of the actual time they do.  Finals and the holidays are two of the peak times for staff turnover in phonathons, and since these periods come back-to-back at the end of the year, you can almost be certain that some callers will fail to show up after returning to campus the next semester.  Looking down the road at potential obstacles is an important part of good management.  Avoid the unpleasant explanations to your boss about why you don’t have the call center full and begin to plan for January staffing today.