Monograph - Academic Impressions

ACADEMIC IMPRESSIONS: HIGHER ED IMPACT

Author: Albert MelfoDirector, Annual Giving

Kent State UniversityAugust 2011

Scripting and Training for

EffectiveFundraising Calls

Monograph

About AcAdemic impressionsWe are an organization that exclusively serves higher education professionals. We offer focused and intentionally crafted learning experiences to help you address your most pressing challenges.

Our work addresses a range of issues related to student recruitment and retention, faculty support and development, alumni engagement and development, and increasing organizational productivity.

Learn more at www.academicimpressions.com.

Copyright © 2011 CR Mrig Company. All Rights Reserved. | 4643 S. Ulster St, Ste. 350, Denver, CO 80237

HiGHer ed impActDelivered free to your inbox, Higher Ed Impact provides you with a full tool kit to help you monitor and assess the trends and strategic challenges likely to have an impact on your institution’s health and competitiveness.

DAiLypulseScan current events, timely research, and notable practices at other institutions.

WeekLyscAnReview the week’s most significant events and the most timely research in higher education, with key takeaways suggested by higher education’s leading experts.

MOnthLydiAGnosticGet an enterprise-wide and in-depth look at a current, strategic challenge; identify steps to take and critical questions to address.

Learn more or sign up to receive Higher Ed Impact at: http://www.academicimpressions.com/news_signup.php

2

ABOUT THIS MONOGRAPH

As phonathon program managers tasked with bolstering the annual fund in a difficult economic climate, you face a series of interrelated challenges, including training and retaining effective callers, crafting effective scripts for them to use, and coaching callers to address prospect concerns or objections in ways that encourage and invite deeper engagement (opening the door rather than closing it).

Too often, training of phonathon callers is a one-time investment. After an initial session, callers go to their work, and do not later have the opportunity to debrief, share tips and practices, and thus improve on their work. According to Albert Melfo, director of annual giving at Kent State University, this is why approaches to phonathon calls eventually get stale, and it is one cause of higher attrition among callers.

We invited Albert Melfo to share his practical advice for training callers because of the successes he has seen at Kent State University. One of Melfo’s first projects after joining Kent State University in fall of 2001 was to reengineer the advancement office’s telefundraising operation. While in place for nearly a decade, and automated since 1996, the operation was failing to generate the results that management had anticipated. To turn it around, Melfo applied a number of tactics that he had developed over his career, the first 10 years of which were focused primarily on phone center management and strategy design. Two of the first and perhaps most important changes made were to the materials used to train new hires, and to the training process itself. In doing so, he replaced a superficial “read this” approach to training with a committed, intensive training process that placed as much – if not more – importance on the theory behind the approach as to the wording itself. As a result, the KSU PhoneCenter experienced the largest growth in its history, more than doubling its output in the first three years following the changes.

In this paper, Melfo offers a structured approach to training callers to respond on the fly to the ebb and flow of a conversation with a prospect. What is unique about Melfo’s approach is his focus on call center scripting not just as a template but as a training tool.

In this report, you’ll read about:

• Tips for training and scripting the five stages of an effective call (Introduction, Engagement, Case for Giving, Negotiation, and Formal Close)

• Tips for coaching callers to respond to concerns that prospects voice

The paper will offer you not only these practical tips, but also examples of effective dialogue and excerpts from sample scripts. We hope that this paper will aid you in training and coaching more effective callers, writing more effective scripts, and taking your annual giving phonathon to the next level.

Daniel Fusch, Ph.D.Director of Research and PublicationsAcademic Impressions

3

Academic Impressions | Scripting and Training for Effective Fundraising Calls | Albert Melfo

table of contents/ SEPT 2011

Foreword : Steps of the Call

The Introduction Step09 At a Glance

10 Tone

11 Timing

12 Dialogue and Pauses

12 The Permission Question

13 Updating Demographic Information

The Engagement Step14 At a Glance

16 Open-Ended Questions

16 Closd-Ended Questions

17 Understanding the Engagement Step

Case for Giving19 At a Glance

The Negotiation22 At a Glance

24 The Ladder Approach

24 Active Listening

25 Role-Playing

25 Sample Script

The Formal Close28 At a Glance

30 Three Critical Points

31 A Walkthrough

32 Wrapping Up the Call

“Objection Responses”: Coaching Callers to Respond to Prospect Concerns

33 Avoiding Assumptions

24 Types of Objections or Concerns

36 The A/C/A/C Approach to Handling Concerns

Appendix: The Fundraising Call – Outline andTechnique

4

FOREWARDAUTHOR: Albert Melfo

TRAINING new callers to make effective fundraising callsis a recurring challenge that all program managers face – and approaches to training new callers on using scripts runs the gamut from requiring callers to adhere to scripting verbatim, to encouraging staff to personalize the approach by putting the script into their own words. The most effective programs tend to strike a balance between the two extremes. In this paper, we will treat call center scripting as primarily a training tool, as opposed to being an end in and of itself.

In the broadest terms, a script is no more than a sample phone call, transcribed so that it can be read and practiced, much like how actors learn their character’s lines to prepare for a role in a play or a film. In both cases, the script serves as a road map. For actors, a script carries them through the arc of the plot, and provides them with direction on how to best convey the storyline and the inner thoughts of the characters to the audience. For student callers, an effective script serves as a template, providing callers with a structured approach to having a focused and directed conversation with prospects. The script supports their efforts to maintain control of the conversation by walking them through a series of steps, each of which serves as the foundation for the next. Each step leads prospects through a sequential process of making decisions, and each decision progressively moves the prospect closer to making a gift.

Think of it like this: A number is dialed on a Midwestern campus and a phone rings in a kitchen 500 miles away. On one end of the line is a college student who has never done this type of work before. On the other is an alumna, who is neither expecting nor necessarily interested in receiving this type of call. The student has come straight to his part-time job following a long day of classes, walking across campus in a thunderstorm. While the prospect left her office only two hours ago, she has since put in one hour at the gym, picked her children up from their daycare, and stopped off at the grocery store to hunt and gather the ingredients for her family’s evening dinner. The student feels like he just woke up, and is a little distracted by the looming prospect of midterms. The prospect is washing vegetables for dinner, still feeling like she just got off work. In her head, she rehearses a presentation she will give the following morning, her thoughts periodically interrupted by her hungry children’s requests for snacks. Yet, we expect these two total strangers to have a pleasant conversation that lasts anywhere from seven to nine minutes, and which culminates in the prospect making a donation to her alma mater.

table of contents/ SEPT 2011

5 Academic Impressions | Scripting and Training for Effective Fundraising Calls | Albert Melfo


Surely, this sounds impossible, no? Of course, it is possible, and it does happen thousands of times each night during calling sessions that occur in hundreds of phone centers across the country. How it happens is largely a function of the quality of training that student callers receive on how to communicate with prospects on the phone.

The better callers understand the communication theory upon which a fundraising script is based, the more effectively they will be able to navigate “The Call.” Think of The Call as a process – an organized flow-chart that takes a prospect from “hello” through a structured conversation designed to systematically accomplish the following objectives:

1. Engage the prospect in a dialogue about

their experiences in a way that emotionally

reconnects them to their alma mater and

creates a dynamic in which the prospect is

open to making a financial commitment

2. Gauge the prospect’s interest level in

becoming involved in their alma mater’s

mission, and build that interest to a level that

supports a gift discussion

3. Establish a level of trust that makes the

prospect comfortable open to considering a

voluntary gift

4. Help the prospect determine how they would

like their support to impact their university and

its students and faculty

5. Determine a level of support that is

appropriate for the prospect, thereby

improving pledge fulfillment

The Call is what allows us to accomplish this in a seven-minute telephone conversation. A good script will provide your students with self-confidence and a successful employment experience. And the conversations that your well-trained callers have with your alumni will leave them feeling more engaged with your school and its mission. Think of The Call as being a road map that managers and student supervisors can teach students to follow, and that, with practice, will permit you to generate a lot of support for your organization.

To train students on scripting, you need to begin with the underlying theory. You want your students to understand what a script is and how it works. Unless your callers understand the basic theory that under lies The Call and have a solid grasp of its progression, they very likely will fall into the trap of simply reading the script to prospects. You don’t want your callers to read your scripts to your prospects. You want them to have real, live, actual conversations. Real conversations feel natural, not forced. Conversations naturally stop and start. Questions come up, and responses are given. As questions are answered, discussions backtrack and loop around. In short, conversations are organic. Reading a script aloud over the phone is not a conversation – it’s a monologue. While this is fairly obvious, many trainers overlook this critical difference. Further, even managers who do understand the theory behind The Call can struggle to convey it effectively to their staffs. The theory of The Call is solid, but if callers don’t understand the concepts, they won’t be able to use scripting effectively to become stronger callers. Many times, callers are handicapped by the training that they receive, which too often takes a superficial do-this-followed-by-this-then-this approach. This approach to training fails to help callers understand and, more importantly, internalize the process.

Managers who don’t fully understand the theory

behind The Call will fall short of effectively

training students, because they focus on the

wording of scripts instead of the underlying

structure of The Call, which is where this

approach derives its strength.

6

Academic Impressions | Scripting and Training for Effective Fundraising Calls | Albert MelfoAcademic Impressions | Scripting and Training for Effective Fundraising Calls | Albert Melfo

The structure of an effective fundraising call is fairly simple. The typical fundraising call has five steps:

1. The Introduction

2. The Engagement (or Rapport-Building)

3. The Case for Giving (If this were a sales call, we’d call this the Presentation.)

4. The Negotiation

5. The Formal Close

Callers need to learn this outline by heart, and truly internalize it. At any given moment during a calling session, a supervisor should be able to tap any caller on the shoulder and ask them where they are in their call, and the caller should be able immediately to cite the corresponding step of The Call.

To develop this level of understanding in your callers, it is helpful to repeatedly refer to the The Call as a process whenever you are discussing it. Reinforce the idea that each step in The Call has its own objective, and that The Call is structured to sequentially accomplish its objectives. Each step builds upon the prior step. It is important that callers understand that as they complete each step of The Call, they are gradually bringing their prospect closer to making a gift during the initial phone call. Remember – the prospects aren’t trained! Callers can lean on the structure of The Call to walk prospects through the process of making a financial commitment on the phone in a way that makes sense to the prospect. Let’s review the objectives of each step in The Call:

1. The Introduction launches the conversation.

2. The Engagement step begins the conversation.

3. The Case for Giving builds the prospect’s interest. It seeks a commitment to the idea of support.

4. The Negotiation seeks to determine the level of support that is most appropriate to the prospect. It

seeks commitment to a specific amount.

5. The Formal Close seeks commitment to a payment method.

Sticklers for dissection could argue that there are additional pieces to The Call – such as Demographic Updates, Matching Gift, and Wrap-up – but these really are subsections of the five primary steps, and that’s how they’ll be treated in this discussion.

7


The simplicity of The Call’s underlying structure belies the true elegance of this approach. Within this simple five-step process are objectives and techniques, different questioning styles, prompts and probes, transitions, trial closes and, with any luck, that spark that comes from a sincere, spontaneous connection between current students and alumni. Each step has a purpose, and for the call to succeed, it is essential for callers to achieve the purpose of each step before they move on to the next. Because The Call is a process, skipping steps or failing to complete them almost always derails the structured flow of the conversation. Once derailed, it’s tough to get a fundraising call back on track. This paper will take a deeper look at this structure, analyze the reasons why it is effective, and make some suggestions that managers can use when training callers on this approach.

8


THE INTRODUCTION STEP

PURPOSEA. Initiate a conversation

B. Gain permission to continue conversation

TECHNIQUE

C. Identify yourself

i. Tone of voice

ii. Use pauses

iii. Use inflection to convey confidence

iv. Set the tone for the call

A. State the reason for your call

v. Engage prospect’s attention

vi. Begin to build trust and rapport with the listener

TIMING

The Introduction generally takes 5 to 10 seconds.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Callers must understand that all successful calls begin with strong

Introductions. Weak Introductions kill calls and prevent callers from

developing their skills.

2. Managers and callers alike must guard against underestimating the

importance of The Introduction. While short in duration, there is a lot

going on below the surface, and strong technique is critical.

3. To succeed, callers must master the use of tone, pacing, inflection, and

pauses. (And no caller ever lost points for paying attention to proper

grammar and enunciation!)

AT A GLANCE

9


Think of the fundraising call as a miniature relationship. All relationships begin with an introduction; The Call is no different. And while the Introduction is hardly complex, it is a concentrated element of The Call in which a caller only has about five seconds to accomplish three objectives (identifying yourself and your organization, stating the call’s purpose, and gaining permission to proceed). When time is limited, technique has to be sharp – and time doesn’t get much more limited than five seconds. Because the Introduction relies so heavily on structure and technique to be effective, solid scripting is critical.

► To be effective, callers need to master and employ three techniques:

1. Tone

2. Cadence, timing, or rhythm

3. Inflection and strategic use of pauses

TONE

When a prospect answers the phone, the first thing they will notice about the call is the tone of a caller’s voice. As managers and trainers, you must engage your callers in thinking about the process of the call before they will be able to internalize the structure of the call and apply the techniques that you teach them effectively. One effective way to do this is to frequently ask callers to put themselves in place of the alumni they are calling. In other words, ask them, “If you received a phone call from someone you didn’t know, what would keep you on the phone?” This approach prompts your callers to be conscious of their tone. By putting themselves in their prospect’s shoes, they’ll be able to understand why it is so important for them to sound upbeat, friendly, and professional, and they’ll instinctively know how to do it. (You’ll have the opportunity to assure this, because you will reinforce it with role-playing – we’ll get to that a little later.)

10


TIMING

Just as important as tone is timing, or rhythm. Inexperienced callers often talk too fast on the phone. They do this out of nervousness, but also because they assume that talking on the phone isn’t much different than having a face-to-face conversation. Callers need to be taught that, on the phone, verbal communication is handicapped by the loss of such elements as body language and facial expression, which provide so many clues for interpretation during face-to-face communication. New callers (and their supervisors) also need to recognize that this type of phone call is vastly different than the thousands of phone calls they’ve had in their lives with parents, friends, and family members – people who already know them, in other words. When you’re calling someone out of the blue, who doesn’t know you, you have to actively compensate for all of the things that come naturally when you’re talking to someone who knows you well, or when you’re communicating in the same physical space. (I imagine this will be easier to teach when one-to-one video calls become the norm, but we’re not there yet.)

Use of appropriate tone and timing is essential to a caller’s credibility as a professional. This credibility underscores their ability to lead prospects through the call as the caller controls the pace and direction of the conversation. It’s critical that managers emphasize their importance and take enough time during training to reinforce this to new callers. Callers must understand that mastering these techniques will make or break their ability to launch into successful conversations with prospects.

11


DIALOGUE AND PAUSES

Embedded within the structure of The Call is a template for dialogue, an honest two-way conversation between the caller and the prospect. Establishing this dynamic during the Introduction is absolutely critical to a caller’s ability to maintain control of the call and to move the conversation forward as the call proceeds.

In the Introduction, callers begin to establish the back-and-forth rhythm of the call. Establishing this rhythm is critical to creating a dynamic that allows prospects to be receptive to being asked questions and comfortable providing answers.

What would an Introduction like this sound like? It’s pretty straightforward:

Hello, may I speak with Mr. Brown? (pause)

Hello, Mr. Brown! This is Mary Draper, (brief

pause) calling for the Lincoln College Annual

Fund. (brief pause)

How are you tonight? (pause)

Great. Mr. Brown, I’m calling tonight with a

group of fellow Lincoln students, and I’m

speaking with Arts & Sciences alumni like you

about your Lincoln experiences. I’m interested

in hearing how you feel about Lincoln and your

time here when you were a student.

Permission question: Do you have a few minutes

to talk?

There a couple of things to note about this introduction. First, it’s short. So it has to accomplish its objective with efficiency. Notice where the pauses fall. Callers should pause after their names and after the name of their organization. This is important because the prospect on the other end of the line is essentially being taken by surprise – the call is unexpected, and they don’t know the caller. The pauses provide the recipient of the call with a chance to process the information that is coming at them. When the caller says their name and pauses, it

provides the prospect with just enough time to ask himself or herself, “Who is this?” As they are thinking this, they hear the caller answering with the name of their institution. At the second pause, the prospect connects the caller’s name with their alma mater, while the caller is explaining the reason for the call, in essence providing the prospect with the who, what, and why of the call in bite-sized, digestible pieces of information.

Notice that the caller uses her full name in the example. This should be required of all of your callers. The reason we use our full names is to establish professionalism and credibility. For the most part, students are significantly younger than most of the prospects they speak with on the phone; this puts them at a disadvantage with respect to the “balance of power” in the conversation. Keep in mind that student callers are often the only spokespeople for our institutions – aside from our presidents, chancellors, and boards of trustees – who are having real conversations about our organizations and our missions with our prospects! That’s pretty important work. Don’t we want our alumni to take our student callers seriously? When you make a professional call to someone you don’t know, don’t you use your full name? I’m sure that you do. Your callers should, too.

THE PERMISSION QUESTION

Another technique that is often overlooked is the permission question – a question that is asked in order to gain the prospect’s permission to continue.

12

For as long as I can remember, there have been two camps of opinion regarding permission questions. One camp considers them to be a recipe for an easy out on the prospect’s side, and would train callers to avoid using them. The other camp accepts that asking prospects, “Is now a good time to talk?” may provide them with an early opportunity to get off the phone, but it also avoids keeping prospects engaged in a philanthropic conversation if they aren’t predisposed to do so. Think of a time when you accepted an invitation that you weren’t really excited about. Maybe it was to see a play or a movie that you weren’t interested in. How did you feel? Bored? Frustrated? Think about what you were feeling frustrated by. Was it the film? The play? Your friend? Or maybe yourself – for committing to do something you knew you didn’t want to do in the first place. The same thing happens on the phone.

UPDATING DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION

Another frequently debated issue involves whether the Introduction is the appropriate point in the call to attempt to update prospect demographic information. Some would argue that one of the key functions of a phone center is to update alumni directory information. These programs typically include address verification in the Introduction portion of The Call. Other programs feel that this weakens the Introduction by distracting prospects with clerical details instead of focusing on the true nature of the call. These programs tend to seek demographic updates during the Formal Close.

Another opinion is that asking for demographic information during the Introduction enables newer callers, as well as callers who still struggle with confidence, to “sneak” their way into a fundraising call by saying something like, “Hi, Mr. Brown – I’m here with a group of students, calling alumni to update their information…” One could argue that this could be interpreted as misleading, because the true purpose of the call – to raise money – remains unstated. One counter-argument could be that confirming and updating information is part of the call, while another is that it’s an easy way to start a conversation – “if it works, use it!” Clearly, there are different ways to approach The Call, and very often each approach is valid in its own way. Annual giving directors and program managers should seek to determine an approach that best supports their program’s philosophy and objectives.

Getting through the Introduction successfully is the key to having a successful call. If you can’t get past the Introduction, you’re not going to get very far. If you do gain that initial foothold, you want to hang on to it. Callers should be trained to move immediately into the Engagement Step following a successful Introduction.

Is it Wise to Drop the Permission Question?

Before you decide to drop

the permission question

from your standard

Introduction, ask yourself

these questions:

• Does the energy that

my callers invest in

conversations with

prospects who aren’t

interested offset the

number of gifts they close

from prospects who don’t

hang up on them?

• Is it likely that a prospect

who isn’t interested

in having a phone

conversation will become

interested simply because

a caller doesn’t “let them”

get off the phone sooner?

• Are prospects agreeing to

pledges just to get off the

phone?

• Are student callers learning

how to initiate real,

productive, and dynamic

conversations with alumni,

or are they just becoming

adept at not letting

prospects get off the

phone?

• How do you feel when you

receive a telemarketing call

at an inconvenient time and

the caller won’t give you an

opportunity to tell them that

it’s not a good time to talk?

Do you think your alumni

feel any differently when we

do that to them?

13


THE ENGAGEMENT STEP

PURPOSE

A. Demonstrate a personal interest in your prospect

i. Engage the prospect in a conversation about their interests and

experiences

B. Gauge the prospect’s general feelings toward your institution

i. Identify some of prospect’s specific interests

ii. Establish your role as an information provider and representative of

your organization

TECHNIQUE

C. Ask questions

i. Establish rapport with the prospect

ii. Build level of trust between caller and prospect

D. Use of open-ended, probing questions

i. Establish “give-and-take,” question-and-answer dynamic

ii. Create environment conducive to open, two-way dialogue

TIMING

Varies with prospect. Some prospects are more comfortable taking these types of calls than others. Some open up almost immediately; in such cases, the Engagement step could be as short as 2-3 minutes. Other prospects need a little more nurturing, or may ask some questions early on that could cause the Engagement to go on for longer. In any case, callers should aim to keep their Engagement steps to no longer than 5-7 minutes; beyond this point, prospects typically begin to get antsy about staying on the phone.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Callers must understand that all successful calls begin with strong

Introductions. Weak Introductions kill calls and prevent callers from

developing their skills.

2. Managers and callers alike must guard against underestimating the

importance of The Introduction. While short in duration, there is a lot

going on below the surface, and strong technique is critical.

3. To succeed, callers must master the use of tone, pacing, inflection, and

pauses. (And no caller ever lost points for paying attention to proper

grammar and enunciation!)

AT A GLANCE

14


15

During the Introduction, we want to identify ourselves, our institution, and the reason for our call. We hope to secure the prospect’s permission to have a conversation with us. With that permission granted, we want to begin having that conversation.

At this point in The Call, the relationship between caller and prospect is still new. Like any relationship, this one needs additional nurturing before you can expect the prospect to make any commitments. Before a caller can take the relationship to the next level, as it were, they need to spend some time getting to know the prospect. Is this alumnus interested at all, and if so, how interested are they? Callers may find out that some prospects just aren’t into them! But, how can they make this determination, at the end of a phone line, 500 miles away from someone they’ve never spoken to before three minutes ago? It’s simple, really. They do it by asking questions.

In fact, the transition from the Introduction to the Engagement Step is itself a question (“Do you have a few minutes to talk?”).

There are two types of questions – open-ended and closed-ended. Callers should be familiar with both types, and when to use them. Each has its own strategic application. Here are some simple definitions:

1. Very simply, open-ended questions are questions that require more than a yes-or-no answer. Open-ended

questions are best used to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n a conversation, by creating some space for discussion. Think of

closed-ended questions as a tool for getting prospects to “open up.”

2. Closed-ended questions are those which can be answered with a simple yes or no. Closed-ended questions

are very useful for moving conversations forward.


OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Open-ended questions are best employed in the following ways:

• To draw out information from prospects

that will allow us to gauge their interest and

pinpoint their passions

• To encourage prospects to share their

opinions and feelings. This reinforces that the

caller has a genuine interest in the prospect.

It is human nature that if someone shows

interest in what we say, we are more likely to

be interested in what they have to say.

• To buy time when faced with complicated

objections or concerns.

Used properly, open-ended questions provide callers with a tool to get prospects to open up about their experiences, good and bad. Strategically asking open-ended questions during the Engagement Step will permit callers to gauge a prospect’s interest level, as well as to flush out details that may help determine where their priorities are. Callers can then use this information in the next step of the call to provide alumni with a case for support that is tailored to their personalities and interests. During the Engagement Step, callers should attempt to determine some basic characteristics of the prospect. For example, if all that the prospect wants to talk about during the Engagement Step is sports, there’s a pretty good chance that they aren’t going to be very interested in non-athletic initiatives. Likewise, if the prospect admits to having no interest in college athletics, it’s probably a good bet that information on building a new stadium will fall on deaf ears.

CLOSED-ENDED QUESTIONS

Two important types of closed-ended questions used during The Call:

1. Permission questions are used to gain the

prospect’s permission to continue with the

call. One example is asking a prospect in the

Introduction if they have time to talk. Another

would be prior to the Negotiation, when a caller

asks the prospect if they can explain the various

levels of support.

2. Agreement questions are used to gain the prospect’s

agreement to such things as the importance of giving,

a specific gift amount, or a solution offered as the final

step in an objection response.

Because these questions can result in an answer of “no,” closed-ended questions often get a bad rap. Inexperienced trainers can err on the side of being practical. Seeking to provide trainees with simple, foolproof techniques for keeping prospects on the phone, they advise against asking closed-ended questions, and mischaracterize them as being “conversation killers.”

Frankly, the notion that asking a closed-ended question provides prospects with an easy way to get off the phone is presumptuous. Do we really think that we can actually control what our prospects decide to do? We can’t.

It is more productive to think of closed-ended questions as “conversation movers,” rather than conversation killers. The permission question, for example, is a closed-ended question that is used to move The Call to the next step.

Do you have a few minutes to talk?

Another type of closed-ended question is the agreement question, which we’ll discuss later. Use closed-ended questions when:

• you want to pin down a prospect’s

commitment

• you need a decision from them in order to

move a conversation forward

16


UNDERSTANDING THE ENGAGEMENT STEP

It’s important to provide callers with an explanation of the Engagement Step’s strategic purpose. Rapport-building is more than a chance to demonstrate how friendly we are by making small talk with our prospects. Asking questions helps callers:

• Gain insight into what is important to the prospect

• Establish an environment in which prospects become accustomed to the caller asking

questions, and become comfortable answering them

If callers set this tone early, while the conversation is still “light,” it is easier to keep this rhythmic, two-way communication dynamic going throughout the call. Not only does this rhythm maintain a steady pace, but it is what your callers will need to fall back on when they begin to encounter objections later in the call. The rhythmic question-and-answer cadence establishes an environment in which prospects are not taken aback by callers responding to their objections. Remember:

Callers often ask how long the Engagement Step should be. The answer is simple – as long as it needs to be, and no longer. But managers and callers alike can struggle to judge when they should move on. This can be one of the tougher concepts to explain to callers, because it relies on instincts that newer callers simply haven’t developed yet. The only way to develop them is to get on the phone and make some calls. Rest assured – the instincts will come with time and experience. During training and their first few calling sessions, trainers may use the following chart to help callers visualize this concept.

17

The Call is intended to be a dialogue, not a monologue. The Engagement Step is where callers begin creating the expectation for a dialogue.


In this chart, the bottom axis represents time and the blue line reflects the level of interest that the prospect has in the conversation and in the caller’s questions. In this example, interest peaks at 4.5 minutes and then begins to decline. While 4.5 minutes will not be the exact peak for every call, the basic concept to convey here is that even the most engaged prospect will begin to lose interest in a conversation that goes on for too long.

The optimal time to move into the Case for Giving is when a prospect’s interest is peaking. Coach callers to move into the Case for Giving when they feel that the prospect’s interest is approaching its highest point. To do this, callers need to be listening to the prospect’s responses, and gauging how “into” the conversation the prospect is.

18


CASE FOR GIvING

PURPOSE

A. Begin the process of securing the prospect’s commitment

i. Use information to build prospect’s interest in giving

ii. Provide prospect with “inside view” of your institution

iii. “Paint a picture” that will help the prospect to reconnect with your

campus

B. Secure a general commitment to the idea of support

i. Engage the prospect in a conversation about your institution’s

mission, recent accomplishments, and plans for the future

ii. Gauge prospect’s personal level of commitment to your institution

TECHNIQUE

C. Provide greater detail about your institution’s need for support

D. Provide listener with a reason to support

TIMING

The duration of the Case for Giving largely depends on what happens during the Engagement Step. If the Engagement went well, then a caller likely will be able to segue smoothly into the Case for Giving and the prospect will voluntarily sit back and listen. If the Engagement was a little strained, then a caller will need to break up their Case with some simple probing questions, aimed at keeping the prospect engaged in the conversation. Examples would be “Were you familiar with that?” or “How does that sound to you?” Programs vary with respect to how much information they hope to convey through their calling efforts, but a general rule of thumb is that you should be able to make an effective case for support in 2-3 minutes.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Callers should stay focused on their objective. In the Case for Giving,

they are seeking to build a prospect’s interest and to secure a prospect’s

commitment to the idea of support, and not to a specific gift.

2. Callers should assure that the Case for Giving remain as conversational

as possible. Simple confirmation questions, like “How does this sound

to you?” go a long way towards maintaining the rapport that a caller

worked so hard to establish in the Engagement Step.

3. Always close the Case for Giving with the Agreement Question: “Given

your [commitment/connection to]/[relationship/history with] Lincoln

University, may I count on your support tonight?”

AT A GLANCE

19


At this point, our caller has spent 3-8 minutes on the phone with their prospect. The Engagement Step is going well – a good back-and-forth rhythm has been established, and the caller clearly senses a growing rapport with the prospect. So, are we ready to ask for a gift yet?

As you think about the answer to this question, keep in mind our recurring theme: The Call is a process, a structured, gradual approach that secures commitment by degrees. Each step builds upon the previous step, and each step is vital to the structural integrity of the call as a whole. During the Engagement Step, the balance of conversation should be about 25 percent caller and 75 percent prospect, with the caller posing mostly open-ended questions and the prospect responding with (hopefully) enough information that the caller can begin to think about a Case for Giving that is customized for the prospect, according to their interests. During the Introduction and Engagement Steps, all that a caller should be seeking to secure is a commitment to having a conversation. During the Engagement Step, callers gauge a prospect’s interest levels and uncover some of their priorities.

In the Case for Giving step, the balance of conversation switches to more like 90 percent caller and 10 percent prospect. A Case is for Giving is a persuasive presentation intended to secure the prospect’s commitment to the idea of support. In the Case for Giving, a caller needs to build their prospect’s interest to a point at which they are ready to commit to a gift during the call. Until this is accomplished, it’s premature to attempt to secure a commitment to a specific amount.

Timing plays as important a role in the Case for Giving as it does in the Engagement Step. Callers need to become comfortable gauging their prospects’ level of interest. Again, new callers can easily fall into the habit of memorizing a standard Case for Giving, and simply repeating the same thing to everyone they contact. Remind them of the interest graph you used to help them understand the Engagement Step. It’s important that they keep the momentum of The Call moving forward, and it’s very possible in the Case for Giving to ramble on and begin to sound like a recording. When this happens, their prospects will lose interest, and they’ll become less receptive. Callers need to remember that, as important as your university’s mission is, they always need to respect their prospect’s time. When they feel like they’ve said enough, and still have the prospect’s attention, they should move on.

20


The final step in the Case for Giving is the agreement question, which serves as the transition from the Case for Giving into the Negotiation Step. Like the permission question earlier, the agreement question is a closed-ended question designed to move the call forward. There is no one right way to ask the agreement question; the important thing is to make sure to ask. Here are a few examples:

So it sounds like you’re pretty up-to-date on what’s been happening on campus – that’s great!

Given your connection to Lincoln, can I count on your support tonight?

Wow, Mr. Brown – it’s great to speak to someone like you who has such an interest in what Lincoln

is doing. Obviously, much of what we do relies on support from alumni like you. May I count on

your support tonight?

How does this sound to you, Mr.Brown? (Pause, and respond appropriately.) Do you have any

other questions about Lincoln that I can answer for you? (Pause and respond appropriately.)

Great. As I said earlier, I’m talking to alumni like you tonight, seeking to raise money for our Annual

Fund. Can I count on your support tonight?

21


THE NEGOTIATION STEP

PURPOSE

A. Secure a commitment to the highest level of support that a prospect is

comfortable making

B. Effectively respond to and resolve prospect concerns which arise during

the negotiation

C. Determine how a prospect wishes to allocate their support

TECHNIQUE

A. The “ladder” technique

i. Ranges

ii. Trial closes

iii. Split payments

iv. Deferred gifts

B. A/C/A/C objection response method (See page 36)

TIMING

The duration of the Negotiation Step varies widely. Callers should be encouraged to devote as much time to it as needed. The Negotiation should never be rushed, and callers need to be conditioned to not take shortcuts, such as suggesting split payment schedules or “participatory gifts” before they have exhausted other possible solutions. Patience and active listening are key factors to success. In many cases, the Negotiation can account for as much as half the length of the entire phone call, but its importance justifies the time investment.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Remind callers that once they’ve gotten this far, they should expect to close

a gift. If a prospect is still on the line at this point, callers should be patient

and focus on providing prospects with options that will permit them to

participate in your organization’s philanthropic mission.

2. Start negotiations high, use ranges to allow for flexibility and drop to lower

levels strategically by consistently suggesting split payments or deferred

credit card gifts.

3. Assumptions undermine the integrity and effectiveness of a negotiation.

Mentally prepare your callers to avoid making assumptions by drilling

them on the A/C/A/C approach to responding to objections and

concerns through regular, frequent role-playing.

AT A GLANCE

22


4. Callers need to reach a point where they aren’t afraid to present options to prospects, accepting that they

won’t know how the prospect will respond until they do. They should be comfortable in the knowledge that,

regardless of their prospect’s concerns, their training has prepared them to address it effectively.

5. Objection responses should never be routine, and should always be driven by the responses that callers

are hearing from their prospects. Callers must believe that, until they apply the A/C/A/C approach to an

objection, any attempt at a response is at best a guess.

During The Negotiation, a caller will secure and solidify their prospect’s commitments to a specific gift (credit card) or pledge level, as well as determine where prospects want to allocate their support. It is also the point in The Call where prospects are most likely to begin voicing objections or concerns, if they haven’t already done so. The Negotiation is arguably one of the most challenging steps of the Call.

The primary objective of the Negotiation step is to provide callers with a road map that will allow them to walk through the negotiation process with each of their prospects. To create this virtual road map, the Negotiation employs a technique commonly referred to as the “ladder” approach. Applied properly, the ladder technique is a structured approach that will help callers determine the highest level at which their prospects are comfortable making financial contributions. This approach is rooted in the belief that no prospect should ever be encouraged to commit to a gift or pledge amount that isn’t appropriate for their personal financial situation.

23


24

THE LADDER APPROACH

Salespeople long ago determined that the person who makes the first offer leads the negotiation process. It’s a pretty simple concept. I’ve never met a caller who wasn’t able to understand that it’s much easier to negotiate downwards than it would be to try to go up. Effective negotiations always start high and drop down, based on feedback from potential donors. Callers need to have developed a healthy level of self-confidence and a solid understanding of what an effective negotiation looks like before they can be expected to properly use the “ladder approach.” You will need to demonstrate it for them. Callers need to understand that the objective of the Negotiation Step is not to get the gift, but to work with the prospect to determine the highest level of financial support to which they can comfortably commit. In the Case for Giving, callers secure commitment to the idea of giving; in the Negotiation, they secure commitment to a specific gift amount.

To do this effectively, callers need to understand their role in the negotiation. They need to anticipate objections, based on information gathered earlier in The Call (during the Engagement Step, for example), and they need to

be prepared to respond appropriately. In order to do so, they need to engage in active listening.

ACTIvE LISTENING

Here’s one definition of active listening:

Active listening is a way of listening that focuses entirely on what the other person is saying and confirms

understanding of both the content of the message and the emotions and feelings underlying the message to

ensure that understanding is accurate.1

1 WikEd, http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Active_listening

Tips to Help Callers Negotiate Effectively

l Always start at $1,000. This

will permit you to determine

whether your prospect is

capable of committing at this

level, or help you determine

what level is appropriate for

them.

l If you skip the $1,000 level

(of course, you won’t) and

your prospect says “Yes” to

$500, you may have missed

out on a $750 gift. The point

here is that you have no way

of knowing without asking.

l Don’t make assumptions

– make the ask and stop

talking! Allow your prospects

to respond, and let their

responses determine your

next move.

l Talk about each level. Don’t

simply list amounts and say

“Which one?” and never say,

“Any amount that you’d care

to give would be greatly

appreciated” unless you’ve

already tried the “ladder.”

l As you move through each

ask, be appreciative of your

prospect’s time. Remember

that they don’t need to be

on the phone with you.

l When you drop to lower

gift amounts, be sure to let

your prospect know that it’s

not only the amount of their

gift that is important, but

also the number of donors

who choose to support the

Annual Fund.

25

In other words, callers need to understand the difference between taking what their prospect is saying for granted, and truly listening to what they are saying. Passive listening is the tendency to assume that because you hear what someone is saying, you understand what they are trying to tell you. How often, during a conversation, are we thinking more about what we want to say next than what is being said to us? Active listening is the art of focusing on what is being said to us.

When callers are actively listening, they are willing and prepared to ask their prospects to clarify or elaborate on what they are saying, without worrying that they are going to lose a gift. Active listening allows them to stay in the moment of the conversation, and not jump ahead. (As you have probably realized, active listening is one of the primary tools in objection responses, which we will discuss later.)

ROLE-PLAYING

So, there’s quite a lot going on in the Negotiation Step. The most effective way to train callers on the Negotiation Step is through good old-fashioned role playing. Like so many elements of The Call, this step just doesn’t come naturally to most people, and most callers need the type of hands-on demonstration that is best delivered through drill-type practice. The more chances that callers have to go through a complete negotiation, the more comfortable they will be with the process. The more comfortable they are with the process, the more effective they will be at negotiating solid gifts that will benefit your school. Here is a sample of a Negotiation script, based on the ladder approach, that you can use to practice with your callers.

SAMPLE SCRIPT

► $1,000 – $2,500I’ve spoken with several great people today/tonight who’ve been really positive! I’m asking everyone I speak with to consider a leadership gift that would influence more dramatic initiatives at Lincoln University. For example, Mr. Brown, a gift in the range of $1,000 to $2,500 is a special level of major support which allows Lincoln to continue achieving our goal of academic excellence. Mr. Brown, can you consider a gift at this level?

[Based on alum’s response, attempt to secure specific gift by suggesting split payments, or drop to the next level. Always begin your next level with an acknowledgement of your prospect’s response to your previous ask! Keep the negotiation as conversational as possible. This will prevent your prospect from feeling pressured.]

► Drop to $500 – $1,000 RangeI understand, Mr. Brown. I do ask everyone if they can consider this level of support because it’s so important to our students. We


count on money raised through the Annual Fund to cover expenses that aren’t included in the cost of tuition. One example of this is our Digital Library System, which already has over 700 academic journals online and is available to students 24 hours a day. Alumni support for this type of growing technology is seen in benefits all over the campus. With this in mind, could you consider a gift in the range of $500 to $1,000?

[Based on the alum’s response, attempt to secure specific gift by suggesting split payments, or drop to next level.]

► Suggest Split Gift (or deferred payments)I can understand your hesitation, Mr. Brown. Let me mention something for your consideration – if you are able to consider a gift in this amount, you have the option to break up the gift into two or more installments. Would it more convenient to break up $500 into two installments of $250 each for two months?

► Drop to $300 – $500 RangeOkay – thank you for letting me tell you about it. Another reason that individual support is so important is that it helps fund a lot of smaller but still important projects. One of these projects is the “Cultural Bus.” The Cultural Bus is a collaboration between City Arts and Community Transit. The C-Bus connects students to local art venues, like the museums, the symphony, and the science center. Your support makes projects like this possible. Can you consider a gift in the range of $300 to $500 today/tonight?

[Based on prospect’s response, attempt to secure specific gift by suggesting split payments, or drop to next level.]

► Suggest Split I can understand your hesitation, Mr. Brown. Let me mention this – if you are interested in this level, you have the option to break up the gift into two or more installments. Would it more convenient to break up $300 into two installments of $150 each for two months?

► $100 – $300That’s not a problem, Mr. Brown. Everyone’s situation is different and I’d really like to find a level of support that is comfortable for you. Something I try to mention to everyone I talk with is our Career Counseling and Placement Center. Students use the Center to develop their interviewing and résumé-writing skills. The Center also provides students with opportunities to interview on campus with companies located around the world. A gift of $100 to $300 helps fill the gaps in our funding, and keeps projects like this up and running. Is this level more appropriate for you?

► $75 – $100I understand – I’d really like to include you in the number of alumni and friends who’ve decided to support Lincoln this year. One of our primary goals is to increase overall support – so every gift counts, regardless of amount. There is power in numbers! The backbone of our campaign consists of gifts in the range of $75 to $100. Support at this level is critical because corporations and foundations look at the percentage of people who give to the university when considering it for major gifts and grants. A gift in this range could help us secure tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants. Can you help us out at this level, Mr. Brown?

26


► Participatory Gift ($25 - $75)Mr. Brown, I really appreciate you taking the time to go through all the levels with me – thank you. I’m sure you can understand why we are trying to increase our alumni participation this year. Could you help us today by making a participatory gift of $25 to $50?

[If “No,” ask alum what they would be comfortable with, and proceed to the Formal Close.]

27


THE FORMAL CLOSE

PURPOSE

A. Solidify donor’s commitment and thank the donor for their support

B. Confirm amount of gift and allocation of support

C. Verify and update alumni information

D. Uncover matching gift potential

E. Establish billing/terms of payment

i. Credit card ask

ii. Pledges

TECHNIQUE

F. Consistent use of “formal” verbatim scripted close

TIMING

Essentially a final clerical step, the Formal Close will take 2-3 minutes, provided the caller has done a thorough job in the conversation leading up to the close. If, for example, a caller rushed through the Negotiation Step and failed to pin down the details of a donation, the close very well may be interrupted with objections and will obviously take longer. It will also almost always be less effective and will very often fail altogether.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

1. Callers need to commit the wording of the Formal Close to memory and

they need to repeat it verbatim every single time they close a fundraising

call. Establish a zero-tolerance policy for non-verbatim Formal Closes in your

phone center. You will see your credit card percentage steadily increase to 30

percent and higher.

2. Use role-playing to drill callers on proper delivery of the Formal Close. Like

the Introduction, the Formal Close relies on solid technique and mastery of

strategic use of pauses and pacing. Caller composure is also a key factor.

3. As mentioned above, callers must read the Formal Close verbatim! Its wording

is very specific and inflexible by design – it works. And it simply won’t be

effective unless it is read by callers as trained, every time, without exception.

AT A GLANCE

28


Next to the Introduction, the Formal Close is the simplest, most straightforward step in The Call. This is because, like the Introduction, it relies primarily on mastery of technique and rhythm for its effectiveness.

The Formal Close has a number of objectives:

1. Callers need to confirm the demographic information on your prospect (unless you choose to do

this during the Introduction), to assure that the gift or pledge acknowledgement and receipt is

delivered to the proper address.

2. Callers need to confirm the specific amount of the gift, and the purpose or designation of the gift.

(For example, the College of Arts and Sciences, or the English Department, etc.)

3. Finally, you need to confirm the terms of payment:

A. Is it a gift, or a pledge?

i. If it is a gift, you need to secure the donor’s charge card account number and expiration date.

A. Is it a one-time or installment gift?

B. Are payments split or deferred?

1. On behalf of your organization, express your appreciation for the donor’s vote of confidence in

your mission through their generous financial support.

29


THREE CRITICAL POINTS

In nearly 25 years of doing this type of work, I’ve learned three things about the Formal Close which are critical to understanding how it works:

1. Most new callers – and many experienced callers – get nervous when they reach this point in The Call. This is

because regardless of all of the time they’ve already invested in making their call a success, they still worry

that they will lose the gift when they ask for a credit card.

2. Confidence is key. If the callers don’t believe that the Formal Close will work, it won’t. They need to rely on the

structure, and just do it.

3. We refer to the close as “formal” because it is designed and fully intended to be applied as a scripted

verbatim close. The Formal Close has the highest success rate when callers are required to read it verbatim.

Unless call center management is consistent about enforcing the requirement to adhere to the Formal Close

verbatim, your mileage may vary.

30


These three points have allowed programs I’ve managed to consistently experience credit card giving rates of up to 50 percent, on average. When applied as instructed, the Formal Close works very well, because the structure of The Call is designed to prepare both the caller and the donor to be comfortable pinning down a donation at this point.

As early in The Call as the Introduction, callers begin to establish a back-and-forth rhythm that involves posing questions to prospects, and permitting them to respond. Without training on this technique, most callers will default to talking at prospects, as opposed to engaging them in a real conversation. Prospects need to be engaged in order to trust callers, and trust is the essential component in securing gifts on credit cards.

If used as presented here, the Formal Close will increase the likelihood that your donors will charge their gifts; if this is not a priority for your program, there are certainly other ways to close a phone call. But if one of the measures of your program’s effectiveness is your credit card rate, you must keep your callers’ closes consistent, and the only way to do that is to require verbatim adherence to the Formal Close.

A WALKTHROUGH

Here’s what the Formal Close looks like. First, you want to close your Negotiation and transition into the Formal Close. Your prospect has just agreed to a gift, so the most appropriate way to do this is to thank them:

That’s terrific, Mr. Brown! Thank you for your

support!

Follow by immediately beginning the verbatim Formal Close. Callers need to be trained to move smoothly and immediately into the Formal Close, without any hesitation. This keeps donors engaged and confident in the caller’s ability to properly manage this transaction.

Mr. Brown, I just need one more minute of your

time to confirm some information. (brief pause)

Would you like me to list this gift in your name?

(Wait for response)

People always ask me why we don’t simply read back the donor’s information to them, since our callers have it in front of them, and it is faster. The reason is that it’s important for the caller to maintain the back-and-forth, question-and-answer rhythm that they’ve established throughout the call. Especially in the Formal Close, we want to be able to answer questions and know that we will get a positive answer.

Continuing then…

Great, Mr. Brown. And I have your name as

Daniel M. Brown. Is that correct?

(Wait for response)

To what address would you like me to mail your

receipt? (Wait for response)

It sounds tedious, and you should anticipate some push-back from callers who today have little patience for this level of attention to seemingly obvious details. But permitting donors to provide their information not only puts them at ease, it makes them comfortable sharing personal information – and it s-l-o-w-s down The Close. This is important at this point in The Call. You don’t want your donors to feel rushed through The Close. You certainly don’t want them to get cold feet when your callers ask them for their credit card account information, as they are trained to do.

Thank you, Mr. Brown. Let me read that back to

you to make sure I got it right. You would like

your gift to be recorded in your name – that’s

“Daniel M. Brown” – B-R-O-W-N, and you would

like your receipt mailed to you at…

31


Callers should take the time to read back the information. Advise them to think of it as a courtesy; at this point, they have established a genuine relationship with the person on the phone. The least they can do is to spend a little time with them before saying goodbye. Once they confirm the name and address information, and make any corrections necessary, they should turn their attention to the donor’s employment information.

Mr. Brown, I see here that you’re employed by Academic Impressions – is this still accurate? (Wait and respond.

Correct information, if necessary.) Mr. Brown, many donors are employed by companies who match their

employee’s charitable gifts. According to my records, Academic Impressions will match your gift to Lincoln!

Would you be willing to stop by your human resources department and complete the paperwork needed to

confirm that you’ve made a gift to us tonight? This would double the impact of your gift.

(Wait and respond. Assuming a “yes”…) Thank you!

After this step, callers should proceed immediately to read the following scripting verbatim, without deviation:

Okay, Mr. Brown. Now, the way we handle gifts is with a major bank card. (Brief pause.)

We accept Visa, MasterCard, or Discover. (Brief Pause)

Which do you prefer? (Wait for response)

(If necessary, callers may add here: We also accept debit cards, or American Express. Will either of those work for you?)

If your callers adhere to this verbatim close, and their delivery is casual and confident, you should see immediate improvements in your credit card rate. Depending on your current credit card rate, you should anticipate gradual, steady increases, and it is not unusual to expect rates of well over 30 percent to become the norm for your program.

WRAPPING UP THE CALL

Once the prospect has provided their account information, and the caller has read it back to them to verify that they have captured it accurately, callers should take the opportunity to thank the donor again for their support. Lastly, they should repeat back to the donor the details of their gift.

Alright, Mr. Brown. Just to confirm – I have you down for a gift of $200 to the College of Arts and Sciences,

which we have charged to your Visa account. Once you complete the matching gift form that you can get from

your employer’s human resources department, your gift will be worth a total of $400 – thank you very much!

You should receive a receipt for your donation in a week to 10 days.

Mr. Brown, it’s been a pleasure to speak with you tonight. Thank you for your support! Have a great night!

Sounds simple, right? Of course, this discussion of caller training wouldn’t be complete without talking about objections and how to handle them as they occur throughout The Call.

32


“Objection Responses”: Coaching Callers to Respond to Prospect Concerns

Key points:

• To handle objections effectively, callers must understand the outline of The Call, because

you have to know what the real objection is in order to respond appropriately.

• Objections that occur in the early steps of the call differ from objections that take place

later in the call.

Dealing with objections effectively is possibly the most challenging aspect of fundraising technique to learn. It can also be the single most important success factor for a fundraiser. An objection is anything that happens during a phone call that prevents the caller from moving The Call forward. Objections take many forms – from something as common as a simple question, to something as “physical” as being hung up on. Objections are associated with refusal, and refusal by its nature is intimidating. In many cases, an objection is a means by which a prospect can refuse without having to say “no.”

While handling objections is a challenging topic to train, trainers generally find that trainees are predisposed to be very interested in discussions of objection handling. New callers in particular want to know what to do when they encounter objections on the phone. Initially, they hope to be presented with some kind of magical list of “objection responses” – phrases that they can use and answers they can give that will resolve all of the possible obstacles that they might encounter on the phone. Who can blame them? In reality, though, objections aren’t easy, and I know of the existence of no such magical list. Most programs, of course, have a variety of useful and thoughtful stock objection responses – but, before we talk about those, it’s critical for trainees to understand that using the proper objection response is only the last step in the objection handling process. It’s also critical for callers to have at least a working understanding of the fundamental structure of The Call. They need to understand The Call’s basic terminology, and how a successful call proceeds. An objection that occurs, say, during the Introduction is a completely different type of objection than one that occurs during the Case for Giving – and almost always requires a different response. Don’t shy away from reinforcing anything you’ve already covered at this point. Remember – as basic and straightforward as this information feels to those of us who understand it already, to most new callers this is entirely new information, and it really is more complex than it seems.

AvOIDING ASSUMPTIONS

Let’s look at an example to illustrate what is going on in a conversation when one party voices a concern. Since most phone centers use students as employees, let’s illustrate the point by looking at a conversation two students might have with each other. Student A (we’ll call her Suzie) and Student B (we’ll call him Jay) find themselves taking the same English Lit class together. They both notice each other. They get to know each other through class, and generally try to sit next to each other if they have the chance. One day, Jay musters up the courage to ask Suzie out.

33


Jay: Hi, Suzie.

Suzie: Hi.

Jay: How’d your paper turn out?

Suzie: I think it turned out okay. We’ll see, I guess. At least it’s done.

Jay: I hear ya. (brief, awkward silence) I was wondering – would you like to grab coffee

after class?

Suzie: I can’t. But thanks!

Looks like game over for Jay, right? Not so fast. Let’s look at Suzie’s response. Jay asked her out. More specifically, he asked her out for coffee, after class. Suzie said she couldn’t go – but she also thanked him for his invitation. Joe has two options at this point, and his future with Suzie depends on his next move. Based on Suzie’s response, he can:

A. Assume that Suzie isn’t interested, or

B. He can ask her some more questions.

Wait – didn’t she say she wasn’t interested? No. She did not say that. She said she couldn’t go. For coffee. After class.

Maybe Suzie just doesn’t like coffee…

Maybe Suzie has a prior commitment after class that she can’t break…

Maybe Suzie pulled an all-nighter to get her paper done, and doesn’t want to drink coffee after class – she wants to go to sleep!

The point is that our friend Jay still has options. But he needs to avoid the trap of making assumptions, and make the effort to probe for the reasons that may be preventing Suzie from accepting his invitation. Making assumptions is an all too common mistake made by both salespeople and fundraisers (and would-be suitors!), yet it’s fairly easy to avoid it with the right training and some commitment on the part of your callers to stick to the approach and to practice their technique on every call.

TYPES OF OBJECTIONS OR CONCERNS

Particularly when talking about fundraising calls, it’s helpful to think more in terms of responding to concerns as opposed to overcoming objections. Remember our basic definition:

ob·jec·tion (n). Anything that happens during a phone call that prevents the caller from moving

The Call forward in pursuit of a commitment to a donation.

It’s not arbitrary that we used the word “anything” in our definition. It is immensely helpful to frame the concept this way when training callers.

It’s also helpful to group objections, or concerns, into types. The more granular you can make complicated concepts like this, the easier it will be for your staff to internalize and understand them. On the one hand, objection handling is likely the most complicated element of fundraising. On the other hand, there are only really three types of objections. Let’s look at some examples.

34

Less Effective Ways to Respond to Objections

Quantity over Quality

Telemarketing firms often focus

on quantity over quality. Their call

representatives are often evaluated

based on how many calls they

make, or how many prospects they

are able to make a sales pitch to,

how deeply into the pitch they

were able to get (call length), and

how many objections they were

able to “overcome.” In reality,

this approach doesn’t so much

handle objections as it wears down

prospects. Almost everyone has

received the type of sales call in

which the caller continues to sell

regardless of your level of interest;

oftentimes, the caller doesn’t even

give you the chance to express

your interest, or lack thereof. This

approach is primarily effective at

keeping prospects on the phone –

assuming they don’t just hang up

on the caller at some point, which

often happens.

Treating Objections as Mistakes

Another approach treats all

objections voiced by the potential

customer as if they are mistakes

that can be immediately addressed

by a simple answer. This approach

is only slightly better than the

generic telemarketing approach.

It fails to be effective because it is

based on assumptions. It assumes

the objection that is stated by the

prospect is the actual objection.

Programs that utilize this approach

train their callers to memorize

specific responses to equally

specific objections. This approach

can work – but only if the prospect

actually does convey the real

objection, and the caller selects

the proper objection response. It’s

slightly better than guesswork.

1. Time objections:

A. Bad time to talk

B. Bad time to talk about giving

C. Bad time to talk about your university

D. Bad time to talk about money

E. Bad time to make a new financial commitment

2. Interest:

A. Prospect isn’t interested in talking about your

university.

B. Prospect isn’t interested in talking to you. (It happens.)

C. Prospect isn’t interested in talking about giving.

D. Prospect isn’t interested in talking on the phone (but

would perhaps be receptive to receiving mail appeals,

etc.).

3. Financial:

A. Prospect has already allocated all of their disposable

charitable income.

B. Prospect’s circumstances prevent them from

considering additional expenditures (recent big-ticket

purchase, job change or loss, recent unanticipated

expenses, market losses, etc.).

C. Prospect simply isn’t in the mood to make a pledge or

purchase.

These are examples, and the list above is by no means intended to be exhaustive. The bottom line is that objections come in all shapes, sizes, and colors – but in the end, when prospects refuse to give, it boils down to time, interest, or money. That’s all.

Once callers understand this concept, you can build upon it to help them understand that when a prospect voices a concern (like Suzie did in our example of the two students), they could mean any variety of things. In other words, just because a prospect says they can’t afford to give doesn’t mean that they really can’t afford to give. A great example to use when training callers is the most ubiquitous objection of them all:

I’m not interested.

Think about it: if a caller takes this objection literally, where can they go from here? Nowhere, right? But, if your callers learn to allow themselves – and their prospects – some space, and use questions to open up their conversations when they reach these halting points, they have a much better chance of flushing out the real objection. And once they know what the real objection is, they can begin to try to offer some solutions that will permit them to get the call back on track to closing a gift.

35


THE A/C/A/C APPROACH TO HANDLING CONCERNS

The most effective way to handle concerns on the phone is to determine the specific nature of the objection through a process of asking questions, listening actively, and responding to the answers that prospects provide. This approach has four steps, and is known as the A/C/A/C step for short. Each of the letters stands for the goal of that particular step in the process:

At any point during The Call, when a prospect voices a concern, the caller needs to acknowledge it. This is a very simple yet very important concept – and one that is too often skipped (even by trained callers) when callers fail to appreciate the importance of compensating for the non-verbal communication cues that naturally occur in face-to-face communication. When we’re on the phone, we lose a lot of our ability to communicate. We lose everything that is carried by body language and facial expressions, like a head nod to indicate understanding, or a tilted head to convey confusion. Verbal acknowledgement of every objection lets prospects know that you are listening, which is very important! Suggest phrases that your callers can use, such as:

I understand.

I’m sorry to hear that.

I can appreciate that.

Even something as basic as “Ok” or “uh-huh” will suffice – as long as callers make a point of doing it, every time.

After an objection or concern is acknowledged, it needs to be clarified. Callers may do this using one of two methods. Sticking with our example of the ubiquitous “I’m not interested” objection:

1. Callers may repeat the objection, as in “I see, Mr. Brown. You aren’t interested.”

2. Alternately, they can paraphrase the objection – which arguably sounds more natural. In our

example, a caller could say, “I understand, Mr. Brown. You don’t feel like you’re in a position to

support us tonight.” Or, if the objection is, “Now is a bad time,” one acceptable response could

be, “I see, Mr. Brown. (Acknowledge) It sounds like you have other priorities right now. Is that

correct?” (Clarify)

36


The specific wording that callers use is less important than making sure that callers adhere to the formulaic technique. By acknowledging the response, the caller assures the prospect that they are listening to them – that their concerns are being heard by the caller. By repeating or paraphrasing the objection, callers provide prospects with an opportunity to elaborate. This is important because it keeps the process conversational, and reinforces to prospects that we are as interested in their responses as we are in making our case for support. Prospects are much more likely to remain engaged in the conversation, and remain open to negotiating with the caller, when they feel that the caller is genuinely listening to and interested in addressing their concerns.

From here, the conversation may proceed in many directions, depending on the exact nature of the objection. For instance, the response above will help a caller determine if it is a simple time objection. If the prospect were to respond, “Yes – this is just not a good time to talk,” the caller could proceed to schedule a callback. They would still need to complete the process, and the next step is to confirm that the objection has been pinpointed. Again, the caller would begin by acknowledging the prospect’s response:

I see, Mr. Brown. (Acknowledge)

Now’s a bad time to talk. (Clarify)

I’d be happy to call you back at a time that is more convenient for you. (Answer)

Would that work for you? (Confirm)

(Wait for response) Great, Mr. Brown – when would be the best time to try to reach you?

Here’s something interesting that happens fairly regularly. In response to this question, many prospects will decide that they actually are in a position to speak at the moment. They do so simply because the caller has extended them the courtesy of offering to call back at another time, instead of pushing forward and trying to keep them from getting off the phone. And in the cases when prospects do opt for a callback, they are generally much more receptive to the conversation when they speak with the caller again – because they remember that they were provided with the option to receive a call when they deemed it to be convenient. In short, they appreciate that the caller surrendered control of the process to them.

During actual conversations, what often happens during the A/C/A/C process is that the process becomes more elaborate. In other words, instead of going straight through from Acknowledgement to Confirmation, the process can look more like this:

This is because objections or concerns are multi-layered, like onions – as one layer is peeled, another is often revealed. It’s important to expose callers to this during training so that they become comfortable with the nuances of the process. The more natural this A/C/A/C process feels to callers, the more effectively they’ll be able to execute it when they’re on live calls. Callers should be taught to think of the process as something akin to troubleshooting.

37

The only assumption that a caller should ever make on the phone:

When you hear an objection, assume that you don’t know what

it really is until you go through the A/C/A/C approach. Only

through the process of active listening and questioning can callers

determine the right way to respond to a perceived objection.

The only real way to prepare them for it is through role-plays that serve the purpose of A/C/A/C “drills.” Trainers need to demonstrate how the process works. Simply describing the process, or telling the callers what the steps are in the process, will fail to provide them with the level of understanding required to become adept at using the A/C/A/C process effectively. In other words, program managers, trainers, and supervisors must learn to master this technique before they can attempt to teach it.

Training Objection Handling Through Role-Play

To set up a role-play, first distrib-

ute paper copies of your script to

your trainees, and instruct them to

read through it silently to them-

selves. If more than one trainer is

available, model the script for the

trainees by presenting two role-

plays to the callers so they can

hear what the script should sound

like. Think of it like you would if

you were trying to learn to play

a song on an instrument – it’s a

lot easier to learn if you already

know how it’s supposed to sound.

Answer any questions that your

trainees may have, and then pair

them up for role-playing.

You should anticipate that the

trainees will have some very spe-

cific questions on the logistics of

making a gift – use their questions

to lead you into a discussion of

objection handling. It is critical to

cover these topics before moving

on to the techniques of objection

handling, in order for the trainees

to effectively understand how to

properly use standard, generic

objection responses.

Instead of giving your trainees

the “answers” up front, a better

approach is to discuss the process

that is involved in handling objec-

tions, similar to how we present

the outline, and the script, and

how we typically do our shift

warm-up meetings. You want to

get your trainees thinking as call-

ers and, as callers they need to

think actively about the process,

so that they don’t develop a habit

of using responses passively.

38


Appendix: The Fundraising Call: Outline and Technique

I. IntroductionA. Technique

1. Identify yourself

a. Tone of voice

b. Use pauses

c. Inflection

d. Set the tone for the call

2. State the reason for your call

a. Engage prospect’s attention

b. Begin to build trust and rapport with the listener

B. Objective

1. Initiate a conversation

2. Gain permission to continue conversation

Transition into Engagement Step:Ask Permission Question: “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

II. Engagement StepA. Technique

1. Ask questions

a. Establish rapport with the prospect

b. Build level of trust between caller and prospect

2. Use of open-ended, probing questions

a. Establish “give-and-take” dynamic

b. Create environment conducive to open, two-way dialogue

B. Objective

1. Demonstrate a personal interest in your prospect

a. Engage the prospect in a conversation about their interests and experiences

2. Gauge the prospect’s general feelings toward your institution

a. Identify some of prospect’s specific interests

b. Establish your role as an information provider and representative of your organization

Transition into Case for Giving/Presentation: “I’d like to tell you a little about some of the exciting plans we have...”

OR“Let me tell you about some of the exciting plans that we have...”

OR“Are you aware that the university plans to...”

39


III. Case for Giving A. Technique

3. Provide greater detail about your institution’s need for support

4. Provide listener with a reason to support

B. Objective

1. Begin the process of securing the prospect’s commitment

b. Use information to build prospect’s interest in giving

c. Provide prospect with “inside view” of your institution

d. “Paint a picture” that will help the prospect to reconnect with your campus

2. Secure a general commitment to the idea of support

a. Engage the prospect in a conversation about your institution’s mission, recent

accomplishments and plans for the future

b. Gauge prospect’s personal level of commitment to your institution

Transition into Negotiation Step: 1. Agreement Question: “Given your interest in the university, can we count on your support this year?”

2. Agreement Confirmation: “Great! We have various levels of support. I’d like to begin by inviting you to

join one of our most prestigious levels...”

IV. Negotiation Step A. Purpose

1. Secure a commitment to the highest level of support that a prospect is

comfortable making

2. Effectively respond to and resolve prospect concerns which arise during the negotiation

3. Determine how a prospect wishes to allocate their support B. Technique

1. Effective negotiation

a. Ranges

b. Trial closes

c. Split payments

d. Deferred gifts

2. A/C/A/C objection response method

V. Formal Close A. Purpose

1. Solidify donor’s commitment and thank the donor for their support

2. Confirm amount of gift and allocation of support

3. Verify and update alumni information

4. Uncover matching gift potential

5. Establish billing/terms of payment

a. Credit card ask

b. Pledges

B. Technique

1. Consistent use of “formal” verbatim scripted close

40


VI. Wrap-Up StepA. Purpose

1. “Wrap up” the call, and answer any remaining prospect questions

2. Additional opportunity to thank donors for their support

3. End conversation on a positive note, and leave donor with a sense of being personally

involved in your institution’s mission

41

Documents

Monograph - Academic Impressions