01 Oct When Should We Give Up?
1 October 2024
By David Allen, Development for Conservation
Think about this: You are trying to set up a meeting with a donor you’ve never met.
Or you are trying to reconnect with someone whom you met at an event where they expressed interest in seeing one of the projects.
Or you have received multiple encouraging signals from a donor (or it’s the time of the year that they typically renew), and it’s time to make an appointment for an ask visit.
And for some reason you get ghosted. Your emails are ignored, and your phone messages go unanswered. You keep advancing your follow-up reminder due date in hopes that the next one will connect.
The old joke comes to mind about the index card that says, “The answer is clear. See other side.” – on both sides. You start to feel foolish after a while flipping the card over and over.
Normally, I interpret silence to mean “didn’t get the message,” and my instinct is to keep following up. But at some point, it’s a waste of time, and it’s probably starting to aggravate them, too.
Not everyone wants to be “cultivated.” To recognize and accept the reality that they are in fact saying “I’m not ready, and I’d rather not say it to you directly,” we need a protocol – a standard set of steps we will use before giving up.
The protocol I have recommended to clients is below. Clearly when a prospect is responding, we will want to follow their lead as far as they will let us. This is a draft protocol for dealing with situations where we are trying to follow-up and the prospect is ignoring us. It can and should apply to any case where communications are being ignored by a prospect.
However, please consider it “A” protocol. Not necessarily “THE” protocol. There isn’t just one, and the more important idea is that you have one that works for you. So treat this as a starter set of steps, and then draft your own based on what works for you.
- There will be exceptions, but the most common first follow-up communication should probably be an email. “So nice to see you at the Smith house party. As you saw, this is a spectacular opportunity. It’s even more impressive in person. Let’s find a time to tour it together. I will call you this week to set something up. This email should be sent as soon as possible following the event.”
- Within three or four days (one week, max) call the prospect to arrange a next interaction. Leave a short message requesting a return call and leave your cell phone number.
- Call a second time within ten days of the first call, but on a different day of the week and at a different time of the day. Again, leave a message and your number, but this time make it a little longer. Tell or remind them that you are reaching out to arrange a date and time to tour the project.
- Immediately follow-up this second call with a second email. Use “Trying to Reach You” in the subject line, and request that they call you back or respond to the email.
- Call a third time – again on a different day of the week and at a different time of the day. Again time this call within ten days after the second call. Leave a message again, but this time, tell them that you are sorry to have missed them. Tell them that if they are still interested in touring the project, they can call you and leave your number again.
- About two weeks after the “last call,” prepare and mail a personal letter or card, essentially letting them off the hook. At this point they have ignored three phone calls and two emails. That’s enough. Tell them that you are sorry to have missed them and that you look forward to engaging them in the next spectacular project.
And then – move on. Not every swing is a hit – not every hit is a homer.
It is important that you note each of these actions in your organization’s CRM. You can record each step as a separate comment if you wish, but I prefer considering the entire sequence as one follow-up attempt with multiple steps – just note the date and time of each step in the comment. And record your decision to drop it also.
At least once a year, bring the entire list of those you’ve given up on back to others in the organization – the Executive Director, a Development Committee, perhaps the entire Board. Maybe someone could introduce you. Maybe someone else can start the sequence anew. Maybe someone else will have better luck.
Do you have a follow-up protocol that works for you? If so, I’d love to hear about it. Email me or leave a comment, below.
Cheers, and Have a great week!
-da
PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.
Photo by Erik Karits courtesy of Pixaby.
Charlie Quinn
Posted at 17:48h, 09 OctoberGreat stuff and very generous! I will often email, call and maybe send a letter within a month before shelving them to circle back in a few months. For weeks or even months, HNW donors can often be traveling, sick or recovering from a surgery, helping with a new grandchild, be at a second home…for whatever reason, just not in the mode of responding. I have better luck spreading out my attempts over more than a month, thinking that I could just be hitting them at a bad time.
Also, I will add that if they ARE responding in any way – even if that means just answering the phone to say they can’t talk, or responding to an email saying not right now, tell them you understand and that you’ll circle back to them next month, if that sounds good? Sometimes they will give you a better time to try them and then be more open to talking when you do. Even if it takes multiple attempts, you begin to get to know them along the way, prove that you follow through and do what you say you do, respect their schedule instead of just your own (unlike most door-to-door fundraisers or callers), and begin to build trust.
My best story illustrating this is a donor who kept telling me it “wasn’t a good time” to meet. I kept telling him I’d call back in a couple months and he kept agreeing that sounded good. After about 6 months of this, he said, “Charlie, I’ve put you off long enough. Can you come over this afternoon?” A few hours later he was saying, “I’d like to make a significant lifetime gift to conservation. Do you have any options for me?” It was the beginning of a fairly short (due to the medical issues that were making it not “a good time”) but very rewarding and meaningful relationship, and my first 7-figure gift.
Carol Abrahamzon
Posted at 12:33h, 01 OctoberI had a donor I wanted to meet with because he was giving way under capacity. I sent emails, left phone messages and got nothing. My last ditch effort was to mail him a hand written note expressing my interest in meeting. He responded promptly, we met, he made a $10K reoccurring pledge. You just never know.