The $4700 Ask!

I got this letter from one of the AFP attendees last week. I think it deserves sharing:

Dear Ms. Brandt,

I thoroughly enjoyed your session at the AFP
Conference last week. I gave you good grades on the survey!

I thought you would get a chuckle out of the mailing I received the day I came home: My town of XXXX, is home to the largest of XXXXXX’s state universities. For the past few years, because my husband’s law firm has been doing a lot of work for the school, each of the partners has been contributing $5,000. This year, we haven’t made the gift yet, but my husband gave $300 to the basketball program in the winter. We received a computer-generated postcard-sized card, in a bulk mail envelope, asking us to give $4,700 to renew our membership in the $5,000 giving society!! I howled!!

Their entire database is probably 80,000 entities. Mine is 6,000, and I’m a one-woman shop, and I personalize every letter that leaves this place. The university probably has a staff of 10 development officers. And they can’t manage a personal letter for a $4,700 ask!! Eek! I feel like calling the new VP for Development and hinting that I know why they’re shy of their capital campaign goal.

Good luck in your work – thanks for a very informative session – worth every second.

I must say that I second her opinion. I am one to always fall on the side of a hand-written ask, but at that level there is no debate.

Take-away: Handwritten asks are the way to go, especially if it is a big one.

Enhancing Customer Experience

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Enhancing Customer Experience

View more presentations from Bridget Brandt.

Love and Loyalty

Found this great article that is a natural fit to this blog, so I thought I would share here as well:

Love is the most powerful force in marketing. It’s what drives loyalty, excitement, and — ultimately — conversations. You have to work to earn it every day. Three people to focus on:

1> Employees2> Customers3> Competitors

1> Employees
You can’t have genuine, sustainable word of mouth if your employees don’t buy into it. If you haven’t earned their trust and respect, how can you expect them to earn it from customers? Earn their love by empowering them, by soliciting (and listening to) their feedback, and by celebrating big when they do amazing things for your customers.

2> Customers
Obvious, perhaps, but few brands strive for this deep of a relationship with their customers. The best word of mouth marketers — the ones we all respect and admire — they’re aiming for love. Most of your competitors are striving for “satisfied” — you can aim bigger than that.

3> Competitors
You can’t solve every problem for every prospect — and neither can your competitors. Focus on those you can do fantastic work for and send the rest to someone you believe in. Both the customer and your peers will love you for it, and you’ll see the benefits when the referrals start coming your way.

Check our more articles like this at http://gaspedal.com/blog/

Anticipate the Customers Needs

Recently my kiddos and I were at our favorite fast food restaurant Chick-Fil-A. Now Chick-Fil-A is our favorite for a variety of reason which all are based predominantly on experience, but this visit stood out.

After we had finished eating our number five eight packs, and playing on the clean (very important to me) playscape we gathered our belongs to head home. About 2 seconds later, I realized that it was raining. Super annoyed by the fact that my umbrella was on the front seat of my car, I began to prepare the kids for the run to the car in the rain. “Now Colin, you are going to go first, then Sissy….”

As we approached the door I noticed a Chick-Fil-A employee was waiting to walk us to our car with a golf sized umbrella. Now this may seem like a small thing, but to I was blown away. I had never had someone prepared to walk me to my car in the rain at a fine dining establishment let alone a fast food chain.

Needless to say, they have once again reminded me why I am willing to pay $8 for small box of chicken. I have said it before and I will say it again, I love Chick-Fil-A!

Take away: Anticipate the needs of your customers. By showing them that you have considered and are responding to their needs you will demonstrate just how important they are to you.

AFP Article on Customer Experience

Had a great interview last Friday and AFP wrote a nice article, so I thought I would share.

(Feb. 23, 2010) Do you know what it’s like to be a donor to your organization? Bridget Brandt, senior marketing manager at Sage Nonprofit Solutions, offers tips on evaluating your organization’s “customer experience” and enhancing your relationship with donors to foster long-term support.

Brandt is also presenting an interactive session on this topic at AFP’s International Conference on Fundraising in Baltimore, April 11-14, 2010.

“Whether it is a for-profit or a nonprofit, people who support a cause or buy a product or service are looking to have a positive experience,” says Brandt. “If they do, they come back. It’s that simple.” But assuring positive customer or donor experiences means knowing what it’s like to walk in your front door and talk to the receptionist, or call organization staff, or visit your website. “So often executives and leaders are oblivious to what it’s really like for someone trying to get information or get a question answered at their own organization,” she says. For many, when they finally find out, it is a real eye-opener.

Act Like a Donor

Brandt suggests making a call to the general phone number and asking a question about the mission of your organization. Ask what happens with the charitable donations you receive. Or, send a friend to make a visit to the organization and report back on their experience. Was the reception welcoming and informative, or unpleasant?

What you find out about your organization’s donor experience may not be pretty, but if you are open to the feedback and honest about the situation, it can trigger real improvements for the organization. “You should evaluate your frontline volunteers and staff, but do not punish people for being honest about what they do and don’t do for callers, guests, etc.,” says Brandt. “This should be a learning process.”

In fact, improving donor loyalty through a more positive donor experience also means creating a more positive environment for your staff and volunteers. Are they properly trained and prepared for their roles? Are they encouraged to do well?

A Unique Experience

Don’t stop by just tying up loose ends and assuring you are providing a positive experience for donors, though. Brandt explains that your organization has to stand out. Ask yourself: “What are we doing to create a unique experience?” Be creative. Use new technologies. Be interactive. Make it fun to be involved with your organization. It’s not good enough for your donor to have a pleasant experience with your organization, whether online or on the phone or in person—it needs to be an experience that makes them want to come back.

To sum up, enhancing your organization’s donor experience means taking a close and honest look at the various touchpoints of your donors. Each one should be informative, welcoming, even inspiring. Once you fix the flaws, then you can work on making the experience exceptional.

Bridget Brandt will discuss specific methods for evaluating and enhancing your organization’s donor experience in her session at the 47th AFP International Conference on Fundraising in Baltimore, April 11-14. Her session is titled “How You Can Create Experiences That Foster True Loyalty” and will be presented Monday, April 12, at 1:15 p.m.