Since I'm a consultant and coach that does quite a bit of work with nonprofit organizations, I spend a decent amount of time thinking and writing about prospecting. I do so because I'm always looking for new clients - nonprofits and their leaders - to be of service to. I also talk to those new clients about prospecting; as fundraisers, they need to be diligent about introducing their good work to new volunteers, board members, donors and others that can be supportive of their missions.
One thing I've learned from working in these two professions is that in general, lots of people don't like prospecting. In fact, I've heard fundraisers say I'm great at sharing our mission and engaging donors - I just hate having to find them. And coaches say things like "I love and am great at coaching - I just wish the clients would knock on my door and say I'm ready." Interestingly, this notion of people coming to you (as a fundraiser or coach) is similar to what a store owner experiences; they have a location, customers come in, look around and either buy or don't buy. So, let's go with that.... You are a store (or business) owner. Your store is YOU! You are the main offering and you get to decide the different ways you package yourself. But the really cool thing is, you're not stuck in one location. You get to bring your store anywhere you want. You can truly offer your store anywhere to anyone and pretty much any time you want. Here's the difference: You're only really open when you're out there bringing it. Of course, hopefully customers will come knocking at the door through referrals or due to other marketing activity. But if you really want to have a busy, active and prosperous store, you've got to be open for business. The BIG question: Is your store truly open for business?
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Yesterday I touched on two of my favorite ideas: The value of daily practices and The Brilliance of the Perfectly Average Day, a concept I learned about from Michael Neill, one of my favorite authors and coaches.
I felt like I wanted to devote a bit more time to the Average Day Concept, particularly as I work with many people in the fundraising and coaching world. Again, the idea here is to move away from the classic "Great Day" that we tend to wish for each other. When you say to someone Have A Great Day! what you're often saying is that you hope their day exceeds expectations. I know I know - at lot of analysis on a simple greeting. But stay with me and go a little deeper. We often think of that great day if we're in (for example) fundraising as the day we did more outreach and got more gifts. Let's say your "great day" was in the beginning of the week on Monday. You talked to five new prospects and got a commitment for a $25,000 gift. Wow! But then you say well, I can chill for a bit. You do what I call grazing for the next two days and Thursday and Friday, you pick up the pace again. Over the last two days you talk to three more solid prospects and secure another $10,000. Not a bad week! - Eight new donor contacts and $35,000 in new support for your organization. If you did that every week for a year, you'd pull in $1.8 million and talk to over 400 new donors. But what if you just went for average BUT consistent every day work. Every day, you talk to three new people. Not as many as that great day but not bad. And you're not even so effective at securing donations but, every day you manage to secure a total of $10,000 even if it's from a few smaller donors. So, you're just average, do the same old thing every day, talk to 15 people and raise $50,000 per week. That's nearly 800 people and over $2.5 million raised per year. Far fetched? Maybe a bit but you get the point. Figure out what daily practices you need i.e. reach out to someone new every other hour. Then go about you business. Daily practices done in a very average way can lead to big results. This morning I have a very tight schedule due to some driving I need to do across the state. Given that commitment - and my current difficulty sleeping - I was up and running at about 5:15. I was back at 6:15, the dog was walked and fed by 6:45 and by 7:10. Then I did five minutes of mediation, 5 minutes of reading from a book I've been taking my time with and now here I am about 12 minutes into my 15 minutes of daily writing.
Why share all of this with you? It was a good reminder to me that even with a tighter schedule then I usually have, I am still a creature of habit. And I say that with humility and happiness. For me, having daily practices is a great foundation for having a good day. Even doing a little bit of mediation, a little reading and a little writing puts me in the place I want to be. By the way, notice that I didn't say my daily practice equals a perfect day or even a great day. I note that because I'm continually inspired by The Power of A Perfectly Average Day. This is a concept shared by Michael Neill, one of my favorite coaches in his book "The Inside Out Revolution." The premise is that we're often going for that great day when our productivity is through the roof, we win over every potential client we were hoping for and on it goes. But what about the next day? Maybe it's just so so. Michael's point is if every day we established an average or baseline but we were able to do that EVERY DAY, can you imagine what we could achieve? For example (and something I've written about) what would it mean for your life if you started five new conversations every day? Here's my point: Do you have daily practices to kick-off your day? If not, try it. I don't mean try mine - unless you want to that is. But find out what grounds you, wakes you up and gets you going. Make today the start of your daily average day. It could add up to a lifetime of fulfillment. One of my favorite type types of consulting engagements is helping newer organizations with their board recruitment. Many times there's a transition experience going on. There's a shift from family and friends that joined up to help out the founder towards a diverse board with individuals with a genuine interest in serving and a real connection to the mission. I personally believe this is the right direction for nonprofits to head in so they can have the type of committed leadership they need.
With a recent assignment, I had two very different interviews with prospective members. In one, the potential board members was surprised when I shared that there was an expectation that individuals joining the organization would provide a financial contribution. "I'm giving my time and expertise- that should be more than enough" he exclaimed in a way that showed his irritation. Another candidate when asked the same question said they would gladly give and hoped to help the organization with introductions to other potential institutional and individual donors. I'll share two points from this brief story: 1) I always suggest boards not make exceptions to any requirement they have for giving or fundraising. It sets a terrible precedent - a truly slippery slope - to not having the commitment you're asking for. It becomes the model for your current and future board members. 2) Board membership is a two way street. While I agree with the first individuals point about their providing their valuable insight, I encourage the organizations I work with to ensure that board members are provided with a meaningful and valuable experience. If you're in the process of building board, I hope these two tips provide some guidance. And if I can be of assistance, please let me know. I was recently introduced to the word (or is it a concept) Toxic Positivity. Not working in an office -well, who does these days? - I wondered if I might be missing some of the current trendy language. So what is Toxic Positivity? According to google Toxic positivity is the feeling of acting happy or cheerful when you're really not. It's that fake kind of happiness people say to you like “Just cheer up!” or “It'll get better, don't worry,” when something really bad happened to you.
I bring this up because I was wondering if I was in a state of self-induced you know what? The truth is that despite the state of uneasiness I feel about the election, I've managed to continue life! Imagine that. Yes, I'm checking the news more than usual. Yes, I want this to be over. And yes, I get the disappointment no matter what side of the aisle you're on. At the same time, I've had some wonderful conversations this week. I've enjoyed learning with colleagues. I've even started working with some new clients. Today, as I was finishing up a deck on Storytelling in the Virtual Environment I'll be presenting next week, I found myself truly in awe of the amazing people - volunteers, founders, fundraisers and so many more - I get to work with. By the way, if you're interested (shameless plug coming up), HERE's the link to FPRA's Nonprofit Day - it's not too late to sign up. So, I'll end the week as it started. Grateful. Committed to serving others. And looking forward to the weekend. I hope you are too! Yesterday I was speaking with a colleague whom I truly admire for her professionalism, wisdom and perhaps most of all her calming demeanor. I know that yesterday was a challenging day for many of us given the uncertainty surrounding the election. With our emotions on high, it's helpful to reflect both individually and with others. I was grateful for this opportunity and hope you too had experiences like mine that helped you process things.
We spent some time talking about what I posted yesterday (here's the link) The way we respond to difficult - and yes even disappointing news - is our choice. I was sharing with her that I truly felt that much like the election, this is a moment of choice. I've been as addicted to the news and social media as much as anyone and there is plenty of handwringing and fingerprinting. How could the pollsters get it so wrong? How can we be so divided? How could (fill in your "other" side) vote for (fill in the person you didn't vote for)? Certainly these are all questions worth asking. But I'll go back to my first point. This is a moment of choice to either go further down the rabbit hole of despair or do something quite the opposite. You can take this moment to declare your commitment to serving. And in that serving, you can make it a point to listen more attentively to those with views other yours. You can commit to do work that heals and relieves division. There are many reasons I love my coaching work and it feels like this is a very unique moment to be of service to others. To those that might have read what I wrote yesterday you might be saying, this is just a repeat. Or, if you're a fan of the Deadpool movies (I am!) you might say "that's lazy writing" - You know I can't resist references to Superhero movies! But you're right. I am largely repeating it because on reflection I feel even stronger about this moment of opportunity. So, we all may be wondering for a few more hours or days about the outcome of our election. We don't have to wonder about what we do with this moment. Well, nobody is happy being in limbo as we are, but, on the other hand, the sun rose today just like it did the day before and just like it will every day for the next four years and maybe even beyond...so there is that.
- post from a Facebook friend I really wrestled with what to post and even if I would post today. When I saw this, it spoke to me and what I had been thinking about. Here's the thing: No matter what side of the aisle you're on, you're probably not delighted. Or maybe you are - who knows? But how you react to these events is still your choice. If you're disappointed, you can move along that spectrum to resignation, resentment, anger - maybe even withdrawn from society (worst, worst case!). Or, as my friend above said, you can realize the sun came up the way it did the day before, move forward and get to work. Maybe this is a new call to help you realize that your work may involve deeper communication, more listening, more understanding of the other side. Again, the thing I'll leave you with today is that You Are At Choice for your response. You may not have complete control of events. You do have complete control of you and your thoughts. Tim: Elaine, you are something else. No one can ever put a label on you, huh?
Elaine: We'll see. from Seinfeld. "The Label Maker" I was thinking of one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes yesterday during an entertaining coaching conversation. My coaching client is in the process of hiring a marketing person he'd like to be able to promote in the next few months. He was conducting a first round interview and the candidate had some surprising answers. First off, while the candidate wasn't new to the workforce - he'd been working for over five years- he shared "I've never tried to get promoted." That was interesting. Even more intriguing given that he was interviewing for a role at a youth development organization, was that he said "I'm not really a youth development person." To cap it off, he shared that he also wasn't a marketing person. If you're wondering why a self admitted non-youth development, non-marketing person was interviewing for a marketing job at a youth development nonprofit, turns out he was desperate to leave the job he was currently in. I have a hunch he wasn't much of (fill in the blanks) there either. The reason my coaching client invited him to the interview was that he looked great on paper. While it turned out he lacked all these other qualifications, he happened to have a rather unique and technical skills set that was needed. My point here besides sharing this somewhat ironic story of an interview is how limiting labels are! I have no idea what this person's motivations are but I imagine it will be pretty challenging to reach them if he's committing himself to being this or not being that. And these labels are pretty specific to skills and interests. Think of how limiting it is when we decide "I'm not a math person" or "I'm not a creative person". And finally, if we're parents or work with the younger generation, it's even more critical to stay away from these labels. How many would-be athletes, authors etc.. are stopped in their tracks when told at an early age "well, you're not really an athlete, writer...." and on it goes. So, to wrap in my love of Seinfeld, use your Label Baby Junior to label the boxes, clothing and other inanimate objects - not humans! And don't forget to vote! “Hi-ho service away”
- from Serving and Giving by John-Roger and Paul Kaye I love Anonymous Donors! These wonderful individuals are the donors and volunteers that don't want to be thanked for their generosity of spirit. Taken to the extreme, these folks refuse any recognition for their giving of money, time or efforts. That is the true essence of giving and service. I know these wonderful people exist. I’ve worked with them. I’ve rode my bicycle alongside them for miles as they’ve raised money for important causes like Psoriasis and Juvenile Diabetes. I’ve run next to them in marathons for causes that are near and dear to me like combating heart disease or giving the homeless opportunities to get back on their feet. And I’ve signed them in at events, chatted with them over coffee and have had the honor of hearing about their acts of courage. While I said thank you to them, that was the last thing they needed or wanted to hear. They were serving out of love, caring and a quest for change. I was inspired to write about this today thanks to a wonderful book called Serving and Giving by John-Roger and Paul Kaye - it was given to me by my friend and coach Melissa Ford and I highly recommend it. In one section that truly made me smile, they reference the Lone Ranger. As you may remember from the old serial, this hero never waited around to be thanked leaving the townspeople to ask “Who was that masked man?” None other than the Lone Ranger...And your Amazing Anonymous Donors! |
AuthorRobert Grabel is the President of Nonprofit Now! You can find his posts here and at www.robertgrabel.com Archives
August 2022
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