Listening to Donors Wilson AFP 2 08

8/14/2019 Listening to Donors Wilson AFP 2 08

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Listening to DonorsPart of a Winning Gifts Strategy

AFP WebconferenceFebruary 19, 2008

Tom Wilson, Vice President & Western Region

Manager

Weblog @ www.MajorGiftsGuru.com


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Toms Background

Musician by training

First fundraising job consultant

Executive director & CPO All types of staff fundraising

2,700 donor interviews

1,000 asks

Hundreds of millions of dollars raised


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Outcomes of Todays Session

1) Realize its more important to listen than talk

2) Understand how to set up listening systems

3) Comprehend the role of listening during ask meetings


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Winning GiftsMake Your Donors Feel Like Winners

I. A Winning Gift for Your Donor

1) People Centered Fundraising

2) Donor Values

3) Listen

II. Winning Gifts for Your Organization

4) Make Your Case

5) The Win Win Ask

6) Thanks & Stewardship


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1) Identify, Qualify & Research

2) Introduce, Interact

& Connect

3) Interests &

Needs (Listen)

4) Inform & Deepen Understanding

5) Involve, Acknowledge

& Engage

6) Invest, Recognize &

Steward

With thank to BuckSmith & TomHolce

The Six Is of Philanthropic Fundraising


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Why Is Listening Important?

1) Listening can lead you to making

a) A higher gift request

b) At a better time

c) To the right person

2) Collective listening can provideenhancements for all aspects

of your fundraising program

3) Listening keeps you motivated, its fun


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Take a Marketing Approach

Marketing starts with the customer

Become people centered

What do they need?

What do they value?

Listen before you sell

Break the cycle

Dont make an ask at every donor meeting


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Why Is Listening Important?

The questions, What do customers value? What

satisfies their needs, wants, and aspirations? is

so complicated that it can only be answered by

customers themselves.

And the first rule is that there are no irrational

customers. Almost without exception, customers

behave rationally in terms of their own realities and

their own situation.

Peter Drucker, Self Assessment Tool


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Collective Listening

Board strategic planning summits

Evaluation forms

Special events

Board meetings

Committee meetings


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Collective Listening

Written Engagement Surveys (mail and email)

Leadership Briefing Focus Groups

Straw polls

Paper ballots

Color cards

Electronic meeting


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Individual Listening

Thank you visits

Get acquainted

$1,000 or more gifts

Request gift designation

$5,000 or more


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Kaizen calls

Continuous process improvement

Discovery calls

Qualified prospects

Long duration small donors (estate?)


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Gift club benefit testing

The Philanthropic Market Study (feasibility study)

Supplemental interviews by staff

Readiness interviews (after a study)

The best prospect research is talking to theprospective donor


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Listening to Corporations


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Listening to Foundations


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The One a Day plan


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Zen of Listening

Rebecca ShafirSilence is virtuous in its ability to make your speaker

feel good about himself.

Silence allows the speakers deeper thoughts tosurface, thoughts that often contain solutions to

problems.

When you allow your speaker the time to think out

loud in a supportive environment, you set the stagefor her empowerment, and she will want to be in your

company more often.


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Listening Tools

Have a set of questions on a form

Use a notepad to show you are listening

Capture your interactions in contact reports

Be patient with your listening

You may only get a small sound bite at eachmeeting

One reason it can take 6 meetings for a big gift


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Requesting a Listening

Meeting


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Questions

1) What do you do for a living?2) What other nonprofits are you involved with?

3) How did you get involved with our organization?

4) What does your spouse / partner do?

Any children?

What are they up to?

5) What is your philanthropic giving philosophy?

6) Where do we rate in your philanthropic causes?7) What questions do you have about our organization?

8) Have you been on a site visit? What impressions?


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Donor comments

from a 60 minute

meeting

Rough notesmade at themeeting

barely legibleeven to the writer

Contact Report

Full thoughts forin-depth futurereference by institution

Listening

Permanence

Flow Chart


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The 25 Habits of Highly Successful

Sales People Stephan SchiffmanTaking notes during your meeting with the prospect

helps you listen, puts you in a position of authority,

encourages your prospect to open up, and sends

positive signals . . . .

Theres something about having an empty sheet of

paper in front of you that really tunes you in to what is

being said, and makes it more difficult for your to missimportant points.


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Listening Tips


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Talking & Listening

The average person

Talks at a rate of around 150 words per minute

Listens at a rate of 500 words per minute

Are you really listening?

Is your donor really listening to you?


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Share Yourself


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Restate to Clarify

What Youve Heard


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CHEER Method of Listening

Carolyn Thompson

Interviewing Techniques for Managers

C Concentrate

Get rid of distractions so you can focus

H Hear totally

Words, voice, and body languageE Empathize

Think of a time you were in the same situation

E Elicit information

Ask questions and paraphraseR Remember

Take notes in your interview tool


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Listen Up

Larry Barker, PhD & Kittie Watson, PhD

People Oriented Listeners

Listens to understand the emotions of others

Action Oriented Listeners Prefers to listen in outline form

Content Oriented Listeners

Carefully evaluates everything they hear Time Oriented Listeners

Clock watches


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Six Parallel Ways of Thinking

White Thinking Hat

Objective facts

Red Thinking Hat

Subjective emotions

Yellow Thinking Hat

Valuable benefits

Black Thinking Hat

Careful assessments

Green Thinking Hat Creative modifications

Blue Thinking Hat

Focus and organization


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Constructive DissentPeter Drucker

All the first-rate decision makers Ive observed had a

very simple rule:

If you have quick consensus on an important matter,dont make the decision. Acclamation means

nobody has done the homework.

Trust requires that dissent come out in the open.


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The Tipping PointMalcolm Gladwell

The Stickiness Factor

A message with a memorable impact

The Law of the Few

Mavens: people who accumulate knowledge

Connectors: know lots of people, deliver a message

Salesmen: can persuade the unconvinced

The Power of Context

The big impact of setting and small factors


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Listening During the Ask

Dont over present

Make sure your prospect gets equal time

As youre presenting, is your prospect listening?

Watch nonverbal cues


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Give the donor a written proposal

Youve given them a lot to think about

They need to convince others


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Why Is The Pregnant Pause

Important?


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Ask questions to determine objections

Empower their thoughts, doubts, questions

So if understand what you are saying, you mean . . .

Tell me more

Restate the questions before answering


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What would you like to see happen next?

What do you want to accomplish with this gift?


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The Philanthropic Fundraisers Job

Chief Listener

Listen to build relationships

Listen to sharpen your programs, strengthen case

Listen to draw out comments, questions, andobjections

Adults learn by challenging, questioning


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Listen for gifting noises

Cues and clues that money

is coming


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When Youre Invited to Listen


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Identify Your Top 25 Donors &

Go Listen to Them Call just to say thank you

Personally visit to find out why they gave &

who they are

Build a relationship over time

Find out their philanthropic values

Test a gift club, event, activity


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Prioritizing Your Listening Calls

Top Down

Inside Out

Old

Leadership Gifts:75% of Goal

Major Gifts:20% of Goal

Gifts of All Types:5% of Goal


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Top Down

Inside Out

Old

Constituents

Community

Board & Staff


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Top Down

Inside Out

Old


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How to Raise Funds (Circa 1891)Frederick T. Cates in Study in Powerby Allen Nevins

9. Let the victim talk freely, especially in the earlier partof the interview, while you use the opportunity tostudy his peculiarities.

10. Never argue with him. Never contradict him. If he istalkative, let him talk, talk, talk. Give your fish the reeland listen with deep interest.


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Tom Wilson(877) 957-0000 x8930

[email protected]

Weblog www.MajorGiftsGuru.com

Outcomes of Todays Session

1) Realize its more important to listen than talk

2) Understand how to set up listening systems

3) Comprehend the role of listening during ask meetings


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ResourcesRafael Aguayo Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality

(New York: A Fireside Book, Simon & Schuster, 1990).Larry Barker, Ph.D. and Kittie Watson, Ph.D. Listen Up: At Home, at Work, in

Relationships: How to Harness the Power of Effective Listening(New York: St.Martins Griffin, 2000).

Stephen R. Covey, The 8th Habit: from Effectiveness to Greatness (New York: FreePress, 2004).

Richard A. KruegerFocus Groups: A Practical Guide for Applied Research, SecondEdition (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 1994).

Matt Oechsli The Art of Selling to the Affluent(New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.,2005).

Stephan Schiffman, The 25 Sales Habits of Highly Successful Salespeople(Holbrook, MA: Bob Adams, Inc., 1994).

Rebecca Z. Shafir, The Zen of Listening: Mindful Communication in the Age of

Distraction (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books Theosophical Publishing House, 2000).Carolyn B. Thompson, Interviewing Techniques for Managers (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2002).

Thomas D. Wilson, Winning Gifts: Make Your Donors Feel Like Winners (New York:Wiley & Sons, 2008).

Documents

Listening to Donors Wilson AFP 2 08