Episode 37: Getting Prospects and Donors to Decision Points

Welcome to another edition of “Around with Randall,” Your weekly podcast on making your nonprofit more effective for your community. And here is your host, the CEO and founder of Hallett Philanthropy, Randall Hallett. 

I appreciate you being here today on another edition of, “Around with Randall,” today's subject is more of a challenge in the Moves Management Process. As we're coming out of COVID and this is not an issue that only deals with this time and place, but also traditionally, at least in my experience. Coming out of COVID, I have had a number of gift officers when we look at the last quarter of their particular fiscal year – so, they're entering into the last three months, last 90 days of that fiscal year and they need to be closing gifts. We spend in our conversations as a part of what I do a lot of time talking about strategy. How are you going to close this gift? What are the opportunities to do so? What is possible in terms of ensuring that the gift becomes a possibility? 

What I have found is that a number of gift officers seem to be struggling with where their prospects are. In fact, many of them say, I don't know, what they're going to do, or I don't know if they're going to react or I'm not quite sure where we're at. Those to me are answers that cause a lot of consternation on multiple fronts. Number one for the gift officer, because they're not sure what to do next. For the prospect, because they may not know what's coming next. For the organization, who's trying to figure out how do we plan for the end of this year for the dollars that are coming in. And what does this look like for next year to see this person or several people roll over. This impacts goals. This impacts financial expenditure decisions. And thus, I have heard it a number of times and more now than in the past as mentioned, I've come to the conclusion that maybe it's time to think about this a little bit more effectively, and to think about it a little more strategically. What we're really talking about is helping prospects get to decision points.

The first premise I want to start off with is that you can alleviate a lot of these issues if you're getting your pipeline from a very high-quality place. So, a board referral, a faculty referral, a physician referral, someone who has been a donor, and they're being elevated up into the major gift category possibly. Or you're looking to go from a $1,000 annual fund gift to a $5,000 annual fund gift. That the ability to get that prospect from a good place is important. Another option which we've talked about here on “Around with Randall” is using artificial intelligence and really prioritizing likelihood instead of just wealth.

So, the first thing is, is to go back in the process and make sure you're getting your prospects from great places with a door open, or they have a sense of likelihood or connection to your organization. The second major premise is that it is okay to mentally and emotionally and psychologically be ready as a gift officer and as an organization to quote, bless and release a prospect. If we do our job correctly in fundraising and philanthropy, which those of us inside the profession know, but those outside the profession are probably a little bit surprised by two out of every three people we ask, or maybe as many as four or five people that we've tried to begin a relationship with won't end up making a gift either at the gift stage or the solicitation stage or in the qualification stage. We're actually an industry of failure more often than we are successful if we do this correctly. So, it's okay to bless and release people. I think part of the issue is also a fear of many gift officers to let people go out of their portfolios. Well, they might make a gift, I hear, and I say, well, I might be an astronaut someday, but it's probably pretty unlikely. So, we're going to have to move to the understanding that it's okay to bless and release, to lessen or lower our portfolio in terms of numbers. And know that there's a good pipeline or build a good pipeline coming in every year to refresh names that we've blessed and released.

So, why do these moments happen and where do they happen? So, let's start with the why then we'll go to the where, and then we'll get to the tactical about some of the things you can do to help know where a prospect or donor is at. The first is that some of this is psychological.

In COVID we've seen an increase in the number of people that are home-bound, who don't have the social life they once had. I'm hearing more and more cases, particularly those that are maybe just a little bit older, that there is a lot of conversation, and I go back to something I talked about in the various stages of donor cycle, where I did a four-part series in this podcast is John Wooden's thought process of don't confuse activity with accomplishment, the legendary UCLA basketball coach. Activity is great, but the goal is to move people along. So, the first thing is that we have people who don't have their normal life and conversation in terms of virtual, Zoom, Go to Meeting, whatever is much appreciated because they don't have maybe some of that interaction they're used to. Sometimes, it's because they think/believe they don't have enough information. They think I'm missing something. Sometimes we have prospects and donors who don't think they have enough time and this one's an interesting one. We tend to as gift officers, hold on to people in the timeframe much longer than we should. If you're working on a $50 million gift, you take all the time you need to close that gift. If it takes years, it takes years. But on the other end of the spectrum, I'm also aware that it's challenging to have gift officers do 20 cultivation calls for $5,000, $10,000 ask. There's a balance, the lower the dollar amount, the less time it should take to move people through the process. And that needs to be maybe more on our timeframe than their timeframe.

We also know that prospects and donors overall can be held up by pressure. That could be a monetary pressure or an influence, maybe it's timing of the year, maybe it's their business. That's a much different conversation. If something else is pressuring that person or a couple, because time may take care of it and we'll talk about that in a second and some language you can use to get people over those hurdles or to a decision point. Sometimes donors or prospects just can't see what it is that they want, and our job sometimes is to help clear away the fog a little bit, but at the same time, keep the relationship and the opportunity to move along.

So, a lot of different and interesting moving parts here, let's start down into the tactical. So, let's start at the 25,000-foot view. The first thing I would recommend if you're at a situation where you're not quite sure where the next move is at and in qualification, that's not knowing either capacity or interest. In cultivation, you're not quite sure what the next thing is you should do. In asking and closing, more closing, you're not sure if they're going to sign the gift agreement, make the gift. 

So, the first thing is to analyze behavior, think about, or try to determine the motive for that indecision or stalling. We'll get some language on that here in just a moment.

Number two, verbalize the benefit of them moving forward. Your gift can make a difference. Your gift can do exactly what you intend, which is this. Help them see the outcome and the possibility. Third, offer encouragement, and sometimes that encouragement is I work with a lot of individuals who struggle at this point. Their willingness or ability to move forward can make a big difference. Encouragement, a positive outlook, a smile can make all the difference in building rapport and trust and getting someone to think about what's possible next. Finally, as we discussed at the top if you're not at a place where you think you can move them forward in some way, shape, or form wherever they are in the donor cycle or moves management process walk away. It doesn't mean you're throwing them away. It just means you're going to be less active in the relationship. If they call you, take the call. But it's our job to be affirmative and outgoing with the people we think that are going to help our organization financially. Sometimes that's tough for gift officers to accept. 

So, if we start there, let's go down to 10,000 feet. Another piece of advice-- don't make this about you as a gift officer, this is about their journey. We're the conduit. We're the ability for them to see how their support, their engagement can change lives with whatever kind of nonprofit you represent. It's about what they're going through and still at this 10,000-foot level, try to resist giving advice too much. You're better off asking questions. We're going to get to that 500-foot tactical here in a second and they're all questions. If you give your opinion, you might overreach or underreach where they're at or completely misconstrue what they're thinking. But if you ask questions, you allow them to guide you as a gift officer with this decision point.

So, what's the 500-foot level tactical. Let me kind of look at it from the end back. I've always believed that there is a worse answer than no. No, I don't want to make a gift to the organization. No, I'm not interested in more information. No, I really don't want to be engaged in a conversation about what the organization's trying to do. There's actually a worse answer. When the gift officer says to me, I don't know what to do. I don't know where they're at. We, in this industry sometimes, and probably becoming more and more consistent in what we need to be thinking about, need to be forcing prospects respectfully, politely, but appropriately into yes-no decisions.

And really that's the essence of the 500-foot tactical. If you're in the qualification stage, you've heard me talk about it consistently that 80% of what we should be looking for is likelihood, affinity, not wealth. I'm not saying wealth is not a part of the equation. It's just 20%. So, the tactical at 500 feet asking that question, if you're not sure if they think they're qualified for likelihood, you can ask them a question. Gosh, do you see yourself supporting our organization based on your experience? They’re a grateful patient, based on your experience, Dr. Smith, and in our hospital. If it's education, based on your experience years ago when you were a student and trying to help students of today. If it's a social nonprofit, if you work there, gosh, can you see yourself helping us feed 50 people? Or feeding people or housing people or providing educational opportunities by asking the question, you actually get them to that decision point. The key is, is to ask them a yes, no question. I'm a big believer that you don't use yes-no questions very often, but this is the case where you do, because if you ask the question, what do you think? And they say, I don't know, we're back where we started. But if I ask the question, do you think you might be interested in being a part of this? Usually, the answer is going to be, I do, or I don't, so yes, no. 

If you're trying to figure out the amount, I used to work with a gift officer could do this on the phone, better than anybody I'd ever seen on the phone. She would indicate I work with Dr. Smith and primarily I work with him to find support for people who can give $10,000 or more. Do you think that's something you might be interested in? At first, I thought it was kind of abrupt. And then I watched her closure rates and they're off the charts because she took care of the yes, no, on that particular issue upfront, even before she started into cultivation.

So, qualification, interest, capacity, finding out if they have both of those as a part of the package. In cultivation, you could ask, and this is really about soft asking, who else would you like to meet -- the Dean of the school? Would you like to have a conversation with someone who's a scholarship recipient? Would you like to meet the physician? Would you like to meet the CEO? Maybe it's even getting to the point in the cultivation stage of asking, gosh, if I brought you a proposal, would you consider this.

It's that soft ask of, if I ask you to think about X, would it be okay if I brought you a formal proposal to support that? So that soft ask is that decision point and closing is the last place where I see the hole. Closing, we can take some things directly from sales. Let me give you four to consider if you're not sure if someone's going to make the gift. That you've gotten through the cultivation. You have a proposal in front of them. You're not sure what they're going to do. Let me give you a four to think about quickly. Number one is the trial close, a couple of options. One, is it best for us to start your pledge payments? I brought an example of the recognition --can I show it to you? It's almost as if you're assuming that gifts coming to fruition. The summary of benefits close, which may sound something like I'm so excited for the both of us. It sounds like you're really interested, you know, with this gift of $50,000, you would be helping 500 people directly. Can we get this started? Summarize the outcome and the benefit, and then ask the question. Are you ready to move forward? A special concession or impending event – planned giving uses this very well. We're going to be starting a charter group of our heritage society and if we have your paperwork, we could make sure you're included in the initial charter group -- is that of interest? Or in a campaign, you know, your gift could leverage several other opportunities. I hope that you will consider it now so we can follow with these other individuals and their asked because they look to you as a leader, is that acceptable? Is that appropriate? Couple ways to think about it. The last is the direct appeal, you know, very direct as the title says, can we count on your support? Do you think all these elements of the proposal work? Is this gift possible for you? Would you be willing to sign a gift agreement? 

Whether it's the 25,000-foot view of figuring out where they're at the 10,000-foot view of kind of where you should be in it, or the 500-foot view of some tactical things in qualification, cultivation, or closing, getting people to a yes/no decision point can be the difference from knowing for a gift officer, what they should do next. That's going to increase productivity. And it's going to increase the opportunity for you to be successful and for your nonprofit to be successful. Don't forget, it's okay to bless and release people because at the end of the day, if done correctly, there should be another group of people coming behind them that you're going to have very similar conversations with.

I want to remind you, check out the website where the blogs are posted, putting up about three a week, 90-second reads. Just something for you to look at, think about, something I see in the industry or in leadership, in general, might be of interest. If you'd like to email me, I had one today which will probably move into a podcast conversation, podcast@hallettphilanthropy.com. If you disagree with me, that's reeks@hallettphilanthropy.com. And you can watch from the website and the YouTube channel, this podcast, download or subscribe, give it a positive review on Spotify, Downcast, iTunes, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Let me conclude as I do each and every week with the opportunity to say, thank you for what you do. My favorite saying of all time is “Some people make things happen. Some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened.” We are people in this industry. I hope you feel if you're a person in this industry who makes things happen for people who wonder what happened. People who are underserved, not heard, parts of our society that are forgotten, people that are forgotten. I hope you woke up this morning and tomorrow morning and the day after that, knowing that what you're doing is making a difference and you feel great about what you do every day, because that's one of the joys of being a nonprofit and working in a non-profit and serving your community to fill those holes for the people who need the help.

I thank you for doing that each and every day, wherever you are, wherever you're listening, whatever kind of nonprofit you work in. And whether it's a volunteer as a board member or a staff member or a major gift officer and an assistant, support or database, wherever--you're an important part of the bigger picture. And I say, thank you for what you do. I appreciate your time today. Hope this was helpful. We'll look forward to seeing you next time on, “Around with Randall” and don't forget, make it a great day!