Want to watch people who should know better mess up? Big time?
I’ve just read a really good book that does that: Where the Suckers Moon: The Life and Death of an Advertising Campaign by Randall Rothenberg. It’s about Subaru of America’s 1991 search for a breakthrough advertising campaign. (If that sounds boring, it’s not!)
At one point, the Subaru people are talking to top advertising agencies, seeking the one they’ll hire. One of the candidates is TBWA, one of the top Madison Avenue agencies, creator of some classic campaigns. Here’s the scene at the end of TBWA’s presentation:
[The agency leader] concluded his presentation by thumping his fist on the table. “It drives me absolutely nuts that an agency of our quality does not have a car!” he thundered. “It is a personal crusade.” Later, [the Subaru marketing exec] recalled that final thump as the moment TBWA lost its chance for the Subaru account. “When [he] said, ‘I won’t rest until I get a car account … I don’t know what that does for me.”[TBWA] had missed the point. Their presentation was about their agency. It should have been about Subaru.
It’s kind of satisfying to see that failure. I mean, these people were at the top of a super-competitive, high-stakes, mega-money profession. And they made the most rookie sales mistake ever: They made their pitch about themselves, not about their prospective client.
If you want anybody to do anything, you’ll make the conversation about them – their needs, their thoughts, their awesomeness.
Not your own awesomeness.
This is true in fundraising too.
That includes when you’re trying to recruit monthly donors.
There’s no doubt, the reasons you want people to give monthly are very good reasons:
- The annual value of a monthly donor is three or more times higher than that of a general donor.
- Better yet, the annual retention of monthly donors is often above 90%. That’s in a world where it’s often a struggle to keep half of donors year to year.
- You are likely going to save money on outgoing fundraising appeals that have to win hearts and dollars every single time.
- Then there’s the improvement to your cashflow. While most organizations do well the last couple months of the year, the other ten months can be pretty lean.
- With plenty of monthly donors, you can budget more accurately. You know where you stand all year round.
- Monthly donors are among the best prospects for leaving you in their wills.
All around, monthly giving is a high-return, low-cost, steady, year-round income you can count on for years to come.
That’s all true. And it’s all great.
And none of it is why donors choose monthly giving.
Donors choose monthly giving for reasons of their own. And those reasons are something like this:
- Monthly giving is easy. Your donors are busy. They care a lot, but many of them would rather spend less time thinking about their donations and going through the motions of giving.
- It’s convenient. Who wouldn’t choose filling out a form one time over having to repeatedly make a decision about giving? Making decisions is a major source of cognitive stress, and this takes a little of that away. A great phrase to use: “Set it and forget it.” (Because rhymes are memorable!)
- Monthly giving multiplies their impact. Donors love to know how their impact adds up. Talk to them about that! “Your monthly gift of [$XX] will add up to [$XX*12] in a year. Think about how much help you’ll put to work….”
- They’ll get less mail. That’s a great promise to make. Certain donors are concerned about the amount of fundraising mail that’s flowing into their mailboxes. This will cut down on it. Let them know. (A winning outer envelope teaser I’ve tested: “Are you getting too much mail?”
Always think about it from the donor’s point of view. This is probably the greatest (and least understood) secrets to successful fundraising.
Especially moving donors into monthly giving.
Want to know how the big-time fundraisers with big budgets and lots of staff do it? Download the Moceanic ebook, 4 Little-Known Strategies the World’s Top Charities Use to Smash Their Fundraising Targets. It doesn’t take big bucks are a lot of time to connect with donors and build meaningful relationships that pay off – both short-term and long-term.
Related Blog Posts:
- Everything You Need to Know to Master Monthly Giving
- How Greed Can Undermine Your Monthly Giving Program
- 5 Steps to Launch a Successful Monthly Giving Program
