wow moments - bright spot fundraising · wow moments increase fundraising income by adding surprise...

WOWMOMents Increase fundraising income by addingsurprise and delightin three crucial areas

by Rob Woods

WOW Moments

Increase fundraising income by adding

surprise and delight in three crucial areas

by Rob Woods

IntRODUCtIOn

On my way home the other day I stopped at the Pret A Manger at St Pancras station for some tea and a bit of cake before heading for my train. As I took out my wallet, the server smiled and said ‘no charge, this is all on the house.’

You can imagine how after a long, tiring day, and this surprise cheered up my evening considerably. Interestingly, this was not the first time someone at Pret has given me a free cup of tea. In fact it has happened before. Has it ever happened to you?

It turns out that the catalyst for my moment of happiness was only half spontaneous. In the excellent, Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, they explain that Pret a Manger employees are in fact allowed to give away a certain number of hot drinks / food items every week. The Chief Executive of Pret, Clive Schlee estimates that 28% of people have had something free.

Apparently Pret did consider making free stuff available through some kind of loyalty card scheme, but instead chose to make it more spontaneous. In so doing, they have ‘restored the surprise and humanity to perks that, in a loyalty card scheme, would have been systematized.’

More wow increases loyalty and therefore income…

There are two smart business reasons for Pret to be doing this. Not only does it predictably ensure that in any given week, a significant number of customers are being given a pleasant surprise, creating both increased loyalty and positive word of mouth – the first time it happened I was so chuffed that I told several friends and I shared it on twitter. But also, importantly, empowering staff to use their discretion and deliberately ‘break the script’ has a positive effect on staff morale. Seeing my face go from tired to confused to happily surprised when given free cake was probably quite fun for the person who served me.

The Power of Moments, is a fascinating read full of insights that can be applied to many areas of life, including fundraising. In the book, the authors show that we tend not to remember all elements of an experience equally. Instead, our lasting impression of something tends to be disproportionately affected by the best, worst and last moments of that experience, and we largely forget the rest.

Though this strikes a chord with most people’s experience of life, the book points out that too often we fail to deliberately create more positive, ‘wow’ moments, for ourselves and our supporters / customers. There are many reasons for this, but one is that we’re usually so busy dealing with problems, difficult employees, challenging donors etc, (ie we’re in ‘defense mode’) that we rarely have time to proactively create the wow moments.

www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk – Learn more, enjoy more and raise more.

2

Pret’s decision bucks this trend, as does South West Airlines policy of encouraging its flight attendants to bring fun to the most boring parts of the job, such as flight safety announcements. By bringing them to life with jokes, not only do people pay more attention to the safety message because the script has been broken, but they also create positively memorable moments. Because airlines tend to collect lots of data about their customers, Southwest Airlines have even demonstrated a clear benefit to the bottom line in encouraging funny safety announcements. The Heath Brothers report that ‘when loyal customers were on a flight with a funny safety announcement, they on average flew one half-flight more over the next year than did similar customers who hadn’t heard one.’ The Heath Brothers show that there is a huge positive effect on results if you positively break the script more often.

stRAteGY 1. tHAnKInG.

Create WOW moments to help donors feel especially appreciated

In one of my recent Breakfast Clubs for Fundraising Leaders, individual giving expert Craig Linton (aka The Fundraising Detective) gave a fascinating talk about how to deliberately create more positive memorable moments for your donors. Here are just a few of the tactics he has found to work. From the list, my advice is not to look out for ideas that you’ve never had before, but instead to ask yourself how you could deliberately make these activities more likely to happen. The genius of Pret’s strategy is not the giving away of free stuff, it’s that they deliberately help this spontaneity happen more frequently.

1 send birthday and gift anniversary cards. Surprise donors by wishing them a happy birthday or sending them something to celebrate an anniversary of their giving.

2 thank sponsors of Marathon runners on race day. Charities spend a lot of time stewarding people who take part in events, but how much time do you spend on the people who generously sponsor those runners and cyclists? For instance, the day of the event is a great opportunity to send them a thank you message and encouraging them to send a message to cheer on their friend who is doing the race.

3 Thank you films that WOW them. Certain charities, including Charity Water and Send a Cow – their thank you days involve the whole organisation - have worked really hard at creating fantastic films to thank donors.

4 ‘I saw this and thought of you’. Send a press clipping on a subject that you know the supporter is interested in or have given to before.

5 Your thank you page. When someone makes an online donation, what page do you send them to on your website? Is it personalised? Does it tell a story? Could you use video to make people feel great about having donated?

6 Make it stand out. Adding a Post-it note, handwritten message or even using a different colour pen, all get your message noticed and make it feel more personal. (In a recent course for the Bright Spot Members Club, Charly White demonstrated the marked uplift in giving from mid-level donors when they receive more personalised, high-touch communication).


3

WOW MOMENTSIncrease fundraising income by adding surprise

and delight in three crucial areas

stRAteGY 2. COnneCt PeOPLe tO WHY tHeY CARe

Create WOW moments to inspire people.

In 20 years in fundraising I have found that two of the biggest challenges for any fundraiser in conversation with a potential supporter are a) holding their attention – there are so many distractions, both in people’s heads and in our forever-bleeping, interrupting environment; and b) saying something that impresses them, that causes them to think, ‘wow, you’re really making a difference to a problem I care about.’

On my Programmes a tactic we explore is ‘breaking the script’, which can help solve both problems. When someone stops concentrating on a conversation, lecture or TV programme its often because their brain has predicted what’s going to be said next, and decided it won’t be worth more mental resources to pay attention. To counteract this, when we deliberately ‘break the script’, we are really giving the other person’s mental ‘guessing machine’ a JOLT, that is, something different from what they had expected. This causes them to pay attention and potentially think ‘wow’.

Done badly, they’ll think you’re using a tacky gimmick or are a bit weird. Done elegantly, with rapport and in tune with what the supporter cares about, breaking the script is a powerful way to make these conversations work out for both you and them.

So how can we break the script? One great example from the world of hospitality is cited by Chip and Dan Heath in their 2017 book “The Power of Moments; Why certain experiences have extraordinary impact”, and describes the adventures of ‘Joshie the Giraffe’ at a Ritz-Carlton resort in Florida. An author named Chris Hurn had recently returned from a family holiday only to discover that his son’s beloved soft toy – Joshie the Giraffe – had been left behind at the resort. Chris contacted the hotel to ask them to look for Joshie and what happened next really ‘broke the script’; not only was the toy located and returned, but it was sent back with a photo album containing numerous pictures of Joshie living it up at the resort in the absence of his owners. He was in the spa (complete with cucumber slices over his eyes), he was lounging by the swimming pool, he was driving a golf buggy - it was the playfulness and goodwill of the Ritz-Carlton staff who implemented this relatively simple and inexpensive gesture that made the story so memorable and sharable.

As a fundraiser there are many ways you can apply this idea. Here are three of the tactics we talk about on our Major Gifts and Corporate Mastery Programmes.

PropsBringing your message to life with a prop. William Wilberforce - one of the leading campaigners for the ending of the slave trade in the 1780s and 1790s – used to take with him a genuine slaver’s iron ball and chain to meetings to bring his arguments to life. Tactile, tangible objects can encourage interaction and more successfully engage the supporters’ attention. A little effort here makes all your meetings more interesting. Whether it’s the packet of rehydration salts or plumpy nut that some charities take to meetings, or a book designed to make the issue of breast cancer more meaningful to a child (but which you’re able to show an adult donor), or taking with you an example of a cause related marketing product your charity has already created, being able to touch something can greatly help them feel the power of your message.


4



Focus on their needs

Though we can get very excited thinking through some of the ‘going the extra mile’ creative tactics like those I mention above, this one is an even more important way we must break the expected paradigm. On the Major Gifts, and Corporate Mastery Programmes one of the most common types of breakthrough that participants tell us about is progress they have achieved in recent meetings with wealthy donors. Invariably they say that this improved meeting outcome started with the decision to truly care about the donor and what they could get out of this meeting / relationship.

As I say in my book ‘The Fundraiser Who Wanted More’ - If you really seek to influence someone, you must first seek to understand and appreciate their world. It’s all too easy to say too much early on, to gush your mission statement and fulfil the expected charity script: “Charity needs funds. Charity explains what funds are needed for. Charity asks for donations.”

By shifting the focus of the meeting onto what the potential donor cares about (if only we can confidently give them the space to articulate it) then we have a chance of later on showing them that our charity is a means to solve one of the problems in the world that the donor cares about. I appreciate that this sounds obvious to any smart fundraiser, it’s just that doing it in practice is not always easy. And this is why mastery programme participants are so pleased when they make progress with the confidence and skill to do it well. This idea was demonstrated really effectively last year by a University fundraiser called Stephanie who had attended one of my programmes; Stephanie told us she had had a meeting with a potential donor that started badly, as the donor – a busy and stressed lawyer – criticised the University’s strategy. Rather than respond defensively, Stephanie found a way to confidently listen and care about his frustrations. As she sought to genuinely understand and appreciate his world, the focus of the meeting magically seemed to shift to an entirely new conversation and ended with the donor enthusiastically committing to a new donation of £12,000 - nearly double the size of any gift he had given before.

So what could you do to break the script in your next meeting with a donor? Whether you embrace just one tactic, or several, it’s important that you make your communication both caring (about their perspective) and sufficiently script-breaking to help them connect and care. This doesn’t necessarily need big budgets and big gestures – taking the time to listen to your supporters and thanking them with a personalised flourish can make a difference quickly and simply.


5



stRAteGY 3. MORe tIMe WItH DOnORs.

Design WOW moments to secure more conversations and add inspiration

If you’re fed up with donors not responding when you try to get in touch, and if some of the prospects you meet just don’t seem to grasp how powerful your cause is, the strategic ‘peak moments’ approach can help, here are three more ideas to inspire you.

A Made to make your mouth water – twist an every day activity

When we worked with the Stroke Association recently, one member of the team explained how new volunteers are trained. Taking a pack of Opal Fruits (Starbursts for anyone born after 1990) they ask you to hold them in your weaker hand and using

only that hand try to open the packet, then take one out and unwrap it. It’s one thing to read these words, and consider the idea intellectually, and quite another to actually experience the sensations when you do it.Most people are taken back at how exhausting it is, for your mind as well as your hand.

There may be no equivalent activity for your cause, but it is well worth exploring this idea. In our experience, the person most likely to know of some activity that evokes your cause is either someone whose job it is train volunteers, or for instance helpline staff about the nature of the problems your beneficiaries face.

Or even better, some charities help children to understand an important issue, for example when someone in your family has a particular disease. If yours does, whose job is it to bring that to life in a clear and compelling way? There’s a good chance they’ve already (had to) find either an activity that elegantly evokes some element of that problem. Or perhaps they’ve just found there’s a metaphor which simply helps those children or volunteers understand this concept.

Could you adapt this way of communicating to your conversations or pitches with (potential) supporters?

B Flower power – appreciate / compliment their world

‘If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.’Mother theresa

Apparently, roughly 4,400 families will have learned their child has cancer this year. While many charities make liberal use of the large numbers of people who suffer a particular problem, our experience is that in practice this does little to help your listener or reader actually take any action to support.

Another concept we teach on our Corporate Mastery Programme is the importance of finding ways to schedule an informal tea / coffee meeting with potential partners, rather than seeking partnerships / money from a distance. But getting these meetings is not always easy in practice, which is why we teach 5 powerful strategies for improving your results in this crucial area.

One wise fundraiser wanted to set up an informal meeting with one of her Dream 10 partners, a high end florist company, and liked the creativity and boldness of what we call the ‘WOW’ approach, which involves sending them something so surprising (yet relevant) that they can’t help but call you back.


6



7



She created 12 home-made replica red roses and sent them in a box, alongside a story about one family whose child had been diagnosed with cancer, and had been hugely helped by the services provided by the charity (and funded by supporters). Why did she send 12 roses instead of just one? Because 12 is the number of children diagnosed with cancer in the UK each day. Do you agree that twelve / day was much more meaningful than 4,400 per year? The flower company must have thought so - it helped set-up a conversation with them from scratch.

To be clear, we’ve found that talking about the scale of a problem is often not the best topic if you want to help someone really care, but when it is the right thing to do, how could you bring that number down to a level that is tangible? And how could you put it in terms that are meaningful to your supporter’s world?

C Help them feel something – then they might see what you mean.

“Language is often abstract, but life is not abstract.” As Chip & Dan say in their first book Made to Stick. We tend to hold on to and remember what we can feel and visualise, rather than what is complicated and unknown.

That’s one reason the 12 red roses per day concept was effective. And its why experiencing the struggle to open Opal Fruits can give you that ‘aha’ feeling at a different level to just hearing the idea explained.

One attendee on our programme liked this concept so she sent her proposal to a well known wine maker rolled up inside a wine bottle, with a bespoke label printed around the bottle. Every other charities’ proposal arrived as a PDF by email and it’s no surprise that the fundraiser who took the risk was invited to pitch.

If you have attended one of our in-house Influencing Supporters Masterclasses, you will probably have been asked to look through some bubble wrap at the letter E. Within seconds of looking through folded bubble wrap the E disappears; when you fold the wrap again you can no longer distinguish colour, and finally, looking through three layers, you can’t even see light. In the space of 25 seconds it’s possible to experience a rough simulation of losing your eyesight, without any need for a virtual reality machine. It’s a powerful technique that Sightsavers has been using to help conversations with supporters for years.

The huge letter E we lose sight of, is the same E that’s on the top of an optician’s eye test chart. The biggest letter, the one most of us will always be able to see. Gone in seconds.

One thing that these four examples have in common is they’ve not leapt straight to talking about what their charity does / what they want, in their own language. Instead, they’ve tried hard to, as Rob explains in his book The Fundraiser Who Wanted More, to see the supporters’ point of view, their context. In the book he says:

‘If you want to influence someone, first seek to understand and appreciate their world.’

In these examples the fundraiser has either looked at the specific domain that the supporter / potential partner operates in (flowers / wine) or they’ve taken an every day experience that is likely to be familiar to most of us (unwrapping a sweet / looking through a clouded window), to keep rapport and make it easier to help people experience that ‘aha’ or WOW moment.

I appreciate that each one of these examples is probably different to the kind of partners / supporters you (want to) talk to, and also that if your cause is different to these ones, this approach may appear more difficult. It’s unlikely that you’ll be able to literally copy these bright spots. Rather, I’ve tried to give you a sense that in our experience, gathering more insight and then being more brave and creative with how you build inspiring relationships with supporters, does tend to pay off.



To put these ideas into practice:

1 HeLP tHe PennY DROP - Is there an important concept to do with your cause / charity’s service which is often mis-understood? What ideas do you have for how you could bring it to life with some kind of informal demonstration? Crucially, if you don’t have any ideas, who could you talk to in your organization who is most likely to be able to share their techniques and metaphors?

2 Get MORe CHAts WItH PARtneRs / sUPPORteRs - Think of a partner (or supporter or donor) who you’d love to set up an informal coffee meeting with. As you’re probably aware, at Bright Spot we teach lots of powerful techniques to help you succeed in this area without needing to be creative, but for today, if you were to take this creative / WOW approach, what could you try?

WAnt tO LeARn LOts MORe AnD Get HeLP IMPLeMentInG tHIs APPROACH In YOUR FUnDRAIsInG?

If you’re curious about attending the full WOW Your Donors training day which we run twice / year, please get in touch via our website and we’ll let you know when the next one is going to be held. Or to find out more about our Corporate Partnerships Mastery or Major Gifts Mastery Programmes, visit www.brightspotfundraising /services or visit the site and drop us a note requesting a quick chat. Or if you’d like to explore the idea of asking us to deliver a bespoke workshop on ‘WOW’ or ‘Influencing Donors’ within your charity, we’d be happy to talk this through. Visit www.brightspotfundraising.co.uk.

8



wow moments - bright spot fundraising · wow moments increase fundraising income by adding surprise...

Documents