Episode 179: The Questions in Relationship Development | During Qualification (Part 2 of 5)
Welcome to another edition of Around with Randall, your weekly podcast for making your nonprofit more effective for your community. And here is your host, the CEO and founder of Hallett Philanthropy, Randall Hallett.
It's a great day right here on this edition of Around with Randall. We talked today as part two of a five part series on the questions in relationship development. In part two today, we talk about qualification.
If you remember last time, we talked about the key four, five, six questions in the prospect management pipeline design, pipeline engagement that is so important to our year over year work. Today, we move into the first kind of one on one or maybe one on two or one on family conversations, discussions, relationship opportunities with people. And I might add with corporations and foundations as well, because frankly, corporations and foundations don't actually make decisions people in them do. So much of what we talk about can be applicable there as well.
Our goal is to address this prominent annual giving perspective from a plan giving perspective, major gifts even into the principal gift area. These questions are the some of the ones you need to be able to answer and be ready for as you go through the relationship building process.
So the first question when we talk about qualification here is am I ready to call people, to reach out? Am I ready to go? I find quite often that gift officers and I would throw myself into this, not only in my time, 18 plus years on the practice, the practitioner side, but now in the consulting side when I think about business development, this is a hesitancy. There is a psychological perspective that really needs to be developed to elevate these discussions, these opportunities to the level they need to be, to be effective.
Most people don't like to reach out and talk to people that they don't know. Recently had a relative who had a little bit of an issue in the house and they have a maintenance agreement service that prioritizes them when these situations arise. There was hesitancy even though it's a paid for service to call a number of someone that they didn't know at an odd time, it's just human nature.
Only once or twice in my career up to this point, so 27, almost 28 years, have I run into a scenario or situation where or someone really who loves doing this, boy, do the two of them stand out, they were good at it, they really could at it. Most of us, this is in our favor in activity.
The first part is psychological and a part of that is understanding that more people should be if you're doing this correctly. We'll tell you no then they will tell you yes. There's a shield that goes up. You need some kind of what I'll think of as a qualification shield or a calling shield. I am not going to take this personally.
If you do this process, any phone call, any outreach, however you want to look at it, decently or even not all that decently but not offensive, the reason people choose not to want to meet with you, engage with you, have conversations with you, isn't because of you. They have other things going on in their life. They have other priorities. It's not the right time. It's a lot of different reasons.
The first thing is this psychological shield and a lot of that comes from and you've heard me talk about it in previous podcasts when I talk about the idea of being self-actualized, that podcast was probably in the first year of all the podcasts, but it's an important one if you're looking for something to think about and how you can grow.
I believe in Abraham Maslow's just hierarchy of needs, the idea of self-actualization. The more self-actualized you are, just as a 15-second refresher, self-actualized isn't perfection. It's knowing who you are and knowing that you need to improve in certain areas.
The basic term I try to, or example I try to put to it, and this is Randall Hallett, not Abraham Maslow, I'm not that smart, can you look in the mirror and go, "I like that person. They're okay." That reflection of you coming back is, "Doesn't mean you're perfect. Doesn't mean you don't even know the places you can improve."
But self-actualization is a position in your mind and your heart and your soul. I'm headed the right direction. I gotta get better, but I am okay with what I see in the mirror. Self-actualization is that heart of the calling process that's so important because at the end of the day, you have to be okay with you and how you talk to people, how you do outreach, the things that you choose to talk about, the people you choose to talk with, the more you have that, the more likely you are to have that shield and be able to take that note.
The second part of the question, "Am I ready to call?" is it all about where you call from? Lot of different options here. Some people like closed offices, some people like cubicles, some people like their car, some people like home rather than the office.
The key is really just a couple of fold. Number one, can you dial in? My term that I use with my two children all the time. Can you dial in? Or whatever period of time you're gonna do this, can you focus? Number two, in that focus, can you reduce the distractions? Even if you're doing it in the playhouse out in the backyard, if there are woodpeckers heck it all the time and they bother you, I don't care if there are no people there, that becomes then an environment that is not conducive because you're not focused.
The same vein can be true on the opposite side of the spectrum where you can dial in in areas and you have a open cubicle, so to speak, and you can put on a headset and you don't hear anybody and you can focus everyone out of the thought process just to make the phone calls? But I'm telling you that if you can't when you think about getting ready to call, focus, dial in, remove whatever distractions there are, you will find ways to not make those calls.
Number one, can you be ready? Are you ready to make those calls to reach out? Number two, am I calling the right people? I've said this over and over. I can't say it enough, as I'll say it here again. We have become all too addicted to the idea of well-screening. They're wealthy, as you go talk to them.
They may be wealthy and maybe you should talk to them, but that's not the reason why. Likelihood has to be the strongest reason rather than wealth that we should engage with people, that we choose who we speak to and how we try to engage or bring forth the relationship.
The reason that we want them to be at the top of our list is that they want in some way have some indicators to talk with us. It's important to them rather than just us trying to force the issue. There's lots of different ways of doing this.
The most likely are your most loyal donors. I tend to find when I'm working with clients and help them run reports, I look for consecutive years giving or most gifts in particular like the last five or seven years. I find people who've given 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 times and they literally have not been called. When you ask why, they say, "Well, they're not very high on the wealth screening." I'm like, "They're giving you a recurring gift every month on a credit card." It may not be a billion dollars, but man, somebody values this. Somebody should check to see why.
I'll throw this out there for you. I'm the primary example. Beginning of my career or life with my wife and career as we kind of brought the two together almost at the same time, we were budget donors. I budgeted monthly because I'm a budget. I want to make sure we're cash positive, put money in retirement, savings, emergency, say for house, all those things many years ago. So I would give every month. I still do do one or two of them and of these charities that I value.
It's always amazing to me. I don't get a phone call. I don't think. I'm 20 years in, 25 years in on one of them who I really value. It has a huge impact on my life. Every month, 12 times, 25, you do the math. That's 300 gifts. You think someone might ask, "Why are they giving so much?" Nobody does.
There are also, if you don't have that list, the lie-bunds and side-bunds, making sure you stay in touch with people and elevate conversations. It's based on connections for universities in higher ed or even down into high schools as we see the growth there in public education and philanthropy and fundraising, alums, current parents.
If it's health care, it's patients and families. If it's social service, it's those that are more likely than not to want to help basic outreach into the community. The other thing that we can really rely upon is referrals. When a board member, physician, educator, volunteer, campaign chair, even then maybe not as much into the volunteers, but the senior executive team says, "I had this conversation at the Country Club, at the Yacht Club, at the Wine Tasting, at a Christmas party, at the play or musical, concert, football game." They really, "What were we doing? I'd like to talk. We should talk with them." If they can introduce you to that, that's an indication of likelihood. They're willing to accept the meeting.
The second answer to the question, or our second question, is, "Don't forget likelihood when we answer this critical question and qualification. Am I talking to the right people?" Number three is, am I contacting people enough?
All too often in this beginning stage, I have gift officers when I say, "Well, it's only about your outreach. We've got someone we think is likely. We're using artificial intelligence or referral. They were a grateful patient. They were on a lump. They've given lots of gifts. How'd you reach out to them?" They say, "Well, I called them once and left a voicemail."
My comments always the same. And call them again and email them, then call them again. You call them again, then email them, then email them, then call them again. My rule of thumb, consistent, I hope, is there needs to be five outreaches for any one time you want to speak to someone.
Three calls, two emails, two emails, three phone calls, two emails, a text, and two calls. I don't care. The minimum calls is two. I'd prefer three. Heaped out over several weeks and then some kind of follow-up text email along with it. It's just fine. If you want to call somebody five times, that's fine.
What we find is that in that third, fourth, and fifth call, you're more likely to get a response or at least something coming back. I know I'm busy and my life is crazy. I mean, I have my company. I have my family. There's pretty much the only two things I do.
But inside those things, I'm coaching soccer and basketball and baseball and other things. I'm going to football games with my kids down the Lincoln. I have a lot of interaction with my mom with my unbelievably talented, wonderful sisters. We're going to weddings. I've got my professional. I've got books. I've got clients. I've got speaking opportunities.
If you don't try a couple times, likelihood is that I am pretty busy. It's not that I don't want to talk to you. Sometimes it's just a matter of I can't keep up. I am no different than anybody else. If you're only calling someone once or sending an email and hoping for them to respond, you're putting all the onus on their responsibility and you're giving up control of this qualification process.
The key answer to the question isn't really, are you contacting people enough and you give a number of calls? The answer to the question that's appropriate is, are you owning the process that is that outreach? Or are you just allowing them to control it to choose when they respond? If you're waiting, you're going to wait a long time.
Number three, are you contacting people enough, making enough effort? Number four, are we actually qualifying someone? So maybe this is moving into the meeting portion or the one-on-one discussion. So we know there are two pieces of the qualification process. There's likelihood and capacity. Likelihood should be 80% of the discussion. That we need to be asking for the ability and figuring out why they would be interested in our particular needs, connection, to back to the organization we represent. And that's all tied to figuring out what's important to them. We need to be willing to ask for their opinion.
This is this old adage which I use probably all too often. If you ask somebody for money, you'll get advice. If you ask them for advice, you're more likely to get money. In this qualification, twenty-thirty-minute discussion you might have asking them about the organization. Where do we fit into the community? Why is it important? Do you think this is important? All of those things drive towards this idea of likelihood and investigation. I.e. Just deal from the hearty boys. Being a detective.
Why is it that they're likely? We tend to try to figure out as much as we can about wealth. Now, I'll come back to likelihood in a second because this is kind of the second subpoint. There's a wealth component to this. You probably have responsibilities regarding what level of giving you're dealing with. In giving annual giving leadership annual giving major gifts, major gifts at ten thousand, major gifts at twenty-five thousand. There's all kinds of ranges. You need to try to qualify their wealth or their willingness to give at that level that's appropriate for you. Your job responsibility. But that does not overcome outweigh the first and most important piece. Are they likely to want to engage?
The second part of this is the formalization that you actually are looking for a yes. Yes, they're likely to engage about a gift at some point. And number two, that they have the means to make the gift. All too often when I look inside people's prospect management system, they're portfolio, and I see people and they don't have plans. I mean, there's no plan for how to move them towards a gift. They tell me they're really nice. I love having coffee with them. They make sure that I'm a priority when I call and we can go have lunch, whatever, play golf. I'm like, yeah, but are they going to make a gift eventually? The goal is to move people towards a gift opportunity, not just to be their friend. So not only is likelihood, are they willing to respond to you, but are they likely to move into a gift conversation at an appropriate time? If they're not, then you're not actually qualifying.
The last piece of this question, number four, are we really qualifying? Is do we have a desire and understanding and a willingness to bless and release people? Are we willing to bless and release them if they don't likely or have the means to make the gift of the level we are? And bless and release may mean move them to someone else. If you are a major gift officer and you'd like, boy, they're likely, but we're asking the right questions, but it's very clear they can't make a $25,000 gift, which is kind of the first level gift I deal with, then you're going to bless and release them maybe to an annual fun person. But if you're not willing to prioritize likelihood, if you only depend on wealth and you're not willing to ask their opinion to figure out what they're interested in, what is meaningful to them. And you're not at the appropriate level and you're not willing to bless and release and you're not willing to move them to a gift opportunity, then you're not really qualifying, which means you're just spinning your wheels.
Number four, are we really qualifying? Number five is a truly tactical thing in the last for this particular podcast, questions of qualification. Key relationship development process. Are you always thinking about the next step? Tickling in qualification. It's a yes, no. At a certain point, you just have to ask, do you want to talk about giving at this particular level or this particular project? Do you have any interest? At some point, you have to move into a yes and no, because that gets you into the next step. If the answer is no, they're not interested. They do not qualify. There's a reason that it doesn't work that they're not interested. Then there's a couple next steps, real simple. Well, we have a program that our CEO really embraces that asks people to support us at the $1,000 leadership level. Is that something I could leave you some paperwork on that you might consider? Can you make a pledge? If you've done all the work you got in front of somebody, you might as well ask them for $500, $1,000. What's worse thing they can say? Then, back to that blessing release.
The next step in the know is ask them and let them go. The next step on the yes gets more complicated and that's where we'll head next time into the cultivation pieces. But there's a step here. You need to be able to figure out quite quickly. How do I get back in front of them? Did they have a really big question that I can answer by bringing them in on a tour or having them meet somebody? Do we have a program where our CEO is out talking with people all the time or inviting people in? I include them in that. Do they want to see the organization from a different perspective if they were, you know, if you're in higher ed and they're 65 years old, would they like to come back to sit in a class? Like to re-experience what it's like. Healthcare, would you like a back door backstage tour? Whatever that is, you need to be thinking about the next step. Just to get the door open to move into cultivation. It is much easier if you set it up at the end of your qualification discussion than it is to restart the discussion, brush, or maybe even forgotten when you have to call them the next time. So think about that next step. What are you trying to accomplish? And if the answers you're trying to move them into more discussion, then what's the next step? What are the options? When is that going to happen? How do you follow up with them? The five questions in this case, in this part two of our five part series on the key questions of relationships and on qualification. Am I calling the right, am I ready to call? Excuse me. Am I calling the right people? Am I doing it enough? Am I contacting or outreaching enough? Are we actually qualifying and then being able to bless and release or move into number five, actually have that next step? These are the five questions. If you can answer them, you'll increase the efficiency and the efficiency and the effectiveness that you have with qualification. And in the end, that makes you more important, valuable, not only to the organization, but to yourself, that you are helping something you believe in, which is that nonprofit mission and your professional career. Merger of two really good things.
Next time, cultivation, part three. Don't forget to check out the blogs at Hallett Philanthropy.com. Ninety second reads twice a week. And if you're interested, you can reach out to me at podcast@halifelianthropy.com. I do believe these are crazy, interesting times in some ways before I really remember very much. It reminds me when you talk to people that are a little older, not of the specifics, but just the generalities, the chaos of the late 1960s and early 1970s. And in some ways, we have that kind of social dynamic of a little craziness right now. That means in that, that people aren't, they're being left behind. They don't have what they need because that's why there is this, a people, nonprofits play an important role. They allow us to help those who are most in need, not only people, but the things that are priority in our community. And I want you to know what you're doing is just that, making the world a better place.
Philanthropy doesn't mean money. It means love of mankind, which brings me to my end of my favorite saying or phrase that I use all the time when I end speaking. Some people make things happen, some people watch things happen. Then there are those who wondered what happened. We are people who are looking for others like us who want to make things happen. Those philanthropists, those want people who want to help the community in our organizations to help those who are wondering what happened, those things and people that probably are being not heard and aren't being as valued as much as what we want. That's what, and fully, and there'd be truly, that's what you and I are doing is making the world a better place.
Part three next time, and I'll look forward to seeing you right back here on the next edition
of "Around with Randall."
Don't forget, make it a great day.