Success Within Reach

By Lola Mauer

From my first days as a student phonathon caller at Ball State University, I knew something was wrong. My supervisors—fellow students—were painting their toenails, surfing the Internet, chatting on the phone with friends, and skipping out of work early. Absences did not seem to bother them, and they spent only a couple of hours on training their staff. The student callers didn't stick around for long.

I found a similar—or even worse—lack of leadership when I arrived at the University of South Carolina as the director of annual giving programs. The call center would hire just about anyone who filled out an application. Training was nearly unheard-of, callers had no rapport with the alumni, and they showed barely any enthusiasm or persistence. Alumni refusals were frequent.

Luckily, I love a good challenge. After I became Ball State's assistant director of annual giving, my student supervisor team and I raised more than $1 million four years in a row. And at USC, under the leadership of my new colleague Steven Farwick, the assistant director of annual giving programs, the Carolina Callers ended the 2005 fiscal year $350,000 ahead of the previous year.

To establish and maintain an effective phonathon you must hire, train, and motivate the best students possible. The improvements my staff and I made in these three areas led to turnarounds at two very different institutions.

Recruiting

Your callers are the voice of your institution. You expect them to know the campus inside and out. Whether you use students or volunteers, it's essential to recruit the best people possible to represent your mission.

Using the campus employment office is one easy way to put out the message that you're hiring. But additional strategies to generate interest on and off campus can result in a better set of applicants. I send some of my callers to speak with large campus organizations such as Greek chapters, the student government association, and other clubs. Posters in major campus buildings, messages on chalkboards, fliers in students' mailboxes, an information table outside the student union, and articles in departmental newsletters are all ways to get future callers in the door. South Carolina receives the most applicants from an ad the Office of Student Affairs generously places for us in the parents' newsletter. After all, what parents do not want their child to build a résumé and have such a well-rounded campus job?

"Buddy systems" are another popular recruitment technique. Erin Allen, director of annual giving at the University of South Dakota, gives a bonus to the caller who brings in the most completed applications and if a recommended applicant is hired and completes at least 15 shifts. "We want our callers to have a real sense of teamwork and have found that those who recruit their friends and classmates challenge themselves and one another even more," she says. "It's wonderful to witness the friendly banter and competition that occurs on a nightly basis."

Supervisors who value good phonathon workers spend more time on the hiring process. In a survey I conducted earlier this year of more than 50 colleges, universities, and schools, 52 percent of development professionals said they spend at least 30 minutes interviewing each student caller, 34 percent spend 15 minutes, while the remaining 14 percent spend 45 minutes to an hour. Fifty-nine percent of survey participants use telephone interviews, 32 percent meet face to face, and 7 percent do both. Group hiring sessions are the least popular, used by just 2 percent of the respondents.

At Ball State, interested students had to come into the call center where they could see our operation, ask questions, and complete an application. After considering their extracurricular activities, past work experience, and other qualifications, we contacted selected applicants for a face-to-face interview that lasted 30 to 45 minutes. At USC, the assistant director spends 20 to 30 minutes on a phone interview, asking questions and gauging the applicant's personality.

What should you ask these caller hopefuls? According to the survey, U.S. and Canadian institutions are using questions such as "What inspires you most about this school?" and "What one question would you like to ask the university president?"—even "Tell me your favorite joke." The goal is to find students and volunteers who are excited about your mission and who believe in supporting the future of your institution. Hire people based on their personality and sense of humor; train them on the rest.

Training

Once your team is on board, training can help you ensure each person is sending the right message about your institution. "Training your student callers on more than the mechanics is crucial," says Ashley Goodon, annual giving coordinator, alumni fundraiser at the University of Manitoba. "You can train them on key facts—how to overcome an objection and how to close a call—but you also need to give them an affinity or passion for their job. Show them that what they're doing is important to their school. This approach will take simply good callers and make them great callers."

At USC we now spend 12 hours over four days on training, a practice modeled after my experiences at Ball State. Each three-hour session has no more than six callers so that each one has a chance to practice role playing and responding to objections.

In the first session we present a history of the university and describe current campus initiatives. We teach callers about development and philanthropy, such as explaining the role philanthropy plays in their education and describing the wide range of nonprofits competing for our donors' support. We break down the elements of a call, including the top 10 objections and our responses. We talk about voice and personality, and we practice building rapport.

In the second session callers begin role playing and practice responding to objection flash cards. We explain our policies and procedures, including the caller evaluation process. The third session consists of more role playing, "objection bingo," and a quiz to ensure the callers have captured key information from their training.

In the fourth training session we give the callers a tour of the development office and train them on the computers. They make mock calls to the supervisors and the assistant director, and they monitor veteran callers. Call monitoring "is a great chance for the trainees to hear real objections, understand the importance of voice articulation, and ask questions," says John Mainella, director of development at Delta Tau Delta Educational Foundation. "Give your new student callers time for adjustment and the opportunity to hear what actual alumni have to say."

When following this method, ensure that callers complete the training in no more than a week and a half. You want them to begin practicing what they've learned right away.

Motivation

With all the time you've invested in training, now you must keep your new employees excited about their mission. Retention can be one of a call center's biggest challenges.

Callers have one of the toughest jobs on campus, and they deserve to be paid accordingly. Unfortunately, that's not always possible. At Ball State, I could only pay my callers minimum wage, despite the fact that they increased private support to the university every year. How did I keep them from leaving? Extreme motivation. Thanks to the efforts of my student supervisors, of 45 callers each semester we lost fewer than 10, including both those dismissed because of job performance and those who left for personal reasons.

Retention is not only about money. It's also about creating an environment that welcomes laughter, new ideas, and team building. Encourage your supervisors to speak with each caller every day. Sometimes just going around the room offering praise and a pat on the back can make all the difference.

Never underestimate the power of games and challenges. Ball State callers can earn "bucks" for achieving goals, then trade them in at the end-of-semester auction for shirts, hats, sweatpants, and other university-branded items. The supervisors award certificates for caller of the year, phonathon king and queen, and best attitude, among other achievements. This friendly competition builds teamwork, encourages collegiality, and forges new relationships among the callers.

Results

Rose Keenan, Ball State's call center director and one of my former student supervisors, is building on that phonathon's success. And at South Carolina, a competitive pay scale, generous neighborhood sponsors, and consistent leadership all have contributed to the phonathon's dramatic improvement.

The methods used at Ball State and USC might not work for everyone—it's important to consider cultural differences among campuses and their alumni. But the essentials remain constant: To form a great team, hire based on attitude, provide thorough training, be creative, enforce the policies, and take time to congratulate yourself. You'll know when you have the best callers on board, and they'll be successful because of you.