Why is Phoning Essential for Recruitment in the 21st Century?
The fundraising pool is overcrowded with NGOs seeking donors. In such a competitive playing field, using every resource available- from investing in phone-banking software to organizing venue meet-ups- is essential to closing the funding gap. Phone-calls are one resource that are crucial to improving those chances!
This becomes especially apparent during elections. Candidates run the risk of losing voters if they fail to run an impactful and engaging campaign. The strength of a campaign and a candidate’s popularity is directly associated with how often they, or their team, individually interact with voters, by phone or in person.
A Short Guide to Recruitment by Phoning
To maximize your recruitment efforts, the following steps should be kept in mind:
1. Consider Financial Parameters:
Estimate your budget and see what sort of recruiting you can afford. Given its low costs, phone banking will prove to be a great asset when managing donations and expenses.
2. Market Yourself:
Make yourself known by running ads, printing brochures, or, if possible, appearing on-screen. Contact agencies that can assist you with this.
3. Search for Supporters:
Find and contact engaged activists or potential donors on the internet or elsewhere. Phoning and referrals from allied or sister organizations are a good place to start.
4. Be Accessible:
There are often people who want to contribute to fundraising without being asked. These are people who are already compelled by your cause. Make sure your campaign is easy for these supporters to access. This can be achieved by having a form on your website where people can sign up to be contacted later by a member of your team.
5. Build a Hiring Team:
These members can help evaluate and streamline candidates, filtering out those who might not be suited to join. Interviews by phone can assist your team with this process.
6. Use the Latest Software:
Phonebanking software can automate some responses using IVR systems, organize the flow of incoming calls and relay this information to representatives. Make sure your software allows your volunteers to make phone calls wherever they are, like Qomon, which allows both you and your volunteers to engage in political phonebanking any time, anywhere. You can also use political CRM software to collect data and statistics from these interactions, allowing you to carry out insightful analyses.
Advantages of Phoning for Recruitment
In addition to being relatively inexpensive and time-efficient, recruitment by phone also poses the following benefits:
1. Phones are Everywhere:
Depending on where you live, it is difficult to find someone who does not own a smartphone. Many of us spend much of our time looking at our phones, scrolling through social media or surfing the internet. Resultantly, as we always have our phones on us, it is an easy tool to take advantage of to reach people.
2. Personalized Targeting:
Individuals respond well to things that make them feel special. Creating customized strategies for specific target groups tends to give you better results. For example, by using a constituent management tool and studying trends in a certain area, you can create a targeted approach and potentially improve your chances of getting out to vote (GOTV) and mobilizing activists.
3. Going Viral:
If you combine phoning with mobile marketing, the scope of your campaign will instantly broaden. While on the phone with potential supporters, guide them to your website or social media pages. They may share a link with their friends which might help spread your messages further this is called Peer to Peer networking (P2P).
4. Easy Transactions:
Bank details should be readily available and transparent. While making a phone-call, you can easily guide interested supporters to donate directly to your cause. Phone banking and mobile payment come in handy here too.
5. More Simplistic Presentation:
Unlike on-site recruitment which requires you to appeal to activists by delivering all kinds of fancy speeches and demonstrations, tele-recruitment is quite simple: you look up numbers in contact lists, make calls, and get straight to the point! If the person on the other end needs more information, you can easily direct them to your online platforms.
6. Safety of Volunteers:
In some heated or controversial circumstances, volunteers may be at risk of harassment. Some localities or areas may be unsafe for them to ask and rally people to join your cause. Phoning, by comparison, presents no such security concerns, as volunteers are not required to be physically present to communicate with those who might jeopardize their safety.
In a society as busy as ours, campaigners must do everything to grab people’s attention. Phoning is one tool that helps to attract the attention your cause needs! By making the acquisition and onboarding of supporters hassle-free, phoning is not only an effective recruitment tool but also a nice way to give your campaign a warm, friendly vibe!
If you want to know more about how the calling action works at Qomon, check our article where we explain in more detail!
