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How To Make Easy Money from Relationships – Part 2

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Péllo Walker

Your attention to customer relationships always pays off – either for you or your competitors.

In my last post we met the creative director for a large communications company who was discomfited with her existing printer and looking for a better match. I discussed the all-too-common causes of customer relationship issues that I see almost every day.

Today, I’ll dig more into the ways you can manage your relationships with your customers to keep them from being lured away by some opportunist, like me.

Be thoughtful, attentive and creative about your communications. Some automated communication – postcards, email, letters, for example – is practical in getting the word out about your new store, special offer or that you’re still here, better than ever. However, while they might trigger a stampede to your sale, they won’t make your audience feel like you were reaching out to shake hands with just them.

Personalizing your communications is really fairly easy, even on a large scale. Capture the easy milestones. Know their birthdays? Or, the date they became your customers? Hi Julie or Hello Bob on postcards gets Julie’s and Bob’s attention, and suggests your making an effort at a personal overture.

When customers reach the preferred ranks, your gestures need to reflect their status. They’re more than acquaintances now. These individuals are no longer customers. They buy products like yours only from you and never look at the price tag. You should welcome them by their first names and shake their hands with both of yours as a somewhat poorer local printer can attest. Handwritten notes on personal stationary should replace email. (No. Email marketing using the Zaphino font is not the same thing.) When gifts are appropriate, monogram them.

Or, how about this for a crazy idea – call them on the telephone. Seriously, many smartphones now come with this app.

Continue growing all of these relationships by being genuinely helpful. Assist with useful guidance, especially if there’s nothing in it for you. Don’t be a stranger. Drop by to ensure all is going well. Send them case studies, white papers, newsletters and articles that will have value to them. Refer prospects.

Yes, and sales promotions, which will be much more warmly received. Remind them you appreciate their business and your relationship with them.

Having said all this, I have to admit, my new communications company client came really cheap and easy. I want to extend my personal appreciation. I’m just not sure to whom.

We’ve all made mistakes in managing customer relationships. What are your biggest ones and how could you have avoided them? Don’t be afraid. Be honest and candid. Feel free to use a pseudonym if you really blew it. Our mistakes are how we learn, right?

What other topics are of interest? Let us know and we’ll try hard to cover them, or get an expert to do it. Want to share your experience? Let us know. We’re eager to share this space.

Péllo Walker Scott E. Smith
Daily Digital Imaging Guided Message Communications
pello@dailydigitalimaging.com scott@guidedmessage.com
925-935-3621 925-566-4569

How To Make Easy Money from Relationships – Part 1

Posted on March 28, 2013 by Péllo Walker

Your attention to customer relationships always pays off – either for you or your competitors.

I recently met with the creative director of a large communications company. She was talking to potential replacements for her current printer and a colleague referred her to me. I asked what the problem was with her existing printer.

Even though she spent between $125,000 to $175,000 annually – healthy revenue for any printer – she didn’t feel appreciated.

She wasn’t looking for fanfare or gratuitous gestures. Her printer’s lack of attention and recognition made her feel awkward whenever they met. The printer was so oblivious that the creative director had to track project milestones, schedule times to check proofs and other routine aspects of the commercial relationship.

We all know we’re supposed to thank customers and make them feel appreciated. However, we shouldn’t be store clerks reciting, “Thank you for allowing us to give you super-duper service and make you feel happy and loved, today.”

Appreciation is not feeling happy and loved. It’s being acknowledged and respected. Appreciation is the foundation for building good relationships that keep customers loyal. It’s far easier and cheaper to hang onto satisfied existing customers than to find new ones.

Many of your competitors offer similar products and services with prices and delivery standards that are on par with yours. Knowing this, how can you continuously keep your current clients and customers from being lured away?

All things being equal, your clients will go where they’re well treated, appreciated and respected. Where they feel at home. In fact, such relationships will surmount some failings on your part.

We’ve all made errors in managing customer relationships. What are your biggest relationship mistakes? Don’t be afraid. Be honest and candid. Feel free to use a pseudonym if you really blew it. Our mistakes are how we learn, right?

What other topics are of interest? Let us know and we’ll try hard to cover them, or get an expert to do it. Want to share your experience? Let us know. We’re eager to share this space.

Péllo Walker                                                          Scott E. Smith
Daily Digital Imaging                                             Guided Message Communications
pello@dailydigitalimaging.com                              scott@guidedmessage.com
925-935-3621                                                        925-566-4569

VDP Questions Answered: Make Your Direct Marketing Very Personal – Part 2

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Péllo Walker

Still trying to wrap your head around Variable Data Printing? Péllo provides some answers.

Last time, I began responding to questions that came in response to our three-part series on personalized digital printing (aka variable data printing or VDP). The frustration expressed by several was a seeming lack of personal facts to populate the database (It’s really just a simple spreadsheet) used to fill in the blanks in personalized direct mail pieces. I demonstrated that with a little deductive reasoning a database can be significantly expanded.

Today, let’s look at a couple of other questions that perplex many who are thinking about adding personalized direct and online tactics to their marketing mix.

How do I decide what information to collect and how do I collect it?

The first rule is collect only what you need. Customers have little tolerance for providing information that goes beyond what’s needed for the immediate transaction. Never require a customer to spend 20 minutes answering questions to get a simple price quote because you want to warehouse information for the future.

So, decide what information would help craft personalized materials that provide value to your customers. Customers will readily exchange relevant information for something of value – white papers, free trials, samples, coupons, poll results or demonstrations, just to name a few of the items commonly swapped for relevant information.

How do a Personal URL and a personal microsite interact?

A “PURL” and a personal microsite working in tandem take personalization into the amazing new territory. You begin by personalizing your direct mailer or email as usual. In addition, you also add a PURL, which would look something like http://firstname.lastname.yourdomain.com.

When the customer clicks the PURL she arrives at a microsite that’s – Holy Kreskin! – all about her and the content she’s been dreaming about. Tailoring both ends of the promotion has proven to skyrocket sales and speed prospects down the sales funnel faster – once they recover from the shock and accept that your microsite must be magic, of course.

We plan to have more on PURLs in the near future from one of experts in the field. If you have questions now, don’t wait, ask them below.

Your homework assignment for today was to create a simple spreadsheet with the hard facts you know about your customers (name, address, phone number, previous purchases, etc.) and then deduce other information to expand your database (gender, distance from your business, neighborhood, etc.).

Surprised at how much additional data you derived? Sherlock Holmes would be filled with envy.

The final step is to quit marveling at your ingenuity (It is considerable though, right?) and apply it to your next promotion. As I mentioned, don’t just pepper your content with data, but apply them to support your Action Message and call to action. Then stand back so you aren’t trampled in the rush of new business.

As a reminder, we’re always looking for guest bloggers to share their marketing and communications experience. If you’d like to share your experience and gain more exposure for your business, contact either of us.

VDP Questions Answered: Make Your Direct Marketing Very Personal – Part 1

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Péllo Walker

Still trying to wrap your head around Variable Data Printing? Péllo provides some answers for direct marketers.

There has been a lot of interest to our three-part series on personalized digital printing, or variable data printing or just VDP as it’s commonly called. As a result, the series generated a number of questions. I thought you might have the same questions, so here are my responses for all of you.

What types of information can I personalize on, say, a postcard, calendar or other direct marketing piece?

Anything. Seriously, text, graphics, video, audio – whatever you want. Let’s start with the basics for the moment, the data you like have already. Let’s say your objective is to move existing customers up to higher quality socks. Using information you likely have, your pitch might look something like:

Hi <<First Name>>,

In <<Month>>, you purchased <<Number Purchased>> dozen of our <<Type of Sock>>. By now, they probably have gaping holes in the heels. We know a <<Job Title>> at <<Company Name>> must dress impeccably right down to his hosiery. We can help. If you order <<Number Proposed>> dozen our longwearing <<Next Higher Model of Sock>>, we’ll slash <<Determined by Product>>% off. You’ll love the admiring looks you get walking down <<Street Name>>.

I constructively worked in a lot of information that’s readily at hand in most businesses. One important thing to notice, I didn’t drop in data willy-nilly. The entire sentence is aimed at getting the customer to envision the benefits of better socks. So, before you start contriving content that conforms to your data, establish a clear objective. What is it you want the customer to do? Then, as with any messaging, make every word support that objective.

It will take me quite some time to gather information beyond name and address. Should I wait to personalize my direct mail campaigns?

No, begin with what you have. Actually, most people find that they have more usable information than they realize. In the previous example, I used data that I know I can easily compile. Except for customers’ names, which are flags to grab customers’ attention, use everything else to further your objective.

Be creative. Addresses can become maps. A previous purchase can be a photo. Several purchases can suggest a package deal just for that customer.

In part 2, I’ll answer two more popular questions on how to collect data and, the area that sparked the most interest by far: personalized URLs and microsites.

Until then, take out a piece of paper and write your Action Message across the top. Underneath, make a list of the pieces of information you know about each of your customers – name, address, purchases, etc.

After you’ve listed all of the hard data, slip on your deerstalker and Inverness capecoat, and . . . really? I thought everyone did. Well, you’re going to do some deductive reasoning, so dress accordingly.

Continue your list with whatever categories of information you can infer. Gender should be easy in most cases. Industry or type of business? Don’t have addresses? Use phone number prefixes to determine proximity to your business or nearest outlet.

If you think that you’ve been exceptionally perceptive, let us know what you deduced and how. Let’s see how far we can go.

As a reminder, we’re always looking for guest bloggers to share their marketing and communications expertise. If you’d like to share your experience and gain more exposure for your business, contact either of us.

For Easy Money Make Your Direct Mail Personal – Very Personal – Part 3

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Scott E. Smith

Variable Data Printing is so easy, yet so underused, it’s driving Péllo crazy.

In my previous post, I suggested just a few of the ways that Variable Data Printing, or more commonly VDP or personalized printing, can turn direct mail campaigns into personal correspondence that makes response rates soar. Many of you are undoubtedly thinking, That’s great, but where do I get all of that personal information for the database?

That’s today’s topic. Few, if any, have such a database. That won’t stop you, however. You get creative with what you have and build over time. You’ll be surprised at how much that even a basic database tells you.

Begin by looking ahead. What are the topics you’d like to discuss with prospects? What kinds of information supports your Action Message. Take notes. Gather information over time. Jot down on your copy of the receipt the kind of sandwich or drink a customer orders. What topics do you discuss when you meet? Have customer service representatives work specific questions into their conversations.

You’ll likely still have holes in your database. That’s OK. That’s OK. Focus on only the top 20 percent of your prospects, then use broader criteria to group the rest and semi-personalize the mailers you send them.

What if you still don’t have the data you need? The next best option is a direct-mail list with statistical characteristics and lifestyle information that enables you to target narrowly defined niches in your market – so narrow that it’s like talking to a small group with common interests.

Imagine a collection of content based on, say, income, occupation, number of children, spouses’ names, children’s names, relationship status, preferred clothing brand, occupation, race, favorite ice cream, music they prefer, age, neighborhood, do they ride motorcycles or horses, do they rent or own their homes, hobbies – well, you get the idea.

What would you say differently about life insurance to 30-40 year-old women and 50 to 60-year-old men? How would you change it if you knew their incomes? How would you revise your Action Message for married firefighters with two kids and a mortgage, and a 20 to 30-year-old African-American ballerinas who love chocolate? You can mix and match characteristics wherever you see an affinity, and then craft content that speaks directly to each.

This is just scratching the surface. Use your imagination! You’ll come up with dozens of creative ideas to spin ADP to boost your direct-mail revenues.

I just told them that, Péllo. Yep, I emphasized it: Use your imagination!

I looked around the Internet for stats that demonstrate the return on investment for ADP. Although dated, a study by CAP Ventures in 2001 found that personalization resulted a 24 percent increase in the size or value of orders, a 36 percent increase in response rate and a 48 percent increase in repeat orders. That study may be 11 years old, but it grabbed my attention – and certainly Péllo’s.

And we aren’t the only ones. Target Marketing Magazine reports that personalized direct mail increased 21 percent year-over-year in 2010 and was on a trajectory of 37-percent during the first 10 months of 2011.

I’m hoping your minds are reeling a bit as ideas of how to turn ADP to your advantage. Here’s some homework. Evaluate the direct mail you receive today that’s not personalized. If that was your promotion, how would you apply ADP to personalize the message. Give us your idea in a comment below within the next week.

If you’ve been following this series and done your assigned homework, you should have a draft of a promotional postcard with at least two spots for first names, and spots for prospects’ individual problems and your offers. Even if this first VDP exercise is purely practice, you’ll discover a powerful new strategy for communicating with customers that can get a significant boost in response.

If your serious about moving forward on your project, Péllo and I will each provide the next five of you to place ADP orders and mention this blog two hours – four hours total – of consulting to help you craft a killer ADP marketing piece.

But wait! The first three of you to place orders also will receive the most delicious chocolate cake you’ve ever eaten complements of BAKE! BAKE!, which specializes in perfecting the taste in its cakes, pies, tarts and pastries, just opened down the road from us in Walnut Creek. Fair disclosure: BAKE! is one of our clients. Nonetheless, I swear they make the most delicious pastries you’ll ever eat.

As a reminder, we’re currently drafting our 2013 blog schedule and we’re encouraging contributors with marketing and communications perspectives their experience to sign up. If you’d like to share your experience and gain more exposure for your business, contact either of us.

For Easy Money Make Your Direct Mail Personal – Very Personal – Part 2

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Scott E. Smith

Variable Data Printing is so easy, yet so underused, it’s driving Péllo crazy.

In my previous post, I made the point that while variable data printing, or more commonly VDP, is commonly used to personalize direct mail material of all kinds, marketing professionals seldom, if ever, used anywhere near its full potential.

Today, I’ll discuss how to milk the money from VDP.

So frustrated is Péllo when he sees materials that left 90 percent of their advantage in copywriters’ pens, that seeing a direct mail card that only addresses him personally in the salutation, can trigger a tirade.

Personalized VDP printing is to direct mail marketing what social media is to the Internet. It’s virtually speaking one-to-one with every target.

Sure, you can fill in blanks: Hi, <<Mr/rs/s>>. <<Last Name>>, This week only, we’ll slash half off our dealer prep charges on any of the hundreds of Suzuki Equators rusting in our back lot . . .

It’s true that while people understand that a computer, not the sender, adds their names, even just inserting just prospects names in the salutation increases the likelihood that they’ll look at the mailer.

But, come on, use your imagination! This is where businesses miss the big almost free opportunity to address each prospect’s personal needs, interests, longed-for desires.

Péllo, please, sit back down. I don’t want to tie you up, again. That’s the way.

I’ve talked about the importance of Action Messaging that communicates your offerings as if you’re channeling your customers. VDP takes your Action Messages to a one-to-one level in a mass mailing.

All you need is some information that you already know about your customers or prospects and add it to your contact list. Once gathered, the 1:2:1 VDP printing system looks at each recipient’s name and drops the personal message tailored just for them into the mailer.

Instead of just personalizing the salutation and causing Péllo to begin pounding his head on the wall, again, consider the opportunities that VDP can introduce into your direct mail program. Here are a few thoughts to kick-start your imagination:

Use previous purchases and their prices from your records to suggest a newer, better model or related product in the customer’s price range with a personalized deal just for them.

Reference part of a personal conversation that you had with a customer in a seasonal thanks-for-the-business letter.

Change the photo in every direct-mail postcard, flyer or brochure based on each customer’s hobbies or information that would be just about their specific business.

Turn customers’ addresses into maps from their driveways to your store. Take it one step further and direct them to the outlet that’s the closest to their homes or businesses.

Make it easy to say yes. That same data enables you to complete in advance much of the response card for the customer. All that’s needed is the credit card number.

Combine products you know your customer is interested into package deals: Buy the lawnmower and the refrigerator you were looking at last month and we’ll take 25 percent off the total price.

I know, you’re thinking, where do I get all of this data? Some you likely already have: customers’ addresses, for example. From that you can create maps or cite drive times on each mailer. That will be the topic for part 3.

Last time, I asked you to create a simple spreadsheet that lists the first names of 10 prospects in the first column followed by columns with the dates you last met and the specific problem you discussed in just three to five words.

For next time, draft brief copy for a fill-in-the-blank postcard with an enticing offer aimed at new business – same offer for each prospect. The postcard should have at least two spots for the first name, and spots for the offer and problem.

You may struggle a bit at first wording the entries in the specific-problem column. However, once you’ve done a couple you’ll have developed a template that makes the rest go quickly.

For Easy Money Make Your Direct Mail Personal – Very Personal – Part 1

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Scott E. Smith

Variable Data Printing is so easy, yet so underused, it’s driving Péllo crazy.

This should be Péllo’s blog to write. He’s the master of “variable data printing,” which is also called VDP, 1:1 and personalized data printing. Regardless of the terminology, it refers to the same thing – any piece of paper on which the text or images were driven by a database.

Your telephone bill is an example of a variable data printing. So are your credit card statement and the bill from your dentist. Each was custom printed according to information supplied by a database.

By the way, a database isn’t necessarily anything complicated. If you keep your customers’ names and addresses on a spreadsheet or the contact app on your mobile phone, you are maintaining a database.

Billing statements and digital address books are functional, but not very compelling.

VDP is putting a spreadsheet (like your customer list, for example) in charge of a digital printer and making the output speak one on one.

However, spice up your customer list or address book a bit by adding birthdays, restaurant names from business lunches or products your customers recently purchased, and now you have a database for a winning direct mail campaign.

What makes direct mail promotions that take advantage of today’s variable data printing techniques so much more successful than usual Hi, XXX . . . strain of postcards and letters? It’s because they take strategic advantage of this information to make their mailings relevant. Relevance means delivering the right message, to the right person, at the right time.

The ability of savvy marketers enables them to use what they know about prospects to create compelling marketing messages. A full-color direct mail piece with just a few variable elements can have a completely different impact than a telephone bill with hundreds of variable elements, even though both have the same roots: a digital printing press coupled with a database spiked with relevant factoid.

What does that have to do with me rather than Péllo writing this blog? Because he’d just rant. That so few even good marketing professionals take even a smidgen of the advantages that VDP offers, causes Péllo to rant to the point that I half expect him to bite the head off a . . . well, it ticks him off a bit.

VDP spells the end of impersonal junk mail. Every direct mail piece personalized using VDP becomes a private chat with the recipient and an opportunity to further your relationship.

In part 2, I’ll share more of Péllo’s secrets on VDP. Before then, make a list of the first names 10 prospects in the first column of a spreadsheet. In the next column, jot down the date you last met. In the third column, write the specific problem that specific problem that each prospect needs your help to solve. That’s it.

We’re currently drafting our 2013 blog schedule and we’re encouraging contributors with marketing and communications perspectives their experience to sign up. If you’d like to share your experience and gain more exposure for your business, contact either of us.

Direct Mail with Holiday Spirit that Customers Love – Part 1

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Péllo Walker

These Holiday card guidelines will cement closer relationships with your customers.

Like most of you, I’m sure, every year I receive holiday cards from many of those I do business with. I really appreciate them. They recall the relationships and the good experiences of our business together. I enjoy them so much, I’ll read the ones with notes several times. The cards that each member of the staff has taken time to sign are particularly meaningful.

That simple consideration often profoundly shapes my perspective of those with whom I conduct business. Our interactions are normally conducted in a very business-like manner because that’s all the pace of commerce allows. When I’m reading the card the sender is no longer my banker or paper supplier, but a friend.

From my experience sending and receiving hundreds of holiday cards over the years, I’ve discovered a few of the practices that make them – and the senders – special. The most important ones maintain the primary quality every holiday card should have: it must be personal and, most important, genuine. Here are some guidelines for cards that work.

Your holiday wish of good will should reflect your brand, but not promote your products. This might be a wish of security and prosperity if you’re a financial firm. Arbitrarily appealing for world peace will be perceived as gratuitous if it doesn’t reflect the real aspirations of your company. If your business practices environmentally friendly practices, your card might picture a blue stream cutting through a green forest with your logo subtly positioned, and extend a wish a long healthy life.

Making your holiday greetings personal is essential. Get out a pen and write a short personal message to each recipient. Don’t write the same message over and over; make each original. Also, don’t send the same message year after year. You’re cementing personal relationships, so write original messages. People notice and appreciate this kind of sincerity.

With your Holiday cards appropriately branded and personalized, your customers will enjoy Holiday cards from you as much as I do the ones I receive. There are still some other questions to consider before you drop them in the mail. Who should I mail them to? Will it hurt just this once to skip sending them because I’m too busy? Why can’t I just send emails? I’ll answer these questions in Part 2 of this series.

Meanwhile, get started on your cards. First, determine the brand image you want to reflect and look for designs that communicate it. Then decide how to integrate your so your card doesn’t end up looking like an advertisement. Your printer can help you. However, don’t place an order until after I’ve discussed who to send them to in Part 2.

Péllo Walker                                                          Scott E. Smith
Daily Digital Imaging                                             Guided Message Communications
pello@dailydigitalimaging.com                              scott@guidedmessage.com
925-935-3621                                                        925-566-4566

6 Personal Activities To Boost Slumping Direct Marketing Programs – Part 2

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Péllo Walker

Loyal customers crave a personal touch in direct-marketing appeals

At the end of my last post on the importance to nonprofit organizations of personal relationships with donors, I asked you to make a list of your top 10 supporters. Then calculate a ratio of the number of times you’ve communicated with them to solicit donations versus the number other reasons.

What’s your ratio? If it isn’t one to one, you should read on.

Péllo’s Rule #1: Business is personal. So, be a person, not a letter, email or disembodied voice.

That rule applies to every business, not just nonprofit organizations. Here are seven (the possibilities are unlimited) successful ways for an organization to have a face, body and trusting personality that remove financial ceilings.

1. Conduct exclusive behind-the-scenes events just for donors. Treat them to previews of public events.

2. Schedule periodic dinners for donors with board members and the executive director to express your appreciation.

3. Stage facility tours or public events where board members serve as greeters or docents, and can experience firsthand the appreciation of those your organization serves.

On those occasions when you absolutely can’t organize a face-to-face activity, add the personal touch with one of these ideas:

4. Gather your board for an evening to telephone all of your sponsors, patrons and other donors to personally thank them.

5. Have board members, chairs and the executive director respond to contributions and volunteer efforts with hand-written thank you cards.

6. Publish a newsletter just for donors that shows them exactly how they made a difference.

In all of these activities, when the offer arises, the response is, No, we aren’t accepting contributions now. We just want to say, thanks.

None of these ideas work if you do them just once. In fact, a slap on the back and shake of the hand followed by nothing makes a donor feel, well, used. The secret to success is an ongoing program.

Direct marketing isn’t just about mailers, emails and automatic phone dialers. It’s about being human. Though simple, these ideas will have an extremely powerful effect on donors’ attitudes. There will be no more cringing when they receive communications from your nonprofit. Just a smile with their checkbook in hand.

Would you like to share your expertise? If so, contact either of us to join the growing number of guest bloggers in this community.

Péllo Walker                                                          Scott E. Smith
Daily Digital Imaging                                             Guided Message Communications
pello@dailydigitalimaging.com                              scott@guidedmessage.com
925-935-3621                                                        925-566-456

6 Personal Activities To Boost Slumping Direct Marketing Programs – Part 1

Posted on October 16, 2012 by Péllo Walker

Loyal customers crave a personal touch in direct-marketing appeals

I was meeting a few days ago with the executive director of a nonprofit organization that serves the San Francisco Bay area. During our chat, I asked her how her fundraising was going for some capital improvement projects and operations projects that I recalled she’d been focused on the last time we met. She admitted that she’d expected better results, especially from ardent donors who comprised the core market for the organization’s fundraising efforts.

This lack of response from her core constituency puzzled me as well. I’m a director or chair on several nonprofit boards and thought I might be able to help. So, I asked a few more questions.

I asked if there was anything different in her current fundraising programs from previous efforts. No, she was using the same marketing activities as before – direct mail and email promotions, phone calling during campaigns and publicity programs.

What were competitive organizations doing? Same stuff mostly. Some maybe had picnics, potlucks or the occasional annual dinner. None raised money, however.

That told me something interesting. Though she didn’t say it specifically, what I heard was, Every time we communicate with our donors, supporters, sponsors and prospective contributors, we ask for money. That’s our job and what keeps our services available.

Did she ever communicate with their constituents without asking for money? No, not really. Why did I ask?

I explained that in my experience in nonprofit fundraising has taught me that if you have your hand out every time you communicate with people, eventually they begin to cringe when they see the letter, email or the group’s name on their ringing phones. It’s them wanting to put their hand in my pocket, again.

What she’d been telling me was that she had no personal relationship with any of her donors. They contributed because they were fond of the cause. I knew that without a personal connection those donors had a ceiling on how much they’d give and could be easily wooed by a handshake from another cause.

What can I do differently? she asked.

That will be the subject of Part 2. I’ve discovered a number of easy, yet powerful, ways to establish that personal connection. By the way, if you’re in a for-profit organization, there’s still something in this for you. Personal relationships are important to every enterprise.

Meanwhile, make a list of your top 10 supporters. Count the number of times you’ve communicated with them to solicit donations versus the number other reasons. What’s the ratio?

Would you like to share your expertise? If so, contact either of us to join the growing number of guest bloggers in this community.