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These hands-on ideas are provided by
Peter Brinckerhoff to help your your organization get more mission from
your resources. Click on the topic(s) of interest to you. Remember,
Peter's newly updated book Mission-Based Marketing and its associated Mission-Based Marketing Workbook are full of state-of-the-art ideas, forms, formats, and organizational self-assessments. Order them today from amazon.com.
And, if you want more ideas, remember to check out the Mission-Based Management Blog. Peter posts nearly every day.
Software Suggestion: I've checked out a lot of marketing software, and
for developing a marketing plan, there is nothing better currently on
the market than Market Plan Pro. You can investigate this software
further by going to the Palo Alto Software site. Also see free sample marketing plans here.
Note:
These ideas are licensed by Peter C. Brinckerhoff under a Creative Commons License.
Despite what you may have heard,
marketing is not just sales. It's not just promotional materials,
advertising, or asking. Marketing, good marketing, complete marketing
is a combination of all those things, plus some others, put into the
correct order and then incorporated into an endless cycle that becomes
part of your organization's mind set, its culture, it's very fabric.
Marketing is not an event, it is a process that you never complete.
Why? Because at its core marketing is a way to respond to changes;
changes in your community, changes in the wants and needs of the people
you serve, changes in the way you get paid, changes in the way your
competition is acting. Since all of these things are constantly in
flux, marketing is never complete. It's a process. The process that I
have outlined below works for not-for-profit organizations. I'm sorry
to have to tell you that you can't just do the portions of the cycle
that you want to, or that look easy, or that you already have in place.
You need to do them all. In brief, the marketing process looks like
this:
1. Identify Your Markets
2. Find Out What Your Markets Want
3. Adapt to The Markets
4. Look at Cost and Price
5. Promote The Service
6. Get the Service Delivered
7. Evaluate Your Efforts
This process works for the organization as a whole, and for every single part, program, service in it.
We hear more and more about
not-for-profits doing marketing. In some cases, this is just another
term used for public relations. In some cases, it really is
marketing; that is, identifying a customer group, asking them what they
want, and giving it to them to the best of your ability. This is a lot
of work, and a different way of doing things for many organizations. So
what results will you get? At least these:
-
Happier funders, happier service recipientsWhen
you ask people what they want and give it to them (as best you can) the
customer, whether that is someone in your service group or a funder, is
happier.
-
More return customers, more referrals.Happy
customers come back. And, in the competitive environment that
not-for-profits are in, return customers are gold. Imagine if 90% of
this years donors to your fund raising effort donated again next year?
That's an example of a return customer.
-
More efficient, targeted services.By
asking people what they want and giving it to them, you will target
your resources on the real needs in the community, and perhaps
discontinue services that are no longer needed or in great demand.
-
More income.
It stands to reason that happier customers who return will also refer
people to you. All of this translates into more income for your
organization.
Good marketing is good mission. Good
marketing brings about good mission results. Get your marketing into
high gear and you'll see the results!
Successful not-for-profits are ones
that treat everyone-the people that they serve, their funders their
donors, their board, their community- as customers.
In an increasingly competitive environment, not-for-profits who want to
do the most mission realize that marketing and customer service are
essential elements in providing that mission effectively. Is your
organization market-based (reacting to changes in the wants of your
many markets, asking and listening to customer wants), or one that
simply sells its services? I think you need to be market oriented,
flexible and adaptable to rapidly changing circumstances.
As a professional, you have probably
been well trained in doing diagnoses or needs assessments. And, you
therefore know what people need. But that is often not what they want, and, in marketing, wants win, every time. I call this conflict between needs and wants, the Not-For-Profit Marketing Disability,
and it really gets in the way of success for many organizations. You
need to ask people what they want, and then do your best to give it to
them. And, you can do that and still stay close to your mission.
Remember that no matter what your organization does, you are a
mission-based business, one that has to appeal to your many markets to
survive. These markets may be customers, people you serve, people who
pay you (including for many readers, the government). Not only do you
need to treat everyone like a customer but you need to make sure that
you meet people's wants, not just their needs. All of us have needs, but we buy wants. Don't let this disability get the best of you.
Surveys are ways to get replicable,
statistically defensible data. They also allow for trend analysis: you
can ask a set of questions now and again in six weeks or six months and
measure the difference. You don't have to pay big bucks for surveys,
though it is smart to get some help in developing the questions and the
survey process for the first one. You can learn a great deal from
regular surveying and there are some rules for surveys that you should
follow.
a. Have instructions
Unless the survey is going to be administered in person (i.e. read to
someone) you need to tell people how to fill out the survey. I like to
start all my instructions with a brief thank you, and then a short
explanation of why the survey is being taken. Then put in simple
instructions on how to fill out the survey, and end it with directions
of what to do with the survey (mail, fax, hand it in) and by when, if
you have a deadline.
b. Be brief and be focused
The longer the survey is the less likely people are to even start, much
less finish it. The rule of thumb I use is that if people think that a
survey will take longer than four minutes to complete, they probably
won't without some compensation. So be brief, and most important, be
focused. You have a reason for surveying: customer service, the
introduction of a new service or ministry, a scheduling poll, or some
other important reason. Stick with that reason and don't just throw
every question you've thought of in the past five years in for the heck
of it. Be brief and focused.
c. Limit your identifiers
Identifiers are the things you ask people about themselves: age group,
gender, ethnicity, zip code, income bracket. Data dweebs like me love
to ask lots of identifiers, because then we can play with the data,
cutting it up into smaller and smaller pieces. Resist people like us.
The more identifiers you have, the less response you will get. Why? Two
reasons, the first being that the identifiers area takes up time, and
thus uses up part of your four minutes. The more important reason is
that, if you are like most organizations, most of your surveying will
be on customer satisfaction. With these kind of surveys, you want
people to be forthright and frank: if they have a problem, you want to
hear it. People will be more likely to be frank if they are anonymous,
and the more identifiers you put on the survey, the more people will
feel that you will be able to identify them. Your data will suffer as a
result. Only put identifiers that you absolutely need.
d. Be consistent,
but not a pest. As I said earlier, surveys allow you to look at trends
over time. Are your service recipients in a particular program happier
or not compared to the last three fiscal years? Are people finding out
about your place of worship consistently from radio, or more and more
from friends and neighbors? Trend analysis is an important management
tool, but the key is to repeat essentially the same questions time
after time, and most of us will try to fiddle with the questions to
improve them. Fine, but be aware that it will skew the validity of the
data. And, while you should make use of repeated surveys to measure
trends, don't do it so often that you become a pest.
e. Include closing instructions and a thank you!
Even though you put instructions at the beginning, repeat the ones
having to do with returning the survey to you and the deadline. Then
remember to thank people for their time!
f. Get help
For at least your first survey, get some help in the wording and order
of the questions and the look of the survey. My recommendation is to
develop the survey absolutely as far as you can, and then get what I
call a "targeted volunteer, someone with expertise who you ask to help
you on this particular issue.
Focus groups
are the other main category of asking, but they are used less often due
to their expense. You get terrific information from focus groups, but
you have to understand that it is subjective rather than objective, and
thus not statistically defendable. What you do get from focus groups
that you cannot from surveys is reactions, emotions, feelings and
uncategorized responses to questions. As with surveys, there are some
rules to follow:
a. Get a facilitator
Above and beyond all the other suggestions below, get an outside
facilitator. Don't assume that you or any staff member or volunteer
should do this, even if they have the skill and experience. Get someone
from outside the organization who is both objective and non-threatening
to the participants. Again here, you will mostly be dealing with issues
surrounding satisfaction (or lack of satisfaction) with your services
or organization, and you want to reduce the barriers to frankness as
much as you possibly can. Get a facilitator.
b. Be homogenous
Focus groups bear their name for two reasons: they focus on a certain
issue, and they are comprised of a focused group of people. To the
extent you can, be homogenous. For example, if you try to be
"cost-effective" and run one focus group about your organization with
the participants representative of your staff, board, funders and
service recipients, guess what? One group will dominate, and you won't
get much out of the others. The more that people are with peers, the
better.
c. Be focused
Just as with the focus in the survey, focus in a focus group. You only
have an hour and a half, so key in on the most important things, and
stay there. If you are having a focus group to get reactions to a
proposed new service, don't throw in some questions about the
organization in general, or about community needs or anything else that
might tempt you.
d. Compensate the group and don't wear them out.
I've already warned you that you have about an hour and a half, perhaps
two, before you wear your participants out. A good facilitator will
know this and guide you to limit your questions, but don't have
unrealistic expectations about your participants' endurance. And,
compensate them in some way, usually food and drink, but perhaps also
travel costs, parking, and the like. And definitely send them a letter
thanking them for their time and assistance.
e. Get help
Just as with the survey development, get some help in developing your
questions. I would suggestion that you work with your facilitator for
this task.
Too often we hear about excellent customer service.
While I have no problem with attempts to be excellent, I do think we
sell ourselves and, more importantly, the people we serve short when we
stop at satisfaction. I much prefer that you work with your marketing
team to seek total customer satisfaction. Why? Because to me customer service says "I'll give you what you need." Customer satisfaction tells me you got what you wanted, which is much, much more important. For more on this--see the Marketing Disability above.
More and more not-for-profits are
facing true competition in the area of service delivery. If you are in
the human services, this is becoming increasingly true. Those of you
who are in the arts, environmental issues, or work with the homeless
have long competed with each other for donations and volunteer
resources, but more and more government funding is competitive and not
a given, even for long established organizations. Managed care is also
driving this competitive trend.
To get ready for this important
change make sure that your staff and board understand that you must
compete to be able to survive and provide more mission. You need to
carefully assess your competition, who they are, what they do well and
what they don't. You need to focus on your target markets, and compete
where you have the best chance to succeed.
Most importantly, you don't need to
fear competition. If handled well, it can make your organization more
responsive, more efficient and more effective in providing the mission
that you are in business to pursue.
You want your website to provide a number of things:
1. MORE,
much more, information than is possible in your printed materials.
Don't just scan your brochures into the page. Offer more in-depth
information, access to other sites that are concerned about the same
issues, more detailed info about your hours, pictures of your staff,
information on volunteering, etc. You have no limit on what you can put
on the web.
2. A number of points of contact.
An general email link is essential, but also have feedback loops that
go to specific areas, such as intake, or fund raising staff. And, of
course, remember to include phone numbers, addresses, and names!
3. Specific areas for specific groups.
For example, most of my web-savvy clients have parts of their site just
for board members (with minutes of meetings, glossaries of jargon,
contact points for other board members, etc.), others just for staff
(who is new, whose birthday is it, minutes of all meetings, new forms,
etc) and for people concerned with the organization. There are
literally limitless ways to use your website to build community
support, and increase donations and volunteer time.
FOR EXAMPLE:
One client organization of mine runs a residential school for kids with
severe disabilities. Many of the kids are from out of state, so in late
1999 they bought a digital camera, and regularly (dailyñor
weekly at the very least) take pictures of the kids at work, school,
field trips, parties, and email them to the parents. Parental
satisfaction rates have skyrocketed-as have donations!
Successful not-for-profits know that
their continued success, even their continued existence depends on
living, breathing, eating and sleeping this slogan: "EVERYTHING THAT
EVERYONE HERE DOES EVERY DAY IS MARKETING" This means that the way the
phone is answered, the way the staff dress, the way the trash is picked
up and the lawn is cut, the quality of your printed material, the
knowledge of the board, to say nothing of how services are provided.
All these activities go into the marketing mix. You have to assume that
every interaction with a client, patron, donor, funder , community
member or politician -even those that you are totally unaware of, have
an impact on some part of your organization: a decision to come to you
for services, a decision to refer someone else to you, a decision to
donate, or a decision to fund.
This maxim is not just applicable to
management, or to service provision staff, but to every employee and
volunteer that is associated with your organization. Remember the story
I told in the chapter on boards about the new board member who attended
the cocktail party? She had two ways of presenting her new experience,
one positive, one less so. It is important that everyone understand
that there role in the entire enterprise is essential-and part of your
team marketing effort.
Preformatted paper is a great way to jump-start the appearance of your
marketing materials at a low cost. Here's how to use this technique:
1. Go to
any major office store, and look in their paper section for
pre-formatted sets of brochure, card, letter, and other stock.
2. Using
Microsoft Word, Claris, or WordPerfect, use the included templates for
business cards, brochures, posters, etc. to design the marketing piece
you want.
3. Print-ONLY AS MANY AS YOU WANT- on your laser or dot-matrix printer.
Using this technique allows you to
do a number of things that both save money and time as well as increase
your ability to target your marketing materials. First, you can print
only as many items as you want: you don't have to pay a professional
printer to do a run of 10,000 items you never seem to be able to use
up. Second, you can personalize your materials to a huge extent-giving
names of staff to contact, for example, or updating email information
regularly. Third, you can edit and change the information in the piece
as needed, not just annually.
This idea works for many of my clients. Try it!
Back to TOP
Ideas for Better Marketing Materials.
THINGS TO INCLUDE IN YOUR MARKETING MATERIAL
Let's start with a list of things that you should make sure are
included in your marketing material. I would suggest that your
Marketing Committee review all of your materials, commercials,
handouts, and presentations for the following seven components. And,
remember, you have to connect with your customer, showing him or her
the benefits of using your services.
1. Your Mission. If your mission
statement (or charitable purpose) is succinct and not full of jargon,
it is an excellent thing to include in most of your marketing material.
If it is so long that it will take up 90% of your space, forget it. But
your mission is the defining statement of what and who your
organization is, and you should be able to lead with it.
2. Focus. Each piece of marketing
material should be focussed on a target market or a service component.
The art museum in the example above could develop a piece for art
lovers, parents and art teachers. That would be an example of focus on
a target market. A YMCA might have a piece on summer camp, one on its
aerobics classes and one on its basketball and soccer leagues. That
would be an example of focus on a service. But, and this is very
important, even within the "service pieces," it is critical that you
use terms that connect to the market wants. If you just focus on the
service you are back to that service-oriented rather than
market-oriented mentality.
3. Brevity. Blessed is the person who
can say it in the fewest, clearest words. Remember that no one is
forcing the reader to spend the time reading your material. It needs to
be brief, or they will get bored and stop reading. No run-on sentences
or minute detail. Give the essential information only.
4. Connection. Does the material
clearly show that your organization understands the problems of the
target market(s)? And, does it clearly state that you can help solve
those problems? If not, you are trusting the reader to make those
connections and that is a mistake.
5. Appearance. There is no excuse for
sloppy material, poor writing and cheap-looking paper or graphics. They
speak volumes about your organization. Word processing, graphics, and
printing are so inexpensive now that there is little impediment in your
way to developing professional-looking materials at a very reasonable
cost.
6. References. In certain materials, it
will be important to list well-known customers. For example, if you are
a health care organization, it may be important to list the large
employers with whose employee health plans you qualify, or the managed
care plans. Other organizations need to make connections to state and
national associations to show a level of quality ("Certified by the
National Association of XYZ"), or to a community standard ("A United
Way Agency"). As with your other text, be brief and put only those
references that mean something to the target market for that particular
marketing piece. For example, being accredited by the Joint Commission
on the Accreditation of Hospitals may be important to a referring
physician, but meaningless to a patient. Be selective and focussed.
7. A source for more information.
Always include a location where people can call for more information.
Include a phone number, email address, hours of availability, and the
name (not the title) of the person to contact. I realize that this
means that you will have to update the materials when that person
changes jobs, but the personal listing is valuable in two ways. First,
it is just thatópersonalóand gives a name to an otherwise
impersonal organization. Second, it routes the questions to the right
person immediately. One thing that nearly all of us despise is being
put on hold or handed off endlessly from person to person trying to
find out some simple fact, figure, time, or other answer to our
question. By putting the name of the correct person on the brochure,
you simplify the process and usually avoid the problem. All of these
things should show up in some fashion in your material.
THINGS TO AVOID IN YOUR MARKETING MATERIAL
Now, let's look at the other side of the coin. I assume that you have
now gone through your material to make sure that the items above are
included. But there may well be things that are in your material that
you should pull out. There are certainly things to avoid. I've provided
you with a list of seven common items to make sure that you keep out of
your material.
1. Jargon. The worst offense in
marketing material is to speak in a language people don't understand.
You don't impress people by confusing them. Using jargon puts a big
barrier between you and most audiences. I have long contended that if
you can't explain or describe what you do in words that a fourth grader
can understand, you don't really understand what you do. Simplify.
Clarify. And remember that the average American reads on a
mid-high-school level. Having said that, there is a time for jargon. If
your marketing material is to professionals in the field, jargon is the
language of the profession, and thus appropriate. Write for your
audience.
2. Inappropriate Photos. Here is the
sad truth. Most people don't care about how your building looks. You
do, because you probably have put a great deal of blood, sweat, tears,
energy, and money into the property. But most pictures of buildings are
a waste of precious space in a marketing brochure. Pictures of people
are usually much more effective, but even those can be
counterproductive if they are grainy, unfocused, or so small as to be
unrecognizable. Make sure each and every photo (or graphic) that you
include is valuable and, like the text, simple, focussed, and
understandable.
3. Lack of Focus. There is nothing
wrong with a general purpose brochure, but there is something
definitely wrong with having just a general purpose brochure, or with
having a general purpose brochure that tries to do everything for
everyone. Focus is the heart of good marketing material. Ask yourself,
"What is the purpose of this piece of paper?" If the piece goes much
beyond that central purpose it is almost certainly unfoccussed and too
long.
4. Asking For Money. With the exception
of fund-raising letters and brochures whose focus is explaining the
various ways to give to your organization, asking for money is outside
of the core purpose of the marketing material and thus out of focus. I
know that it is tempting to just throw in a sentence or two about
donations, particularly if you are desperate for money, but that
desperation will come through, and some markets may well be turned off.
Stick with your focus.
5. A History Lesson. Very few people
care about your organization's history, or even how long that you have
been in existence. Having said that, some organizations need to
validate their experience and stability by saying things like "Serving
the Finger Lakes Region since 1965." But more often I see people who
use 400 words to explain the origins of their organization in great
(and agonizing) detail. They list the initial incorporators, the first
few office addresses, and even give pictures of some of the sites that
they have occupied, noting additional important dates in history. There
is nothing wrong with history, and we certainly can learn from it. But
is a recitation of your organization's past (however laudable)
"on-message" for the marketing piece you are developing? Probably not.
But if it is, is your recounting of the development of your
organization brief and readable? Stay focussed.
6. Out of Date. I really love pictures
of staff, board, and service recipients in bell-bottoms, with shag
haircuts, or in leisure suits. They make me want to run right down to
the disco. The problem is the disco is closed, a part of the past.
Pictures that are from a bygone era will set you up for ridicule, not
respect. The same is true for text. Do you have any text that says "as
we approach the millennium?" Any that says "As we approach the national
bicentennial? This kind of think will disenchant people, who will
wonder whether it is your programs or just your marketing materials
that are outdated. Again, in this era of quick and easy software, and
digital cameras that include photos at the click of a mouse, there is
no excuse for having your brochure look like a retrospective.
7. Boring. If you wrote the text in a
particular piece, you probably won't be a good judge of this. Get it
read by people inside and outside the organization. Ask hard questions:
Is this boring? Does it run on? Can we say more in less words? Are we
"on-message," focussed, and keeping connected with the intended
audience? Don't trust your own instincts here. Get a few outside
opinions. I usually am pretty happy with my own writing, but it is
always improved by the friends, co-workers, and (in the case of my
books) the editors, who read it. Get an outside opinion or three. It
will help you avoid the dreaded B word.
Back to Top
Online Giving-a good thing or a bad thing?
Of course, like everything else, it DEPENDS.
Let's look at the issue from a number of angles. First, there are two
ways to get donations online: Accept donations at your own website with
a credit card, and join up with one of the online donation brokers.
We'll look at both in a bit more detail. Next, to get funds donated
online, you have to have an online presence. Even if you decide NOT to
take donations at your website , your most likely donor is someone who
is online, and with whom you regularly communicate by email, and who
can see what you do through your website.
One other
bit of reality-if your target donor group is under 35 years of age-you
HAVE to be online. But that target age is not the only one-Senior
centers that I work with report that upwards of 80% of their membership
actively use email and the web at least an hour a day!
At your
website, one option (and in my opinion, the best) is to have a donation
capability online. To do this, you need to be able to do four things:
Take credit cards (which charge a fee and a percentage of each
transaction, give the donor the ability to choose how much to give, and
what to give to, the ability to get donor information, and a way of
responding. Nearly all of these things can be taken care of by your
fund-raising software-and there are many options in this area. To see
the latest info on software options, go to the TechSoup info on online
giving
You may also want to affiliate with an online broker of donations, such as Helping.org, or Give.org.
These sites add your name to the thousands of charities out there to
allow people to give to you online. Not particularly focused on you,
and the results of these groups vary widely.
As always with new stuff, check out what your
peers are doing, talk to your local United Way to see if they have a
user group in this area: same thing for your state association. And
remember-your message is everything. Good tech doesn't mask a poorly
designed mission statement, or a lousy sounding pitch for funds. Good
marketing tops good tech here-but the tech is a way to raise funds if
applied properly. Good luck with this-it IS the way fund-raising is
moving. Don't be left out.
Back to Top
Is the Customer Right or Wrong?
Customer service is so very important to any
organization. Those of you who have read Mission-Based Management, or
Mission-Based Marketing know my advocacy for the fact that everyone is
on the marketing team all the time. And everyone's actions affect
customer service. So, I want this month to give you some quick thoughts
to give to your staff.
Here are my three rules of customer service:
1. The customer is not always right.
Sounds almost heretical right? But when you think about it, it makes
sense. You are a customer, I am a customer. Neither of us are perfect,
so customers are NOT always right. Tell your staff the truth, but then
tell them the next rule:
2. The customer is always the customer, so fix the problem..
Customers deserve our best efforts to "make it right." You need to
invest in training and do some coaching in helping your staff know what
is acceptable in terms of solving customer problems. For example,
Ritz-Carleton allows any staff to spend up to $4,000 on the spot to fix
any guest problem (I am NOT suggesting you use that amount of money!).
But, trust me, Ritz trains their staff in problem solving BEFORE they
cut them loose with a $4K authorization! Then, tell your staff the
third rule:
3. Customers NEVER have problems, customers ALWAYS have crises! So fix the problem NOW!
Staff have to have a sense of urgency in addressing things that are of
concern to customers. This is not just for unhappy customers, but much
more importantly, for people who present themselves at your door for
service. Your staff, even though they may see a thousand such people a
month need to retain a sense of what I call compassionate urgency for
each customer.
Attention to every customer as an important
individual, and a realization that there issues are critical to them is
key. The best example of this that I have seen is the statement made
each day at staff meetings for surgical staff who do hundreds of open
heart surgeries each year. The statement is this: "We have to always remember that what we do every day is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our patients, and act accordingly."
I couldn't say it better. Work with all your staff on customer service. They are all important!
Back to Top
Print Your Own Materials Cheaper!
So you want to have better marketing materials, but
you are convinced that you don't have the budget. You want to target
different marketing pieces to different groups that you serve, but your
marketing budget has severe limits. And, you don't want to be too
specific about who on your staff to call for follow up, or times of
services, since those change, and if you print 10,000 of a marketing
piece, it will be out-of-date!
Sound familiar? I have an answer---the cost of
technology has dropped so far that you can print your own marketing
materials, keep them flexible, and save money in the process!
GETTING STARTED: Seriously, it is
easier than you think. Both of the most popular word-processing
programs, Microsoft Word and WordPerfect have dozens of pre-designed
templates for everything from newsletters, business cards, letterhead,
announcements, and promotional brochures.
In Word, these templates are called "wizards".
You may need to install them if you didn't initially with Word. Check
your Word Help. There are even additional templates available online.
In WordPerfect, templates are called Projects,
and can be found by clicking on File, New From Project, and then
selecting the project you want.
NOTE: Microsoft also has a terrific product
called Microsoft Publisher. My version of this program has over 40
different templates for newsletters alone! There are a wide variety of
publishing software available at your electronics store. Check online
for reviews, features and on-line discounts. Some of the programs have
to be bought on disk, some can be dowloaded.
The benefits of self-printing are huge-you can
keep your materials up to date, change things as you need to, and print
only as many items as you want. In my office, I don't even pre-print
stationary, I just print it out with each letter, having saved a custom
template in both Word and WordPerfect. That saves me money from
printing, and doesn't require me to pre-pay, or to have space to store
my letterhead.
EQUIPMENT AND PAPER: Yes, you need good paper,
but the amount of different kinds of paper available at office stores
today is nearly endless, and it comes in pre-printed sets, if you need
that. Thus, you can get a common "look" for stationary, cards, and
promo materials all in one purchase. And, nearly all specialty printing
materials come with software to make your work look professional.
And, yes, you need a printer, but don't
assume you have to spend thousands of dollars for a top of the line
laser. You may want to invest in a laser if you are going to be
constantly using it and have a lot of high volume jobs. But many
mid-range dot-matrix printers not only do superb work on text, but also
on graphics. HP and Epson are the leaders in this area. If you don't
believe me, go down to your electronics store and get some print sample
directly from the printers on display. If you haven't done this in a
year or more, you will be AMAZED at how much progress has been made.
Expect to pay between $150 and $225 for a terrific dot-matrix printer,
and $30-$40 per print cartridge--and these last a LONG time! Also,
check for manufacturers rebates-often in the range of $50- if you buy
the printer and some cartridges at the same time.
You may also want a scanner, and here, too, prices
have fallen while capacity has increased. You can get a terrific
scanner for $150, which will not only scan images, but scan text into
digital form for you.
I have a great number of clients who have gone this
route. If you have a staff member who is comfortable with computers and
is the least bit creative with color and graphics, try this!
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Finding Out About Best Practices
You want to improve your marketing materials,
or try a new survey, or hold a focus group. You want to pump up your
website, or snazz up your pitch to the Rotary. But, you don't want to
reinvent the wheel. What do you do? Go after the best practices
of others. Best practices is a time-honored way to learn from others.
For most not-for profits sharing of ideas is a way of life, but you may
not know exactly where to look or what to do if you haven't tried this
before.
Here is a sequence of actions that work.
1. Focus on what you want to know. Do you
want the best customer satisfaction survey, or the best staff
satisfaction survey? Are you looking for a great low click way to
solicit donations online, or the best way to link your site to others.
Focus. Write down what you are looking for so that others can clearly
understand your needs.
2. Share your written best practices request
with your staff, board, and other volunteers. Use your network, and add
eyes and ears to your search.
3. Talk to your state and national
association--send the association staff a copy of your best practices
request by email, or call them. They may well have a set of best
practices files.
4. Do the same thing with your community
foundation, United Way, State Association of Nonprofits, Management
Services Organization, and Chamber of Commerce.
One or more of these sources will come up with good
templates of ideas for you. But then DO NOT simply copy what others
have done. Share what you have found with your staff and board. Make
sure to customize what you find to work with your organizations unique
blend of needs, wants, strengths and weaknesses.
Best practices can save you time, and enhance your
work by giving you a place to start in your quest to be a mission-based
but market driven organization!
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Turning Customers Into Referral Sources
How would you like a "free" source of customers? A
source where you don't have to sell, make cold calls, send written
material, or make a personal visit? Sound good? Well, you too can take
advantage of this source: it is your current customer base. As you know
unhappy customers go and tell people (a lot of people) how unhappy they
are. The same is true for happy customers. And it is really true for
customers who feel that you are giving them incredible customer
service. Thus, if you treat your customers (ALL your customers) well,
you should wind up with customers who are happy enough to be willing to
send you others.
But do you just wait for it to happen, or are there
some things you can and should do to move the process along? There are,
and I have listed them below.
1. Referrals are not truly "free." You need
to work for them and work at them. But if you have done a good enough
job at customer service, the happy customer is a resource that you
should not waste.
2. Don't be too eager with new customers. One
of the most common mistakes I see is people who have a new customer,
and they immediately make him or her uncomfortable by asking for
references or other referrals. Give a new customer time to experience
your organization fully. Additionally, if I call a reference, I usually
ask, "How long have you been a customer?" If the answer is "a week" I
know that the referral, while perhaps sincere, is not based on such
crucial issues as how the vendor solves problems. Be patient.
3. Always ask for permission to use a name as a reference.
Never, ever, use someone's name, or the name of their organization
without permission. 99% of people will happily agree to be a reference,
but about half of them will be really ticked if they hear you are
spreading their name around without their knowledge or approval. Do you
really want to make half of your happiest customers mad? I don't think
so.
4. You can ask for: a lot of things in this
area, including: Other organizations who are potential customers.
Permission to use their name as a referral/reference. Mentioning your
organization to peers. Names of trade associations that they belong to.
All of these things have use to you as you expand your marketing effort.
5. Remember to meet referrer's wants. Your
customers are giving you help. Do they want anything in return? Find
out. For most people it may just be thanks, but make sure. Some people
want their title always put with their name, some don't. Ask.
6. Always call or write a note of thanks. I
assume that you are tracking where your customers come from. Whenever
you find out that you received a referral, call or write a note of
thanks. Every time.
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Media Policies
Your organization may not already have media
policies, and if you don't -- you need them. Why? Because their is more
and more interest not-for-profits, both good and bad. In my Management
Ideas area, I discussed the need for organizational transparency, and
having everyone in your organization understand who can talk to the
press, when, and under what conditions protects everyone. The last
thing you need is someone sticking a mike in the face of some board
member and asking "We have been told that Not-for-profit x is......"
and having them give an answer-on videotape-that you'll have to do
damage control on.
The issue with media policies is two-fold: First,
the policy should define who (by name) in the organization is the
contact person for the media. Second, it should encourage regular
access by the media to your organization by including the press on your
mailing list and invitation list to open houses and other public
events. Make sure that whoever is the defined contact gets training in
how to deal with the press in both happy and unhappy situations. It's
an investment that will pay off. And, as part of your policy of
transparency, consider having all your policies-including your media
policies online. It will help the press when they want to access you.
You'll see that this is the case in several of the sites listed below:
http://www.brighamandwomens.org/publicaffairs/policies.asp
http://www.cya.ca.gov/media/mediapolicies.html
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The Characteristics of A Market-Driven Not-For-Profit
What comprises a market-driven, and
still mission-based organization? Let's look at the characteristics of
not-for-profits that are successful at this difficult and challenging
mix of high priorities. The six characteristics below work together, as
a comprehensive whole. Don't delude yourself into thinking that, if you
pick 1, 3, & 5 that you will be okay. You won't. You need to move
toward complete implementation of all of the six. Not-for-profits who
are successful at marketing:
1. Understand Their Markets:
They realize that their markets extend beyond just the people that they
serve. They identify, quantify and target the markets that they want to
serve and can serve well. They study the market as it is, and as it
will be. They get to know the people that are in the market, and
evaluate constantly the changes in the market's wants.
2. Treat Everyone Like A Customer:
Funders, board, staff, and people that receive services are all thought
of and treated like customers. Even difficult customers are treated as
well as possible. Customer satisfaction, solving customer problems, and
a sense of compassionate urgency are a high priority organization-wide.
3. Have Everyone on the Marketing Team:
They work at the attitude that everyone, every staff person and every
volunteer, is crucial to the success of the organization's marketing,
its customer service and its competitive edge. They know that the
smallest mistake or indifference or lack of understanding can result in
a lower perception of value from a particular market or customer.
4. Ask, Ask, Ask, and then Listen:
No one knows what a customer wants until they ask, and ask regularly.
These organizations shape their services to meet customer wants, and
they are constantly asking to stay in tune with how those wants change
and develop.
5. Innovate Constantly: They are
flexible. To respond to changing market conditions and customer wants,
these organizations are extremely flexible, with staff and board
encouraged to take reasonable risks on behalf of the people that they
serve.
6. Embrace Competition: They
don't fear competition and, while they may not revel in it, they focus
on their customers' wants and doing the best possible service. They
know that competition ultimately makes their services better and more
market focused.
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Don't sell services, solve problems-from the customer's perspective.
If I come up to you to sell my
kitchen widget, and I just say, "Look at this widget! It is great! It
is cool! It can do anything you need done in the kitchen!", you may buy
it, you may not. In fact, I can probably be so obnoxious and persistent
that you will give me money to go away. Now, how many times will you
let me sell to you? That's right, just once. But assume I come to you
and ask you how you are doing, what's going on in your life, and you
tell me you spend too much time in the kitchen, I then whip out my
kitchen widget and show you how it saves you time. If you believe my
demonstration, you may well buy it, if it shows you enough value. But
more importantly, you will let me come back later and try to sell you
something else. Why? Because I tried to solve your problem.
One of the great secrets of
successful marketing is that it is really about how to make people
happy with you because you solve a problem that is not of your making.
If you ask a lot, ask regularly and listen, people will tell you their
problems. And if you understand their problems, then you will be able
to make the connection between your organization's services and those
problems. You can solve those problems, or at least give it a good
shot. And, you'll have plenty of opportunity to solve problems, since
solving problems is what most not-for-profits' mission statement is all
about.
NEVER, EVER, EVER assume that
a customer, even one who has intimate knowledge of your organization,
its core competencies, and all of its services can or will connect
their problem to your solution. They may, but more often, they won't.
Don't sit back and wait for them to come to you. Go to them. Ask,
listen, respond! This type of asking is best done informally or in
focus groups, and all of your staff need to be part of the culture of
asking. I see too many organizations that are stunned when people go
elsewhere for services, because "they know about us." Well, perhaps
they do, but do they know (or remember) what you can do for them, for
their problems? Obviously not.
Solving customer problems also
means that you need to learn to look at things from your customers'
perspective. How do they view you? How do they see your staff, your
board, your buildings? If you only assume what they are thinking, if
you say "I know what they need, because I've been here 25 years," you
are not going to be getting to the issue; what is the customers'
perspective on this?
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When dealing with an unhappy customer, follow this checklist:
- First, listen to their whole complaint. Do not
interrupt, cut them off or in any way impede them from venting. If they
are mad enough to complain, they want their whole say. Don't make them
madder by correcting, interrupting or explaining, at least not until
they are through. Let them finish, then ask your clarification
questions.
- Second, acknowledge the customer's
perspective. Here there are two possibilities: the customer is correct,
and you have messed up, or the customer is wrong, and you haven't. In
either case it is crucial that you acknowledge their perspective.
First, if the customer is correct, say, "Mr. Jones, it sounds like our
mistake. I apologize, and I really appreciate the fact that you took
the time to call." Or, the customer is not right, and you say: "Mr.
Jones, I understand your frustration and I'm sorry you feel that way. I
appreciate your letting us know about the situation." Acknowledge that
you heard their problem and sympathize with their feelings. Make sure
they know you heard them.
- Third, ask them what they want. Here is the
place most of us mess up. We offer a solution to an unhappy person
without asking what they want. Don't. Ask first, "Now, what can we do
to make this right with you, Mr. Jones?" and if they don't know what
they want, then offer a suggestion. More often that not, they really
don't want anything other than to feel better and for the problem not
to re-occur. Ask first.
- Fourth, never make promises you cannot keep.
As helping people, we want to make our customers happy. One way we
think we can do that is by giving them anything that they want. It
makes them happy now, but really unhappy later when we can't deliver.
When you say, "We'll have the material mailed to you today", or, "We'll
be able to make your first appointment in a week.", or "Check in for a
first time client only takes 30 minutes." are all of these absolutely
true? Can you do what you say, and to the letter? If not, don't say it,
and make sure that all of your staff understand this. Here is an area
where the person on the line of service can really make headaches for
you. Tell your staff: make only promises you can keep. And, here's a
promise that's easy to make, but impossible to keep: "Mr. Jones, I
promise this will never happen again." Anyone ever heard of Murphy's
Law?
- Fifth, keep excellent notes. Particularly if
you have a customer problem, keep excellent notes about what was said,
who promised whom what and by when, etc. Documentation like this not
only protects you, it also reminds you of what your obligations are,
making it more likely that you will keep your promises, and it provides
a means by which you can share the complaint with other staff to assure
that the problem you just dealt with doesn't get repeated elsewhere.
- Sixth, never assume a customer is happy. Ask.
Measure. Interview. If you do have complaint, call those who complain
yourself. This action alone will diffuse 90% of complaints. But don't
wait for them to complain -- only 10% of people do and the other 90%
(that don't) tell 10 other people, and exaggerate their problem. So get
out ahead of the customer problem. Ask, ask, ask.
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One of my marketing mantras has
always been: "Ask, ask, ask, and then listen!" You can't know what any
of your markets truly wants until you ask, and I've showed you ways to
do better surveys, and more focus groups in prior issues. So, I hope
you ask, but are you listening? In my marketing audits with client
agencies, it's easy to tell whether or not the staff and board are
asking: you look at their surveys, focus group results, evaluation
documents, etc. But are they asking? I can tell quickly if they are or
are not by looking at a corollary question: are they innovating? If
they are not innovating, even in small ways, they are almost certainly
not asking.
This mistake is the logical
endpoint of the marketing disability that I discussed in an earlier
column. You know it all, so why listen to what people want? You are the
expert, so let's just appease people's sense of involvement by asking
them, and then go on about our business. Chrysler did that in the early
1970's. They ignored what people were telling them about wanting small,
fuel-efficient cars, and almost lost the company. Then they started to
ask, and listen, and respond. In their responding they innovated. Not
only did they save the company, but they invented new products
including a whole new (and highly successful) category of vehicle: the
mini-van. You have to listen to what people tell you. That is not to
say that you need to knee-jerk your responses and change your entire
organization because two out of every 1,000 people are unhappy. But you
do need to give each comment, each criticism, each idea a fair hearing.
Otherwise you are wasting your asking dollars and missing significant
competitive opportunities.
Listen to what people want, and then apply that to your organization the best you can.
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Putting Together Your Marketing Team
You've read here before that marketing is
everyone's job, not just the Executive Director's or the Director of
Marketing's. Everyone is part of the marketing effort, but not everyone
can sit on the committee, or team, that develops and implements your
marketing plan. You do need a team, however, and you need it to be
broad-based and with a variety of experience and perspective. You need
the team to develop the marketing plans, develop your asking, allocate
the marketing portion of your budget, and do the lion's share of the
regular customer contact. Let's look at the make-up of the Marketing
Team, and then review its responsibilities. I think you will find that
by developing such a team, you will greatly improve the results of your
marketing efforts.
I always like teams or committees that
are broadly based. Thus I do not think that this group should be just
board members, nor do I support teams that are only made up of senior
management staff. Think of your organizational chart. It has vertical
levels (senior management, mid management, line staff) and horizontal
dimensions (varying programs or areas of service) I have found that, a
wide representation of your organization both vertically and
horizontally benefits everyone the best. You get input from all areas,
and grow your future leaders. If you believe me when I tell you that
marketing is a team effort, and that everyone is on the marketing team,
make sure you put those words into action when you develop the
organization's marketing team. So who do I think needs to be involved?
These people:
- CEO. The top staff person in the
organization needs to be involved, at least in the selection of target
markets, marketing planning, and other strategic issues. He or she
probably shouldn't chair the committee, though.
- Board member. You should ask one or
two members of the board to be involved in this critical part of the
organization, particularly if you have a board member who is involved
in marketing in his or her regular job.
- Marketing Director. Whoever on your
staff has the core responsibility for marketing should not only be on
the committee, but he or she should most likely chair it.
- Director(s) of Services. Whether this is one
or more staff, the people in charge of your core services need to be
part of the asking and the listening!
- Mid-Level and Line Staff. You need
people from throughout the organization. Many of these people have more
direct contact with your customers than senior management, and thus
their input is critical. It is also a great staff development
experience for them.
- Outside Expert. Some organizations
find it helpful to have one or two outsiders on the Marketing Team,
almost always people who have specific expertise to offer.
The team should probably not be any larger than ten to
twelve people, nor much smaller than five to six. That is the best size
for a working group such as this.
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Your Marketing Team's Responsibilties.
Once you convene your team (See the idea
above),what are the Marketing Team's Responsibilities? Once you gather
your group, what do you have to do? The following is a list of outcomes
that the Marketing Team should consider their responsibilities.
- Develop a Marketing Plan coordinated with the
organization Strategic Plan. This plan should include strategic as well
as one-year goals, objectives and desired outcomes.
- Develop and administer a marketing budget.
- Develop a schedule of organizational asking.
- Develop and keep up-to-date all organizational marketing material.
- Develop and keep up-to-date the organization "look" and logo.
- Monitor trends in the industry and advise the board and management team as appropriate.
- Implement adequate surveying, focus groups, and interviewing to stay in constant touch with the wants of the markets.
- Sponsor in-house training as appropriate on customer service, marketing, asking, and other related subjects for all staff.
- Keep in regular personal contact with key market segments.
- Regularly train to further their own
marketing expertise. Get outside education for team members on
surveying, interviewing, market analysis, and materials development.
Develop internal expertise.
I know that this sounds like a lot to do, and it is.
But if the group meets every two weeks (for two to three hours) for the
first six months and then monthly on a permanent basis, there should be
adequate time to get it all done. And, to get you jump started, I have
broken out some crucial things you need to get accomplished in your
first six months. See the next idea for that list.
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