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8 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
Capacity and Need
When a phonathon program is falling short of goals, management should
consider several factors when determining the best methods to turn
around the results. In addition to understanding all productivity input
components, such as participation, average pledge, record counts, and
data quality, the capacity of the phone center should be taken into consid-
eration. The prime culprit of not achieving expectations often lies with
not having the proper number of callers on staff to complete the work.
Your ability to keep all of the seats filled with quality callers should be
one of the first things you consider when addressing program shortfalls
to reach the maximum capacity of your phonathon. The more seats youhave filled with quality callers in your call center, the more calls you can
make. This ultimately increases your chances of reaching the above-
mentioned goals set forth for your program.
Like any other production business, it is important that you recog-
nize the basic economic concept of supply and demand in the management
of your phonathon. Proper staffing requires a keen focus on understand-
ing the value of each employee hired from both a quantity and a quality
perspective. We discuss quality in this book in our section on caller train-
ing. For quantity purposes, we must know how to identify and hire the
necessary number of people to finish the work on time.
To illustrate this point, imagine for a minute that you own a companythat makes widgets. You would need to know two key factors to better
understand how to run your widget business. First, you should know the
maximum number of widgets you can supplyover a certain period of time.
Consider this number your total capacity. Next, you would need to under-
stand how many widgets are in demand for the same period. This figure
would be your need. To satisfy your customers and effectively run your
operation, you could then determine if your widget supply would meet
the demand.
This same concept applies to phonathon programs. We outline exactly
how to understand and calculate phonathon capacity in the forecasting
chapter in this book, but in a nutshell there are three key concepts thatyou should always keep in mind when determining recruiting needs in
your phonathon program:
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The Importance of Good Staffing 9
1. Maximum Capacity. How many total records will your program beable to complete (see definition of a completed call in the chapter
on caller training) if all your seats are full for the maximum amount
of time during your calling calendar? Given certain historical per-
formance parameters such as completed calls averaged per calling
hour, management needs to understand what the total productivity
potential is and how much work could be done at 100 percent of
the phonathons capability, within your allotted budget. This is
your supply.
2. Expected Need. How many callers do you need on staff to complete
the necessary number of records to reach the goal established for
the program? Given expected performance that considers database
completion percentage, participation, contact percentage, and aver-
age pledge, it is important to understand the number of available
records you will need to achieve the overall objective for the pro-
gram. This is your demand.
3. Result. Will the supply meet the demand? Do you have enough
callers on staff to complete the projected amount of records needed
to achieve the overall goal? The primary mistake many phonathons
make regarding recruiting is that capacity is never reached. Many
calling stations go unused during the week because scheduling and
hiring is never methodically planned, and the need for 100 percentattendance is never emphasized. Avoid making the assumption
that you have enough callers hired unless you absolutely know for
certain that you can finish your program on time with the staff you
currently have in place. Always prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Overstaff If Possible
In reality, your staffing projections will never be 100 percent accurate.
There are too many moving parts to ensure a perfect outcome. Most
phonathon programs do not achieve 100 percent seat capacity every night,although that should always be the goal for phonathons needing to maxi-
mize calling output to finish the program on time. Instead, anticipate
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10 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
potential issues you will face and get ahead of the problem. As a generalrule of thumb, we recommend that you recruit at least ten percent more
callers than you needfor each shift to offset turnover, absences, and poten-
tial recruiting challenges. For example, if your call center has thirty seats,
then you should always recruit to fill thirty-three seats. With this method,
you essentially prepare for the worst-case scenario and avoid the unenvi-
able position of falling behind the pace you need to finish the program
on time. Remember, it is always easier to let off the gas pedal and coast
to the finish line than to accelerate at the end and hope you can catch
up. Time always has a way of working against you as the final days of
your phonathon approach.
In the event that your overstaffing plan works too well and you havemore callers who show up than you can handle, there are several options
you can consider that are reasonable and fair alternatives for both you and
the staff.
Use a lottery system to pick names out of a hat to send the additional
callers home. This is the most random and fair way to choose who
gets to leave. Avoid making callers go home who need the hours
or want to work. Instead, only place those callers names into the
hat who request a night off. And, do not count it against their
attendance if they are chosen.
Pair up callers to split calling time, coach each others calls, andoffer suggestions to each other on presentation techniques. Take
advantage of the opportunity to improve and refine negotiation
skills, especially with your lowest statistical producers. This is an
excellent opportunity for them to listen and learn as they will not
be needed for that night of calling.
Find additional administrative work that needs to be managed, such
as envelope stuffing, filing, documentation, report/spreadsheet
updates, and the like. Full calling shifts usually mean plenty of
pledge cards and other tasks that support the work on the phones.
Use this as an opportunity to catch up on the little things that needto be done around the office, budget permitting.
Have extra callers assist with special projects such as recruiting, staff
event planning, and so on. Posting flyers around campus and running
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The Importance of Good Staffing 11
errands will free up management time to concentrate on statisticalanalysis, revising scripts, and training callers.
Again, the goal is to achieve 100 percent occupation of your calling stations,
so avoid implementing these options unless you have a completely full shift.
Timing
Many phonathon managers will argue that there are only certain times of
year when you should recruit, and therefore they make no effort to recruit
staff during other times. To some degree, this statement is true. There aremany peak periods throughout the year when recruiting is more successful
because the labor force and the demand for employment is higher. How-
ever, the approach that we have seen work in most successful programs
is one in which recruiting never ends. In April 2006, the Association of
Fundraising Professionals reported the national turnover rate for fundrais-
ing professionals in 2005 was twenty-seven percent in the United States,
up from twenty-three percent in 2004. In Canada, turnover was thirty-
six percent in 2005, up from thirty-two percent in 2004. These numbers
are likely even higher when looking only at on-campus phonathon pro-
grams as student callers have a history of switching jobs more often. The
reality of this industry is that turnover is high, so most call centers are inconstant need of new employees.
There are two main factors to consider with timing. First, it is critical
that you maintain a constant presence on campus and in other areas where
potential employees are likely to reside or populate. Staying visible and
engaged is important in attracting new talent to the phonathon, even in
times you may not need to hire. Second, avoid appearing desperate for
employees in your recruiting efforts. This tends to give an impression that
your organization may not be a desirable place to work. While it is impor-
tant to be creative in your approach to recruiting, avoid gimmicks that
only attract employees looking to make a quick buck. Earning money is
an attractive factor but not the only focus your recruiting should have.Instead, concentrate equally as hard on educating the student population
regarding the type of employees you want at the phone center and keep
a professional reputation in your efforts to find new talent.
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12 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
A healthy balance of recruiting methods built around key events andimportant calendar dates can be managed in a way that addresses both of
these issues. For example, during your peak recruiting times you could
take advantage of more intense and direct methods, often referred to as
hard recruiting. During nonpeak times, you could focus efforts on more
low-budget and subtle indirect recruiting methods, which we refer to as
soft recruiting. These are discussed in greater detail in this chapter.
Peak Recruiting Season
There are generally six key peak times per year that need to be consideredwhen determining your recruiting plans:
1. Summer. For those programs that call throughout the year, be pre-
pared to recruit students who will be on campus during the summer.
In addition, making contacts and building relationships with faculty,
staff, and administrative officials on campus can help prepare for the
busiest recruiting time of the yearthe first week of classes.
2. First Week of Classes. Students who have just returned to campus
are eager to find jobs to fit their school schedules. This is the
heaviest recruiting time for any on-campus employer as well as
many businesses off campus that use student workers as part of
their staff. You will be competing with all other sources of employ-
ment for these students, so it extremely important to be thorough
in your approach and leave no stone unturned.
3. Midfall. By midfall, students will have settled into their classes and
become comfortable being on campus, particularly underclassmen.
Caller turnover at the phonathon tends to happen around this time
as students begin realizing the challenges of balancing school,
work, and social activities. Freshmen will experience the results of
their first exams and in many cases will come to the conclusion
that they cannot juggle multiple assignments at once. Therefore,be careful when hiring those students who may have significant
distractions in their schedule.
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The Importance of Good Staffing 13
4. Immediately Before Finals. Stress levels typically peak immediatelybefore finals due to the students concern for performing well on
them. In many cases, term papers are due, and the anticipation of
going home for the break causes the employees to readjust their
top priorities. Unfortunately, the phonathon is often the recipient
of this adjustment. Be prepared to recruit and hire employees
around the time of finals, particularly the holiday season as you
know these students will be needed after returning from break in
January.
5. Before Spring Break. The weather is getting nicer in spring, stu-
dents are eager to have a little fun before the grind of the last
stretch of the year, and they have saved up enough money (after
having spent holiday money) to take some time away from work.
This is also a traditionally high-turnover time for seniors, who have
developed senioritis and just want to enjoy the final few months
of their college career without being bogged down with work. Be
prepared to lose a few callers going into the spring break period.
Few programs are immune to this season of caller turnover.
6. After Spring Break. Conventional wisdom tells us the time after
spring break may not be a good time to recruit because there are
only a few weeks in the calling campaign left. However, in reality
this is a great time to recruit new callers if you have the rightapproach. Students need money coming off spring break, the
phonathon is often in desperate need of calling hours to finish on
a good note, and the groundwork can be laid for next years cam-
paign by identifying returning students who wish to secure a job
for next year. And, if your program calls during the summer, this
time between spring break and finals is even more important.
Calendar of Events
In addition to these standard peak recruiting times, it is important tokeep a calendar of events at your institution so that you are aware of
those moments that may affect staffing, such as institutional days off,
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14 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
midsemester holiday breaks, test dates, athletic events, registration dates,dorm move-in days, and so on. Your goal is to anticipate peak periods of
turnover, understand labor force trends, and be proactive about your
recruiting plans.
Methods
There are several different methods of recruiting callers for your program.
Depending on your budget and human and technical resources available,
phonathon recruiting methods vary from basic plans with a few marketing
avenues to more comprehensive plans that use several strategies. Keep inmind that when deciding on recruiting methods, more expensive does not
always mean more effective. There are many calling programs with lim-
ited resources that have effective recruiting plans not because they cost a
lot of money, but because they are consistent, creative, and take advantage
of key opportunities on campus. Throwing money at the problem is only
a small part of the solution. The best programs in the country operate
efficiently by using a blend of hard and soft recruiting, which we explain
in the following paragraphs.
Hard Recruiting
Hard-recruiting methods are usually more intense and direct in nature.
They typically present more opportunities for direct personal communica-
tion with potential candidates, using approaches that would allow you to
avoid third-party filters that can dilute your recruiting pitch. There are
several hard-recruiting methods listed next that can help you identify the
necessary number of employees.
Open House. The best way to show prospective employees the bene-
fits of working at the call center is to open the doors and let them
see the exciting atmosphere for themselves. If you have a conve-nient campus location, post signs around the phonathon and dis-
tribute flyers, send e-mails, and use other communication methods
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The Importance of Good Staffing 15
to increase the foot traffic. In addition to helping recruit new call-ers, this method also helps you retain them once they are hired as
they are more likely to know what they are signing up for after
seeing it in person.
Job Fair. Many campuses have job fairs that promote openings for
graduates as well as current students. Recruiting tables or booths
are usually fairly inexpensive as the goal for the school is not to make
money from vendors but to identify employers willing to hire their
students. Bring applications, business cards, and even fellow student
callers to make it easier for prospective employees to sign up.
Class Announcements. All phonathon programs play a crucial role inthe financial well-being of the institution, and professors usually
understand the importance of a successful annual fund campaign.
Many faculty members will help the phonathon manager by making
a one- or two-minute announcement themselves or will let the
phonathon manager make the announcement at the beginning or
end of class. Communications and business classes in particular are
good targeting opportunities because the same skills that the phon-
athon utilizes are being taught and promoted in these classes.
Greek Presentations. The same class presentation approach men-
tioned can also be used in fraternities and sororities by asking thechapter president or leader of the house for a couple of minutes of
time during an upcoming meeting. This is an opportunity to talk
about the job, answer questions those attending may have, and pass
out applications.
Move-in Day Assistance. Efforts such as helping students move into
dorms and handing out flyers, bottles of water, open house invita-
tions, and applications are great ways to have immediate contact
with student job seekers. This keeps with the principle of staying
visible on campus and recruiting during the first week of classes.
Parents Weekend. Parents weekend events provide an excellentopportunity not only to network with students who are settling in
to campus but also to make contact with parents who are spending
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16 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
time with their kids. Setting up an informational station at eventswhere both parents and students are present allows potential
employees the opportunity to hear about your organization while
increasing interest with parents who would like their children to
learn a sense of responsibility (and help pay the bills!) by supporting
themselves in school.
Soft Recruiting
Soft-recruiting methods are subtler in their approach, often relying onindirect communication between employer and prospective employee. They
are generally used as a way to maintain constant program visibility in
the campus community and to augment hard-recruiting methods. Soft
recruiting can often be more creative and marketing driven as well as mass
produced and distributed. The following are common soft-recruiting
methods:
E-mails. The use of e-mail is one of the most effective ways to
reach a large number of students without incurring great expense.
Despite being categorized as a soft-recruiting method, e-mailsallow for direct communication with an opportunity for direct reply,
unlike classified ads or online job searches. With e-mails, you have
the ability to initiate one-on-one contact to literally thousands of
students and drive them to your organization via your online Web
site or a phone number to call for more information. Most impor-
tant, the use of e-technology has become a staple communica-
tion method with todays college students. Be creative with your
approach but be certain that your strategy will not end up being
deleted before it is viewed. E-mails are most effective when sent at
the beginning of the academic year when more students are looking
for jobs, especially considering that management has the ability tocontact students instantly before they even arrive on campus, thus
getting a jump start on your efforts.
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The Importance of Good Staffing 17
There are many tips to ensure you send an effective e-mail mes-sage. First, be sure that you have a powerful subject line, ensuring
your institution name is mentioned or recognizable. For example,
Join the Cougar Call Center has both brand identity and a cre-
ative approach. As with any marketing piece, the e-mail first has to
be read for it to be effective. Be certain to avoid common tricks
in the message such as excessive use of exclamation points, smiley
faces, or other characters or words that Internet service providers
could categorize as spam. Second, craft your message to be short,
powerful, and concise to keep the reader interested. Avoid using
words in all capital letters and stay with proper, professional gram-
mar to promote the phonathon as a good place to work. Finally,include an opt-out option as a courtesy for those students who do
not wish to receive your message in the future.
Flyers. Even in todays world of fast-paced technology, it is a proven
fact that flyers still remain as one of the most common and effective
forms of advertising on college campuses. They are old school,
but they work! Flyers are like newspapers and books in that they
offer the average person an opportunity to read physically from
paper and not a Web site. While technology continues to make
inroads into the daily lives of students, there will likely always be a
benefit from paper communication. Even as most college studentsin todays world are using technology to enhance their job searches,
it is safe to say that nearly all students also make a regular habit of
glancing at informational boards on campus, whether intentional or
not. Flyers are very visual and allow for colorful ways to market
your program.
Perhaps most important, flyers give management the ability to
be creative while specifically targeting your audience by varying
messages based on location. Online communication requires a com-
puter and Internet access. Flyers can be posted anywhere and are
great compliments to an electronic recruiting strategy. Use flyers
to deliver specific messages to specific groups of people, such ascommunications and business majors or underclassmen living in
nearby dorms. Cost-efficient and effective, placement of recruiting
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18 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
flyers on campus remains a universal approach of nearly all phona-thon programs.
See Appendices 14 for examples of common recruiting flyers.
Employee Referrals. Your current employees, particularly your veter-
ans, understand your operation and the value of their work. So,
why not include them in your marketing plan? Potential employees
will hear the benefits of the job from current employees, which
strengthens your reputation on campus and promotes the phona-
thon as a good place to work. Best of all, it literally takes no leg-
work to start a referral program. It can be as simple as offering
employees a certain dollar amount for every candidate they refer to
the phonathon, provided important criteria are met. For the caller
who is referring the new employee, this can include having a good
attendance record, completion of caller training, good disciplinary
standing, and so on. You might also consider a bonus for the caller
who is being referred, especially once they successfully complete
training and a predetermined number of weeks of calling.
Referral programs are a win-win proposition for everyone
because they reward current employees via the incentives offered,
future employees with a job and incentives, while at the same time
contributing to a fun atmosphere that comes with working with
friends. And, of tremendous importance, it reduces the burden on
management for having to find and recruit quality employees.
A key point to keep in mind with a referral plan is to be very
clear about your expectations and selection process. If you assume
that every referral is a good candidate, you could be setting your
plan up for failure by having poor callers referring like-minded can-
didates. In addition, be aware that while callers will often join the
phonathon because their friends work there, they can also resign
their position with the phonathon when their friends quit. Antici-
pate and prepare for that possibility to avoid being caught off guard.
See Appendix 5 for an example of a recruiting flyer for employee refer-rals.
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The Importance of Good Staffing 19
Online Job Web Sites. Job Web sites are used in conjunction withother recruiting methods to give applicants an easy way to learn
more about your phonathon and apply instantly at their conve-
nience. Your online site can include important information, sched-
uling policies, wage information, and applications. In todays
electronic world, these Web site locations are almost a requirement
for transparent and convenient recruiting.
Giveaways. T-shirts, bookmarks, cups with the phonathon logo and
information printed on them, hats, pens, and other items are some-
times used as incentives and as marketing pieces to promote the
phonathon. Give a few away to current staff and ask them to wear
or use them around campus. If used in conjunction with the referral
program, these can help the callers promote the phonathon in a
very convenient and less-intrusive manner.
Table Tents. Used in lunchrooms and study areas, table tents pro-
vide a great way to promote the phonathon without having to be
present physically. Students can look at the information while
eating, surfing the Web, or doing homework. Table tents are a
great compliment to flyers on campus, housing valuable recruiting
information that a student discovers while sitting down rather than
standing up or walking.
Social Marketing Web Sites. As the technological revolution contin-
ues full steam ahead, the use of social marketing communication in
the phonathon world continues to blossom. One of the more inno-
vative recruiting methods that has evolved in the recent past is the
use of online communities to reach out to students. Organizations
such as MySpace and Facebook are now being used as recruiting
tools on college campuses for a variety of positions and events,
including the phonathon. The ability to tap into a students online
world is invaluable in recruiting new talent.
One of the potential downsides of this method that fundraising pro-fessionals continue to debate is the concern for privacy and the potential
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20 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
for predators to gain access to college students whereabouts and otherinformation. This is a particular concern for female students. Neverthe-
less, it is a creative option to consider, and many institutions are working
hard to modify these approaches to address these issues. In the future,
phonathons will almost assuredly need to use social marketing to keep
pace with other organizations searching and recruiting in the same
employment base on campus.
Roadblocks
As the saying goes, Plan your work, and work your plan. A recruiting
plan is only as good as your ability to execute it. That ability is sometimes
limited or even impossible due to a number of issues, some of them
within your control and others not. Regardless, what is important as a
manager is that you recognize those obstacles and then develop a plan for
how you will attempt to overcome them. Here are some of the more
common roadblocks we have observed when programs attempt to imple-
ment a full recruiting strategy: financial resources, human resources, and
competition.
Financial Resources
We have worked with several institutions that face the common challenge
of needing to do more with less. They are placed in a position in which
they must recruit more creatively and consistently, but because of budget
reasons they are restricted from initiating an all-out effort. Managers
faced with predicaments like this will sometimes have to make sacri-
fices that they would otherwise not consider. The key in this situation is
to ensure you have an understanding of the effectiveness of your meth-
ods.
To overcome the challenges of a limited budget, we recommend plac-ing all of your recruiting mediums into a spreadsheet or other program
that allows you to track various key components of your efforts (e.g.,
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The Importance of Good Staffing 21
timing, number of applicants by source, frequency of use, number of hiredemployees from a source, expense, dates, etc.). Armed with this informa-
tion, you can then prioritize which will be most effective within the con-
fines of your budget and begin to build a more focused recruiting plan to
maximize your resources.
See Appendix 6 for an example of a recruiting tracker.
Human Resources
It is vital that you have staff members who are willing to commit thetime and effort necessary for effective recruiting and who understand how
important it is to remain focused on this area of the phonathon operation.
The manager may not have the time to recruit, interview, and hire each
employee, although their input is necessary to make sure the process stays
on track and promotes quality.
In the event that human resources are limited (especially in extremely
large programs), we suggest that management assign the role of recruit-
ment to one or two of your student supervisors. The manager coordinates
the development of the plan but encourages student leaders to offer input
and empowers them to make decisions and determine what role they can
play in its implementation. The final hiring decisions should alwaysbelong to the manager, but the student supervisors or lead callers can play
an important role in finding the talent. After all, students know the stu-
dent population better than does the manager.
Competition
Your phonathon operation is like running any other business when it
comes to hiring. You will compete with other companies or organizations
in your area that are hiring from the same labor force. As a manager, it
is important that you have an understanding of the job market in yourarea because the success of your recruiting and retention effort is affected
by how you vie with those organizations for the available talent. While a
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22 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
phonathon job offers many great benefits, there are some offered by othercompanies that prohibit phone programs from competing. These include
the ability to offer day hours (our core fundraising time is in the evening),
unlimited hours, higher pay (in some cases), and the ability to work off
campus and do something non-school related in their temporary home-
town. With a solid recruiting plan, you can improve your chances of mar-
keting the unique benefits of your phonathon program and position your
program to compete well on its own merit.
Hiring
Hiring the best possible callers from the pool of recruited applicants is
among the most important responsibilities of a phonathon manager. As
with any other job, it is important to hire the right personnel to ensure
the success of your phonathon program. There is usually a plethora of
jobs for students on or near college campuses, typically at local establish-
ments such as restaurants and bars, department stores, the book store,
libraries, coffee shops, the dining hall, and the like. However, with the
exception of internships and research assistant opportunities, there are not
many college jobs on a par with a student phonathon fundraiser. In fact,
we strongly believe that the job of a phonathon caller is the most impor-
tant student position on campus. The challenges of raising significantfunds for the institution, promoting stewardship and good feelings with
prospective donors, and updating massive amounts of demographic infor-
mation are not a set of responsibilities to be taken lightly. In return for
their hard work and dedication, students can expect the benefit of learn-
ing a set of skills that will transfer to just about any profession upon
graduation. The position of phonathon caller is simply a unique and valu-
able opportunity for most college students.
Finding students whose demeanor and communication skills match
the importance of the position is no easy task. It is not good enough
simply to identify students who are willing to sit at a station and make
phone calls. The job is too important and the ramifications for failuretoo great to take the easy road. Under the pressure to meet the expecta-
tions established at the executive level, many phonathon managers find
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The Importance of Good Staffing 23
themselves traveling down this dangerous path of simply filling seats.Unfortunately, not having the ability to select the quality as well as the
quantity of applicants is one of the biggest factors that contribute to the
poor performance of a phonathon program.
Good Caller Characteristics
If your management team is committed to a consistent, aggressive recruit-
ing plan, and you have established a very clear understanding of the type
of caller you are seeking, then the ability to accomplish the best of both
worlds, qualityand quantity, is not impossible. The first step in this pro-
cess is building a profile of the ideal caller for your program. Fortunately,the size or type of college or university does not much matter when it
comes to selecting these employees. Good callers can be found anywhere
if you know what to characteristics are needed. What is most important
is that you recognize the key characteristics that make up a top-notch
caller. This process is paramount to selecting a winning group of student
representatives who will be the voice of your institution. In the following
paragraphs, we outline several major traits to consider when recruiting
the right staff.
Good Personality
Students with an outgoing, reflective personality often make great callers.
Those who are not shy around others and have demonstrated a penchant
for teamwork usually fit well inside a structured, group effort. They enjoy
humor with coworkers, even at their own expense. They are not afraid to
speak during meetings, yet know when to listen and take direction. Most
important, they reach out to others who they do not know well, seeking
to spread a positive rather than negative message.
Good Character
It can be difficult to judge character from a resume or an interview. How-
ever, to the extent it can be done, management should pursue questions
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24 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
that illuminate development in this area. Callers should demonstrateintegrity and honesty in all aspects of their job. High levels of good char-
acter reduce the likelihood of pledge falsification, deliberately giving inac-
curate information to prospects, cherry-picking the best donor prospects,
hiding refusals, or intentionally miscoding calls.
Confidence
Often an underappreciated trait, confidence is extremely important in
fundraising. Callers should sound confident in their tone, and manage-
ment should be able to see it in their body language while on calls andwhen they are communicating with coworkers. They look for ways to
learn the details of the program, which allows them to quickly respond
to objections and trust their information. Most important, confident call-
ers are not afraid to be assertive and persistent, crucial to good negotiation
skills. They take constructive criticism well because they know it helps
them improve their skills and will make them better callers.
Sincerity
Callers who believe in what they say can effectively convince a prospectto give because there is a sense of honesty in their tone. This is especially
important at the larger, leadership ask levels of the script. Their program
knowledge and sense of confidence allows them to relax during their pre-
sentation and understand which points to emphasize to maximize their
chances for receiving a pledge.
Quick Thinking
A script and list of techniques are just guides to help callers understand
the flow of a presentation, the key points to cover, and the commonobjections they will encounter. However, no two calls are the same, and
management cannot predetermine responses for every objection a caller
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The Importance of Good Staffing 25
may hear. The best callers understand how to think quickly on their feetand rapidly respond to uncommon objections and other unique situations
that arise during their presentation. Slow, ineffective responses greatly
diminish the ability of the caller to maintain control of the conversation,
thereby hurting their chances to receive a pledge.
Persistence
If every prospect were willing to say yes the first time you ask them for
money, everyone would be a great caller! The reality is that nearly all
phonathon pledges are received after the second or third ask (hence, ourrecommendation for a three-ask structure, which is discussed in the
scripting chapter). The best callers understand this reality and know that
it is their job to prepare for multiple asks on each and every call.
Maturity
While you want your call center environment to be lively with lots of
positive energy, enthusiasm, and buzz during a shift, you also have to
balance this with the serious work you do in raising money for the institu-
tion. The more mature callers do not have to be reminded of this fact.They understand the job at hand, have great time management skills
during their shift, and have a clear focus for the need to balance work
with play. Some schools even gear their recruiting toward juniors and
seniors because they want more mature employees who need jobs for rea-
sons beyond fun money. No matter what the class year, consider matu-
rity as an important factor in your hiring decisions.
Dependability/Flexibility
Your best callers are as good as they are because they show up for everyshift, which means they have more practice honing their presentation
skills and understanding the expectations of the job. They have adjusted
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26 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
well to campus life and know how to balance school and work. Programstrategies may change throughout the year for many schools, but the best
callers are flexible and able to adjust as needed. You can often depend on
these callers for additional special projects as well, such as recruiting,
assisting during training class, filing, or other administrative duties.
Management on the Same Page
Consider having brainstorming sessions with your key personnel in the
fundraising organization. Review the traits just listed along with other
qualities you consider important for your program. Discuss each of thesequalities in detail and document your expectations. This will ensure every-
one is on the same page about the type of caller you want to hire, and
these qualities then become the core foundation by which your team
judges candidates.
Interviewing
In addition to the quality of callers hired for a phonathon program, man-
agers must not forget that, at the end of the day, this is just a college job
for most of the students, not necessarily a career path. With this thoughtin mind, managers must establish a delicate balance between a profes-
sional, goal-oriented atmosphere and a fun, motivating college atmo-
sphere. This component is crucial to the retention of staff and the overall
productivity of the phone center.
The type of employees you hire will ultimately determine the type of
work atmosphere you maintain, and selecting those employees begins
with the interview. Being honest about expectations and sharing the
vision for what you want applicants to accomplish if they are hired will
help them have a clear understanding of the job before they accept the
offer. At the same time, the interview is a time to share with applicants
your thoughts about the fun they should expect to have when making thecalls and the positive experiences they will have as your team reaches
milestones. With this approach, applicants can see right away that there
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The Importance of Good Staffing 27
are expectations andrewards with such a position. In addition, applicantslooking for an easy job often take themselves out of the hiring process
before you extend an offer, resulting in better quality employees for the
phonathon culture you are trying to create.
When establishing your application and interview process, you should
keep two things in mind: ensure the process is thorough and efficient. If
your recruiting process is working at its full potential, you will have many
applicants to consider. Each objective is explained in detail next, with our
thoughts on key components of the interview process.
Ensuring the Process Is Thorough
Rushing applicants through your hiring process while not asking the right
questions and listening for the quality indicators that you seek will have
significant long-term damage to the quality of your staff and ultimately
the performance of the program. Revisit the qualities of your ideal
employee and then review your application and interview questions to
ensure you are addressing each of those qualities. In addition, make sure
your interview questions are as open ended as possible. Asking yes-or-no
questions is acceptable for basic factual information, but you need to
ensure your applicants are able to promote their abilities in a way that
allows them to speak at length and articulate their answer. After all, theywill be using these same skills on the phones if they are hired for the job.
Following are some examples of effective versus ineffective ways to
question your applicants as you gauge the qualities you seek.
Dependability
Ineffective: Can you effectively balance school and work? It is impor-
tant that we can depend on you to work each and every shift.
Effective: Working every shift is important to the overall development
of you as a caller and to our ability to reach team goals. Tell mehow you have balanced school and work in the past or how you
plan to manage it for this job given the schedules we work?
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28 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
Confidence
Ineffective: Do you like working in competitive environments?
Effective: Tell me why I should hire you before other applicants?
Persistence
Ineffective: Are you willing to ask for money more than once if a
prospect refuses the first time you ask?
Effective: Give me an example in your personal or work life when you
did not get what you wanted the first time you asked, and whatyou did to overcome the refusal and ultimately succeed?
Ensuring the Process Is Efficient
While it is best to have a thorough interview and hiring process, some
programs do not have the luxury of a long time frame to hire students.
However, the most effective phonathon programs not only have consis-
tent recruiting efforts but also have an efficient application/interviewing
process. Efficiency allows management to move through the pool of
applicants in an orderly fashion, taking the time to see quality but avoid-ing unnecessary breaks in the process. We next outline a basic three-
step process that can be implemented by management in most phonathon
environments.
Three-Step Interview Process
1. Application Completion. Consider an online application process if
you have not already done so to receive applications instantly. At
minimum, you should allow your applications to be printed online
and submitted via fax or e-mail to your call center. Ask for justthe important details necessary for you to gain an insight regarding
their background and experience. While it is important to portray a
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The Importance of Good Staffing 29
professional approach to this position, overly lengthy and complexapplications are often unnecessary given the questions phonathon
managers need answered.
2. Phone Interview. Voice qualities are the principle mechanism for
delivering a quality presentation in a phonathon program. If your
applicants are not very articulate and do not sound convincing
when building their case for a job on the phone with you during
the interview, chances are they will not be successful when trying
to persuade alumni, parents, and friends to donate money to your
program. The phone interview allows you to screen out these
applicants as you work to narrow your hiring pool. The phone
interview should be the first step in the direct communication pro-
cess but not the last step. There is no substitute for a personal,
face-to-face interview, and the phone interview should never be a
stand-alone procedure. Management can initiate this step on
receipt of the application, at which time you can choose to do a
quick phone interview at that moment or schedule a time in the
near future for a more thorough process. An alternative method
that some schools have put into place involves establishing a
recruiting line that applicants can call and leave a message with
answers to a few basic questions along with their phone number
and time to reach them for follow-up.
3. Personal Interview. This is the most important step in any hiring
process as this is managements opportunity to get a true feel for
the applicants personality, confidence, and other quality indicators
we discussed. Eye contact and body language during a personal
interview can tell you a lot about an individual. There are three
principle types of personal interview processes you could establish
depending on the resources and time frames you have available:
a. One singular face-to-face interview with the phonathon man-
ager.
b. Panel interviews that include both the phonathon manager andstudent supervisors, who may ultimately be responsible for help-
ing to manage the employee if hired.
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The Importance of Good Staffing 31
will give a better feel for the position and also allow them to experiencethe vibrant working atmosphere. They can then make a more educated
decision about whether the job is for them. You would much rather lose
the prospective candidate up front than send them through training only
to be surprised when they leave because the job is different from what
they expected.
Include script reading as part of your applicant evaluation process. Have
applicants read a very basic script during the personal interview. This
allows you to determine how quickly they can grasp the basic concept of
a presentation, how they sound reading off the cuff, and their ability to
think on their feet. Ask them to attempt to overcome one objection using
the standard techniques you provide them and give them a significantprimary ask to use to gauge their reaction to asking for large gift amounts.
Understand the applicants other time commitments and activities. Remem-
ber, you are hiring students who are on campus not only to receive a
degree but also to experience all that college life has to offer outside the
classroom. While the phonathon caller position is critical to the success
of your program, do not minimize the importance of other on-campus
extracurricular activities of your applicants. Extracurricular activities may
appear on the surface to be a distraction to a students ability to handle
the phonathon position, but you might be surprised to find the opposite
effect more often. Many students who are involved with other activities
have a deeper connection to the institution as well as a stronger level ofmaturity and work ethic. Some students thrive on staying busy, choosing
to work not because they need to but because they want to. These are all
excellent qualities to look for in a caller.
Try not to schedule too many interviews in a short time frame. It is
important that you give each interview the proper amount of time neces-
sary for you to effectively evaluate the applicants. Typically, thirty-minute
interview blocks (two per hour) are good, but you can also consider
twenty-minute blocks (three per hour) if your process is efficient. Shuf-
fling applicants in and out of your office also tends to make your opera-
tion look like a revolving door. Show professionalism by demonstrating
to the applicant that you appreciate his or her time.Score your applicants and take notes during the interview. If you do not
hire on the spot (which we strongly recommend against), this is a good
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32 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
way to ensure you fairly and consistently evaluate applicants and do notforget important information uncovered during the process. In addition,
writing down information shows the applicant that you are taking the
process seriously and that your approach is professional. However, be
aware that good eye contact and an engaging interview are far more
important than taking notes with your head down. If you spend most of
your time writing, you are likely to miss signs and indicators that can
help you make a good decision. We recommend and encourage a balanced
approach.
Treat the interview process as a professional experience. Take notice of
applicants who dress for your interviews and prepare resumes because
many students will not do so. Also, take it as a warning sign if the appli-cant shows up late as they are more likely to repeat that behavior later
when they are on your payroll. Again, while you want to create a fun
working environment for students, you also have to remember that you
are still running a professional business, and the position should be
treated as such.
RETENTION
One of our colleagues put it best when characterizing staffing problems
by stating, Perhaps your problem is not recruiting, but rather keepingcallers once you get them. Unfortunately for many managers, this state-
ment reflects the difficulties their campaign faces. Phonathon programs
often address staffing concerns by investing most of their time and
resources in improving recruiting strategies as the natural management
instinct is to assume that not having enough callers on staff means that
the recruiting process has been lacking. In reality, turnover often causes
far more problems than poor recruiting and has a larger effect on the
ability of the campaign to hit the goals and objectives set forth. Some
turnover should be expected in any business, and phonathon programs
are certainly no exception to that rule. However, significant caller turn-
over can affect your phonathon program in many ways beyond merelybeing an inconvenience. Here is a partial list of the effects of chronic
caller turnover and poor retention:
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The Importance of Good Staffing 33
Increased Costs and Time. With improved retention, the money andstaff time spent on recruiting and new hire training could be used
to manage other aspects of the operation, such as coaching and
development, incentive programs, administrative cleanup, and spe-
cial project implementation.
Negative Reputation. Word of mouth makes bad news spread fast.
If it becomes known around the campus community that employees
are constantly resigning from your phonathon program, the percep-
tion will eventually be that your organization is not a desirable place
to work. This puts an additional burden on your recruiting efforts
because you have to work harder at convincing students to apply
for jobs, and a negative reputation takes months and even years toshed.
Inconsistent Results. Because of low retention, many organizations
are constantly training and placing a large number of new callers
on the phones. Veteran callers who have been trained rotate out,
and inexperienced callers rotate in. The end result is a staff consist-
ing of callers who are working through their learning curve, leading
to a lack of consistency and difficulty negotiating on the phones.
The by-product of all these problems is low productivity.
One of the keys to staff retention is to develop your organization in
such a way that students see working for you as a privilege that will bene-
fit their lives now and in the future. If students view your operation as
just another run-of-the-mill part-time job, then it makes it easier for
them to quit if they struggle to excel or if they just do not feel comfortable
on the phones. We have seen many cases of callers turning it around after
experiencing rough patches in their initial learning curve. However, they
must be committed to the job and to the manager to get through the
tough times.
Five Primary Retention Factors
There are many factors that influence caller turnover rates. To effectively
tackle the problem of poor retention, management must be willing to
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34 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
address the main reasons why turnover exists in the first place. The fol-lowing five reasons are the principle issues relating to caller turnover. We
discuss and explain each in greater detail in the subsequent paragraphs.
1. Wage
2. Incentives
3. Knowledge and skills
4. Atmosphere
5. Opportunities
Wage
Students working for a phonathon program are really no different from
your average part-time employee. Most have no long-term interest in the
job, and it is usually a need for money rather than pride for the institution
or an understanding of the importance of fundraising that attracts them
to the program. They simply want to earn enough funds to help cover
marginal living expenses or extracurricular activities (nights out with
friends, campus events, food, organization membership fees, etc.). If your
wage is not competitive, then it becomes even more challenging to com-pete with other employers. That challenge also goes beyond campus
boundaries as higher-paying jobs off campus usually attract students who
will sacrifice proximity to make good money.
Low wages have a tremendous negative impact on two key areas of
your program:
The quality of employees you hire because the best candidates will
accept higher-paying jobs more often than not, thus leaving you
with a less-talented applicant pool.
Employee retention as some current employees will begin to question
whether they are working for a reputable organization or if thesalary they are receiving is worthy of their effort. Consequently,
they keep their options open for higher-paying positions.
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The Importance of Good Staffing 35
Best-Paying Job on CampusThere may not be a way to compete with every potential employer
regarding caller wages, particularly for schools located in larger cities
where there are more businesses for callers to choose. However, phona-
thon programs should always strive to be one of the highest-paying jobs
in your area. Ideally, the phonathon should be the best-paying part-time
job on campus, thereby guaranteeing that wage will not be an issue with
those employees seeking a job in the immediate vicinity. Even if it is
twenty-five or fifty cents per hour higher than your next-closest competi-
tor, advertising that the phonathon is the highest salaried student position
on campus gives you a recruiting advantage and helps improve the quality
and quantity of the applicants.
Incentives
Effective incentives are a staple of many successful phonathon programs,
in many cases offsetting the challenge of lower wages. They provide a
bridge between what the program can afford to pay the callers and the
compensation needed to make the employees happy and motivated. There
are two key reasons why incentives should be a key part of your retention
strategy:
1. Make the Job Entertaining. Incentives are an excellent way to allow
callers to have some fun during a shift while rewarding them for
their performance. The reality is that at the core of any phonathon
operation is a caller who spends three to four hours per shift mak-
ing hundreds of calls, only reaching a small percentage of pros-
pects. They give the same presentation over and over and are
repeatedly rejected. The monotony of this routine can result in lack
of focus due to boredom or the mental stress of subpar perfor-
mance. One of the key roles of a manager during the shift is to
find creative ways to keep the energy up on the floor and maintaina fun, yet professional atmosphere. Incentives such as games and
contests that are based on actual performance and goals set by
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36 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
management help to accomplish a productive calling session andkeep the students motivated and entertained.
2. Recognize and Reward Callers. Recognizing callers for a job well
done is a great way to let your staff know that you appreciate their
contributions to the campaigns mission and congratulate them on
their personal accomplishments. Incentive programs are a common
practice in the business world. Think of just about any organiza-
tion you know, and chances are they have recognition plaques or
other trinkets located somewhere in their offices. In the world of
phonathons, there are two categories of incentives to recognize or
reward staff: tangible and intangible.
Tangible incentivesare those incentives that a caller can physically see,
touch, or take away. Here are some examples:
Award certificate
Plaque with name engraved
Gift cards
Pizza parties or other food and beverage
Household/dorm items
Novelty prizes
Intangible incentives recognize callers in ways that are usually publi-
cized but do not include physical items. Often, intangible incentives can
be just as effective and have minimal costs, if any. Some examples include:
Flexible scheduling
Time out early
Being a supervisor for a day
A visit by the dean or director to give a personal word of thanksand encouragement
A simple handshake from management for a job well done
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The Importance of Good Staffing 37
Additional Strategies for IncentivesChange your game on a regular basis. Your staff will eventually get
bored with playing the same contest or game every shift. This does not
mean you need to development a new game every night. Rather, it means
mix up the games that you have and add new games when possible. In
addition, you should allow your callers to have a voice in the games you
play as they will be more likely to take them seriously and compete harder
if they had a hand in creating them.
Be sure the incentives are tied to your desired program and individual
goals. To maximize your programs productivity, build your incentives and
contests around nightly goals. Playing games for the fun of it can actually
hurt your callers performance. Set specific objectives for number of
donors, dollars, credit cards, upgrades, and additional criteria. Callers
tend to appreciate the incentives more if they have earned them, not if
they are given them.
Offer incentives for both short- and long-term goals. A healthy focus on
both short- and long-term areas keeps callers motivated for multiple rea-
sons, which contributes to a more focused overall program. It can also
help caller retention by providing incentive for remaining with the phona-
thon until the overall goals and objectives have been reached.
Use relative performance parameters that are more difficult to alter.
Results using raw numbers such as dollars and pledges can be used but
should be monitored closely because they increase the temptation for call-
ers to enter false pledges, resulting in lower fulfillment rates and more
angry alumni and friends. Instead, base your incentives around objectives
that cannot easily be exaggerated and offer potential win-win situations
for both the caller and the phonathon program. Examples include:
Pledges on credit card (which helps reduce postage and processing
costs)
Team fulfillment rates
Attendance bonuses
The importance of pledge verification. Implement a pledge verificationprocess in your phonathon. Any time incentives are offered to motivate
callers to improve performance, the temptation exists for callers to use
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38 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
poor judgment. They may consciously enter false pledges or subcon-sciously misunderstand prospects in their enthusiasm to achieve the goal,
unknowingly undermining good fundraising habits. Online verification,
telephone monitoring, or randomly calling pledges back to ensure their
validity will improve your fulfillment rates, especially when incentives are
built around goals for the number of pledges or dollars.
Knowledge and Skills
One of the main reasons employees leave phonathon jobs is due to lackof confidence in their knowledge or skills. When callers feel they are not
contributing to the success of the team or bringing the team down due
to their poor performance, they are more likely to quit. Lack of quality
training, coaching, and verbal and written feedback contributes to a cycle
in which callers lose confidence in their ability to perform at a high level.
Consequently, every calling shift is an exercise in anxiety, and they even-
tually resign in frustration.
One of the key objectives of your caller training and development plan
should be to ensure that every employee is given access to the full skill-
building resources of the phonathon program. As leaders and managers,
it is your responsibility to provide callers with the necessary tools todevelop their talent and be successful. Before a caller ever leaves due to
performance issues, management must have the confidence that they have
fulfilled their responsibility. During the callers tenure, be sure to docu-
ment strengths and weaknesses in employee files. This can be as simple
as a formal coaching program that includes documented call evaluations
along with any performance appraisals given to the employee during their
time with the phonathon.
As we mentioned at the beginning of this book, a phonathon is a
business. And, while our business is unique in many respects, giving
employees what they need to be successful is a universal concept. The
results of a 2006 survey to determine the best small companies to workfor in America reported that businesses that made the top twenty-five got
high marks for having low turnover rates, being flexible with time off,
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The Importance of Good Staffing 39
and providing quality employee development training.* The survey alsofound that compensation is often less important to employees than prac-
tices like regularly communicating the firms financials and its competitive
positioning.
Again, this same philosophy can be applied to phonathon programs.
If you are consistent and clear with the goals, expectations, and progress
of your program and provide the quality training and ongoing develop-
ment your staff needs, you will definitely experience an improvement in
overall phonathon performance.
The Three Ways Callers Learn: Tips on ImprovingKnowledge and Skills
1. One on One. Consistent face-to-face feedback with your callers is
critical to improving caller confidence. Many newer callers are shy
and do not respond well to criticism in the presence of the team.
Individual coaching sessions gives them a way to open up about
their challenges, thus resulting in more productive coaching and
caller development. It is important to develop regular cycles of
coaching with the callers and establish coaching minimums in
terms of frequency with your supervisors. We recommend that
each supervisor on shift formally coach at least three or more callers
per shift, offering quality face-to-face feedback (in addition to
informal coaching). Build a tracking schedule to ensure every caller
is coached an appropriate amount of time over a selected period.
2. Apprenticeship/Osmosis. Spending time with veteran callers who are
seasoned at being in the trenches of calling and allowing them to
be able to listen to their presentations and ask questions is an
invaluable way of learning the skills necessary for phonathon suc-
cess. There are some callers who find this to be a more effective
method of learning. While they need to understand formal con-
cepts and procedures for calling success, they will pick up on the
*Business Week Online, July 13, 2006, The Best Small Companies to Work for inAmerica, Jeffrey Gangemi.
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40 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
subtleties of the job quicker when they interact with veteran callers.Be certain to put your new staff only with callers who have sound
fundamentals in their skill set. Otherwise, you run the risk of
teaching bad habits.
3. Group Exercises and Activities. Consider holding team role-playing
sessions periodically as a way to continue reinforcing fundamental
presentation habits, even with veteran callers. Management should
understand the importance of keeping their callers skills fresh the
same way any performer or athlete understands the importance of
practicing the fundamentals of their craft. Team meetings provide
an excellent opportunity to highlight successful techniques from
other callers and reinforce good habits and fundamentals in front
of the entire team. In addition, consider conducting periodic group
retraining sessions, working with three or four callers at once on
specific areas of focus. Often, this serves as a way to work closer
with a cluster of callers who may all be struggling with similar
performance issues.
Atmosphere
Imagine the following scenario when coming in to work every day:
Your office is a big, square room filled with cubicle workstations con-
taining only computers and phones. There are very few pictures or other
items on the white walls. Perhaps the location is in a campus buildings
basement or classroom with few windows. The supervisor comes in
every day to take roll call, makes a few brief announcements, tells you
what prospects you are calling, and says, Get started. Throughout the
shift, there is limited communication from management other than to
tell you what you did wrong, and callers do not communicate with each
other very often due to management frowning on perceived distractions.
Does this sound like an enjoyable place to work? We do not think so.Unfortunately, the fact is that many phonathon programs operate in this
manner or something close to it. Management becomes so preoccupied
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The Importance of Good Staffing 41
with administrative responsibilities and the pressure to meet goals andexpectations that they fail to realize some of the little things that could
make a big difference. The bottom line is that the working environment
affects the attitude we keep, which in turn affects the turnover rate in
our places of employment. The positive physical, social, and professional
atmosphere of a call center has a significant impact on the feelings of the
staff and their desire to work.
It is the responsibility of management to create the type of working
atmosphere in which callers can be successful. Phonathon programs have
a built-in advantage over other types of on-campus employment, and if
managed properly can easily be the most rewarding place to work. Unlike
other businesses, phonathons experience immediate feedback on theirlevel of success. Statistical results show tangible proof of hard work and
can provide opportunities to rally the callers around a positive outcome.
A few recommendations for creating great calling atmospheres follow.
Enhance Visual Aids
Not only do visual aids help create motivation for your staff, but they
are also a great way to help keep your program goals at the forefront of
discussion and enhance the inspiration for your callers to achieve success.
When callers are visually aware of the goals and objectives set, they are
more likely to buy into your philosophies and work a little harder.When constructing your visual aids, be sure to use large, visible prog-
ress trackers such as pledge thermometers, competition-based races that
emphasize calling statistics, and goal-oriented games that can be easily
updated. Consider including a wall of fame that highlights leaders in
various categories such as participation, overall dollars, credit card per-
centage, attendance, and other important areas that reflect the focus of
your program. Many programs also use placemat fact sheets for each caller
station that provide information callers can use in their calls. Of course,
the goal of any visual aid is for the work to be creative and visibly appeal-
ing. Ask your supervisors or calling staff to use their artistic skills to create
theme-related posters and pieces. Everybody wins when the staff takesownership of the program and invests their time and personality in the
team.
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42 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
Promote EnthusiasmEnthusiasm is contagious, and it starts from the top! You want your
callers to succeed at what is a challenging job from a mental standpoint,
so as managers you owe it to your staff to develop a fun environment that
helps overcome those challenges. You need to create an atmosphere in
which people enjoy being at work and spending time with their peers
while working toward a common goal. Having fun could be as simple as
holding energetic team meetings, discussing a funny call, or patting some-
body on the back for a job well done. Be sure to have a sincere, lively
tone in your voice as you communicate goals and objectives to callers. If
you sound as though the information you are sharing with callers is not
important or exciting, they are not likely to feel much different.
Interactive, Hands-On Management
Be sure to interact and manage the calling floor by moving around.
Supervisors and managers should avoid sitting behind a desk, rising from
the chair only to answer a question or update the contest or game. Being
active and enthusiastic about the calling shift is vital to the teams success
and gives the callers the energy they need to be successful, especially after
they sit in a classroom for most of the day. High-five callers for a job well
done and tell them how much you appreciate their efforts. Remember,phonathon management is an active process not a passive responsibility.
Opportunities
Most institutions do not have large fifty-seat or more phonathon opera-
tions that require additional management or other noncalling positions.
This can be challenging because growth opportunities can keep employees
(especially veterans) from pursuing other jobs. However, no matter what
the size of your program, there are still ways to create formal and informal
opportunities for callers to contribute to your operation while increasingtheir own experiences.
For most programs, there are typically only three key noncalling roles:
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The Importance of Good Staffing 43
Manager: Oversees most aspects of the program, including recruiting,hiring, training, scripting writing and other direct mail responsi-
bilities, performance analysis, and so on.
Supervisor: Handles day-to-day management of shift preparation,
coaches and motivates callers, deals with scheduling and atten-
dance issues, prepares and analyzes reports, and the like.
Administrative Assistant: Handles all the paperwork, such as folding
and stuffing letters, making copies, proofreading materials, doing
manual demographic research, processing miscellaneous paper-
work, and the like.
All three of these positions are very beneficial to a phonathon opera-tion because they allow for specific concentration on important areas
while keeping the program organized and focused. Still, we encourage you
to go beyond the standard responsibilities of these roles and determine if
there are other pockets of opportunity for callers who are interested in
more than just calling. Take an inventory of your current positions and
discover if there are ways to delegate work, budget permitting. Perhaps
there are new initiatives you and your staff might want to pursue but have
not had the time. Many programs benefit from a full debriefing at the
end of the year, and various program wrap-up duties that take place may
provide an opportunity for staff growth and assistance. In addition to
those duties already mentioned, consider the following growth possibili-ties for qualified callers: senior caller program, additional administrative
hours, other benefits of additional opportunities.
Senior Caller Program
Typically, a senior caller will have some, but not all, of the same
responsibilities as a supervisor. They are eased into the management role
over time, which helps develop a pipeline for future leadership. This type
of program allows callers to develop managerial skills while learning about
other aspects of the fundraising operation and without placing undue
pressure on them when they may not be fully ready. Some institutionscan offer this opportunity with minimal or no pay increase because they
do a good job of promoting the opportunity and not the money. This
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44 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
allows them to create growth opportunities without negatively impactingthe budget.
Additional Administrative Hours
If you do not have a formal administrative position available but could
use the additional help, ask callers if they are interested in picking up
additional noncalling hours to manage some of the paperwork on your
plate. You do not have to create a new position for this (although it is
more attractive if it is indeed a formal role). Rather, by simply offering
the opportunity to help and pay the extra hours, you are actually develop-
ing the position without formalizing it. Multiple callers that understandthese skills and processes are extremely valuable to the program and usu-
ally perform better on the phones because they appreciate the importance
of quality in all aspects of their job.
Other Benefits of Additional Opportunities
In addition to promotions and opportunities beyond calling, there are
long-term benefits to a phonathon job that students often fail to consider.
For example:
1. Resume Builder. When employers can see that you have experience
in a philanthropic position, particularly on behalf of the institution
that educated you, it says something positive about your character.
Most employers consider character as one of the intangible, yet
key components of their hiring criteria. We have spoken to several
former phonathon callers who have gone on to have great careers
in their field of study on graduation, and nearly all of them have
told us how much their phonathon experience helped them get a
foot in the door when they began.
2. Skills Builder. The type of skills necessary for success as a phona-
thon caller are transferable to just about any career a studentchooses after college, and this benefit should be promoted as much
as possible. Consider some of these advantages:
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46 The Phonathon Managers Planning Handbook
program. Develop simple surveys that gauge the feelings of depart-ing employees on the key issues reviewed in this chapter that are
most important in your recruiting and retention efforts, including
wage, incentives, knowledge and skills, atmosphere, and opportu-
nities. Many programs experience a high volume of voluntary job
abandonment, which does not leave them with much information
to make decisions to improve their organization. This is why it is
also important also to gauge the feeling of your current employees
before they leave. Survey your current staff on why they are contin-
uing with your program, focusing on the same key areas.
In addition, track your recruiting and hiring sources so you
know where your marketing efforts are working best and where toinvest your resources. Identify other key figures such as average
length of employment and the amount of time it takes to fully turn
over the calling staff (i.e., if you had twenty stations, how long
from the first hire date until the twentieth caller turned over).
These figures will help management make better decisions and
potentially save both time and resources for future campaigns.
2. Recognize Your Core Employees. You will always have a certain
group of employees who are considered your ace callers, those you
can always count on for a number of reasons. They may be your
top-performing callers or the ones who spark enthusiasm among
others. Perhaps they are only average callers statistically but have
excellent attendance and can always be counted on to work hard
each and every shift. Whatever the reason you value these employ-
ees, it is important that you recognize who they are and ensure
you do whatever you can within reason and fairness to retain them.
They are the callers you can count on to set positive examples for
others to follow and who become candidates in your future leader-
ship pipeline. Use the twenty percent rule, which states that at least
twenty percent of your callers should be solid employees that you
can count on. If you have forty employees on staff, at least eight
or more of them should be considered core employees.
3. Know That All Turnover Is Not Bad Turnover. There are several
reasons why callers leave phonathon programs, so as a manager
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The Importance of Good Staffing 47
you have to be realistic about your expectations, recognize thesereasons, and be proactive about finding ways to combat them. In
some cases, turnover might be expected and perhaps even wel-
comed. Caller burnout, in which veteran employees have difficulty
staying focused and putting in consistent effort, is often a contrib-
uting factor to a negative calling atmosphere. New callers that
come on board help bring fresh energy to the program and reduce
the cynical attitudes among callers who are doing just enough to
get by. In addition, callers who will be graduating soon sometimes
lose focus toward the end of their employment. New staff tend to
lead to new enthusiasm, and management should appreciate the
accomplishments of those departing from the phonathon but wel-come the excitement that the new students tend to bring.