Capturing gifts immediately on credit cards is the best way to improve phonathon pledge fulfillment and dollar fulfillment rates. The higher the percentage of pledges completed on the phone, the more pledges and dollars your institution has in the door right now.
Below are 5 simple credit card tips that are easy to implement and will have lasting results for your phonathon pledge fulfillment:
1. Recruitment
Credit card success starts at recruitment. Present your candidates with the fact the job requires them to process credit cards, because by doing so, it sets the precedent for the job’s priorities. Below is a recent flyer I used, which mentions credit card processing as part of the job.
As you may notice, there is no indication of pledge cards in the advertisement. By doing so, we set the precedent for our preferred fulfillment practice – credit cards.
2. Interviews
In the past, I’ve blogged about 1:1 interviews and group interviews. Regardless of how you hold interviews, when reviewing the job description with your candidates, be sure to address credit cards. Explain how they are utilized and why they are the preferred method of gift processing. If you have callers read through a sample phonathon script during the interview, have it include credit card asks. Avoid discussing the option of sending donors pledge cards at this stage.
3. Training
Initial training:
After you’ve selected your candidates for hire, train them to be credit card champions! Spend considerable time reviewing the importance of gift fulfillment and best practices. Set the bar high in terms of their credit card percentages. Only after you review the process of accepting credit cards extensively should you introduce the notion of pledge cards.
