Tragically, nonprofits are not very good at customer service and that is an understatement. All fundraisers should perhaps reflect that customer service is like personal hygiene – without it, your relationships won’t even get started.
As almost every mystery shopping test confirms, fundraisers are almost invariably rotten at customer service. In the past most donors haven’t expected anything better, but as customer expectations rise generally, that will change for nonprofits for sure.
Woody Allen … foresaw swarms of invading aliens who would not be eons ahead of us at all. Instead they would be 15 minutes ahead in everything … By being consistently just 15 minutes ahead … these infuriating aliens could always be sure to have just enough advantage over us to beat us soundly … whatever plan, scheme or ruse we pathetic earthlings might deploy to save our species [they] would inevitably be there just ahead of us, constantly beating us by a nose, always enough in advance to unfailingly gain the upper hand because of their unerring ability to be just 15 minutes ahead.
– Ken Burnett, The Zen of Fundraising
The great Ken Burnett talks about the notion of being 15 minutes ahead. Don’t waste your time searching for the one big idea that will transform your fundraising like a magic bullet. Instead, concentrate on just being that little bit better, quicker, smarter, more personal, more evocative, more attentive… You get the idea.
There’s probably no BIG IDEA in the mystery shopping exercise we’ve been doing. But there are plenty of little ones you could adopt that might help you be 15 minutes ahead of your competitors.
Tomorrow we’re going to start with some little ideas by looking at what makes a good (and a bad) email thank you. Prepare for a journey to the secret art of subject lines…
[tags]mystery shopping, fundraising, charity, ken burnett[/tags]
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