Role Playing
How do our favorite actors and athletes make their craft look so easy? How about the ballet dancer who moves so gracefully across the theater stage? We know what they do takes enormous skill and talent to say the least, but rarely do we picture all the hours that went into the rehearsals necessary to make it a star performance. One gets better at something by practicing it. Fundraising is no different.
If you are only making one face-to-face solicitation every quarter the chances are without any practice in between you run the risk of being a little rusty when you conduct your next solicitation. When are favorite football or basket teams are shown on the local news they often are shown passing the ball back and forth between players. The pass is a critical part of the game and so they practice it over and over and over. Players are developing muscle memory, endurance, and mental strength so in game situations execution is automatic.
Granted the solicitation is not like throwing a football or a basketball, but having a demonstrated ability, e.g. it is not the first time you have encountered an objection, is similar. Just like the pass if you fumble the objection during the solicitation the solicitation is not going to end well. Role playing on how to overcome objections, how to secure the discovery visit, how to conduct the discovery visit as well as how to carry out the solicitation will ensure quality skills are being developed to support securing those major and leadership gifts.
An Experienced Subject Matter Expert Coach
George Bernard Shaw wrote in his play Man and Superman “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” There area a plethora of examples where this does not ring true. Richard Williams never played professional tennis, but did very well coaching his two daughters, Venus and Serena to championships early in their careers. Conversely, just because someone is good at something doesn’t mean this person will be good a coaching it. Coaching is about helping the individual to understand themselves and creating positive, and sustainable, change to help the individual achieve their objectives. Quality coaching involves excellent communication skills and detailed knowledge of the subject matter. When it comes to fundraising, however, a diverse background of real-world experiences by the coach, in all facets of the profession and the donor giving cycle, is needed to greatly enhance the outcome for the coachee.
Like other professions fundraising should embrace the concept of using coaches to improve performance and it should be the norm, not the exception. Get coached to improve performance, stay motivated, overcome challenges, and bring more joy to the job while raising more money!