newsletter5

See the details in my all new July workshop tour packed full of ideas on Conquering the 5 Biggest Challenges

Welcome to this Issue of our 'Ultimate Ideas Newsletter' and welcome to the 100s of our new subscribers. Let's look at even more ideas to get you thinking...

Within wide limits I could say anything I wanted, which left me with
the responsibility of finding out what I wanted to say.

Here are some tips from marketing experts on designing a successful flyer and other written material advertising your volunteering opportunities. Always keep in mind who you are trying to reach. Consider including a headline, testimonials, pictures, bulleted information, contact details and a call to action. Show your prospective recruit how volunteering will benefit them and meet their needs rather than only highlighting your organization and its achievements. Let's explore this all a bit deeper...

The headline is the most important piece of information on your brochure. The sole purpose of the headline is to get people's attention and to have them then read on...It should be big, bold and stand out so as to catch the eye. Unfortunately, the headline 'volunteers wanted' does not always get people to even look at your flyer or to read further.

Whenever someone is asked to do something, there are two questions posed by their subconscious – what’s in it for me and can I do it? Salespeople know that you always lead off your message with 'What’s in it for me?' because this is what the customer, or prospective volunteer, really wants to know. Ensure your recruitment flyer and brochures anticipate these questions and provide the answers in a 'quick read' bulleted form.

Key Words

Research at Yale University has identified the words that spark the most interest from people. Are any of the following words contained in your recruitment material and flyers? These words are:

gain	health	save
achieve	earn	profit
win	discover	new
secret	love	results
avoid	free	you
special	unique	get
easy	amazing	magic

Word Association

Not sure what 'key' words to include? Ask your most satisfied volunteers to choose three words from the list above that best describe for them the benefits of volunteering. Then ask them to put each word into a sentence. Several of these can also be used as your volunteer testimonials. Testimonials add great credibility to your recruitment message. Add a photo of these volunteers in action and you will increase your chances of people reading your flyer.

Ensure your flyer has a big, bold 'call to action'. This is will explain who and how to contact you if they are interested in volunteering. A phone number or an email address with a real person's name attached is vital. But beware, if there is no-one answering the phone or the email sits in the inbox for a week - it really is a potential volunteer lost. Make sure that when they act, you can respond immediately.

Businesses pay big money to have their promotional material evaluated before publication. Try out your new recruitment flyers and all other written material on your current volunteers, paid staff and clients. Get their feedback to help you refine the finished product.

There is a saying in marketing that promotional literature such as flyers and brochures 'tells not sells'. It can attract attention and provide information, but it may not be sufficient on its own to 'make the sale' and have the volunteer sign on. Always use written material to complement your more active recruitment techniques such as word of mouth marketing.

Adapted from the book Count Me In! 501 Ideas on Recruiting Volunteers by Dr Judy Esmond

In the last issue of the newsletter we looked at ideas on conducting great exit interviews. But wait! What if you don't really have the time to do those exit interviews. I promised you ideas on how to solve this 'time' dilemna. Here we go, listen carefully - YOU stop doing the exit interviews! If you haven't got time, if you are trying to squeeze them in and they are falling by the wayside, and if it is hard to really hear any 'negatives' - then YOU stop doing them. Here's two ways to go...

Recruit one or two new volunteers to be your 'exit team'. Their only role is to contact exiting volunteers and gather their feedback. Pick the right people, with non-judgmental attitudes and they can often find out more information than a volunteer may be willing to tell YOU.

Outsource it! Pay a consultant or research company to undertake the interviews for you. This doesn't have to mean big $$$. Some organizations use phone exit interviews at a very low nominal cost. Using a standard interview schedule designed in consultation with the organization, a phone interview with the departing volunteer is a much more effective and feedback process than just a survey. It remains objective, allows the volunteer to give great feedback and ensures that the organization gets many ideas on what works, what doesn't and what could be improved. If you want to know more about outsourcing your exit feedback interviews and other consultants to use just email me mtdjudy@iinet.net.au and I'll give you the best advice I can.

BONUS! How would you like to be even more successful in your recruitment efforts? Then just email us a very SPECIFIC recruitment goal for this year. Several lucky readers will receive a FREE 'target' consultation with tips published in upcoming newsletters.

We received numerous requests for advice and unfortunately cannot publish all of them. Instead, we have decided to take a sample from different organizations and volunteering requirements and feature a few in forthcoming issues of the newsletters. We apologize that we cannot publish every request but hope that those published will 'spark' more ideas for you in your own volunteer recruitment efforts.

In the last newsletter issue we provided a case study for Kate on recruiting 'coffee volunteers'. Here's an update on Kate's feedback on those ideas:

I was very impressed with the tips you had included in your last issue of the newsletter. I had not thought of going to the TAFE & recruiting students so they could "practice" coffee making etc. Also the flyers for outside the church etc. was a good idea. Thought when the time comes - I would first try speaking at the church and having volunteers outside with the flyers etc. The volunteers were quite excited about being involved in the recruitment of someone for the coffee shop. Thank you so much.

We'd appreciate any targeting tips for our goal to find advocates to enter into a freely giving relationship with 40 year old twin brothers with an intellectual disability through autism. The twins have quite different personalities and interests, and we are therefore looking for two advocates who share their individual interests.

'Jim' (name changed) is chatty, very interested in radio, loves to sing and has a great voice! Whereas quiet, thoughtful 'Alan' (name changed) would be a real asset at a quiz night! He's a whiz at general knowledge and is also very interested in astronomy and radio.

Having Autism though, means that while 'Jim' and 'Alan' are very competent
in some ways, they struggle and become very anxious in having to perform
some relatively simple tasks. They also find pursuing their interests difficult without support and someone with whom to share them.

Since they have no other family, they need someone to speak up for them to
ensure they cope, do not lose independence and are not taken advantage of.
The presence of two patient, encouraging and understanding people in 'Jim'
and 'Alan's' lives, who would take an ongoing interest in them and, importantly, speak up for them, would be of tremendous value.

This would be a freely given, hopefully lasting one-to-one relationship, for
which we offer orientation, ongoing support and information. This rewarding opportunity might only take an hour or two hours per week.

Judy, our first preference would have been to match 'Jim' and 'Alan' with
men, although we would consider women. We have been searching for suitable
advocates for over a year now, without success...YET! Any suggestions
would be MOST welcome.

This recruitment goal is a great example for a very specific, intensive recruitment campaign. It requires a very special type of person to establish a close relationship with each twin. This is what I term 'storytelling recruiting'. This is the type of story that 'tugs at the heart strings'. The more times the story is told the greater the chances of the right volunteer for each twin hearing the story and coming on board.

The goal is to find as many ways as possible to tell the story. Begin by brainstorming all the ways to get the story out about the twins. Prioritize and work through the list starting with strategies you think may be the most successful. Here are some ideas to get you thinking...

Get on the radio! Radio is a great medium to tell a story. You'll want a radio station that has a talk-back program and the right profile of listeners for the type of volunteers you are looking for. You can obtain from any radio station a profile of their listeners (general information such as age profiles is very handy for targeting particular age groups). Contact the station about the possibility of doing a radio interview. Aim to talk on a topic rather than make a plea for volunteers as you are less likely to get airtime. Speaking about autism and its effects on people's lives allows you to weave the story of the twins and a volunteering request into the discussion. Remember often you only have a few minutes so get the story told early.

Another radio technique if you can't get interviewed is to be a 'caller in'. Listen to the local talk back stations, choose the ones you want to target and then aim to get on air telling the story of the twins and putting forward a direct request for volunteers. Because your radio time is limited, write it down in point form so you get in the important details - who, what, where, when, why and how. It can take time to get on the airwaves so dial up, put the call on speaker phone and continue working.

As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, if you want to target males for this caring role, save your energy and go where you will have the most success. Target males who already have a caring mindset - they are more likely to be responsive to this type of volunteering role for men. Males undertaking University or TAFE studies in psychology, social work, counseling, community welfare, mental health and other caring professions would be a focused target group to begin with. Check each institution's websites and locate the relevant courses and then ring to find out who teaches these courses and specific units. Then ring (don't just send written material) and actually speak to the relevant lecturers asking for a five minute timeslot in one of their classes to tell the story of the twins and offer the volunteering opportunity to their students. Be sure to 'sell' the benefits of this volunteering opportunity for the students in their own studies and future career.

Absolutely make sure that you can do a 'killer' presentation in five minutes to tell the story of the twins. Practice, refine and polish your presentation because it is often the only opportunity to make a good impression and a 'key' tool in convincing the right people to volunteer. Consider using a powerpoint presentation with only slides picturing the twins in action, changing about every 20 seconds as you speak.

Back up all your 'live' presentations with written material for each attendee. However, because this is such a specific recruitment request, design your one-page 'storytelling' flyer quite differently. Have an eye-catching headline, a picture of the twins and a call to action with all the contact details. But for the content compose an open letter telling the story of the twins and the need for just the right volunteers to come forward. This type of flyer really is your storytelling presentation but in a written form.

These are just some tips to get Janine, Di, Roz and YOU thinking about even more recruitment ideas. We will look at a different volunteer recruitment 'bonus focus' on recruiting committee members in the next month's newsletter

Dr Judy Esmond is a leading expert on how to gain, sustain and retain volunteers. She is author of best selling books and numerous research reports on recruiting, retaining and recognizing volunteers. Subscribe to her 'Ultimate Ideas' Newsletter filled with 100s of ideas on volunteer recruitment, retention and recognition at www.mtd4u.com

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Just please ensure to always include the above signature line about Judy and please direct a courtesy copy to judy@mtd4u.com or by mail to: Dr Judy Esmond PO Box 722, Inglewood, WA 6932