I love direct response

I love direct response.  I admit it.  I’m a response junkie that needs my regular fix of direct response marketing.  It doesn’t matter if it’s from the many catalogs in my mailbox each day to the hundreds of emails I receive touting everything from ministry needs to cheese (not to mention bow ties!). 

Every time that I go to my mail box and there’s nothing in there, I have to say I begin to experience some withdrawal symptoms.  In fact, I may be the only one who reads this blog who has a link to Ronco in his favorites list (you know, the Pocket Fisherman people).

One of the reasons that I love direct response is that you get to see the transaction.  Quickly.  It’s the scorecard of success.  Within 30 days you know how successful your direct mail campaign was . . . within 5 days you have complete results on an email blast. 

Having worked not only with not-for-profit organizations but with catalog and insurance businesses, transactional data is critical to long-term marketing success.  The data tells the whole story. 

Or does it?

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what focusing on the transaction does to the customer or donor.  If the only (or even primary) thing I’m concerned about is the transaction, I turn my customers or donors into nothing more than wallets. 

They have something that I need (money) and I have something for them (either a product or service or the satisfaction of doing good). It’s just an exchange where buyer and seller swap something of value.

Ouch! No one wants to be considered a wallet!

And the terms we use in marketing reflect this – share of wallet, event triggered marketing, etc.  Even the ones that reflect on the customer, like customer relationship management, are too often focused on what happens when customers transact with an organization.  Do we really believe our customers/ donors want to be managed?

It’s not something that we do intentionally but we miss the point none the less.

If we truly want to have lifelong connections with donors and customers, we have to look beyond the transaction.  Genuine relationships can be developed when we focus on the donor or the customer first – their needs come first rather than our need to “sell” something to them.

I can’t help but think of all I’ve read about Nordstrom’s and the “Nordstrom Way” or L.L. Bean.  They got it right.  They focus on the customer.  At Nordstrom’s you don’t have to be a daily customer for the sales people to know your name and your interests – not so much to sell you something as to meet your needs.

I know of a few non-profit organizations that act that way, too.

Would you introduce one of your major donors to another organization because it fits that donor’s interests better than your own organization? Now, that’s donor focus!

What about calling your donors who might have been impacted by a natural disaster; not to ask the donors for support but to make sure that they were doing ok?  That’s taking relationship seriously.

Those are just two examples of what some of DSA’s clients are doing that put the focus back where it should be – on the donor.

Last month I wrote about the gift of listening.  It’s something that I should be practicing more myself. In our busy lives we too often try to substitute tactics for genuine relationship. But the truth is that good, lifelong relationships don’t happen magically. They happen through hard work. 

But, great relationships can be the most rewarding experience of our lives.

I just saw that 40 other billionaires have taken Warren Buffett’s and Bill Gates’ challenge – to give the bulk of their wealth to philanthropy either in their lifetime or on their deaths. 

One of those who took the challenge was Lorry I. Lokey (the founder of Business Wire).  He participated in a session moderated by the Chronicle of Philanthropy a number of months ago where not-for-profit development officers asked questions of him as a major donor.  In response to one question, here’s what he said:

“I like gift officers who approach me on a peer level and truly are friendly whether or not I say yes.  And if I become a donor, I, in effect, am adopting that organization as if I worked there or owned it or had close experience with it.  It becomes an investment I want to follow and see success. My grants are not gifts. They are INVESTMENTS!!!”

Notice his comment about whether he says yes or not.  He’s looking to build relationships with those organizations in which he’s investing. 

I recently heard of an organization that effectively told one of its major donors to stay out of the way – just give the money and they’ll do the work.  They don’t want relationship . . . they’re looking at donors as wallets.

What a difference.

Donors (and customers) want relationship with and through organizations not just to transact with them. Look at Starbucks or Apple. They don’t have customers, they have rabid fans. And, many are investing not just their money but themselves into the missions of the organizations they support. 

Would you take a challenge with me?

For the next 30 days, consciously determine to focus on building relationships with your partners.  Do the hard work of relationship building by listening more and valuing all the ways people interact with your organization, whether there’s any immediate income or not. 

As the famed advertising giant Leo Burnett always said: “when you reach for the stars you might not always get one, but you won’t end up with a handful of mud either.” Reach for the “stars” of relationship – they might not always turn into life changing relationships, but you will gather a lot more partners in the process.