Want to stand out in the flood of emails, direct mail and other post-election communications?

Just pick up the phone and talk to your donors, members and supporters.

A great use of the phone in this ’emergency’ climate is the Telephone Town Hall. A wonderful opportunity for everyone to gather and experience the camaraderie of being part of a cause. Nothing sends the message “You’re not alone” quite as effectively as a gathering of the like-minded.

A few years ago I alerted Agitator readers to the low-cost, high-yield benefits of the Telephone Town Hall in the post Meet With Your 27,000 Best Donors Tonight.

In that post I summarized the benefits and uses of the Telephone Town Hall. Among them:

• Valuable for organizations large and small
• Low-cost
• Easy and inexpensive to organize and use
• High response rates, higher average gifts
• Improved retention

A lot like a radio call-in show, the town hall meeting allows donors, supporters, volunteers, prospects to interact with folks from your organization from the comfort of the participants’ home or office.

Yesterday, I checked in with Marty Stone who runs a high-tech, high-touch telephone operation in Washington, D.C. It’s appropriately called Stone’s Phones.

They’re a font of information and enthusiasm and if you’re inclined to learn more I suggest you give ‘em a call at (202) 393-4626 or shoot Marty an email at marty@stonesphones.com.

If you want to see what’s involved before you call them here’s a Planning Checklist that Marty and his team has prepared.

And, for readers who’d like a more detailed view of how all this works check out this series of short videos on how Telephone Town Halls work.

[NOTE TO NON-U.S. READERS: The Telephone Town Hall methodology and the technology that supports it is available anywhere in the world.]

In times like these your supporters want to hear from you. So pick up the phone on your desk, or go bigger and organize a conference call, or better yet, a Telephone Town Hall. Let ‘em know “You’re not alone”.

Roger

P.S.  Don’t forget some of your supporters may be calling YOUR donor servicer center to talk and to see what they can do. I just spoke to Ken Whitaker over at Public Interest Communications and he reports a record number of inbound calls on lines they handle for nonprofits. So, be sure your call center is properly briefed.

See also Stop Driving Your Donors Away on the importance of avoiding busy signals and lousy music at a time when an extraordinary number of supporters are trying to reach you.