This post is a little different.
Today is a shout out to anyone that needs to raise money this holiday season.
This morning I snatched up my copy of the Ultimate Sales Letter and I ran across this little gem.
Dan had to write a corporate fundraising letter for the Arthritis Foundation’s annual telethon. The first thing he did was he grabbed a bunch of other fundraising letters to see what all of them were doing wrong.
He found it.
They all talked about THEIR priorities and what they needed the money for. They never addressed the donor’s needs and priorities.
Like, not at all.
Before he wrote his letter he visualized himself a business owner being pelted with pleas from charities. He asked himself, “If I were to give, what would be important to me?”
For example:
What benefit to me or my company justifies the cost?
Who else had picked this drive to contribute to? (How can I validate my judgement?)
How would I get the money to give? (What budget would it come out of?)
These are real questions that REAL people have. And once you add in all the noise of the hundreds of options out there, it gets even more complicated.
It doesn’t matter if you’re raising money for a charity to rescue beetles in Qatar or curing cancer. Take Kennedy’s insight and run with it.
They say don’t bite the hand that feeds you. But, you don’t want to ignore the hand either.
Adam