Tell Just One Person

Lately I’ve been obsessed with the podcast “A History of Rock and Roll in 500 Songs”   At the end of each episode, the host—Andrew Hickey—says that if you liked the podcast, subscribe, leave a rating and, most importantly, tell just one person.  Which made me think about all the nonprofits who are “the best kept secret.”  If each person who loves this organization told just one person; and each of THOSE people who learn to love the organization, tell one person, well, pretty soon they won’t be a secret at all.

At a recent board retreat for my client Muse/ique there was a brief conversation about marketing.  The CEO, Brian Colburn stated that word of mouth was how the organization had grown, and word of mouth was the most important marketing tool they could have.  Brian, meet Andrew—you both share a philosophy that I completely believe in.

People, we always say about fund development, give to people.  And through the people to the organizations they are representing.  During a workshop this week, the question came up “how do you get people to say yes to a meeting.”  That’s easy—find someone they like, trust, look up to, and  have that person set up the meeting.

But what if they won’t?

No problem.  Simply use that person’s name.

“VIP asked me to set up a meeting for us,” works. Not 100% of the time, but often enough to be effective.

At one of the community college foundations where I was the executive director, my board loved the governance side—how would we spend the money we (or rather, I) raised to help our students.  But they weren’t so good at raising the money or the profile of our foundation.

I knew that they often spoke about being on the board of the foundation, but generally that was as far as it went.  So I challenged them—the specifically tell one person a quarter about us, what we did, why it mattered.  And then to tell me who they told and provide me with that person’s contact information.

Every quarter I would meeting one-on-one with each board member to discuss their board roles and responsibilities.  It was very time consuming and incredibly rewarding.  I got to know my board members, understand who I could count on, and what each of them needed to be a really good board member.

Best of all, after the second meeting, they all fulfilled my request and told one person.  Indeed, most started telling more than one person.

Not everyone of the people they told became donors.  But all knew a little more about us, the college and how important this was to the community.  And many of them told one person.

Over time, our donor and prospect pool grew.  And the more people I had to ask, the more people gave.  And the more we could help our students and faculty.

Tell your board members, you staff, your volunteers, your donors and, yes, your clients to tell just one person and watch your organization grow.