Successful Fundraising: getting chosen over the competition

Your important nonprofit or exciting startup helps the world be a better place. But now you’ve got to raise money. You’ve created a terrific pitch deck, have a highly competent management team and terms, and have identified donor prospects with major gift potential. You’ve designed a multi-channel approach to build relationships with small investors to excite them to becoming large investors. Why aren’t you raising all the funding you deserve?

  • It’s not you, your message. or your organization;
  • It’s not the strength of your relationship or who you ‘know’;
  • It’s not the market, your competition, your return potential or your marketing materials.

Somehow your investors must choose between investments that seem equally promising.

Criteria vs. Content

Ultimately, investors choose opportunities based on their own idiosyncratic choice criteria; your marketing efforts may be entering the wrong way, with the wrong goal, offering the right data and asking the right questions at the wrong time.

Investor funds are not sitting there waiting for you to show up, no matter how compelling your information or terms. You may be requesting funding that:

  1. is earmarked for something else;
  2. needs stakeholder buy-in;
  3. may be outside their internal goals, relationships, strategy, or agreements.

Sadly, as an outsider, you have no access to their hidden or historic arrangements or political mind-fields. And asking them about their criteria will only get you the obvious answers. The more successful choice is to first, collaboratively, discern their values-based, unique decision/choice criteria and then offer the exact pitch to match it. After all, most pitch decks and requests for funds will sound somewhat similar. If nothing else, your ability to facilitate a collaboration will set you apart from the competition.

Alignment Criteria First

Decades ago I realized the difference between choice criteria (personal, idiosyncratic) vs content (data). As a sales professional on Wall Street I was frustrated with the seeming gap between what I thought prospects needed (my solution, of course) and their willingness to buy. Once I started up a tech company in London and became The Buyer I realized the problem: before any decision to buy or fund, investors use an idiosyncratic set of choice factors familiar only to them.

As a Buyer, before I bought anything I had to align my values-based criteria with my team’s often divergent and – conventional choice benchmarks aside – subjective, criteria. Whether we met before a vendor meeting or afterwards I learned to never ignore this team alignment: our vibrant conversations always brought more considerations to the table than I would have considered myself; sometimes we discovered as-yet-unforeseen fallout that needed to be handled prior to any action.

And then the problem with marketing materials. As a sales professional they were a tool to exhibit the data I believed relevant; as a buyer they were biased by the facts the presenters wanted me to know, but often missed my unique buying criteria.

I used this realization to change the course of my own selling and fundraising; I first uncovered and discussed decision criteria and then matched my pitch content accordingly. Rather than designing pitch material based on what I thought they wanted to know, I designed flexible materials that made it easy to fit my content into their choice criteria.

Buying Facilitation®

As a result of my findings, in 1985 I developed a decision facilitation model and guidelines for designing presentation materials for my sales staff. With my new realization as a buyer, my Asperger’s systems- thinking brain, and some testing, I coded the path of internal/group decision making and invented Buying Facilitation®, a generic, ethical, facilitation tool that expedites decision making and choice.

I’ve been teaching and writing books on Buying Facilitation® as a front-end to the sales model ever since. Used in fundraising, Buying Facilitation® helps investors determine all aspects of their choice criteria while encouraging win/win collaboration.

NOTE: Investors and buyers go through this process anyway – with you or without you. You can either use Buying Facilitation® to facilitate choice more efficiently (even during your presentation) or just keep smiling and dialing until you find the low hanging fruit who have finally gotten their ducks in a row.
Buying Facilitation® works on the following assumptions:

  1. Outsiders (sellers, fundraisers, etc.) can never understand the behind-the-scenes, idiosyncratic criteria used to decide. Each group has their own unique sets of rules, beliefs, values, vision they choose from;
  2. Until the idiosyncratic choice criteria are factored, no decision to buy or invest will be made;
  3. Information is only relevant when it fits into defined idiosyncratic initiatives and parameters.

Using Buying Facilitation® first enables collaboration through the full range of systemic decisions necessary for buy-in and choice; THEN customized content must meet their specific criteria.

Presenting with Buying Facilitation®

Here are a few tips:

Your first job is to be a consultant (even on cold calls or group meetings) to facilitate decision making. Otherwise, you’re offering data into a black box of unknowns. Stop trying to have a ‘relationship’ or gather and share data up front; money goes to those opportunities that first match their hidden criteria regardless of how likeable you are.

  1. On your first calls, use Facilitative Questions to help whomever you speak with (yes, even the associates and gatekeepers) recognize how they choose, and achieve consensus for, new investments. This is not a simple Q/A session, as much of their decision making criteria is unconscious. Even if they usually fund projects like yours, they still need agreement to choose which of the available choices to give their finite dollars to.
  2. Still on the phone, use Buying Facilitation® to help your Communication Partner figure out how to help his/her team prioritize areas such as management, industry fit, partnership issues, and communication. If you have a great solution but don’t meet other criteria you may not get funded. Or you might. It’s a roll of the dice. And again, asking about these rather than facilitating the Other’s answers will get you biased answers from the person you’re speaking with which may not represent the entire group.
  3. Work toward getting the full Stakeholder group to your presentation if possible, or your data will be ‘lost in translation’ when they discuss it later with the absent associates.
  4. Face-to-face visit: Pitch/present in accordance with what was discovered prior to the meeting. Marketing materials must be developed to cover any possibilities and used appropriately. So if the group deems Communication a #1 criteria, you’ll have a slide on Communication ready to go.
  5. Collaboratively discuss how your situation matches the investor’s criteria; where it’s lacking see if you can figure out, together, how to mitigate the fallout.

NOTE: if you’re in a group pitch situation, do #1-3 as your opening gambit. It still must be done before you proceed with your pitch.

Ultimately, there is one important question to ask yourself: Do you want to pitch your solution? Or help investors give you money? Two different activities. And you need both.


About the Author

Sharon Drew Morgen is founder of Morgen Facilitations, Inc. (www.newsalesparadigm.com). She is the visionary behind Buying Facilitation®, the decision facilitation model that enables people to change with integrity. A pioneer who has spoken about, written about, and taught the skills to help buyers buy, she is the author of the acclaimed New York Times Business Bestseller Selling with Integrity and Dirty Little Secrets: Why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it.

To contact Sharon Drew at [email protected] or go to www.didihearyou.com to choose your favorite digital site to download your free book.

Grow Your Business by Hiring Nurturing Leaders

Many of us unconsciously believe that women in leadership roles should be like men – whether we will admit this or not. When looking to hire women for leadership positions, the conclusion for those in the public or private sector (whether driven by our own gut instincts or by social psychological research) is that to be perceived as competent, women in authority have to be assertive, perhaps even ruthless in their decisions, and autocratic in their style. Otherwise no one will listen.


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About the Author

Dr. Linda E. WeinbergerDr. Shoba SreenivasanDr. Shoba Sreenivasan and Dr. Linda E. Weinberger are psychology professors at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. Their new book is called Psychological Nutrition. Learn more at www.psychologicalnutrition.com.

Nuclear Power is Clean, Safe, and Reliable… But Can It Be Competitive?

Nuclear Power is Clean, Safe, and Reliable… But Can It Be Competitive?
For over 30 years, U.S. nuclear plants provided clean, safe and reliable electricity. Yet in the past 3 years, twelve reactors have been slated for early retirement and another dozen are at risk. Can nuclear plants be operated competitively in today’s market?
 
An evolving energy market, led by cheap natural gas and subsidized renewable generation, threatens the long-term financial viability of America’s remaining nuclear power plants. Since 2013, utility executives have announced the early retirement of twelve reactors and Wall Street estimates reveal another dozen to be at risk; raising the question: Can nuclear plants be operated competitively in today’s market?

Over the past three decades, the U.S. Nuclear Industry achieved unprecedented levels of safety and reliability; providing almost 20 percent of all domestic electricity and generating 63 percent of America’s carbon-free power. Unlike other clean energy sources, nuclear power is available during all weather conditions, offers price stability, and on-site long-term fuel supplies.

Competition from cheap natural gas and subsidized renewable generation combined with rising operations and maintenance costs stemming from a slew of new regulations and aging equipment challenge the long-term financial viability of nuclear power plants. In its recent news release, Exelon cited a combined loss of $800 million in the past seven years – an average of about $57 million per station per year – as the reason for shuttering its Clinton and Quad Cities nuclear plants.

In an effort to improve the financial viability of the remaining nuclear fleet, industry executives launched the Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative; challenging employees and vendors to identify innovative ways to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and raise revenues while maintaining operational safety and reliability. Responding to this call, StrategyDriven Enterprises identified 29 near-term cost reduction opportunities potentially saving utilities $10+ million per station in annual operations and maintenance costs.

“Our team of seasoned nuclear executives sought out and adapted contemporary business practices for the nuclear environment,” explains Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven’s Chief Executive Officer. “The result is an initial set of organizational, process, and technology changes that preserve operational safety and reliability while at the same time dramatically reduce costs.”

StrategyDriven’s cost reduction initiatives and identification method are captured in Four Overlooked Controllable Costs that could save nuclear plants from early retirement. The document highlights 29 initiatives to reduce costs in the areas of Human Capital Management, Information Technology, Supply Chain / Inventory Management, and Oversight. StrategyDriven experience reveals many of these cost reductions to be implementable within 180 days and to possess similar payback periods.

U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz recently indicated that retiring nuclear power plants would make it more difficult for the U.S. to achieve its climate change goals.

“The idea is we are supposed to be adding zero-carbon sources, not subtracting or simply replacing by building to just kind of tread water,” Moniz said at a May symposium the department organized to discuss the industry’s economic prospects. “I think very few understand that nothing else comes close [to nuclear],” he added.

Four Overlooked Controllable Costs is being distributed to StrategyDriven’s clients, including some of the world’s largest nuclear utility operators. The white paper is available at: www.StrategyDriven.com/DNP.

Top Tips For Managing Your Call Centre

Top Tips For Managing Your Call Centre
Photo courtesy of Pexels

These days, all sorts of businesses have a need for a call centre. The truth is, these can be useful methods of contact with your customers. If you are in charge of a call centre, you know how lively and energetic a place it can be. One major thing you can learn to do over time is to use that energy, transform it into something positive for the customers. The thing about phone communication is that it is strangely powerful. It doesn’t matter that the customer cannot see the operator’s face. There is a lot of unconscious communication in the voice, and that affects the experience of the customer. That is why it’s so important to maintain the call centre, to manage it effectively. Even the slightest off atmosphere can affect a huge number of customers over the course of the day. But what are the secrets to running a call centre successfully? To answer that, let’s have a look at these top tips.

Lead By Example

This is something which any manager would do well to remember. Ultimately, like it or not, your staff look up to you. With that in mind, it is vital that you demonstrate the core qualities of the business which you wish them to embody. You need to be these qualities yourself in order to be able to expect it from others, that’s the truth. Nobody likes a hypocritical leader or manager, so be sure that you are never off duty with regards to this. The slightest hiccup is all it takes to destroy the effect.

Prioritise Security

Call centres have often been the subject of much scandal and disrepute. Often, this is a case of data protection being breached. The unfortunate truth is, this is all too easy to happen. As the manager, it is essential that you keep on top of the security side of things. Your customers’ information is sensitive, and it needs to be looked after as well as possible. You also need to champion ways of ensuring the identity of the caller, every time. Otherwise, you might find yourself in a lot of trouble. FFIEC compliance is paramount here, as you need to be sure of who is on the other end of the line.

Be Clear About What You Want

The most effective managers are those who express clearly what they hope to get out of their staff. If you are starting to notice that people are not quite adhering to your standards, then look into this. It is possible that you are not expressing yourself well enough. Make sure you give your staff guidelines for working, as well as fair but strict deadlines. Always ensure, too, that you give them a chance to query the request or ask questions. This two-way communication is the key to a smooth-flowing workplace.

Feedback

Last but not least, make sure you are providing feedback to all staff. This is not just important for the proper flow of the workplace; it is essential. It also means that your staff have the opportunity to regularly express themselves. This alone is a hugely beneficial to your staff, and you will soon notice the difference.

Practices for Professionals – How to Ensure Your Year is a Good One

StrategyDriven Practices for Professionals ArticleMany top executives are hired because their knowledge and experience will combine with and enhance current corporate practices; resulting in improved performance and higher profits. But what happens when this hybrid becomes the new norm and performance and profits plateau? The executive is replaced.


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About the Author

Nathan Ives, StrategyDriven Principal is a StrategyDriven Principal and Host of the StrategyDriven Podcast. For over twenty years, he has served as trusted advisor to executives and managers at dozens of Fortune 500 and smaller companies in the areas of management effectiveness, organizational development, and process improvement. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.