You know those times when everything hits you at once and you feel like you cannot possibly take anything else on? The thought of being proactive with donor calls and visits seems impossible.
A while back I was enjoying my morning snack when I felt my tooth crack. I was incredibly busy at the time and felt like I had no time for anything else. In that moment, nothing was more important than getting in to see my dentist, Dr. Robert. It's funny how our priorities can change in a moment's notice. I called him immediately, got his wife on the phone, and said, "I don't care what it costs or when, I really need to see Robert asap!" I cancelled everything I had for that afternoon and Robert did his magic.
As the Novocain wore off, I thought about how quickly our idea of what is important can change. I realized that all the important things I say I don't have time for are simply a result of the choices I am making. Like making prospect and donor outreach a priority. No excuses, no other options, I must make donor calls a part of my everyday activity. And so, should you.
We need to get past this notion that we don't have time to go see people. I will admit that we are all stretched beyond capacity. I truly believe a lot of it comes down to how we think about our daily lives and the work we do. When we get busy it's easy to tell ourselves how overwhelmed we are. We stress out over how much we must do, and panic sets in. On the other hand, when we change our self-talk and tell ourselves that everything is under control, and that we make great use of our time, we become more relaxed and end up accomplishing so much more.
Maybe it's how we have been raised to feel that if we don't do everything, if we let some things go, we are not being effective. I have struggled with this for years. As a business owner and someone who loves inventing new things, I get very excited by all that is possible. I want to do everything. It's taken me a long time to realize I cannot do everything. I had to give up the things which seemed like great ideas but were not going to grow my business or have a major impact on my clients' success. Everything does not have equal importance.
Our time is limited; we only have so much of it each day. Our choices, however, are limitless. We need to look at the choices we make each day and ask ourselves throughout the day, "Is this behavior that I should be doing right now?"
Exercise: Write down the three most important things you must do today. Do this every day. It's simple and incredibly effective.
Donor Time
Do you know when your donor time is? That's the hours of the day which are most ideal to speak and meet with your donors. Mine is 10:30 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. My goal daily, is to fill donor time with as many donor conversations as possible and do all my other tasks before and after that time. If a donor e-mails with something not time sensitive, I'll save it for that evening or the next morning. If a report is due, I'll work on it before or after donor time. Does that work all the time? No, but I am aware of it all the time. If it's between the hours of 10:30 and 6:00 and I am not speaking with donors, I remind myself, it's donor time, can this task/project wait? It's about being conscious of how we are spending our time.
Action Step: Schedule your donor times just like you schedule meetings. Put it in your calendar.
Break it Down into Small Bites
I was working with a client recently who kept telling me that she was not making her donor calls. She had just gotten a promotion that came with additional responsibilities and she was just too busy. I asked her if she could spend just 30 minutes per day making calls. She replied, "I can do anything for 30 minutes a day." It's much less daunting when you break it into little chunks of time.
Action Step: Set your phone timer or use an app, and set aside 30 minutes (or even 15) per day, and make those calls. Like pushing a stalled car, most of the effort is getting started, then momentum kicks in. Newton said a long time ago the things in motion stay in motion. Once you start, you are more likely to keep going, well beyond the 15 or 30 minutes.
We all have time to see people. It's about making the right choices and having goals around the number of people you will connect with each month. For some it might just be two or three people. That's okay; the point is you have a number to work towards.
