Conversational Marketing Tip: Using Rebuttals In Your Recruitment Calls

How sweet would it be if every donor we tried to recruit said yes to donating again the first time we asked them to? That’d be pretty awesome. Realistically though, not everyone is able to donate at the time when one of our Conversational Marketing™ Experts (CMEs) reaches out. Thankfully, we arm each and every Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) with a full clip of rebuttals to use accordingly in each one of their recruitment calls, provided they find the need.

Are they too busy to donate? Are they sick and seeing a doctor for a minor cold? Did they have a bad experience with their last donation? These are all things that an Incept Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) are trained to rebuttal and educate about.

Rebuttals aren’t just a way to accomplish a close – in our case, a scheduled appointment to donate blood with agreement by the donor – they are a way to reset the call, they can help in efforts to educate, and can even strengthen the relationship between the Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) and the donors they speak with.

The Art of Rebuttaling in Tele-Recruitment

  • It is not what you say, but how you say it. At the very least, a good Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) recognizes that the tone in their voice when they say something to a donor can make or break their call to action. Keep this in mind with every rebuttal.
  • Listen for solutions. One of the things that a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) can do well is listen to what is being said between the words. An example of this skill is when a donor tells us they are too busy to donate; more often than not, they are willing to schedule when we inform them we can work around their schedule and put them down for a time a few weeks out instead of in the immediate future. To ensure they don’t forget, we also accompany their appointment with a friendly reminder call. This is one of many examples where we can customize the rebuttal based upon what the donor is telling us is going on in their life. The end result is that the rebuttal doesn’t seem or feel like a rebuttal, but it works just the same!
  • Make it easy for your donors. So in the bullet point above we helped out a donor who was too busy by literally working around their needs. When a donor gives you an excuse of why they can’t donate, present yourself and your rebuttal in the form that you are there to help and convenience the donor. Put simply, treat the donor as if you are a customer service agent and not a recruiter. If you place a high importance on solving the donor’s problems or apprehensions about donating or scheduling, then the appointments will surely follow.

Rebuttaling is essential to the continued success of Incept. It saves our organization calling files and maximizes the campaigns that we are calling for. It truly is a conversational art form. Nonetheless, keep this in mind: It is better to take a “no” that strengthens the relationship than schedule an appointment that seems forced and tentative.

Stay tuned for the next blog post in this series on how to properly take a “No”. My boss actually calls it, “No-etry” since he believes it should sound like poetry…

How does your company find rebuttals useful?