Using conversation to recruit a blood donor for an appointment is more of an art than a science. You cannot just assume that you have found the method most effective to recruit donors and then stick with it for all donor types.
Just as it is critical for a blood center to know the type of blood they need, it’s critical for a donor recruitment professional to understand the type of donor they are speaking with and cater the conversation to that donor and their situation. There are parts of a recruitment conversation that are consistent regardless of the type of donor you are speaking with, like your intro and your closing statement for an appointment, but all of that conversation that occurs between the intro and the confirmation should be tailored to your specific donor type.
When speaking with a current donor, acknowledging that they are a regular donor, using language that lets them know you know they are familiar with the process, and acknowledging past donations and loyalty programs (if the blood center offers them) are all important parts to strengthening the relationship. If you are speaking to a lapsed donor, it’s critical to try to understand why they are a lapsed donor. What caused them to stop donating? At one point, they were donating, and now they have stopped. But why? If you really want to have a true conversation with that lapsed donor, you must understand why they do not donate now, and attempt to overcome that hurdle before you just try to push them into an appointment. Asking the right questions, asking them the right way, and then responding appropriately are key components to having a productive conversation with a lapsed donor.
A conversation that will drive meaningful results and strengthen the relationship between that donor and the blood center is always the goal. When a lapsed donor knows you are truly interested in them as a person and truly interested in helping them, they tend to be more willing to listen to your pitch and more willing to roll their sleeve up and try donating again. After all, at some point in time, they understood the benefit of donating and believed in the cause.
With a staff of real Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) and extensive recruitment training, you cannot only keep recruiting your current donor base with success, but you can reactivate your lapsed donor base and begin immediately putting more blood onto the shelves.