While on the phones, it’s very easy to be distracted because there is a lot of multitasking that goes into being a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME). However, as a CME, one of your main jobs is to actively listen to what the donor is saying to you. You cannot have a productive conversation with the donor unless you listen to their side of the story. Without listening, you are not having a conversation; you are talking at the donor.

Whenever you are being trained on a new program, it is important to remain calm and positive. The way you approach a new program will ultimately lead to the whether you have a good outcome or a bad outcome. There are many things that may keep a person from being positive about being trained in a new program, but it is important to always maintain a positive outlook.

Many workplaces have a certain atmosphere, whether it be a family-oriented atmosphere, professional atmosphere, or both! Here at Incept, we are one gigantic family, and that is the exact reason why I love it here so much. When anyone has a birthday, an anniversary, or just does a phenomenal job on the phones, you know about it and you celebrate with them. More often than not, we even get Sam Falletta, the CEO of the company, to sign the birthday cards.

In today’s society it is not uncommon to have a busy schedule. So oftentimes when you are on the phones you will have to second-attempt a donor when they explain that they are too busy to donate. When a donor who is too busy to donate agrees to schedule a blood donation, it is imperative that you explain the importance of rescheduling in case they are unable to make it to their appointment.

Making quality calls gives the  Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) a better chance at getting blood donors to make their scheduled appointments to donate blood. Why is that? Well, when calling an individual to donate blood you want to make sure to show compassion, empathy, appreciation, and understanding, all while being polite and pleasant.

What do you do with donors who simply do not answer the phone? Even though you contact them during what is typically the optimum time of day, some donors will not respond to phone calls.

Not all blood donor conversations begin as outbound calls. Donors may call your center to schedule new appointments, reschedule existing appointments, check eligibility, ask questions about donating, or ask for directions to donation sites.

There are a lot of ways donating blood can benefit you, whether it be the mini physical you get before donating, the actual donation itself, or the warm and fuzzy feeling you get from knowing you may have helped save up to three patients’ lives.

Incept has the great pleasure of spending the majority of our time focusing on the high-performingConversational Marketing Experts (CMEs). There is an Employee of the Month ceremony held each month, and every employee is invited to attend – on the clock. This is an opportunity for Incept to do a lot of personal and specific recognition.

The trick to making every call your best call is treating each call with the same amount of enthusiasm. Listen to your donor, and fully take the opportunity to address any and all concerns, as well as truly hear what they are saying. Have you ever received a call and felt like the person on the other end wasn’t listening to you? Most people will answer yes to this question. We don’t want our donors to feel that way about us.

So, how often should you contact a donor? There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Your contact center will need to modify best practices based upon trial and error.

Your tele-recruitment investment may be the most important financial decision you make this year.

In working with over 40 blood centers over the last 16 years, we’ve found that an optimized tele-recruitment strategy can:

• Save money
• Deliver the right product at the right time
• Prevent critical appeals during difficult summer months

Calling donors in order to get the donation type that is most in need can be done simply if you have the right resources. Your database should be segmented by each donor’s blood type, last three donation types, and gender. If you have the luxury of scripting software and an automatic dialer, the scripter should be able to utilize this data to prompt the dialer to call only qualified donors and to serve an appropriate script to your tele-recruiters.

Over the last 16 years, Incept has helped over 40 blood centers reduce cost, increase collections, and improve donor relationships. Last year alone, we conducted over 6 million conversations with blood donors and recruited more than 267,552 units, all on a fixed cost-per-donor payment structure. Meaning our clients only pay for a usable unit.

Being apologetic lets the donor know that we actually do care about their experience beyond scheduling an appointment to donate with us. If someone has a bad experience and it goes unnoticed it basically shows the donor that we only care about their blood and not their well-being.

Some organizations may use automated voicemail. If yours does not, keep your message brief and to-the-point. Inform the blood donor about why you are calling, give brief details about any current promotions, and provide a callback number where he or she can self-schedule.

It’s not enough to hire people and trust them to consistently relate well with donors. Let’s face it, saying the same things to numerous people each day, and being turned down by a large percentage of them, can be demotivating. It can turn a very important job into a routine.

Begin thinking of what your tele-recruiters do as ”having conversations” rather than “making calls.” A call is of good quality if it’s dialed correctly. A conversation is of good quality if it engages another person and both parties learn something of value. Such conversations build strong relationships, in this case between your blood center and the donor. That’s what you’re really after.

As Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs), we’re always anticipating a conversation to end with an appointment to help save lives! Sometimes, however, other conversations may not end with an appointment, but as CMEs we want to end every conversation on a positive note regardless of the situation.