Calling party
From AFSWiki
Contents |
Goal
During a calling party, volunteers from your team get together and make calls to friends of AFS within your community. "Friends of AFS" can include current participants, but during a calling party, the goal is reaching out to past and future AFS participants and making sure we understand who they are and how they want to be involved with AFS. You will be calling them on the phone to
- let them know about current opportunities with AFS, and
- confirm that we have correct contact information for them
Often the need to arrange a calling party is driven by a crisis, such as the short-term need for host families or the need to find guests for a fundraising event. A calling party is a good way to resolve the crisis. If done correctly, it will also strengthen the foundation of your team and require just a bit of additional effort, making it less likely you'll have another similar crisis in the future.
Elements for Success
Having some sort of contact database or address book for AFS supporters in your area is a pre-requisite. The list doesn't have to be up-to-date; a major goal of calling parties is to update the database. The list doesn't have to be fancy. Something pulled from an Excel spreadsheet is fine. The Southern California Team has been organizing successful calling parties for years using a "database" of one 3x5" card for each contact. In fact, the article you are reading now was based on their "best practices". Although they may seem low-tech, cards are a great way to distribute the work to the people at your event who are closest to each contact.
If you don't have a database yet, you can create one based on returnees and past host families, plus all the people you know who have talked with AFS, for example about hosting, but who never had the opportunity to become a participant.
You will also need a place to meet. If you can borrow a room with a lot of telephones in it, that would be ideal, but sitting around a volunteer's living room, everyone with their own cellphone, works too.
If people bring along munchies to share, it might make the event more fun. But don't create a hassle for yourself. Keep everything really informal.
You'll need to have people to show up at the party. You can advertise through your team's normal channels. Having just 3-4 people making the calls is sufficient for success.
When and How Long to Have the Party?
Weeknights are good since volunteers are available and the people you're calling are often home. Sunday evenings, almost everyone is home. Saturday mornings can also be good.
If you make calls over a period of 90 minutes to two hours, you'll get a lot done without burning out.
What to Say during the Call
to-do: sample script here
Introduce yourself as an AFS volunteer living in the same community as the person, and ask if the person is willing to spend a few minutes talking about AFS.
A long list of potential questions is in the contact database article. Make sure you make thorough notes during and after the call. Even if you're likely to be the next person to continue any discussion with the person, document the conversation as if someone else will be following up. Note incidental information that comes up: knowledge of the family's activities, pets, specifics of their house size, place of employment, etc might all be important ways to match them with appropriate AFS opportunities in the future.
Once you have someone on the phone who seems interested in talking with you, don't be concerned about "productivity" or trying to complete the call quickly. If they are enjoying the conversation, it's a good sign they're ready to become an active AFS participant. It's always better to talk with serious candidates in person rather than on the phone, so a great way to conclude this sort of call is to set up an in-person meeting.
to-do: what kind of message do you leave if you get an answering machine? If someone answers, but it's not the person you want to talk with?
How to Deal with Rejection
Calling just to "reach out" is a lot easier than, say, calling to look for host families, because you're asking so much less of the other person. If someone tells you "no" in some way, make sure you understand whether they are rejecting all future contact with AFS, or they just don't want to be asked to host a student or give money, or whatever. Many people would be happy to continue receiving an emailed information letter, for example, and that's a good way to keep the contact alive. Of course, if someone simply wants no future contact from AFS, make a clear note of that and respect their wish.
See Also
- contact database
- needed: list of first-time volunteer entry-level activities
