Managing numerous successful recruitment campaigns has shown that certain factors must be taken into account in order to achieve the highest level of success. Meet and exceed your blood donor recruitment goals by following these steps:
1. STOP LIMITING YOUR POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS. Calling only active donors eliminates a large number of donors. Seeking to reactivate lapsed donors is critical to running the most successful campaign.
2. STRATEGICLY PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN. Different methods are required to attract new donors than to reactivate lapsed donors. Plan to reach lapsed donors at least twice a year.
3. CLEAN YOUR DATABASE. Dialing outdated phone numbers is the surest path to a failed recruiting campaign. Considering that 40 million Americans move each year and many do not record forwarding addresses, databases can have up to 50% inaccurate information.
4. TEST, TEST and TEST. Implementing call programs using untested scripts is a recipe for disaster. Use one or two of your best telerecruiters to develop an appeal that you know donors will respond to rather than something you hope will work.
5. MAKE SURE RECRUITERS UNDERSTAND BLOOD DONATION. You need to make sure your telerecruiters are well informed and prepared to educate potential donors as needed. Use role-play in daily recruiter training and coaching to improve performance.
6. UNDERSTAND YOUR HEARING. Gather information that gives you an idea of your donor trends. You need to know why prospects say no in order to develop an appeal that generates a positive response.
7. ANALYZE DATA TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY. Data segmentation to identify trends will help increase the success of future campaigns. Analyzing historical donor program data can help you identify a particular fixed or mobile site that is more successful than others in reactivating lapsed donors.
8. MAKE IT CONVENIENT. Donors give blood not just out of altruism, but because it’s convenient. If it takes effort for a donor to travel to a fixed location, that’s one reason to say no. It is vital to fully utilize your scheduling tool when allowing recruiters to schedule for fixed and mobile sites.
9. USE INCENTIVES WISELY. While an occasional t-shirt or other minimal incentive can boost your donation level, don’t count on it being the key to your campaign’s success.
10. UNDERSTAND YOUR COSTS. Set an accurate cost per draw by reviewing demographic information about your donors; such as the amount of time between donations, who responded to what appeal, and where the donation was made. You may find that outsourcing all or part of your telecontracting reduces costs and allows you to achieve your goals.
