Major Donor Visits Made Easy in 3 Steps

When you are making a call on a major donor prospect, it’s always a good idea to know what you really want to accomplish.

You finally have the meeting with Mr. Big. What’s next?

So many people are confused about what they want out of important visits. They think their job is to talk a lot and make a killer presentation—– and that’s the last thing you want to do!

Instead, you need to take it easy and go slowly!

Here are three important objectives for every single major donor visit you will ever make:

1. You want to establish a long-term, productive relationship with your prospect
You want to be able to ask her for advice. Or ask her about other potential donors. You want her opinion of new events or initiatives. You want her to tell you what other people in town are saying about your organization.

And you hope that you can eventually ask her for a favor. Or money.

In other words, you want her to become a friend to your organization.

This kind of long-term, productive relationship is worth a lot to an organization.

You are not about selling something. You are not about the money. And you certainly don’t want to bore her by doing all the talking, do you?

2. You are looking to find out where your prospect stands
Another important goal for your visit is to find out your prospect’s disposition toward you and your cause. Is he still interested? Is he losing interest? What are his questions about today? What’s on his mind? What are his hot buttons?

Perhaps he is a former donor — does he still feel close to your organization?

Perhaps she is brand-new to the community — could she become interested in your cause? Could she be helpful?

If a couple are potential donors, then you try to gauge their level of interest. You want to try to figure out how you can bring them even closer.

This is why you should never, ever do too much talking in a donor visit! You really really want to know what’s going on in your prospect’s mind.

If you do all the talking, then you’ll never find out all the information that you really need to grow the relationship.

Many people think their job is to make a presentation to the prospect. But be careful. If you do more than 50 percent of the talking, you’re shooting yourself in the foot!

3. You are looking for the next step
Why is the next step so very important? Because you won’t have a relationship without a next step!

Don’t leave your prospect until you have an idea for several follow-up next steps. That’s your most important objective of all!

What can you do next to encourage your prospect’s interest? Can you find a reason to circle back to them to keep the communication coming? Did you find out what the prospect was interested in so you can follow up? Did the donor ask a question that you couldn’t answer?

Great! Then you have a reason to get back in touch with her.

If you leave the visit without a next step, you might as well have wasted your time.

These strategies are a completely different approach to major donors. This is the slow, soft sell — the way that creates a friendly, close relationship. The way that leads to the biggest gifts of all!