"Caller’s Diary" with Barbora from Svoboda Zvířat

Caller’s Diary: How to start calling and enjoy it long-term 

Introduction

Hi! I’m Barbora, a telefundraiser from Svoboda zvířat. On this site, I want to share with you my "Caller’s Diary" and some tips on how to start calling and keep enjoying it even after some time!

Who is this for: new, but also "older" callers

What does it include: 

• tip on how to start calling

• issues in the beggining of calling 

• issues after 1,5 years of calling

• caller’s diary: situations that can happen during calls and tips on how to deal with them

How to start calling ☎️

Even people who are scared to call their dentist for an appointment (like me) can find their enthusiasm for calling!
What’s it like for a newbie to start calling? For me, it was like riding a bike in Italy...

Issues in the beginning

As you may know, in Svoboda zvířat, we call without a script - only with potatoes 🥔🥔🥔🥔.

What’s tricky about calling in the beginning? There can be a lot of unexpected situations, that don’t "fit" into what is usually disscussed while training new callers. I will share with you some tips on how to deal with it in the diary part.

Issues after 1,5 years of calling

Keeping your energy - talking for long periods of time every day can be exhausting.  The solution can be calls where the supporter does most of the talking. How does one make a supporter do that? By asking them questions.

Making calls enjoyable for both caller and supporter -  how can I do that, if we’re talking about animal suffering every day? I try to always leave on a positive note: telling the supporter, that the change is possible. I tell them all our wins: previous succesfull campaigns, smaller wins in the current one.. 

8:00: First call - Supporter who doesn’t want to share emotions 🎭
I planned this call early, because this supported starts working at 9:00 and wants me to call her before work.

• Issues: the supporter says “I have signed your petition but I don’t want to know exactly what happens because it’s too hard for me” or "don’t even talk about the horrible stuff they’re doing to the foxes, I can’t hear it” - they don´t want to hear a story, don’t want to get emotional - but emotions are important

• How I deal with it: 

  • By empathizing:

    • “I completely get it, it’s actually the same for me with videos, I just can’t see it, but on the other hand I'm glad more people will get to know about this issue“

    • “it’s a normal response for someone who cares deeply about animals - it shows how much you care“

    • they are making a difference by signing the petition (“you’ve already done the first step to stop it“), even bigger difference if they become a donor 

8:15: Supporter who is busy right now⏳⛔

If a supporter says something like “I don’t really have time right now, I only have a few minutes “ or  “I’m in the middle of something“ - do you reschedule or continue with the call?

Usually I go by my feelings. 

• Situation 1: They want to talk, but really only have a few minutes (for example their lecture, work meeting starts shortly). The question is: Can you get there in time? 

  • The risk if you continue: If you talk for too long, the might hang up right before you were about to ask for the donation. 

  • The risk if you reschedule: Maybe they won’t pick up againg.

• Situation 2: They want to talk, but they are focused on something else. 

  • For example: they are driving, looking after kids.. etc.

  • Can they focus on the call? Can you hear each other? Sometimes they have hands-free and a really chill drive ahead of them, during which you can have a nice call, other times you can barely hear them and they need to focus on the road.

  • If there are bigger issues with the call, I prefer to just reschedule.  “I feel like this is now the best time, can I call you later/another day?" Sometimes, they offer to call back in a few minutes. The risk again: They will not pick up later.

• Situation 3: They really can’t talk

  • Some people pick up the phone because they think it’s an emergency: teacher during lecture in school, doctors with patients in their office, manual workers doing dangerous work.

  • It’s better to reschedule. Ask for the time! So that the same situation doesn’t happen again. They may work different hours each day.

• Situation 4: They are at work but actually have time

  • When they simply say they are at work and they have a few minutes for only a short call: For me, this is a YES. Some people can and will have a conversation during work. I happily continue talking with them.. 📞

...

11:00: Supporter who is passionate but has a different opinion 💬☝️

Some people can feel deeply about the issue your organisation is dealing with but might have a different opinion on how to achieve it.

• Situation 1: Former donor stops donating because he doesn’t agree with how you spend his donations.

  • This person has ties with our organisation, used to donate, so there are some shared values. I think it’s worth it to try to explain more about how finances are managed. Maybe there’s a misunderstanding.

  • For example: Donor says “I’ve looked into documents on your website and found that for every 10 euros I send, 5 is spend doing administrative work, which, to be honest, I find stupid! I want all the money to go to animals!"

  • I exlained: “The work we go is different from direct help for animals. We are trying to change the law. My colleagues from the advocacy team deal with complicated law issues. They feed to figure out how the our cause can be implemented in the law system, persuade the politicians to do it and put it together. That takes time and can involve some administrative work. But in the end, when the law is succesfully changed, it helps thousands of animals.“

  • It was a success with this supporter - they promised to continue with their donations!

• Situation 2: New supporter gives us advice

  • This person is very passionate, feels deeply about animals, but is not a fan of our way of work. He gave me advice: "The way you do it is not good, you need to unite with other animal NGOs and create a political party for animals!"

  • I explained: "We do work together with other NGOs on some issues. But each NGO works a bit differently. " I told him our way of doing things work: I listed past successes and told him we will continue to work this way.

  • This supporter was not persuaded and kept giving me advice. No luck with a donation. I only thanked him again for signing our petitions and for caring about animals.

11:15: Supporter who promises to donate but never becomes a donor💸🚫

I’ve had a supporter who I called multiple times over a longer period of time. She was also very passionate, we had long conversations, but always said that she cannot donate right now, but to call her in a month or two to remind her, that her financial situation can be better and she will start donating. But in a month or two, same thing happened. She never became a donor.  

• During the last call with her, I just made sure she has all the information, if she wants to start donating, but I didn’t plan another call.

Maybe she just liked talking on the phone with me:)

...

14:00: Supporter who feels like being pushed into donating 🫸

Some supporters like these feel very strongly about the cause. They are very engaged, talk with emotion, maybe even persuade their close ones to care more about animals, they share our posts on social media... Talking with them is great. But when it comes to donation, the tone changes. 

• Situation 1: They were passionate until I asked about donation. Talking about money makes them uncomfortable.

• Situation 2: They promised to donate, but don’t want to disscuss details: How much and since when they start to donate.

Sometimes when you start explaining how donation works for them, they feel like being pushed into donating. It’s good to remind them:

• Whether or not they choose to donate is their choice (Even if I try to communicate urgency of the issue in the call).

• Donating is the obvious next step for a lot of petition-signers so it’s totally normal to ask.

• Give them time. I send "Undecided" email and ask when will be a good time to talk next. 

They may be afraid of scam callers: I tell them they can check my number on our website to see that I’m a real person. It’s totally okay that they need a little bit more time to think about donating.

With some supporters like this, it never works out, and that’s okay too. Some just won’t tell you during a call that they don’t want to donate.

14:25 Emotionally difficult call ❤️‍🩹

Some call are hard. There might be different reasons, such as:

• You call them during a difficult time, for example: they are experiencing companion animal loss. In this case, I always reschedule. I only thank them and tell them to hang in there.

• They are describing animal cruelty that they witnessed. For example, some people have been as kids brought by family members to some hunters events and they start describing it to me. I continue with the call - they might have a really big motivation for support. But it’s hard for me to hear this. 

• You call them during a time when they don’t want to talk. They might be rude because they are dealing with something. This doesn’t happend a lot, but when it does, I reschedule and ask when will be a better time to call.

• This happens very rarely, but when calling new leads, you may come across a person who is being rude or innapropriate in general. In this case, I don’t continue the call, I say bye politely and hang up.

Sometimes after a call like these I text by boss, tell her what happened and I will go and take a break! Make a coffee, calm down.. It’s important to take care of your mental heath if you want to do this work long-term.

...

17:30: Speaking with a supporter after a whole day of talking 🪫

As a caller, I’m getting a bit tired. I’ve been talking all day. But some supporters can only talk after their work hours. I can plan some shorter shifts for the afternoon, but there’s also a way how you can save energy and call long hours!

How? By making the supporter do most of the talking.

How do you do that? By asking them questions. Immediately after thanking them (for signing the petition, writing an email to a politician, etc.) I ask them about their motivation:

• What do you think about hunting foxes wiht hounds / fow burrowing? 

• Did you know this was happening before signing the petition?

• What made you interested in animal protection?

What’s important is not me finding out the answer to these questions, but the supporter’s articulation of their own motivation. When they say something like "I want these practices to end!" I can reply: "That’s exactly what we’re doing!" and offer them the option of joining us in our fight: monthly donation.

Reminder: It’s about them. We are only a tool. They are making the change in the world.

17:45: Final call - Ending on a positive note 👍

Some supporters can become sad after seeing so much animal suffering, especially if they follow a lot of organisations and consume a lot of their content. They want to be up to date - but what if the campaings move slowly? What if there’s no end to animal suffering in sight? They may lose hope.

I try to remind them:

• It’s okay to feel sad - the things that are happening to animals really are horrible.

• Change is possible - remind them of past successes.

• They are the person who is standing up to this - they are making the change.

• Focus on small wins: Even if the campaign didn’t succeed completely just yet, there may be little wins, that you can share with them, so that they can see that it is moving forward, even if slowly.

Conclusion

Even though you can come across many different unexpected situations during calling, I recommend to just go for it.

I hope some of these tips can help you navigate those situations.

When calling long-term, I think it’s important to conserve your energy: make the supporter speak more. Also think about your mental health and take breaks when necessary.