By Carl Sylvestre, Carl Sylvestre Consulting
July 15, 2011
In the past few months, New Yorkers have been getting used
to a great new service, courtesy of the New York City Transit Authority (every
once in a while they surprise us).
Most stations now have signs telling us the estimated arrival of the
next train.
It is amazing how such a minor improvement has made my
commute less stressful. I feel
like I have better control of my time.
Does this idea translate on how we communicate with our donors and
subscribers? Will our relationship
with them improve if we spend more time thinking of ways to make their
interaction with us more predictable?
Many organizations have been working towards that goal for years. For example, it is now standard
practice to tell theatergoers the running time of a performance or the date of
when to expect the next booking notification. Many membership programs have sustainer programs where
contributors make contributions at regular intervals.
When dealing with customers or donors one way to build and
grow a relationship is to think of ways and ideas that will be make their
interaction with your organization easier. It is not just simply about what you want and need from
them. It is about thinking about
their needs and what you can do to make it easier to enhance and grow that
relationship.
Effective stewardship has to take into account that some
level of predictability is required.
This process starts by always adding to your working plan an idea that
will make life easier for the typical subscriber or donor. The action could be as simple as making
the print larger on your letters/programs or by providing traffic alerts
through social media. Some are big
and some will be small, but over time these minor improvements add up to a
culture of great customer care and that will go a long way towards building
life long sustainers.
The path of building great organizations often begins with
small steps. Learning to
anticipate a customer’s needs and having some predictability in the
relationship is one of them.