I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but knowledge is power!
I had a very weird, lucid dream the other night. A lucid dream is a dream in which you realize you are actually in a dream and not real life. Once you realize this, you can literally do anything you want. Having one is an extremely awe-inspiring and mind-blowing experience, let me tell you. In my dream I found myself on top of an 
enormous skyscraper perched at the very edge of the roof. As I surveyed the people on the ground scurrying around and many cars bustling around the streets below, I don’t know how it happened, but I had a revelation that I was, in fact, in a dream. I couldn’t tell you why, but I proceeded to jump off of the enormous superstructure and plunged to the streets below. Just when I hit the pavement of the underlying street, the ground became a trampoline, and I found myself bouncing up into the air roaring with laughter as I jumped around my fictitious cityscape. If I found myself knowing I was in a dream every time I was actually dreaming, maybe I would have more of these pleasant experiences based upon that knowledge.
The reason I bring any of this up to you is the fact that usually people conform to what they know, especially when it comes to the topic of donating blood. Usually, I find that when I am talking with a first-time blood donor, they can be very apprehensive to donating since many folks out there are taking medications for one reason or another. In other cases, many diabetic people do not know that they can actually donate in most cases, depending on their situation and treatment, of course.
At Incept the job of a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) is not just about scheduling appointments. We instead aim to provide the absolute best possible customer service to our donors in the form of friendly education!
I didn’t know I could still donate!
Sometimes people just need to be informed and presented with the facts. Here are three common reasons why people think they can’t donate and why they actually still can:
- I have diabetes. Unless otherwise informed by a doctor, if you are a diabetic, you still can donate in most scenarios! As long as you have it under control through non-bovine-derived insulin shots, oral medication or even diet, chances are you still can donate a whole blood donation.
- I am currently taking prescribed medication. Most medications that aren’t an antibiotic will not defer you for a whole blood donation. In fact, when it comes to medications, it usually is the reason why those medications were prescribed in the first place that would be the real determining factor if you could donate or not. Mood stabilizers (Prozac, Zoloft, etc.) will also not defer you in most known cases either.
- I had a low iron level count when I tried to donate last time. Sometimes when a blood donor’s vital statistics are being analyzed, they can read a little off due to any number of variables – such as outside temperature, physical activity levels of the donor that day, or even something as simple as diet! That is why, if you are a blood donor that does not have a history of being chronically anemic, then a diet high in iron is a choice remedy.
Most of the time when talking with people facing these issues you can always hear the proverbial “light turn on” when they understand they might still be able to donate. Frequently the donor is even willing to give it another shot all because we educated them in a friendly manner.
When it comes to donating blood, everyone is different. If you or someone you know is unsure if you can donate or not, most blood banks do have medical personnel that can tell you definitively. If you are still in doubt, the best thing to do is contact your doctor or heath practitioner.
What are some other examples where having knowledge and education can change someone’s mind about doing something?
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There is a treatment for sports injuries that has been available for years but is becoming much more 
popular now. It’s called Platelet Rich Plasma Therapy (PRP Therapy). Platelets play a big part in the healing of tissue, as they increase tissue regeneration, collagen, bone density, and angiogenesis, as well as decrease pain and inflammation. Introducing platelets back into the site of the injury should enchance the overall healing process.
For a patients to receive PRP Therapy, blood is drawn from the patient (there is no need for a donation from a donor) and then separated into the following ratio: 94% platelets and 5% red blood cells (RBC). Next, a dynamic musculoskeletal ultrasound is used to find the exact location of the injury, and then the injection of PRP is then made.
Relief is not instant, but within 3 – 6 weeks the injury starts to improve, and, for some, the pain is gone at that point. While studies have been conducted on this type of therapy with great success, the study size was small.
This type of therapy is becoming more popular within the sporting industry and is what helped Hines Ward of the Pittsburgh Steelers play in the Super Bowl after his knee injury.
What are your thoughts on this type of therapy?
Image Credit: http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2011/12/science-and-technology/researchers-develop-method-to-form-blood-platelets-from-stem-cells
Today, I’m having a rough day – physically, anyways.
How are you doing? Happy? Sad?
In an extremely mundane and lifeless motion, I begin the trudge down the many stairs transcending my apartment’s stoop. Loaded to the eyeballs with Sudafed, vitamin C and a few slurps of Tylenol PM, I begin my zombie-like trek to the offices of Incept. When you are an Internet Conversational Marketing™ Expert (iCME) content isn’t gonna make itself.
About an hour into my shift, a fellow Incept employee asked me, “Brian, you ok? How are you doing?” I wanted to say, “I’m doing horrible, and I feel horrible today,” but then I thought about the real intentions of being asked that question. Someone genuinely asked me “How are you doing?” Even though it has been a physically formidable day in terms of comfort, I really appreciated that someone cared enough to ask.
Think about it. How are you? Such a simple phrase can build rapport so easily amongst many people. When I’m recruiting blood donors as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) on behalf of our clients, “How are you?” is always the first thing I ask a donor. If you work in any sort of field relating to customer service then you can understand the importance and impact that those three words can have on someone.
Asking “How are you?” is not just a way to start off a phone call either. It is an innocent question that can have many benefits in terms of providing customer service. Let’s take a brief look at those benefits:
- Your customers will appreciate that before you ask about anything business-related that you genuinely asked how they are doing, creating positive relations right off the bat. Most people will even reciprocate and ask how you are doing too!
- Asking “How are you?” can determine if it is a bad time to be talking with your customer or point of contact so that you can offer to call back at a much more convenient time.
- In addition to the above point, you can also determine the tone of your customer. When you know the tone of who you are talking to you can then customize your conversation with them much more efficiently creating dialog that strengthens the relationship.
The biggest point to take away from this is that small and mannerly practices that are consistently performed are what separate your average telemarketing agency from a world-class conversational marketing firm. Asking, “How are you?” not only is a professionally mindful thing to do, but it gives your reps the real advantage of being able to quantify the fact that each customer is their own person, and each call is a new opportunity.
What are some other ways in which asking “How are you?” can be beneficial in dealing with your customers?
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It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do for a living, everyone likes to feel appreciated for either who they are or something they have done.
“The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention.” ~ Oscar Wilde
Let’s take a second to investigate and think about the above quote. How often do you have good intentions in mind for someone yet fail to follow through with those intentions? Probably more often than not for myself and many other folks. But have you ever noticed how something so small and simple as a “thank you” can make a positive difference in the way you interact with people?
Not only is saying thank you a decent and mannerly practice to take part in regularly, but in terms of business it can be an extremely cost-effective measure to strengthen the relationship between your employees, your clients, and customer base. It is easy to express your thanks in many different ways, so why wouldn’t you want to? What do you have to lose?
Three Benefits of “Thank You”
Do you ever notice how often you actually say “thank you” on a daily basis? Whether it be to the checkout girl at the store for bagging your groceries, someone 
on Twitter for retweeting your tweet, or even your spouse for making dinner, do you actually mean it when you express thanks or gratitude? Here are three huge benefits that Incept experiences by simply saying “thank you” in different ways to our employees and clients.
- Appreciation can easily increase employee loyalty and work place camaraderie.
I will never forget when I had a phone call with a gentleman in Chicago about donating blood at his local donor center. I must have suggested at least five to six different blood drives that would fit his scheduling needs, yet he was still on the fence about committing to a drive to donate. This was the type of phone call that tested my abilities as a Conversational Marketing Expert™ (CME). Long story short: I ended up getting the gentleman to commit to a date and donate, but after the phone call my boss, Steve Kieffer, came up to me after listening in on it to thank me for doing such an excellent job with the situation. I’ll never forget because he pointed out the positives and was professionally personable. He even rewarded me with an extra break. That was a little gesture that reinforced the fact that I work for a great company and have great bosses who care about my work. That was almost a year and a half ago.
- Saying “thank you” (and meaning it) can increase customer or donor loyalty.
When people feel appreciated for something they have done, they are more likely to do that same action again. When it comes to Incept and recruiting blood donors, we make sure the donor knows they and their actions are deeply valued and appreciated. We do this in the form of a thank-you call in which we thank the donor for their recent donation and ask them to complete a simple, one-question survey regarding their experience. When I’ve made thank-you calls to donors, there have been times where you can hear in their voices the gratitude they’re feeling that you called and recognized them. This increases the probability that they will donate again.
- “Thank you” is an easy way to strengthen the relationship overall with your customers or donors.
Saying “thank you” doesn’t cost a thing, yet the benefits in actually strengthening the relationship between yourself and whomever you are talking to are vast. I say this even knowing that while I pride myself on being a fairly decent performer when surfing the phone lines, I don’t get an appointment on every call. Sometimes people can’t donate due to physical reasons, extremely unorthodox schedules and many other contributing factors. I don’t let the fact that I won’t close out the call with an appointment stop me from providing good customer service and relations, though. I still make it a point to thank them for donating in the past and taking my call. Why, though? Because no matter if you get the close for an appointment or not, we do everything we can to strengthen the relationship with the donor on our client’s behalf. Saying “thank you” is an easy way to leave a favorable impression on them for when we call back.
Do you have someone in your life you should say thank you to? It really is amazing to see (or in my case, hear) people’s reactions when you say those two, simple words and genuinely mean it. What are some other ways you can say “thank you”?
In this life, you really only do get one shot at a good first impression with someone.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve blown that notion. Whether it be out meeting new women, meeting the owner of a club my band played at for the first time, or even past interview processes before I came to Incept. My extrovert type of personality really does mean no harm, albeit having had my share of garrulous follies, lackluster conversation starters and awkward moments during initial meet-and-greets.
It was Morris Kline, a very prestigious mathematics professor, who once said, “The most fertile source of insight is hindsight.” When I read that quote the vast gates holding back my life’s recollections opened up. Maybe I would’ve said or done things a little differently if I knew more about who I was talking to.
As a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) at Incept, a little investigatory skill can go a very long way when it comes to mentally tailoring a personal conversation with a blood donor. Quite frankly, one of the biggest things I enjoy about my job as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME), and speaking with blood donors, is the fact that each conversation really is different. Of course, we have our scripts and promotions that we diligently adhere to during our on-the-phone orations, but I’ve always thought about how I could reinforce those points with the people I talk to in a way that can make it more personal. That’s where we cue the online scheduler as a conversational tool.
When we schedule blood donors across America to come into their community blood centers and donate, we almost always have a Donor Profile that includes invaluable information, such as blood type, how many times a donor has donated, what their preferred donor center is, and even the specific type of blood donation that donor has performed in the past. Presto! The Donor Profile really acts as “instant” hindsight available to a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME). More so, it’s interpretations during a call can make a world-class difference in the professional and personal attributes that result in a quality recruiting phone call.
Let’s take a closer look at the different benefits of using a blood donor’s history and profile in our online scheduling system:
- You can gear your conversational approach based upon a donor’s age.
We speak with many different kinds of people on a daily basis. Some are teenage donors who tend to donate at their high school, while other donors might be elderly and donate at their local community hall. Regardless, on the donor’s profile we can see a date of birth. This might seem insubstantial, but on the contrary, it can give a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) a good idea of what kind of tone and inflection to use, depending on the person we are trying to talk to.
- You can see what type of blood donation a donor does.
When it comes to blood donations, there isn’t just whole blood. Some donors will consistently come back to do an automated red cell donation or platelet donation. When we can already see that Mr. Jones has donated red cells four times in a row since he’s been donating, we can make the call seem more personable and friendly by asking if he’d like to contribute another donation of the same type. Or in the opposite case, if a blood center needs red cells or platelets of a certain blood type and we see that a donor does not have previous experience donating an automated style (apheresis) donation, we can take the time and opportunity to educate and inform them about the process and how it works.
- You can see the location where the donor usually donates.
People are always much more inclined to go to a place they have been to before. With a blood donor and their profile, we can see each time they have donated and where exactly that donation took place. If someone has donated five times at their local center over the course of two years or so, generally speaking, they are going to be more willing and inclined to donate again at that location if they are asked! Having this knowledge handy means you can have the center hours up already with times available for the donor to choose, making this a very effective technique. This can also work with local businesses, churches and other mobile sites that host blood drives frequently.
- You can see how many times a donor has donated.
Above all, even if we don’t get the appointment, we always aim to leave each donor with a favorable impression following every call. Usually before even talking about scheduling, I always try to thank the donor for how many times they’ve donated. I’ve seen everything from just one donation to over one hundred donations! This number gives you a good idea of how committed a donor is to donating blood, giving you a good idea of how knowledgeable they are about it and what you need to tailor your approach with them.
Those are just a few examples of how realistically helpful viewing a donor’s profile and history can be. It’s astounding how the online scheduler isn’t just a tool used literally – to make appointments; it is also a tool that we can use to treat each donor like an individual, not just another phone call. What are some other situations in which having prior history beforehand is generally helpful to you?
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Lately, my car ( a 95′ Camaro Z28, which I lovingly refer to as Xerxes) has been the absolute dirtiest it has ever been.
Oddly enough, if you live in the Ohio area, we are currently experiencing a very relaxed winter when it comes to snowfall and temperature. So as a gear head, this pleases me. There hasn’t been a lot of salt on the roads, nor has there been too much powder to plow through. Even still, Xerxes continues to serve as a magnet for dust, mud, and bird droppings. Occasionally as I glance outside my apartment window to gaze upon the concrete jungle in which I live, I’ll catch the Z28 staring up at me, beckoning me to take it to my parents to wash its fiery, scarlet exterior. And in that moment, when I’m staring right back at it, visualizing how awesome it would look with a fresh coat of wax and almost ready to take it to the quarter wash, all of a sudden I find that the Xbox 360 takes away any desire to clean my car. Motivation for some things in my life is definitely fleeting.
However, in my professional life at Incept, usually my motivation to do well in my job is my source of creativity! Odd how that works, huh? Since one of the biggest things we do at Incept is help blood banks and blood centers around the United States recruit blood donors right there in their communities, whenever the opportunity presents itself to give blood I always try to donate myself.
I cannot stress enough how important it is to practice what I preach as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME). Like many blood donors in my age range, I started donating blood in high school, and even after I graduated I continued to drop by the occasional community blood drive. Quite honestly, getting out of class and receiving free Chipotle for donating blood were both really good motivators. But it wasn’t until I came to Incept that I found a new source of motivation for being a blood donor.
I have talked with blood donors that have donated over 100 times! I have talked with many elderly blood donors who – even into their golden years at 75 and 80 years old – continue to donate. I have talked with the soccer moms with four or five kids who, despite already having a full to-do list, are able to kindly schedule a blood donation with me at their local grocery store. Even talking with current high school blood donors I have been highly motivated when I see someone so young that has already donated so much. These reasons and more are why I feel like it’s impossible to say no when there is a blood drive at Incept.
How could I say no to giving such a small amount of blood? I could be saving the lives of infants and children, cancer patients, car accident victims, burn victims, sickle-cell patients, or at the very least improving the lives of those people.
I have always known donating blood really does help people out and does save lives, but it was only when I became a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) almost two years ago now that I really heard how significant those impacts really are. Knowing all that I do now about donating blood and talking with so many donors, how and why wouldn’t I be constantly motivated to donate blood when I can? I do it because I believe in the good that comes from donating, and I see that in many other people employed at Incept.
On that note, I think next time I donate blood at my own local center, I’ll be sure to grab a handful of quarters for my z28. The quarter wash is right down the road.
When it comes to life, how do you motivate yourself to do something?
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Having the right tool for the job can mean a lot of different things to different people.
How does Incept use LAMA?
A fireman cannot extinguish a blazing inferno without a fire truck; Batman cannot fight the Joker without his utility belt; the Cleveland Browns can’t begin to think about winning without a decent quarterback. However, when it comes to the Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) at Incept, the tools are there from the start. Before a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME) even makes their first call, they are armed with the knowledge they need about donating blood, how the call scripter and scheduler works, and experience with a wide variety of different situations they will encounter (thanks to role playing with a trainer).
As further testimony to the fact that Incept supports consistent education of and professional investment into each of its employees, I actually wanted to talk with you and guide you through the LAMA technique. When it comes to blood donor recruitment as a Conversational Marketing Expert (CME), we face every kind of excuse you could think of when it comes to reasons for not donating blood, so we must be delicate in our approach but armed with the knowledge to control the conversation. The LAMA technique was developed by Judy Mckee of Mckee Consulting LLC, and what a brilliant technique it is. LAMA is, quite honestly, one of the most effective conversational tools I have ever used in recruiting blood donors at Incept. The good thing about it is that it can work for virtually any situation and in any conversation you might be having!
Let’s take a look at the four different parts of LAMA and why each of them work together so well.
The LAMA Technique – Why it works and how you can use it
Naturally, I believe in donating blood. I’ve said this countless times and will continue to do so. It’s a genuinely good thing for a human being to do for another human being. That being said, since I believe in what I do for Incept, I take my job very seriously. If you work on the phone either as a telerecruiter, customer service agent, or another type of phone rep, there is usually a standard process as to how one should handle each call. Essentially, with each call, you know you want the donor to sign up, and you know you want to make the close with that customer; it can be compared to guiding a mouse to the cheese at the end of the maze. LAMA is the conversational tool to help you get to the end of that maze.
- Listen. The first step of LAMA is to listen, and we can’t begin to understand a problem or even start to formulate a response to a customer or donor if we do not listen to what they are saying. Do they need a few weeks out to schedule? Do they have transportation to get there? Do they need a weekend or weekday? Based upon when you listen to what is said, you can then begin to truly customize your response to fit that person’s needs.
- Acknowledge. It is always nice when someone lets you know they have heard what you have said, especially when dealing with a complaint or upset customer/donor. Whenever anyone brings a problem up with me while I’m on the phone, I always reiterate what they said and apologize for the inconvenience. Why is this step important, though? When you acknowledge a predicament or issue someone has, you are openly empathizing with them and, in turn, it makes them feel like you are on their side. This works to make them more likely to agree with you and hear you out.
- Make a Statement. So you’ve listened to your customer, and you’ve acknowledged their problem. Here is your chance to make a statement. This step is a great opportunity to throw in any kinds of features and benefits you might have. When you make a statement you are not asking them sign up, schedule or commit to any kind of choice. View it as laying the ground work and education for your customer to make an informed choice on the topic at hand.
- Ask a Question. So this is what it all comes down to. In terms of conversational marketing techniques, this is what really makes LAMA the Trojan horse of techniques! Almost all people being LAMA’ed do not know it! It’s because when you ask a question, you do it in such a fashion that gives your donor/customer options. A common way we do this as Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) is by asking our donors not to donate, but when. “Would you need a weekend or weekday to donate?” will usually draw more responses than simply asking a yes-or-no type of question.
The LAMA technique really is a valuable tool for anyone involved in the contact center industry, so if you have any questions about it, please post them below! For more information about LAMA check out www.thepositivecoachapproach.com!
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In today’s post, Jake Fegan shares some of his insights on coaching Conversational Marketing™ Experts and using the LAMA technique.
Now we want to hear from you. What is your coaching style? How does it help your CMEs grow and build stronger relationships with your customers and your customers’ customers?
Have you ever heard a fellow Conversational Marketing™ Expert reference someone’s blood type or the amount of donations the donor has given in a phone call? If you have I’m sure you wondered where they got that information. The answer is very simple.
When making Blood Donor Recruitment calls, depending on the program you are calling, you are able to personalize that particular call simply by looking at the donor’s profile. It not only will tell you how many times they have given with that specific Blood Bank but it will tell you there blood type, as well as where they have given in the past and how many points they have for that Blood Centers Donor Loyalty program.
Now let me tell you how you can use that in your calls. The first way to use it, is simply to just thank them for the number of donations they have done in the past and equate that to the number of lives they have helped save. For example if the donor has donated with the Blood Center 11 times, that equals 33 lives saved! The more excited you are about them saving lives, the more it will make them feel appreciated and remember why they donate blood in the first place.
Another way you can use the donor profile is by being one step ahead of the donor. If you look at their donation history and see they typically visit a specific location, change your question to “Would a weekday or weekend work better for you to come back to our ‘insert location name here’?” (This works best if they donate at a fixed site). If they donate at a mobile, get in the habit of checking your drive list to see if we have any thing scheduled to come up at that location.
Now with blood types, if you recall O- being the universal donor, it doesn’t hurt when you have an O- donor on the phone to let them know this. You can do so by saying something along the lines of “I see you’re O-, that means anyone needing a blood transfusion can receive your blood, let’s go ahead and get you scheduled so you can continue to help us save local lives”, and then follow with a trial close. Or if they are one of the other blood types, it doesn’t hurt to throw in the facts of what percentage of the population has their specific blood type and how they can help save the lives of local patients. (O+ = 38%, O- = 7%, A+ = 34%, A- = 6%, B+ = 9%, B- = 2%, AB+ =3%, and AB- = 1%).
Now looking at the Donor Loyalty Programs and the accumulated points there are a few ways you can use this. The best way to use this is to simply let them know how many points they have, how many they will be getting on their next visit (point out things for example like 100pt kept appointment bonus) and then let them know about where they can go to redeem their points. A lot of donors may not be aware that they are even members of these programs, let alone what they can do with their points. So remind them. Take that extra second and really make them your customer.
The best thing you can do in your calls, is to take the time to really be appreciative of blood donors, as well as being efficient and remaining one step ahead of them to deliver the ultimate customer experience.
