If you work for Incept then you already know that compassion is one of our core values. There are many
situations in which compassion is key to having a productive conversation, and I would like to share with you a few ways you can show compassion in your blood donor recruitment calls.
The first thing you must do to have a compassionate call is listen actively. Listening actively means that the blood donor you are talking to has your undivided attention and that you are not thinking about something else – even if it’s what you plan to say next. Not only do you have to listen to the words coming out of their mouth, but you have to pay attention to the tone they are using.
Listening actively will allow you to use empathy. Empathy is the ability to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Think of everything your blood donor just told you, and ask yourself, “What would I want someone to say to me if I were in this same situation?”
Next acknowledge the blood donor or customer by saying, “I’m sorry to hear that!” or “I understand.” This will let them know that you were listening actively, and you would like to help them. Then proceed by giving a statement that will make them feel better. For example, “I’m so to hear that you are ill. I hope feel better soon.” This will leave the donor with a positive impression and encourage them to donate with us in the future.
There are so many ways to show compassion in your calls, and keep in mind that recruiting blood donors is a compassionate act in itself, so thank you for what you do every day!
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Touch-Activated Phlemotomy
Using a microneedle, Seventh Sense Biosystems is developing a blood-draw device that will make getting patient’s blood a lot easier, as it is painless touch-activated phlebotomy (TAP). The device “penetrates the uppermost layers of the skin, along with a proprietary microfluidic extraction mechanism that draws blood in a painless, one-step process and leaves a mosquito bite-sized impression in the skin.”
This device can be used anywhere – at hospitals, in clinics and even at home! With so many blood tests being used now to help with diagnosing patients, along with new tests being discovered, a device like this will be used quite frequently!
What about using a device like this for donating blood? Having a donor’s blood drawn painlessly will make more donors open to donating more and should also bring in new donors who may have a fear of needles or don’t like the pain associated with donating. Nothing has been mentioned yet about using something like this for collecting blood donations, but with the development of TAP there is a good possibility we can expect something similar in the Blood Donor Recruitment field in the near future!
Image Credit: http://www.medcitynews.com/2012/04/painless-blood-draw-device-using-microneedles-could-be-available-in-2013/
The most important part of your job as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) at Incept, and any other conversational marketing firm, is making donors (or customers) feel comfortable.
There are several ways you can do this, and one of the most important things to keep in 
mind is that the voice at the other end of the line is a person too. You want to treat them with respect and dignity, and always acknowledge, and respond accordingly to their concerns. By responding accordingly you will be letting the blood donor know that you are listening, which will oftentimes make the donor feel more comfortable. When the donor feels like you really care, they are more likely to be willing to listen to what you are saying.
Simply using your voice inflection in the right places and taking the time to sympathize or understand the donor’s situation will allow you to really make a donor feel comfortable. When a donor feels comfortable they are also more likely to listen to what you have to offer and what you can actually do for them. By building trust with a donor you build a relationship in the long run.
You always want to take the time to fully listen to what the donor is saying, as well. Really listen to their tone, because it will tell you a lot about the situation. The best thing to do when you can tell a donor is upset about something is to be genuinely caring, and allow yourself to show that through your voice inflection and choice of words.
In the end, a comfortable donor is a happy donor. And a happy donor is someone that a blood center like Incept can count on. So simply by making a donor comfortable, you will be building a relationship not just between you and the donor, but also between the donor and the blood center, as well as the blood center and the community. And all of this strengthens the relationship with Incept.
What tips do you have to make a blood donor feel comfortable when you are speaking with them?
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Have you ever walked past the 100% board and asked yourself ”How can I get my name on there?” I have just the answer you are looking for…
It’s time to talk results. There are many ways to improve your results, and I would like to share with you the top 3 ways to improve your results immediately:
- Rebuttaling – “Rebuttaling is not just a part of the job, rebuttaling IS the job.” I’m sure all of you have heard Dave Walter say this before, but the truth is he is right. If everyone just came in to donate blood on their own, well then, you wouldn’t have a job. I realize that many of you don’t rebuttal because it can be uncomfortable, but the truth is, most times the donor just needs to be educated. The donor may not understand how it helps the blood center by scheduling an appointment. The donor also may not be aware that it is common for their iron level to be low, and that there are certain foods that they can eat to help raise their iron level. It is your job to educate them. Using a friendly and positive tone to educate the donor on why we need their donation and how it helps their community will make an uncomfortable situation exactly the opposite. So the next time you don’t want to rebuttal for whatever reason, do yourself a favor and try. If you don’t try, then your results surely will not improve.
- Sounding Confident - It is very important to sound confident in your calls. If you don’t sound like you know what you are talking about why would anyone else believe that you do? Be prepared for your calls and ready to answer as soon as the donor says “Hello!” Speak loudly and clearly so the donor is able to identify who you are representing and who you are trying to reach. Believe in the cause – remember that you are asking someone to make a life-saving donation. Most importantly, be proud of what you do each day to help save lives.
- Focusing on your calls - Focusing on your calls ensures that you are giving your donor the time and attention that they deserve. Making call after call, day after day, can become tedious, but it is important to remember that you are asking for a donation. Donating is something that is done from the goodness of the heart to help others, and it not something that has to be done. Therefore, being respectful of the donor’s time is very important when ensuring good customer service. Also, making sure to focus on the donor on the phone, instead of the person sitting beside you or the magazine in front of you, is a very easy way to improve results.
Now you have the tips and tricks you need; make every call count, and you will surely improve your results!
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Lately I’ve been interested in studying different phobias that people have.
Does the thought of a chicken give you cold sweats or a nauseated feeling in the pit of your stomach? You might be suffering from alektorophobia.
You might have already heard that the fear of public speaking, or glossophobia, is one of the most prevalent fears, not just in America, but across the world. After numerous international studies conducted over what scares people most, the fear of public speaking usually comes out on top, even more so than the fear of death! But why? As a genuine people person, why is it so hard to break the idea that speaking to a person or even multiple unknown people is a terrifying ordeal?
As a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) for Incept, I literally talk with hundreds of people a month that I do not personally know. If you work in any type of telecommunications field or customer service industry then you already know the importance and positive effects that being conversational in your calls can bring. However, if you are someone that struggles finding the right thing to say, can’t quite clear that conversational hurdle in your head, or are just plain scared silly of public speaking or speaking to new people, then you are reading the right blog.
Easy Ways to be Conversational With People
When it comes to the wide world of telecommunications being conversational in your calls won’t just make you or your company look professional, but people will also enjoy being spoken to in a more personal manner as well. Here are a few things I do personally in my work on the phones at Incept as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME) that give me the ability to be conversational with people to a very effective degree.
- Ask “How are you?” before going into anything.
Before I even consider talking to a donor about donating I make sure to always ask them how they are doing. It’s a very simple practice, indeed. By asking someone “How are you?” you immediately get a feel for the tone of who you are speaking with, as well as an idea of what is going on with that person. This simple step benefits you in two ways. It makes the donor or customer feel at ease about talking with you and begins the process of building immediate rapport with them.
- Don’t be afraid to talk about what is going on in your donor’s life.
There are many times when I hear a donor’s dog barking. I often take this opportunity to ask, “What kind of dog do you have?” in an effort to simply be conversational. If I’m talking with a younger donor that is in college, and they let me know they busy due to their hectic college schedule, I’ll find myself asking, “What is your major?” When you have the ability to pick apart what you are hearing while in conversation, things have a tendency to naturally start flowing. People love talking about themselves and the details of their lives, and when you enable someone to do that the conversation tends to build itself with little to no effort.
- Identify with your donor, and show empathy.
Part of being human is the fact that we all long to connect with like-minded individuals. When someone feels like you are on their side, they are going to give you the time to talk and will – more than likely – listen to what you have to say. If they are telling you something that’s going on, do not be afraid to actually be a real person to them and verbalize that you understand what they are going through (to a point). If you can identify a trend in these pointers, more than anything, it is simply just being real.
Being conversational with your donors isn’t about trying to get them to “drop their guard.” It is about making your conversations with them genuine. Doing so will allow the conversations you are having become more of a dialog between you and your donors, rather than someone reading a script at them. This is a very small insight on how to strengthen the relationship through meaningful conversations.
What are other ways you make conversation while building positive rapport with your donors?
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People are usually surprised when I ask them to tell me about their favorite scar.
It’s the first thing I ask when starting a new training class, right after I introduce myself. I simply ask the training class introduce 
themselves by inquiring, “Why don’t you tell us your name, what city you live in and…your favorite scar.”
I don’t like to make people feel uncomfortable, because I want to create a safe environment for learning, so I try to give them a way out, in case they do not feel comfortable disclosing. To accomplish this, I tell everyone to feel free to make up a scar story if they’d like. This, of course, only increases the looks of confusion, and inevitably someone will try to clarify, “We can make it up?” they ask. Of course! The point of asking is not to gain information on current or past health issues, but to break the ice, to get the class talking and hopefully laughing and help them to forget that they are in a room full of strangers in a strange place to be trained on something they have never done before.
Participation is the goal of every teacher no matter what the subject may be. Scar stories provide a catalyst to begin the bonding of the group or class. As the trainer it is always a joy to see a group of strangers who laugh out loud at a funny story, or show surprise because a similar thing happened to them.
The group begins to form and the barriers to learning begin to fall. All this is possible from a simple question asked at the right time. When people are expecting one of the standard, getting-to-know-you questions, like a favorite food or band, asking someone about their favorite scar piques the interest. It’s unexpected, and like a good movie that surprises you at the beginning, it both intrigues and increases participation. I have heard about childhood scars, scars from carrying a child, scars from horrible accidents, and scars from birth marks, but every once in a while a trainee will share a very unique scar story. Some are graphic, some are lovely, some are horrific, some are silly, some are emotional, and some are shocking.
I have also found other ways to break the ice in my training classes. One way is to have the class write three interesting things about themselves, one of which is false. The class then has to guess which “fact” is indeed false based on first impressions. Another ice-breaker I may begin using is a conversation exercise, because conversation is big at Incept! Each person is given a sheet of paper with a series of instructions to follow. This is a good mixing game and conversation starter, as each person must speak to everyone else. For example: count the number of brown-eyed folks, find the person with the most unusual hobby, find the person with the most pets, what’s the weirdest thing someone has eaten, etc.
As an Incept Training Supervisor, I really enjoy every training class that I teach, and I find it fun to kick off with ice breakers!
At Incept we consider a conversation to be productive when the end result is a stronger relationship. There are many ways to strengthen a relationship with your donor. Below are just a few examples of things you can do in your calls to ensure that your conversation is productive.
One of the easiest ways to do this is by genuinely asking how the donor is doing. This lets the donor know that you care about them as a person, and listening to their tone lets you know how the rest of your call is going to go. The donor may respond with “good” but sound rushed with children screaming in the background. You can strengthen the relationship by asking if now is a good time to talk or if it would be better if we called back at another time. If the donor really is surrounded by chaos, they will appreciate your consideration and respond positively to the next call, during which they will be able to schedule an appointment without distractions. This has also saved you time because you were able to move on to the next call instead of continuing on with the call with many interruptions.
Another way to strengthen the relationship with the donor is by thanking them for their support even when they are not eligible to donate. There are numerous reasons that a donor can be deferred from donating blood, so we want to make sure to acknowledge all of their past support and make them feel good about the lives they were able to save in the past. This will create a positive impression that will stay with them until they are able to donate again. You can even use their donation history as a reference to how many times they donated in the past, and convert that number into the number of lives they have helped save.
Lastly, you can strengthen the relationship with the donor by asking, ” Is there anything else I can help you with today?” after you schedule the donor’s appointment. The donor may need you to give them directions to the center or simply repeat a phone number for them. This is a very simple question to ask, and it lets the donor know that you are here to help them, not just schedule the appointment and get them off the phone as fast as you can.
Now that you have the knowledge you need to strengthen the relationship with your donors, ask yourself at the end of each call, “Was that a productive conversation?”
Image Credit: http://www.inkonit.com/blog/3-ways-to-strengthen-your-relationship-with-customers/
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?
situations in which compassion is key to having a productive conversation, and I would like to share with you a few ways you can show compassion in your blood donor recruitment calls.
