MAKE the time to donate blood!
At Incept, “I’m too busy to give blood” is probably the most common reason us Conversational Marketing Experts (CMEs) hear when we’re recruiting donors.
We’re all busy! We have to work, take one kid to a soccer game and another to band practice, fix meals, clean, go to church, pay bills, watch the latest episode of American Idol and, at some point, get a good night’s sleep. Nobody really has the time to donate blood. The trick is to make the time. We all have to decide the best ways to use our time and energy, and donating blood should be on that list of priorities.
You can donate whole blood every 8 weeks (56 days) and red cells every 16 weeks (112 days). It only takes an hour to go through the process of donating whole blood, including refreshments at the end. That’s 1 hour every 8 weeks; 1 hour out of 1,344! How do we prioritize? How do we set aside time to do what’s important? Could you order pizza one night and pick it up on your way home after you give blood? Could the grass in the yard stay long for just one more day? Could you miss one episode of American Idol to save three lives?
If you’re a multitasker like me and it drives you nuts to just sit there while you’re donating, there are many one-handed things that you can do:
- Plan what to make for dinner.
- Send a text to that friend you keep meaning to have coffee with.
- Read a magazine. Bring your own or you’ll get stuck with whatever the hospital has, which will most likely to be a Reader’s Digest from 5 years ago!
- Read a newspaper.
- Read a book. Not the Twilight series, though! Save that for when you’re not leaking blood!
- If there’s a TV in the donor coach or hospital, you can watch something distracting, like whatever is on Comedy Central.
- Sudoku!
- Listen to that new album you downloaded onto your iPod.
- Update your to-do list. You can scratch off “donate blood!”
- Outline your next blog entry! That’s what I did yesterday while I was donating platelets at Aultman Hospital. Platelets take a little longer than whole blood, sometimes up to two hours. You can also donate platelets more often than whole blood or red cells!
I was watching "The Daily Show" and mentally outlining this blog entry while I was donating platelets!
Donating blood, like anything else that’s important, requires a commitment. You have to make it a priority or it will never get done. I know that for me, personally, unless someone else reminds me why something is important – whether it’s giving blood, cleaning my apartment or sending my mom a birthday card – I forget to do it. That’s what Conversational Marketing Experts do at Incept: we remind a blood donor that it’s time to donate again and facilitate the setup of an appointment. It’s easy to forget if you don’t get that phone call!
What could you give up once every 8 weeks in order to donate blood?
{ 2 comments }
