Give at the Office
I get a lot of requests for charitable donations. Don't we all. But the phone calls pretty much stopped. Years ago, I requested that my name be removed from the phone lists. Maybe that helped. But just as likely is my stated policy to politely inform every telemarketer that I will never give by phone, no matter how much I want to. You see, I used to give every charity caller $20, no matter what. Word spread that I was an easy mark (didn't have to spread far seeing as all the calls came from the same telemarketing firm - I discovered this when the receipts arrived). "Call Reptile - he's always good for an easy $20". It was like feeding a cute little seagull only to be swarmed by the whole freaking flock a moment later.
What I now do is collect all the envelopes that come in and at the end of the year, allocate my charity budget to those causes I wish to support. A bit like media planning. Which brings me to my suggestion du jour...
All year long, media planners should be meeting with reps whose products they really don't know much about. This can be done at a specific time of the week -- say two appointments every Thursday morning. That's one hour a week set aside to learn something new. Ninety or so rep calls per year. After each meeting the planner can decide whether the kit goes into the maybe file or the garbage. When it comes time to plan a campaign, a quick review of all the keepers might result in a few interesting add-ons to the tried and true plan from last year. The one with all the usual suspects that is.
But here is the kicker -- to get back the 45-hour investment in meetings, the planner must have the rep must pledge to not call for a whole year (aside from any requested follow-up from the meeting or returning a call). That's right - no closing date reminders. No updates. No special issues. Nada. (Well maybe an email or two). Break the rule and your kit goes in the garbage. After one year, assuming the average rep calls ten times a year, the planner will have reduced his phone calls and voicemails by 900. Sounds like a fair trade.
What I now do is collect all the envelopes that come in and at the end of the year, allocate my charity budget to those causes I wish to support. A bit like media planning. Which brings me to my suggestion du jour...
All year long, media planners should be meeting with reps whose products they really don't know much about. This can be done at a specific time of the week -- say two appointments every Thursday morning. That's one hour a week set aside to learn something new. Ninety or so rep calls per year. After each meeting the planner can decide whether the kit goes into the maybe file or the garbage. When it comes time to plan a campaign, a quick review of all the keepers might result in a few interesting add-ons to the tried and true plan from last year. The one with all the usual suspects that is.
But here is the kicker -- to get back the 45-hour investment in meetings, the planner must have the rep must pledge to not call for a whole year (aside from any requested follow-up from the meeting or returning a call). That's right - no closing date reminders. No updates. No special issues. Nada. (Well maybe an email or two). Break the rule and your kit goes in the garbage. After one year, assuming the average rep calls ten times a year, the planner will have reduced his phone calls and voicemails by 900. Sounds like a fair trade.
posted by Reptile at 9:53 PM
2 Comments:
Damn! Reptile, You give away a new and more efficient way for us to do business AND your sex. I guess I always thought of yours as a womans voice....so I say nice falseclue. I ain't buyin it lady!
Nice to see people reading the early works.
First of all, I don't give away sex. Not mine. No nobody's. I suspect you were referring to my gender. Yes I used the male gender in this entry. But elsewhere I show feminine. Lately I've embraced the cumbersome he/she thing. Whatever.
Now what makes you think that this is the work of a lone reptile? Contributions can come from anybody, subject to my editing of course (doesn't every rep secretly want to be an editor?). All you have to do is post a comment that I then edit, cut and paste into a new blog. Even you can do it. Got something to say? I see you like to be anonymous yourself so you are halfway there. Go for it.
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