How are your callers trained?

Advantage Consulting feels it is imperative that callers are educated first. They need to be well versed on the case for support and the fundamentals of "friend-raising." Our Calling Team will be fully educated and trained on your case for support, letter series, and script for six hours prior to ever making a telephone call. The education and training will include a tour of your institution and a visit by you, if we are implementing an off-site calling program.

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What are the benefits of using Advantage?

Just ask our clients!

		Over 35 years of combined fund-raising experience
		Firm specializing in the nonprofit market
		On-site caller training and education
		Daily reports that you design so you understand them
		Ability to receive your data in any format
		Benefit of experience with similar organizations
		Quality printing and mailing services
		Turn-key solution for management of annual and capital campaign programs
		Segmentation by giving history and interest groups
		Prospect cards which will include the tools callers will need for quality calling
		Unconditional re-print guarantee
		Personalized letters with merge fields including specific ask amounts
		Choice of hundreds of fonts
		Consultation on, and design of case and all mailing materials
		Recruitment of all callers
		Development of all mailing materials
		Comprehensive evaluation reports

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Does Advantage recommend the use of a pre-call letter?

We recognize that every program is unique, and we will meet with your team to decide what will work best with your constituents. Advantage commonly recommends sending out a pre-call mailing which will allow your organization to delineate its capital or annual fund case. We feel it is important for the letter to have a specific ask amount and inform the prospect that a phone call is coming. The letter serves several purposes:

		Inform the prospect that a call will follow up the letter
		Lend credibility to the phone call
		Educate the prospect on the case for support and legitimize the ask
		Contain a specific ask amount allowing the prospect to make a decision about giving
		The letter signer is the solicitor, rather than the caller. The caller is merely calling as a follow-up to the letter

We believe personalization is the key to a successful program. To that end, Advantage will make recommendations during the design of your program for the development of different letters for different interest groups. Advantage Consulting will design the letters for your organization based on the case for support, our experience and a telephone interview with your letter signer(s).

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How do we get started?

Advantage Consulting will meet with your team to decide the strategy for solicitation of your constituents. The purpose of the meeting will be to review and make recommendations for the following key areas of your program:

		Volunteer letter signer selection
		Case design for the letter
		Development of a timeline
		Assignment of ask amounts
		Review of collection procedures
		Length of calling
		Supervision of program
		Calling space design (if on-site)

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Does Advantage handle all areas of the program?

Absolutely! Below are some of the ancillary areas for which Advantage takes responsibility. Our full service phone programs allow your development officers to focus on other areas of the Development Plan.

Program Timeline – Delivered in a calendar format to ensure that all items are clearly delineated ensuring the program is kept on a timely schedule.

Segmentation of Prospects – Advantage will make recommendations for segmentation of the list, with the goal of maximizing results. We want to make certain your constituents are being solicited by the appropriate volunteer letter signer.

Assigning Ask Amounts – We analyze giving trends of your constituents over the last five years. We will also develop demographic profiles of your donors to assist us in providing you with recommendations for individual ask amounts.

Development of Letters – In addition to mailing all letters, Advantage will draft all letters for your program by conducting a telephone interview with each letter signer. The letters are written by Advantage writers, who are dedicated to drafting effective fund-raising letters. Our writers will also be responsible for drafting all follow-up letters and scripts. All documents produced by our writers will be sent for final approval to the appropriate director at your organization.

Fulfillment/Collection – If you would like Advantage to manage the fulfillment process, or pieces of the process, i.e., you would like Advantage to make reminder calls to select prospects, we will coordinate these activities with the appropriate director at your organization.

Timed Mailings and Telephone Contacts – All pre-call letter mailings are sent out in a staggered schedule. This allows us to make changes to any letter where “fine-tuning” of the program is necessary.

Management and Hiring of Team – The Advantage calling team assigned to your program will be comprised of mostly veteran callers, with years of experience. All our callers are managed by full-time, salaried managers. Unlike other firms, we do not use part-time supervisors to manage our callers. Our managers are responsible for ensuring the callers are continually trained, through the use of our high tech caller monitor and results systems. Additionally, you can monitor calls off-site though the use of a toll-free number. Advantage is the only firm that allows clients not only listen to calls, but video-monitor their callers though the web. Our web-based video conferencing is also available for periodic updates and on-going training with your staff.

Calling Facilities - Because Advantage is the only firm with calling facilities on both the West and the East coast, we can make certain your prospects are called within the appropriate time zones.