SuddesGroup

The Last Investor

Posted by: Tom Suddes May 15, 2008

This is a metaphor that might just be the break through you need to make a Quantum Leap!!
WHAT IF… you were down to your very LAST INVESTOR (aka “Donor”)
WHAT IF… the fate and future of your organization and CAUSE were entirely up to one LAST INVESTOR?

Think about it:
IF… you convince them of your vision… communicate your impact and mission… involve them in your leadership process…
THEN… they will MAXIMIZE their INVESTMENT… and, bring along OTHERS to COMMIT and INVEST.

HOWEVER… if they don’t ‘GET IT’…. They’re gone. History.
If you can’t communicate your MESSAGE in a clear, concise and compelling fashion, then they will be polite, but still gone.

The proverbial bottom line is simple: If you present to THE LAST INVESTOR…and THEY DON’T INVEST… you are ‘OUT OF BUSINESS’.

Challenge: How can you use this metaphor of THE LAST INVESTOR to change the way you approach your best PROSPECTS?

Storytelling & The Power of Story

Posted by: Tom Suddes May 8, 2008

I just returned from Ireland, where we did our first FOR IMPACT TRAINING. Wonderful, incredible people. A country and economy that is growing, booming. And, For Impact Organizations that have powerful ‘Causes’ and ‘Cases’! Reflecting on the plane ride back, I realized that I didn’t make a big enough deal of THE POWER OF STORY. As in all of our trainings, the attendees were slightly overwhelmed with the Presentation Tools, the Buckets/Circles, Altitude, Flow, etc. (”Overwhelmed” in a good way, though.) I stood at the front (during breaks, at lunch and after the training) with a flipchart and tried to help people with the MESSAGE part. As always, their message was too much, too complicated, too many words.However, when I asked each to simply TELL ME THEIR STORY… the “WORDS” jumped out!

HUGE lesson for all of us:

DESIGN THE STORY! TELL THE STORY! SHARE THE STORY!

3 Big Ideas

1. STORYBOARDING. It’s a Walt Disney animation term… but it works perfectly for us. Actually laying out the ‘STORY’ is a way to Prepare and Practice your Presentation!

• HOW do you begin?
• HOW do you talk about the WHAT, the WHY and the HOW?
• WHO do you talk about? (Their Story)

P.S. The story doesn’t always start with “In 1842, Father Sorin and six brothers came to a snowy lake which was actually two lakes…” (Notre Dame).

2. STORYTELLING!!!! Here I am, in Ireland and the land of incredible “storytellers…" and we’re caught up in Presentation Tools and Buckets and Flow and Framework, etc. STORYTELLING is about AUTHENTICITY. It’s about VISUALIZATION and IMAGINATION. And it’s about PASSION, EMOTION andENTHUSIASM.

3. SHARING THE STORY. Nick and I have been
using this for a long time. It’s so much easier for you and your Board and anyone connected with your For Impact Organization to SHARE THE STORY then PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY …then it is to go and “ask for money”!!! THE POWER OF STORY helps with the Open, Dialogue, Conversation, and much more.Building, telling, sharing your STORY is ALL you need to do. And I mean that pretty literally. For more, including STORYTELLING RESOURCES, See THE YEAR OF STORYTELLING.

You Will Never Have Enough Information

Posted by: Nick Fellers April 30, 2008

Remember a powerful quote that Tom and I love:

“Engage, then plan.” Andy Grove

You will never have enough information before meeting with a prospect.
If you’re waiting until you have enough then your approach would be to,
“Plan, then engage.”

I don’t know that I’m every really sure about the ratings and
rankings on my prospect list (including a prospect’s capacity and
relationship) until AFTER I’ve gone to visit with them.

The implications?

• You can’t determine what you will ask for until you’ve had a real conversation
  with the prospect. Too many times I’ve been told by a board member or
  champion, “You can only ask for $X.” During the visit we learn information
  that would warrant a $10X ask. (So we ask for $10X!)

• It’s okay to not know everything. You can fill in the blanks by asking
  questions.

• Wealth screening, Google, giving history etc. are your knowledge base
  - not strategies. Want a strategy? Go and visit with the prospect. Share
  the story around your impact and present the opportunity to save lives,
  change lives and/or impact lives.

• Don’t to set a bar BEFORE you share your vision, your impact, your
  raison d’etre. Don’t make decisions for your prospect. The reason for
  sharing your story and your vision is to SET A NEW OR VERY HIGH BAR.

Here is a very powerful question - so powerful we call it the ‘DISCOVERY
CLOSE’.

After getting the prospect VERY engaged around your impact and your priorities
you can share you funding plan and ask:

“Prospect, I don’t know about your capacity.
This program will require $40,000 a year for each of the next three years.
Is this something you could do?”

After you build confidence in your approach, you can drop the line about
‘not knowing capacity.’

It’s a powerful question you’ve engaged the prospect. The answer
will provide all the information you need to plan. It’s important
that you listen, process and keep moving forward with the relationship.
Implied: Don’t ‘engage… then stop.’

Casting and Funding a Vision

Posted by: Nick Fellers April 29, 2008

We’ve posted an audio from a recent introductory phone clinic - Casting and Funding a Vision. To participate in a live clinic click here.

To download call notes click here.

MP3 File

Real Strategic Partners

Posted by: Tom Suddes April 23, 2008

Nick did a terrific role play at Training Camp last week using the ‘LCB OPPORTUNITY (CLOSE)’.

That’s when we do LEADERSHIP CONSENSUS BUILDING… right there on the visit!

Nick did a wonderful job of bringing a ‘Community Bank’ in as a TRUE/REAL STRATEGIC PARTNER!

There was a YMCA Executive Director in attendance. It struck me that groups like the YMCA and YWCA (and many other For Impact orgs) can make incredible use of this word STRATEGIC PARTNER .

It’s more than a “BIG GIFT “. It’s about a REAL… STRATEGIC… PARTNERSHIP… with a REAL… STRATEGIC… RETURN!

Think about it. You’re the YMCA. You already have “CORPORATE MEMBERSHIPS”. A company pays to “join” the Y and position it as an “Employee Benefit” .

Take that a huge step forward. (THINK BIG.)

WHAT IF… a corporation became a REAL STRATEGIC PARTNER???

They made a HUGE INVESTMENT… with a HUGE RETURN. The Y provided the BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP… as part of their Strategic Partnership! The Y sent health professionals and trainers to the company!

The corporation as STRATEGIC PARTNER would treat this as an INVESTMENT… IN THE COMMUNITY! IN THEIR EMPLOYEES’ HEALTH! And, in their BOTTOM LINE!!!

This is not just about YMCA’s. It’s about ALL For Impact Organizations that can think differently and think big about the potential of STRATEGIC (COMMMUNITY) PARTNERSHIPS.

To Campaign Or Not To Campaign: That Is The Question

Posted by: Nick Fellers April 17, 2008

Let’s do word association:

What comes to mind when you see this word?

CAMPAIGN

Add your thoughts in the comments section below. Will be interesting to see what people say.

You know we’re really big on vocabulary. Words have meaning. Words are important. This ‘word’ may be the granddaddy of them all. Especially if your definition of campaign involves feasibility studies, committees, a ‘capital campaign launch’, etc.

Think about this: It’s often easier to raise $5M than it is to run a $5M campaign.

Some readers are not allowed to start a campaign without jumping through a number of hoops in their community.

Last week I was with an organization on the east coast. This organization had completed the funding $40M of projects in the last three years. We were gathered to strategize the next project: to be around $10M. This gathering (nine people total) included major, major community philanthropists and long-time high-level supporters.

One of the board members asked if this was going to be a ‘campaign’. What followed could best be described as a ‘freak out session’.

• “We have too many capital campaigns in this city already.”

• “If we’re going to do a campaign we might want to look at the annual campaign model the Y uses.”
• “I don’t want to do a feasibility study.”
• “Campaigns are scary.”

Mind you, we had $40M toward $50M and roundtable full of people with capacity (also strong relationships).

Sometimes we would do better to let go of the baggage associated with campaigns and just execute on a plan to fund projects or fund a vision.

If you haven’t done so, read Tom’s campaign book for many more high-level thoughts to help you with your campaign.

Action and Getting Things to Happen

Posted by: Tom Suddes April 4, 2008

Nick has shared with you some things about an A.F.E. – an ACTION-FORCING EVENT. In my last two COACHING CLINICS it hit me, again, how powerful this really is. Here are 3 quick bullets and a bonus.

1. PREDISPOSITION!!! If you’re on the For Impact Platform, you know that this is a big, big deal for us. PREDISPOSITION comes before you call to get a visit… is used to set up the presentation… is even used as part of the follow-up. PREDISPOSITION is definitely an A.F.E. (especially if you tell someone you’re going to call them in the next 48 hours to set up a time for the visit!)

2. DEADLINES. Disney uses the term “THE TICKET IS PRINTED” to reinforce this concept of a deadline. (They tell all the contractors, designers, etc. that this new ‘EXPERIENCE’ [RIDE] is opening on such and such a date. ‘THE TICKET IS PRINTED.’ There will be little kids and their families standing in line… on that day!)

   Priorities, Projects, Programs need DROP-DEAD DATES/DEADLINES, be they real or artificial. Draw a line in the sand. Put a stake in the ground. Use whatever other cliché you want. Just use DEADLINES as an A.F.E.!

3. MEMORABLE EXPERIENCES. Every single MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE becomes a wonderful A.F.E.! You can tell people you’re going to follow-up. You can announce plans, kickoffs, groundbreakings, etc. Think of your MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE as it relates to ACTION! (A literal ACTION-FORCING EVENT.)

Bonus: BOARD MEETINGS. With all due respect, every “not-for-profit” Board Meeting is a disaster. Boring. Information-driven. No engagement. The only real ‘ACTION’ is approving the minutes from the last meeting.

WHAT IF… you could literally use your Board Meeting as an ACTION-FORCING EVENT? Approve the Funding Plan! Create Leadership Consensus around Priorities! Get buy-in at the highest level on your Message and Vision!

A.A.R.

This is a military term for an AFTER-ACTION REPORT. (It has nothing to do with AARP which is a very quiet but powerful organization for old people like me.)

You’ve heard me or read me when I talk about failure… engage then plan… prototype… act now. Every time you actually DO something, it becomes a wonderful lesson…IF you actually take the time to think about what happened, debrief, and get feedback.

AFTER-ACTION REPORTS in the military are the primary means of debrief and feedback. I would encourage you to do your own A.A.R:

• After Every Visit!
• After Every Memorable Experience, Predisposition, etc.
• After Every ‘Lesson’

Special Note: In our For Impact ROADMAP, the EXECUTION component is comprised of PREDISPOSITION, PRESENTATION and FOLLOW-UP.

It this model, the FOLLOW-UP includes a MEMO FOR THE RECORD… in other words, an AFTER-ACTION REPORT! No exceptions. No excuses. There needs to be a written summary of the visit and the required follow-up/action.

There it is.

ACTION-FORCING EVENT and AFTER-ACTION REPORT

Common word?

ACTION!!!

3 Tips For Board Engagement

Posted by: Tom Suddes April 3, 2008

Here is a SIMPLE way to deal with one of the biggest issues facing FOR IMPACT
(Not-For-Profit) ORGANIZATIONS:

HOW TO DEAL WITH YOUR BOARD.

We have been involved in hundreds of Board Meetings, Board Retreats and Board Planning Sessions. And, we’ve had hundreds and hundreds of our training participants ask for more help with How to Deal with Their Board.

We hope this helps.

We have found the best way to look at your Board is based upon 3 A’s:

ALTITUDE. ATTITUDE. ACTION.

1. ALTITUDE.
   • Where (at what ‘ALTITUDE’) are the majority of your Board Members focused at the moment?*Where should they be focused?*We’ve heard so many horror stories of Board members actually dropping down to 3″! (Yes, inches!) They’re concerned about the brand of cola you’re using in your vending machines!Try sharing this ALTITUDE FRAMEWORK with your Board to facilitate a discussion about their role, responsibility and engagement.For what it’s worth, we believe:
     • Your Board, as a collective whole, should be engaged only at 30,000′ around the Vision and the Message and Goals… all at the highest level.
     • Individual Board Members should be engaged as individuals and part of a smaller group to help at the 14,000′ STRATEGY level. They should be engaged based upon their own particular talents and strengths. (Left brain, financial, ‘numbers’ people should be helping with budgets, etc. Right brained, creative entrepreneurial types should be working on strategic partnerships, new delivery mechanisms, etc.)
     • No one should be involved in the ‘details’ of the EXECUTION.***This does not mean that some of your Board will not actually be engaged in some of the work that you do (around both your IMPACT and your INCOME). They’re doing that as part of the team, not as MICRO-MANAGERS!

Here is a very simple ALTITUDE FRAMEWORK that we use in all of our discussions with Boards. We also incorporate it into our presentation design, in meetings and in our planning process.

30,000′	The WHY	VISION
14,000′	The WHAT	STRATEGY
33′	The HOW	EXECUTION

Think about this as it relates to your Board.

2. ATTITUDE. ‘ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING’… and the Attitude of your Board, as well as your Attitude towards your Board, are, literally, everything!
   • If you feed your Board every detail and reams of minutiae at Board Meetings… then that will be their ‘ATTITUDE’.
   • When you have the incredibly outdated ATTITUDE of “Every Board members need to GIVE or GET…” Or, “My Board is responsible for fundraising. They’re supposed to be getting me money…” Then they believe the only reason you want them engaged is for ‘MONEY’!
   • If your ATTITUDE re: helping with the fundraising is “Give us names,” then, Nick would say, “How’s that working for you?”Special Note: Here are our 3 ROLES for your Board:
     1. CHAMPION… your CAUSE.
     2. INVITE… others to get ENGAGED.
     3. INVEST… with a COMMENSURATE COMMITMENT.
3. ACTION.
   • Get the ‘right people on the bus’ (Board)…
     and wrong people off the bus (Board).
   • Change the way you run your meetings! (Use Altitude Framework.)
   • Visit with each Board Member and go over their 3 roles!!!

Here are 3 ideas for immediate action:

Special Note: Here’s a great list of QUESTIONS to engage your Board at the highest level (vs. handing out multi-page, smallest text possible ‘committee reports’).

I Screwed Up… Again

Posted by: Tom Suddes March 11, 2008

You’d think with well over 6,000 VISITS/PRESENTATIONS I would have figured out the right way to do this. For confidentiality sake, I will “genericize” the organization and prospect, but I know you’ll get my points.

Here’s the scenario:

• Large national organization, with a great Case for Support, Message, etc.
• Huge foundation prospect with previous investments in the organization.
• DISCOVERY and VISIT and PREDISPOSITION to a large request that happened three months ago.
• It’s the right idea and the right project.

What We Did RIGHT:

• Reviewed all previous discovery, call reports and knowledge base.
• Strategized and “prepped” for an hour and a half before the visit.
• Made it to the office on time.
• Agreed that our GOAL was to get $1M a year ON THE TABLE… in the TRAINING BUCKET.

How I SCREWED UP this Visit/Presentation:

• Did not PREDISPOSE to THIS VISIT!!!
• Did not have a clear “one page” SUMMARY of what we were trying to do.
• RAMBLED.

WHAT HAPPENED:

• The prospect did not remember very much from our previous visit.
• Said he was “very confused” about what we were asking them to do.
• And then proceeded to summarize and simplify for us what it was that “we” really wanted:
A leadership commitment from them to help create the model for this training program, which could then be scaled and replicated nationally.

THE RESULT:

• He asked us to put the request in writing… what we doing, how we were doing it, how we would measure it and how we would replicate.
• Became a $1M per year (for 3 years) proposal to create a TRAINING MODEL.

TAKEAWAYS:

There are so many lessons here that it would take me a gigabyte to write. Hope you get the ‘MORAL OF THE STORY’.

I screwed up. I didn’t do what I know needs to be done on every visit. It was not a perfect presentation in any way.

However…

• WE SHOWED UP.
• WE GOT THE DOLLARS ON THE TABLE AND IN THE BUCKET.
• HE HELPED US WITH WHAT HE WANTED IN THE PROPOSAL.
• WE ARE FOLLOWING UP.

JUST VISIT. JUST ASK. JUST FOLLOW UP.

The Only Measurement That Matters Is Money

Posted by: Tom Suddes January 25, 2008

I had a session with a wonderful Sales Team last week. They’re deep into a campaign and doing really well. Then I had a subsequent conversation (as prelude to a two-day Custom Sales Training) with a wonderful, young head of a large development operation that has just completed filling out his Sales Team and ready to begin a strong Sales/Major Gift effort.

In both case, we spent significant time talking about this concept of MEASUREMENT.

Three quick assumptions to help you understand what follows.

1. You are in SALES. Great sales teams and great sales people know the need for MEASUREMENT.
2. Successful achievement of any GOAL requires MEASUREMENT. MEASUREMENT is the means to determine success, accomplishment, and satisfaction.
3. You get what you MEASURE. Cliché, truism, aphorism… don’t know (don’t care). I do know that everybody in the development field and in sales wants and needs to know HOW they are being MEASURED.

Here are some ideas and nuggets that might help you with this whole concept or strategy of MEASUREMENT. It’s a little long. You might want to print it out, read it later or share and discuss with your development staff/sales staff.

I’ve been being ‘measured’ and ‘measuring’ for almost 35 years. Here is the shorthand version of what I’ve learned:

• The only MEASUREMENT that really matters is MONEY (INCOME) raised to FUND THE VISION and SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASE YOUR IMPACT. Many of you want to argue/debate this with me. (You may be bringing a knife to a gun fight.) Yes, it’s about relationships. But, it’s about MAXIMIZING the RELATIONSHIP… AT THIS GIVEN MOMENT.I’m becoming more mellow with age, but the word/concept of “cultivation” still makes me gag. Even things like “stewardship” and “donor relations” don’t work as part of your model or strategy IF there is no GIFT… no INVESTMENT… no MONEY/INCOME!!!(And you can’t deliver on your SOLUTION or BUSINESS MODEL or VISION or IMPACT.)
• ‘PRODUCTIVITY’ vs. ‘ACTIVITY’. The PRODUCTIVITY of your SALES TEAM, MAJOR GIFT OFFICERS, DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS, SENIOR STAFF or EXECUTIVE TEAM is a simple function of :HOW MUCH MONEY WAS RAISED/COMMITTED?
  It is THE MEASURMENT.EVERYTHING else is an ‘ACTIVITY’. Letters. Phone calls. Visits. Presentations. Asks. Proposals. Pending Follow-Ups.
• Begin with the end in mind. Covey at his finest. The application is pretty simple.How much MONEY/INCOME do you need to fund your vision and achieve your impact goals???
  
• MEASURE THE ‘TRIPLE NET’. [The $100,000 GUARANTEE.] I was talking on the phone with Kelly P., a former Suddes Group team member and now a development superstar with a children’s hospital. She reminded me of what I used to tell organizations 20 years ago. I guaranteed them a way to “raise $100,000″. Hire two Major Gift Officers/Development Officers. Pay them $50,000 each. I would train them in 10 minutes and guarantee that they would be able to go out and “raise” $50,000 each over the course of the year.I know this seems kind of silly because the net income is zero. (Actually, it’s a “negative number” since we did not factor in any of the “expenses” by the two development staff.)The point should be pretty obvious.

  The goal of every Development Office should be to write a NET, NET, NET CHECK to the IMPACT side of the organization.

  ***Therefore, you need to MEASURE the entire COST OF FUNDRAISING to really be able to determine your IMPACT.

• DO THE MATH. One of the most important lessons around MEASUREMENT and GOALS, etc. is this concept of doing the MATH.
  • How much MONEY (Income) do you need?
  • What does your FUNDING PYRAMID (aka Gift Chart) look like?
  • How many COMMITMENTS do you need?
  • How many VISITS do you need to make?
  • How many QUALIFIED PROSPECTS need to be in your pool/portfolio?

Special Note: If you want to look at the way we have MEASURED every campaign we have ever managed and the performance of each of our sales team members, check out the ‘GREEN SHEET’.

• Recent Posts

  • The Last Investor
  • Storytelling & The Power of Story
  • You Will Never Have Enough Information
  • Casting and Funding a Vision
  • Real Strategic Partners

• Just Added

  Tom Suddes Video sharing the For Impact Point of View
  
  

• Ideas to help you...

  • Apply other For Impact ideas
  • Build a funding model and funding plan
  • Change the way you think, operate and fund
  • Engage your board and volunteer leaders
  • Raise money (execute on sales process)
  • Set goals and measure progress
  • Simplify and communicate your case
  • Simplify. Simplify. Simplify.
  • Start, run or jumpstart a campaign
  • Think bigger about your impact, vision and funding
  • With personal productivity