Fundraising v Selling – 2 sides of the same coin?

Howard Lake | 2 October 2008 | Blogs

When I came in to this sector just over three months ago in a salaried capacity, working for Premier Contact, rather than as an ad hoc volunteer, I guess I had some preconceived ideas about what it was all about.
Since then every day has been a learning curve for me. Often a steep one at that!
I have encountered so many really genuine, dedicated people in those few months – probably more than in the past 10 years in the commercial sector!
In the commercial sector I had been involved in most areas of senior management for 30+ years – but for most of that time in sales.
So it came as a bit of surprise to me to find out just how similar fundraising is to selling.
Our Group MD, Cathy Sullivan, sent me a book to read just after I started with the company.
She thought it may come in useful.
The book is Building Donor Loyalty by Adrian Sargeant and Elaine Jay.
And yes, it is very useful.
Now, at first I thought this was another US centric publication, but it crosses the Atlantic and covers case studies both here in the UK and in the USA.
The key thing for me was that within a few pages they were talking about it being ten times more expensive to recruit a new donor than to retain an existing one.
Hang on, I thought to myself! This sounds rather familiar to me.
Well!! All the sales technique books (and there are many of them) that I have read over the years have said that it is ten times more expensive to recruit a new customer than to retain an existing one.
So, what is the difference?
I guess in simple terms, if I sell you a toaster, you give me money and I give you a toaster.
If I looked after you well and the experience was good for you then you may well come back to me when you want a new electric kettle (sorry, used these examples as I have just had to go shopping for a toaster and a kettle!).
If I am a charity and I recruit you as a donor you give me money and I give you a warm feeling inside.
Sorry, I did tell you I was being simplistic here.
If I looked after you well and the experience was good for you (recognise that bit?) then you may well continue to make donations to my charity.
Now, taking this a step further, and this I believe is where it sometimes goes wrong, I (the charity) do need to continue giving you that warm feeling in order to retain your donation long term.
I need to engage with you, I need to keep you up to date with what is going on, I need you to feel valued and to feel that your contribution has a value to the charity.
In the sales cycle this is often referred to as account management. Indeed looking after the customer and ensuring they stay with you long term.
So how do you keep donors feeling ‘warm’ inside about you?
Perhaps you’d like to make some suggestions and I’ll cover them in my next blog?

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.