Here's an idea: Have everyone in your organization take donor calls. Everyone. That's what Paul English, founder of Gethuman.com and also of Kayak.com, a travel-booking website says at kayak.com customer service:
At Kayak, I require that every employee talk or email with one or more customers every day. . . . [It is] the best thing we have ever done. . . . Many brilliant engineers are empathetic problem solvers but they are also sometimes lazy and don't like to do anything more than once, including answering the same question over and over. When their software does something stupid, and they are thus required to answer the same customer question about it many times . . . those engineers then actually take the time to fix the problem. This keeps us honest. It keeps us focused.
Want to know what really bugs donors? What they don't understand? What they want? What they like about you?
Talk to them. Not in bogus focus groups, but in real life.
(Thanks to A Day in the Life of a Persuasion Architect for the tip.)
Technorati Tags: fundraising, customer service
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