Managing numerous successful recruitment campaigns has shown certain factors must be taken into account to achieve the highest level of success. Meet and exceed your blood donor recruitment goals by following these steps:

1. STOP LIMITING POTENTIAL FOR SUCCESS. Calling only active donors eliminates a large pool of donors. Seeking to reactivate lapsed donors is critical to execute the most successful campaign.

2. STRATEGICALLY PLAN YOUR CAMPAIGN. Different methods are required to attract new donors than to reactivate lapsed donors. Plan on reaching out to lapsed donors at least twice a year.

3. CLEANSE YOUR DATABASE. Dialing out-of-date telephone numbers is the surest path to a failed recruitment campaign. Considering that 40 million Americans relocate each year, and many do not register forwarding addresses, databases may have as much as 50% inaccurate information.

4. TEST, TEST and TEST. Implementing call programs using untested scripts is a recipe for disaster. Use one or two of your best telerecruiters to develop an appeal you know donors will respond to positively rather than something you hope will work.

5. BE SURE RECRUITERS UNDERSTAND BLOOD DONATION. You must be sure your telerecruiters are knowledgeable and prepared to educate potential donors as needed. Use role playing in training and daily recruiter coaching to improve performance.

6. UNDERSTAND YOUR AUDIENCE. Gather information that gives you insight into your donors' tendencies. You must know why prospects are saying no to develop an appeal that generates positive response.

7. ANALYZE DATA TO ENHANCE PRODUCTIVITY. Segmenting data to identify trends will aid to increase success of future campaigns. Analyzing historic donor show data may help you identify a particular fixed or mobile site that has more success than others in reactivating lapsed donors.

8. MAKE IT CONVENIENT. Donor

s give blood not only out of altruism, but because it is convenient. If it takes effort for a donor to travel to a fixed site, that is a reason to say no. It is vital to fully utilize your scheduling tool by letting recruiters schedule for both fixed and mobile sites.

9. UTILIZE INCENTIVES WISELY. While an occasional tee shirt or other minimal incentive may increase your donation level, do not count on it to be the key to your campaign's success.

10. UNDERSTAND YOUR COSTS. Establish an accurate cost-per-draw by reviewing demographic information about your donors; such as amount of time between donations, who responded to which appeal and at which site the donation was made. You may find that outsourcing all or part of your telerecruiting decreases costs while allowing you to meet your goals.

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