Sample Phone Script for Candidate Calling Donors
Before making any calls, be sure to send a pic to your donors (one donor at a time) to give them a visual first impression and the opportunity to know what you’re talking about before you call. The below is a simple screen capture (with some minor cropping) of the home page of the campaign website of Unity Party 2020 Presidential Nominee Bill Hammons.
Voicemail script to be used if future donor doesn’t answer: “Hi Jane, this is Bill Hammons, Unity Party of America nominee for President of the United States [John thought it would be a good idea for me to give you a call]. I’ll try you again later, but if you’d like to give me a call back my number is 3038196141. You can also visit my website billisrunning.com. Thanks and have a great day!
Candidate: Hi, is this Jane?
Jane Jones: Yess…
Candidate: Jane, this is Bill Hammons with the Unity Party. 1) I heard you’re a fellow Uniter OR 2) John Johnson gave me your number and might have told you that I’d be giving you a call about my campaign. How are you today [this morning] [this evening]?
Jane Jones: Campaign for what?
Candidate: Well, I am running for President of the United States. I support things like Term Limits for both Congress and the Supreme Court.
Jane Jones: I guess you’re asking for money.
Candidate: I’d like to ask for your vote, but, yes, I do need the support of you and others to make an impact in 2020. It just so happens that myself and some fellow Uniters are going to be climbing Colorado’s Pikes Peak on Labor Day. It’s a 14,000-foot climb. How many pennies per foot would you like to donate today?
Jane Jones: What do you plan to spend my money on?
Candidate: Yard signs. Lots and lots of yard signs.
Jane Jones: K. I’ll support you.
Candidate: Terrific! Let me text you a link to our PayPal donation page [Copy & Paste https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=XB86EFXD3MMQQ into the body of a text message and send]. Click on this link and you’ll see that it takes you to the United National Committee PayPal donation page (that’s the Unity Party of America, and they can not only donate to my campaign but also fund general party activities). I can walk you through the process. You should know that you can also set up monthly recurring donations.
Jane Jones: Done.
Candidate: Terrific! While I still have you on the phone Jane, who else do you know wouldn’t mind getting a call from a candidate for President of the United States?
Jane Jones: You can call my daughter Jennifer.
Candidate: Great! What’s Jennifer’s #?
Jane Jones: 303-888-8888
Candidate: Got it. I’ll be sure to give her a call. And who’s the next person you know?
Jane Jones: That’s all I know.
Candidate: Got it. Jane, let me send you a text right now that you can forward to Jennifer to give her a heads-up that I’ll be calling [Copy & Paste this 160 character message (which should transmit as one unbroken message on most phones in 2020) and sub out the first name of the person you’re speaking to for the 0’s, maybe changing “please” to “pls” etc. if their first name is more than 10 characters in length: “0000000000, please let those you mentioned know Presidential Candidate Bill Hammons will be calling them to ask for their support. His # is 3038196141. Thanks!“] Did you get the message?
Jane Jones: Got it.
Candidate: Good to hear! Please be sure to send that right now, because I’ll be calling her soon and I’d like her to know what I am calling about. And Jane, could I get your mailing address to send you a thank you card? [Two reasons to ask for a mailing address: 1. It’s the considerate thing to do to promptly mail a thank you card and 2. FEC reports ask for the mailing addresses of any donors who donate more than $50 an election cycle, including in aggregate.]
Jane Jones: 123 Broom Street Unit 987, Broomfield, Colorado 54321
Candidate: Thank you. Jane, please be sure to let everyone know that I’ll be giving them a call soon, thanks again for your support, and enjoy your day!
