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Title: FUT Guidelines Developed by Susan Sigler

Original CoS Document (slug): fut-guidelines-developed-by-susan-sigler

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Attached File: Susan_Sigler's_FUT_Guidelines_Feb_2019.docx

Created: 2019-02-15 09:10:50

Updated: 2020-02-15 19:00:00

Published: 2019-02-14 23:13:32

Converted: 2025-04-14T19:33:33.644098862

Follow-Up Tool Guidelines/Responsibilities:

Make a great first impression! Our FUT team members are usually the first personal connection our new supporters and potential volunteers receive from the Convention of States. For that reason, we must do the following: Provide a warm welcome. Be enthusiastic. Be professional. Be friendly. Be empathetic. Don't grandstand. Don't argue. Don't interrupt - Let them talk. Our motto in everything is to always be kind!
Try to make a personal connection with our new supporters. Make sure they know that we appreciate them.
Very important . . . Our donors receive the stats on how efficiently we are responding to our New Followups and In Progress work in the Followup Tool. We cannot survive without our donors. The more efficiently we handle our new supporters, the more likely our donors will continue to contribute to the COS cause.
Remember that following up from the FUT is not “cold calling”. The people in our database have already signed the petition, shown some interest, or attended one of our meetings, fairs, etc. Most people want to listen to you once they realize who you are. About one in 25-30 people will hang up on you. Just make a note of it and go on to your next supporter. Every now and then someone will ask you not to call again. In this case, just go to their profile, click on edit, and then click on the “do not call” button.
Keep in mind that some people who sign our petition may have very limited knowledge of our organization and mission. Some people will not know the basics of our Constitution. They may have signed the petition because they heard that we will rein in our corrupt federal government, but really don't understand how we plan to do it. Please be patient with them and help them learn one step at a time. You can create an email letter with links to our most popular videos and webinars to help pique their interest and get them started, especially if they are not computer literate and struggle using the internet.
The first contact the new petition signer will receive is an automated email reply from national. The second and/or third contact will be from the FUT volunteer member either by phone, email, text or all three. You will send your welcoming template email which includes your signature/phone #/email. We want them to at least hear our voices once even if it's just a voice message. Remember, we are to call both volunteers and non-volunteers if they provide a phone #. Research has shown that it usually takes about seven to eleven contacts in multiple formats before someone is sold on a product or idea, so don't get discouraged if they show no interest in getting involved at the beginning. More than likely, they will hear more about us again on the radio, TV, and social media.

Respond as soon as possible with at least a phone call and email within the first three days if possible. Phone calls are much more effective than sending emails because most people delete the majority of them.
Correct all typos in the name and address by clicking on profile and then clicking on “edit” for name/phone # corrections and address for address corrections. Do this prior to sending your letter so that the salutation on your letter is correct and the petition is sent to the correct legislator. If the street address is not entered, the petition will never be delivered to their state senator and house representative.
Corrections continued . . . First, try using the Address Lookup and District Lookup to complete and correct addresses. You will also need to bookmark a list of “address” search engines like U.S. Zip Codes, Yellow Pages and Nuwber in case the CitizenBuilder tools do not have the information needed. By making these corrections as you go, this will eventually result in a clean database at the beginning of the following year, the time when most states need to print a list of petition signatures to be hand-delivered to each legislator. We want our petition lists to look very professional with complete information and not errors.
Focus on working the volunteers first by filtering them first. If they don't answer, then leave a detailed message asking them to return your call. Then follow up with a text and an email in a day or two. People are more likely to respond promptly to a text message. However, some people are still not using cell phones so you still need to call and email. Remember, about 85% or more of our emails are not opened, bounce back, or go to Spam. That's why it is so important to make phone calls. Make at least two phone calls for those who select the volunteer button. Every volunteer should receive an email, two calls, and a text before they are completed.
If they are Non-Volunteers, then send them a welcoming email and send them to In Progress if they have a phone #. Then complete them after the first call. Usually, you don't need to leave non-volunteers in progress unless you are still trying to get a correct address. If they don't have a phone #, you can go ahead and complete them. If there is a huge influx of New Followups that need to be handled right away, you or the District Captain can find the addresses at a later date. However, don't wait very long to find the address because we want the legislator to receive the petition as soon as possible and we want to be able to print corrected petition lists when needed.
In Progress means you haven't connected with that person by phone yet or you have not finished with your phone, email, and texting contacts. If you have attempted to reach volunteers about four times and they haven't responded in 7 days or so, then go ahead and complete them. The ball is now in their court! Exceptions: If . . . you or the supporter is sick, it's during the holidays, y'all are playing phone tag, etc., then they can stay In Progress for a few weeks.
Remember, we can always finish “unfinished” business with them in either the Archive section of your FUT or on the District Dashboad by doing a sort for volunteers. The District Dashboard and Archives are the permanent holding places.
When you are sick or going on vacation, let one of your leaders know so that they can find someone else to handle your work while you're gone.
When you put someone In Progress, that person is assigned to you. The goal is to get them out of progress as soon as possible. In Progress is only a temporary holding place. When you have completed your contact with them click on the complete button.
The goal in the FUT is to get the emails sent immediately and the phone calls, texts, the next day or so. Be sure not to call someone five minutes or a few hours after they sign up. In my opinion, an instant phone follow up directly after signing the petition may come across as super-aggressive. We don't want to scare them away, but we do want to respond in a timely fashion. If we wait over a week to respond, they may lose interest in volunteering. Note: You can set the time to your time zone by changing it under “Your Profile”.
Leave thorough notes in CitizenBuilder after each contact or phone call so that other volunteers who follow up on the same person will know their history with COS.
Do not put new petition signers who do not have phone #s in progress. Just send them a letter and hit the complete button unless you have time to look the phone #s up right away. Sometimes you may get hundreds of new ones during one 24-hour period. More than likely you will not have time to look up the phone #s or addresses and national does not require this while working the FUT. If you are a DC working your DC, you may look up their phone #. Sometimes you will not be able to find phone #s right away. District Captains can always go back another day through our District Dashboard when they are working their district.
Encourage volunteers to reach out to their district captain, regional captain, grassroots coordinator, or state director.
If someone has opted out of receiving regular COS email updates, the system will automatically default to the “opt out” email. They will only receive this one email. If they provided a phone #, then you are still expected to give them a welcome/thank you call.

Educate yourself so you can educate the new supporters that you will be contacting. Gradually learn everything you can about COS and Article V by studying our information on the Resource section of our home page www.conventionofstates.com and taking courses offered at COS University https://cosuniversity.com. We have a plethora of information so please take your time and don't get overwhelmed. Have fun with it!
- Read over the job descriptions of all volunteer positions on the Take Action page of our website so that you will be familiar enough to direct new people to a position that may match their skill set and interests. Set a goal to skim over one job description per day.
- Ask the new volunteers some basic questions: Do they like calling people? Or would they rather work in the background? How many hours a week can they invest?
- Stay plugged in!!! - Take the initiative to find out what you need. Read our emails and keep up on Slack to find out the latest news. Join as many webinars as you can especially the Tuesday Night National District Captain and Volunteer Call https:%%//%%conventionofstates.com/tuesday-training
In time, you will find an FUT work flow that works best for you!