Don't be a direct mail cowboy! You have resources around you, use them!
Posted on Tue, Dec 07, 2010
By Jenny Allen, Principal and Senior Vice President
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I am definitely the smartest person I know! I don’t need analysts, copywriters, online experts or even my client’s opinion. I am a direct mail cowboy who has all the answers and other people opinions are just background noise.
Now that I have admitted that I have very strong opinions about pretty much every aspect of my job as a direct marketer, it is also time to admit that when I am unsure about a particular decision it throws me into a tailspin of indecision.
Unfortunately what indecision does to people who are usually pretty sure of what they want is it makes them stall, hoping that the light will go on and a brilliant decision will come to them without the help of colleagues. We all know what stalling does: it kills mail dates.
For example, recently I was reviewing art with a weak teaser and I was struggling with the best way to make it stronger. Ok, so I know that seems like a small problem, but it was the year-end appeal and there are huge revenue goals tied to the effort, so I guess this cow
boy got a little spooked and thought maybe, just maybe, I don’t know everything and maybe, just maybe, I should ask someone around me for their advice. I mean, even cowboys have to work together sometimes, right? So I went to one of my colleagues … ok, so I went to Jim Hussey, the President of the AH&A Hacienda, … and in about 5 minutes we had an answer to my dilemma.
So here’s another scenario: Your client or your boss asks you to run some analysis on specific segments of your sustainer program. That’s easy enough, right? So as usual, I spent a day trying to run the analysis and figure out the problem on my own and I was stumped. One day down and no results. So what happened next is I asked for help, from an actual analyst, and amazingly we were able to meet and figure out what the client needed.
So what I am saying is:
1. Trust your instincts even it is means asking for help.
2. The best fundraising strategy happens as a team effort.
3. Realize that asking for help only makes you smarter.
4. NO ONE CAN BE AN EXPERT ON EVERYTHING!
5. I really am very smart even when I need help!
The moral of my long story is this: admitting you don’t have all the answers is one of the ways to actually make sure you really are the smartest person in the room.
