Advising a Telemarketer…

Maybe I am on a mentoring kick now, I don’t know, but I got a call from the Johns Hopkins Annual Fund the other night asking for a donation.

I’m at the point now where I routinely tell people, “I don’t make commitments over the phone, put something in the mail” (and I’m particularly irate at Jewish charities that buy lists and telephone spam me-yes, I get the irony of that word).

So, I was on my guard when I got the call from JHU.

Now, the thing is, I worked at the Annual Fund for 3 years in college and, frankly, I learned as much (or more) about sales and marketing doing that as anything I did in college.

When the guy started, I could tell he was a rookie. (It’s the beginning of the school year and the newbies are tossed on the phone to make calls, while upperclassmen become supervisors.)

I had a pretty successful career there, so I stopped the guy mid-track.

“Ok, I’ll donate, so let’s get that out of the way. I can tell you have energy, which is good, but what I think you need is the confidence to deviate from the script. It’s about relationships, listening to people, connecting with them.”

He relaxed.

We had a great chat. He felt inspired.

“You know, the other night, I was told by my boss to ‘stick to the script.’”

“You tell them, ‘judge me on the results, not on the process,’ and just be yourself. I can tell you will be fine.”

Then, we just talked for a while. Turns out we’re both History majors.

He said that after he tells people he goes to Hopkins and ‘no, I am not going to be a doctor,’ he is often asked ‘what are you going to do with History?”

“You’re going to be able to piece together disparate segments of information and create a meaningful narrative that explains the larger context so others can understand it.”

He was profuse in his thanks.

I wonder if there is a point in your life when you start saying, “hey, it’s my turn to ‘pay it forward’ in the way that others have helped me?’