The International Charity

THE CLIENT 

As one of the world’s largest humanitarian aid charities, their work encompasses disaster relief, long-term sustainability projects in some of the world’s poorest communities and advocacy work. A child focused charity; this client relies on donations from its supporters, with a large portion of funding coming via their unique child sponsorship programme. They also offer the chance to buy from an ‘alternative gift’ catalogue, where supporters can give a gift to a needy community on behalf of someone else. 

THE PROBLEM

 The needs of this client are many and varied. First and foremost, an empathy with the charity’s work is essential, and the ability to communicate that empathy with the supporters. Secondly, in order to engage the widest demographic possible in the charity’s work, they have a wide selection of ‘products’, or ways to donate. Agents must be fully conversant with the development work the charity does and understand which product would be the best fit for a supporter in order to better ensure longevity in the supporter-charity relationship. This client also has the need for fast recruitment to the team at times of international disaster. As a member of the D.E.C. they are one of the first points of contact for donations at these times. 

THE SOLUTION

 RSVP is the perfect fit for this client and the unique needs of the various enquiries we handle for them in three key areas..

1: A supporter will call to place an order from the ‘Must Have Gifts’ catalogue, where, for example, a supporter can buy a goat or a well for a needy community. As with all calls for this client, the supporter is thanked for their donation and the focus is on a positive experience on the call. The supporter can send (should they want to) a card to the person whom they are buying the gift on behalf of. It is RSVP’s job to ensure that the card is personalised correctly, focusing on accuracy of spelling and minute detail of composition – right down to how many ‘kisses’ should go at the bottom! Our CRM connects the agent to the client’s external webpage to place the order and then the outcome is recorded on out CRM for reporting purposes. 

2: A supporter may be calling to sponsor a child or merely to enquire about what the experience of being a child sponsor entails. The RSVP agent must be able to talk about the development work that this charity does in relation to the child sponsorship programme and how the donor’s support will have a direct effect. They must also be able to communicate the benefits of the very personal experience that it is to be a being a sponsor, ensuring that the donor is aware that this is a long term commitment. The agent is guided by the information on the CRM, although the majority of the dialogue is organic and rooted in the agent’s knowledge of the charity’s work and products. This is where the RSVP agent comes in to his or her own. With over 75% of our agents having completed education to degree level, and 100% of them being actors and experts in communication, they can relate the unique experience of child sponsorship with warmth and ease.

 3: We’re going to say something now that you probably won’t hear a call centre say very often: We don’t get many calls on this line at the moment and we’re please that we don’t! The reason for this is that it is the emergency donations line and activity is largely driven by an international disaster. If such an unfortunate event does occur, the volume on this line can increase dramatically and suddenly and fast training and recruitment is needed. RSVP is in the fortunate position of having a waiting list of high-calibre, potential employees. These can be trained with speed and efficiency thanks to tried and tested training programmes. We can also send overflow on this line to existing members of staff to ensure service levels. 

The key for this client is empathy and an intelligent understanding of the charity’s work. Accuracy of data capture is ensured by careful questioning and active listening, supported by a CRM that provides the client with daily reports and downloads to complete the process.