Pivoting:
The Secret to Successfully Handling Difficult Donor Conversations
Every gift officer faces tough cultivation situations. Perhaps the charity makes a misstep or faces a scandal. Maybe the prospect feels strongly negative about a key aspect of the institution. Sometimes there is simply an emotional issue the donor can't get past. All of these can bring a promising gift trajectory to a screaming halt. The successful officer has learned how to handle these tricky situations with grace (if not ease!) by pivoting and reframing the situation for the prospect. This session explores some of these tough situations, breaking down the secrets of effective pivoting into several easy-to-remember rules that can apply in most situations. We will also engage in two tough situation role-plays, allowing officers to explore using his or her newly learned skills in real-life situations so officers will be prepared the next time a prospect’s objections threatens to derail cultivation toward a major or annual gift.
Learning Objectives:
How to pivot the conversation to take it in a different direction
The five basic strategies of pivoting
Ways to keep moving a prospect conversation toward a gift, when it's about to be derailed and come to a screeching halt