Political
Political Phone Rooms
Look for a Political Call Center that has been providing Voter Contact Services for winning Republican or Democrat nationall, state, and local campaigns and issues for a number of years.
Here are the services most political phone rooms can provide:
Voter ID
A call to a potential voter to determine how they will vote for
a candidate or issue. The response is generally segmented into
three categories: FOR, AGAINST, UNDECIDED. A Blind Voter ID is
where no background or pitch is provided on the candidate so as
to not bias the voter's response. Usually done in the early stages
of a campaign. This can be a quick way to find out how the candidate's
voting base breaks out. It also provides targets for the campaign
to focus on such as the UNDECIDEDs and the soft FORs for the persuasive
program.
Voter Persuasive Calls
A call to a potential voter (often in conjunction with a persuasive
mailing) hitting key issues and/or the opponent's weaknesses.
Voter ID calls and Persuasive calls can be combined to save money
if it is tight. Persuasion calls generally have 2 or 3 points
emphasizing the candidate's strengths in issues that are at the
top of the voter's concerns.
GOTV
Get Out The Vote is a call made immediately before an election
to mobilize the voter and get them to the polls. A GOTV script
is very short and will generally try to get the voter to commit
to vote if they are FOR or UNDECIDED for the candidate. GOTV and
Persuasive calls can also be combined to save money.
Patch Through - Outbound
A "Patch Through Outbound call," is where an operator
calls a voter that agrees/disagrees with a particular issue, and
then patches the voter through to the appropriate representative.
Patch throughs can be used on local, state, or national levels.
Patch Through - Inbound
A "Patch Through Inbound call" is where some advertising
has motivated a voter to call an 800 number to agree/disagree
with a particular issue. When the operator answers the call, the
voter's name and address are captured for future use, and then
the voter is patched-through to the appropriate representative
to express his or her opinion.
HOW TO USE VOTER CONTACT SERVICES FOR YOUR CAMPAIGN
"All you ever wanted to know about phone banks"
Types of Voter Contact Services by Phone
Voter ID
A call to a potential voter to determine how a voter will vote
for a candidate or issue. The response is generally segmented
into three categories: FOR, AGAINST, UNDECIDED. A Blind Voter
ID is where no background or pitch is provided on the candidate
so as to not bias the voter's response. Usually done in the early
stages of a campaign. This can be a quick way to find out how
the candidate's voting base breaks out. It also provides targets
for the campaign to focus on such as the UNDECIDEDs and the soft
FORs for the persuasive program.
Voter Persuasive Calls
A call to a potential voter (often in conjunction with a persuasive
mailing) hitting key issues and/or the opponent's weaknesses.
Voter ID calls and Persuasive calls can be combined to save money
if it is tight.
Negative Calls
A particular form of Voter Persuasive Calls. Most Voter Persuasive
Calls are positive - Rule of thumb - If you choose to use Negative
Calls, they generally should not exceed 25% when compared to positive
calls. In a tight race, negative phoning may be the single most
important and cost effective communications tool a campaign can
employ.
GOTV
Get Out The Vote is a call made immediately before an election
to mobilize the voter to get to the polls. A GOTV script is very
short and will generally try to get the voter to commit to vote
if they are FOR the candidate.
Patch Through - Outbound
A "Patch Through Outbound call," is where an operator
calls a voter that agrees/disagrees with a particular issue, and
then patches the voter through to the appropriate representative.
Patch throughs can be used on local, state, or national levels.
Patch Through - Inbound
A "Patch Through Inbound call" is where some advertising
has motivated a voter to call an 800 number to agree/disagree
with a particular issue. When the operator answers the call, the
voter's name and address are captured for future use, and then
the voter is patched-through to the appropriate representative
to express his or her opinion.
The Process
· Obtain a voter list.
· Provide specifications for a bid from Phone Bank vendor.
· Select vendor.
· Provide list to vendor.
· Provide script to vendor.
· Provide background information on candidate to vendor.
· Provide deadlines and arrange scheduling of calling with
vendor.
· Arrange down-payment or full payment.
· Get initial status report after first 1000 dials.
· Make appropriate adjustments if required.
· Perform Remote Monitoring and give appropriate feedback.
· Receive daily and cumulative-to-date reports.
· Receive final cumulative report.
· Receive voter response file to append to your voter list
· Finalize payment.
Dialing Technology
Predictive Dialing
Predictive Dialing is almost a requirement for a phone bank to
have these days. Predictive dialers use a complex dialing algorithm
along with simultaneous dials to predict when the next caller
will be available in the least amount of time. These systems will
also recognize busy, disconnected, and wrong numbers. Predictive
dialers require at least a ratio of 1.5 lines and often 2 lines
per operator. Expect to see 35 - 45 contacts per hour for a 60
second script. Top of the line Predictive Dialers cost $4-6000
per station, but these are becoming outdated (like mainframes)
and the new predictive dialers run on the PC and you can buy some
very good dialers for around $2,000 - $3,000 per station.
Power Dialing
Power dialing is generally having a modem in a computer and having
the phone number on a computer. The operator hits the right commands
and the phone number is dialed automatically utilizing one phone
line per operator. Power dialing is slower than predictive but
an improvement over manual dialing. It is considered an inexpensive
option for in-house volunteer voter contact work. Expect to have
between 15 - 25 contacts per hour for a 60 second script.
Manual Dialing
Expect to see between 10-20 contacts per hour for a 60 second
script. You may see more, but you must have a very motivated group
of operators. Manual dialing is the most taxing on the operators
and supervisors spend their time keeping callers on task, rather
than supervising the quality of their calls.
Contacts
Definition
It is important to have a clear understanding of what the phone
bank considers to be a contact. Some phone banks will consider
a contact to be talking to any person at the listed phone number,
even if that person hung up part way through the call, while you
might expect it to be a contact only if the appropriate person
completes all questions and listens to the entire script. Clarify
this point beforehand.
Definition of a contact:
A billable contact is where:
1. A completed presentation of the script is made,
2. Where the contact is identified and refuses to hear the presentation,
or
3. Where an answering machine message is left.
Wrong numbers, disconnects, etc. are not billed unless more than 20% of the list are bad numbers.
Production per hour
With a predictive dialer, about the most productivity one can
appropriately expect from an operator is to talk to voters 40-45
minutes each hour. The rest of the time is spent waiting for the
next call. Therefore, if the script is roughly 1 minute, you should
expect 35 - 45 contacts per hour.
Capacity
Ask the vendor how many stations they have. If you know that they
are making 40 contacts per hour and they have 32 stations and
they are working 5pm to 9pm (4 hours) - the maximum contacts for
the day should be 5,120 (40 contacts/hr X 32 stations X 4 hours).
Scripting
Tips on Developing a Script
· Be Brief and Direct
· Prioritize your campaign issues
· Target your message to the individual or at least to
segments if possible
· Repeat your candidate's name, but don't go overboard
· Throw in at least two issues significant to the voters
· Move for a commitment
· Try a second effort
Negative Phoning
It has been promoted as to soon take its place beside negative
television, radio, and direct mail as a necessary tool in the
manager and consultant's arsenal. It can be dangerous and backfire,
but if done correctly, negative phoning can sway votes in a crucial
election.
Negative Phoning Guidelines: