Experience as a Grove City Fundraiser

When I was a freshman in my first semester of college, I decided to get a job as a “Crimson Caller”, where I had the job of calling alumni in an attempt to raise money for the school. I learned a lot of valuable lessons from this experience, even though I only kept this job for around two months. I worked twice a week for two to four hours each shift, including a shift solely dedicated to training. The experience was much simpler than I would expect cold calling to be in a real sales setting, nevertheless it was good experience to get more acclimated with the process.

The calls I was doing could be seen as cold calling, even though I was calling only alumni from the college, so they had a connection to me already without having a conversation prior. I was trained to start casual conversation, which came easily since most conversation revolved around the college, things that have changed since they had attended, greek life, or many other topics pertaining the college. I rarely had a caller who was irritated or rude to me, which is another difference that I would expect in pure cold calling in sales.

I learned that building rapport and trust in the conversation made asking for a donation much easier and felt more natural than going straight for the ask. I also learned that even though cold calling is uncomfortable, it is very effective and ends in success a lot of times. It is a lot easier and less uncomfortable than most people would expect, and I am very grateful to have had experience in this way!