Originally posted on CompleteCampaigns.com and written by Brian Williams
“Show me you love me”
Candidate Johnson, of the insurgent Johnson for Congress 2012, is amongst friends. The high-dollar donor dinner just ended and he’s now making the rounds to all those in attendance.
You, as his body man for the evening, have the unenviable responsibility of making sure the candidate is fully briefed on everyone in the room, often times whispering in his ear the proper intel if you think he might get tripped up on the name of a spouse or new-born addition to an especially important donors family.
This being your first time in this role (you’re already missing the late evenings at HQ prepping the next day’s canvas), you’re a bit nervous about getting the facts straight. But lucky for you, you have your tablet computer in hand loaded with the candidate’s upcoming schedule and logged into the campaign’s Aristotle 360 database. You pull up the day’s finally tally on the 360 dashboard chart while you overhear the candidate talking with an unfamiliar donor:
“Future congressman Johnson! It’s so good to finally meet you… I’ve been in touch with your finance director for sometime, but I’m glad we could finally cross paths. I’m Jeffrey Stanton of Stanton, Baker and Hardt.”
“Ahh yes, Jeff… so glad you could join us tonight! And I know you’re doing great things for the campaign, so I can’t thank you enough”
You immediately start plugging away on the tablet, using the Aristotle 360 Quick Search to pull up Mr. Stanton’s record with as little as the first three letters of his first and last name. Within a second, you have the campaign’s full profile on Mr. Stanton at your finger tips, including his wife’s name (Peggy), his daughter’s birth-date (a summer baby) and his fundraising activity.
You swipe the screen over to his fundraising summary and notice that Mr. Stanton has bundled over $20,000 for the campaign over the last month. Yes… he’s been very supportive. He’s even been enabled for his own fundraising page, which is tied directly into the campaign database, so that new credit contributions through his form is immediately processed, de-duped, and saved for streamlined reporting. But surprisingly, the summary lists his “Potential Remaining Contribution Value” at $1000… Mr. Stanton hasn’t yet maxed out to the campaign….
Catching a brief moment where Mr. Stanton is distracted by an incoming mobile phone call, you whisper this information with the candidate ear. And with that, you’re back behind the scenes.
“So Jeff… your past contributions and support in finding us new donors is really putting us over the hump. But can we get you to max out your contributions this month so we can beat the expectations for this fundraising quarter? It’ll really make the difference.”
“Ah, of course. Even with the $18,000 I’ve brought in through my contacts, your fundraising guy won’t let me off the hook for my extra $1500. I’ll get a check to your team today.”
“Jeff, I can’t thank you enough. And actually, I just got a report that you’re up to $20,000 now. Looks like you got us a few more online contributions while on your way over here. Be sure to connect with any of the team while here.”
