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Do:
1)
Find out the name and title of the decision-maker (use the
Internet) before you call.
2)
Greet the gatekeeper.
3)
Introduce yourself.
4)
State the name of the person for whom you are calling.
5)
When asked,
state the organization you represent, if any.
6)
Do your best to give complete information.
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Don’t:
1)
Don’t tick off the gatekeeper; gatekeepers will not respond
to begging, threatening, or obscenities.
2)
Don’t get into a detailed discussion of the issue with the gatekeeper.
3)
Don’t get defensive or evasive.
4) Don't
misrepresent or exaggerate anything. You will damage your personal
credibility, as well as that of other animal advocates. |
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Script 1: Decision maker is not available
You:
Hello, this is Jay
Gordon,
may I speak to Catherine Sullivan please?
GK:
She is not in (busy, at a meeting etc.)
You:
Ok – what’s a good time to call?
GK:
Would you like me to
take a message -- would you like to go to her voicemail?
You:
No thanks, I’ll be in-and-out all day. I’ll just call back when it’s a better time. What’s a good
time to call?
GK:
Try Tuesday after 3:30
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Script 2: Decision maker is available
You:
Hello, this is Jay
Gordon;
may I speak to Catherine Sullivan please?
GK:
What is this about?
You:
I have some information
about an issue that is coming up in the
legislature (at a hearing, committee meeting etc. …) and I would like to
have a brief
appointment with her to go over it.
GK:
What is the issue?
You:
It's about the proposal to allow bow hunting in the county park (or
similar).
[At this point you will either get through
to the decision maker, get your
appointment, or you will get an objection -- see
Objection Handlers below]
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Objection Handlers |
| Objection |
Handler |
| Can you just mail something? |
I could -- but it would be a
two-foot stack of
paper-- when I meet with Ms. Sullivan for about 15 minutes I
can cut right to the chase and leave the documentation
that's of greatest interest to her.
Could we just schedule a 15-minute appointment with Ms.
Sullivan? |
| She already has all the information on that
issue |
The information that I have is new,
well-researched and documented. It is significantly different from most of
the information that's available from the various
agencies.
I'm sure Ms. Sullivan would be interested in all the
information -so she can consider the views
of all of her constituents.
Could we just schedule a 15-minute appointment with Ms.
Sullivan? |
| She only has time to meet with constituents |
Our organization, xxxx,
has several members that are constituents in Ms. Sullivan's district. I
would be happy to invite some of them to come to the meeting
with me.
Could we just schedule a 15-minute appointment with Ms.
Sullivan? |
|
We need a written (faxed or emailed) request for a
meeting |
That's fine-- [if a form is required -- please fax me the form to
----] I'll be happy to (fax email, mail) the request in today. I'll call you in a couple of days to confirm the
appointment. |
That issue is analyzed by Leo Ockert, the
committee chair (or whatever), who reports his findings to Ms.
Sullivan -- why don't you meet with Leo?
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We would love to have Leo
join us at the meeting.
Could we just schedule a 15-minute appointment with Ms.
Sullivan? |
Bottom line:
End each objection handler with "Could we just schedule
a 15-minute appointment with Ms. Sullivan?" |
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