Goons For Obama: 02/23/08

Dear Obama Supporters,

Phone banking has been one of the most rewarding experiences that I've ever participated in. I maxed out my donations to Obama, so I made the plunge to do some phone banking two weeks ago. It was a daunting experience for me; I'd never done anything like it in my life. I'd heard that most people are kind of nervous for their first 5 calls or so, but it took me about 35 calls to become comfortable. That first weekend, I made 175 phone calls. Here's how the first 100 turned out:

• Left 32 messages
• Had 1 rude reply
• had 20 failed calls
• Spoke to 4 Republicans who weren't interested
• Had 9 others not interested
• Had 11 calls not answered
• And had 23 others, mostly undecides who i educated about Obama.

Texas:
• Spoke to a woman with bad English, but she seemed to support Obama.
• Spoke to an old lady about how Obama plans to enact change. This was one of my first calls and I was nervous as can be. I got too flustered and didn't direct her to the issues section of the Obama site. (Note: I redeem myself and more below)

Wyoming:
• Spoke to a nice old woman, independent. She says she watches the news righ before & decides who to vote for. I provided her with some good information, but she may be too senile to remember. Perhaps it'll stick in her subconscious.
• After speaking to a registered republican, she says she's going to switch to Democrat and support Obama in the March 8th caucus. I set her up with county clerk info and caucus info.

Ohio:
• Spoke with an Obama supporter, they declined to receive more info.
• Talked to an undecided and directed him to the issues section of the Obama website. I spoke to him about the college tax credit and Obama's Middle East policy. He said he'll probably vote for Obama in the general election, at the very least.
• Spoke to a high school junior-high teacher who says he likes to inform his students about Obama. I directed him to the issues section at the Obama website (which he was unaware of).
• Spoke to an undecided who hung up on me, oops!

Wyoming Again:
• Spoke to a family of supporters, directed them to the website - especially the issues section.
• Spoke to a literal lunatic - but apparently I did a good job and she said she'll try hard to convince her entire family to vote Obama.
• An Obama supporter called me back, and I gave her some good Obama Info.
• Spoke to a republican funny guy - I gave him lots of info and totally redeemed myself on the change question. He said he'll probably support Obama in the general, and we both agreed with McCain lost his touch 8 years ago.

As you can see, it's a lot of failure sprinkled with some great successes. Also notice that I even ask Obama supporters if they have any questions on his policies. Educated supporters are much better than blind supporters - they propagate his message! The way I see it, every 100 phone calls will net an average of 4 new Obama supporters. Think about this: If John Edward's supporters each garnered 4 new Edwards supporters, he would have won every single primary in a landslide and this would be a no-contest democrat primary. This is the power of phone banking. It is daunting work, though - but let me share a few tips with you that will make it a lot easier:

• IGNORE THE NEGATIVE CALLS - FIGHT FOR THE UNDECIDED! This is very important. You need to reinforce this thought before you start and constantly throughout your phone banking experience. Remember, you will be hung up on a lot, and lots of people won't want to hear about Obama. However, we're only doing this to convince the undecided voters and the occasional Clinton supporter!
• Don't follow the script exactly - not even my script. You have to refine the script to fit your style. Write your script down, and come up with a good message script.
Example: If you are a male and the phone banking system at barackobama.com gives you a female name, but a male answers the phone... don't say "Is _female_ there?". This will bring up jealousy issues - introduce yourself and then ask for the female, or just talk to the guy about Obama!
• Always, always, always have the issues section of barackobama.com open in front of you. You want to direct as many people as possible to there as well! If somebody gives you an opportunity, answer any questions they have about Obama's policies by picking an issue from the site that matches the person you're speaking with. (Note: have a few favorites picked out in advance and ask if you can share them with them).

For plenty more tips and my tried and tested phone banking script: www.obamapledge.com/phone.htm

Finally, I'd like to speak to the issue of complacency. Clinton supporters became complacent when she was the frontrunner. Please understand that our most difficult tests to date are soon approaching in Texas and Ohio. We need Obama to win Texas and Ohio to emerge as the early and strongly supported candidate for the general election.

So, please visit www.obamapledge.com and take the pledge to generate 4 new Obama supporters by phone banking, canvassing, donating, or educating friends and family.

If you have any questions, please visit www.obamapledge.com and submit a question to me!

Goons For Obama

Saturday, February 23, 2008

A message from "oxygen728" about phonebanking.

:obama:

Obama documentary in the works

The NAFTA issue

A song and dance post

Useful Links

Blog Archive

Contributors