Some fundraising professionals, and their managers, pursue a numbers philosophy, focusing on making a certain number of contacts & proposals per month. They believe that, if they hear “no” from one person, they can just move on to the next. This approach runs the risk of an impersonal, callous approach to relationship building. I tend to think that, if I decided this person was worth my time in the first place, she might be worth investing a more thoughtful effort at learning what might be on her mind, what might be in her heart.
We aren’t in the prospecting business; we’re in the relationships business.