Motivating People to Act
Whether you’re looking to raise money, recruit members, or volunteers, or sell shoes – if you’re looking to get people to act, you have to give them a reason.
It always comes back to why. I don’t care that donating money to your organization will help you meet your year-end goal. Your latest financial statement doesn’t affect me in the slightest. I care that the mission of your organization gets met. Your fancy chart is nice, but it’s secondary to the real why. I care that a child has a better life.
I give to the Jimmy Fund because I don’t want to kids to die from cancer not because of a financial statement. We need more more success stories like Jordan’s – and you need to be able to tell your story this same way.
Remember, it always comes down to why. I give my money to the Boy Scouts because I want kids to be prepared for life – to be better husbands, and fathers.
Your internal goals also aren’t a motivating factor. I don’t care that you need six more kids to fill out your youth basketball league or Cub Scout den. I care that my kid is going to have fun, be safe, and hopefully learn something.
The Key
That’s the key to being successful in working with people. You have to figure out their why. It’s not a terrific code to figure out.
People act for many reasons. They want things. People want comfort, security, achievement, advancement, self-worth, among others. They want to feel important. They want to make the world a better place. The idea that what they matter, and what they’re doing matters. If you’re going to be successful in getting people to do what you want them to do, you need to find some way to tie into their whys.
If you want to be good at motivating people, you need to connect with them on a personal level. You need to get to know them. Listen to them. Ask questions. Find out why they’re doing what they’re doing. Find out what you have in common. The reason they’re interested in your organization is probably a really similar to your reason.
Make it Personal
If you’re looking to grow your group, raise money, or just raise awareness of your cause, you need to be able to tell your story. Whether it be by public speaking, email correspondence, on an elevator, on your website or on social media, you have to be able to tell the stories. People love stories. Jesus Christ taught with stories. People can relate to stories. So you need to have them in your pocket.
You need to have more than one, and you need to be able to tell them really, really well. It’s vital that you be able to tell it with pictures, videos, and personal accounts. You need stories that draw people in, and get them to the ends of their seats. You need the details. It really, really helps to be a good speaker, and to be able to get a laugh out of your crowd. People act when you can get them to think, feel, and laugh.
The point of this blog going forward will be in giving you the knowledge and tools you need to tell your story really, really well.
By the way, those are my kids in the picture at the top of the page. They’re my ultimate why.