Of course you have arranged your visit to a prospective donor or sponsor in a way that makes it welcome. Now, inside the door, there are a few rules you would be wise to follow if you want your organization, through you, to leave a lasting favourable impression.

1. Indicate how long you plan on spending with your prospect.

When you sit down with your prospect, indicate that you plan on spending no more than twenty minutes with them. That will avoid the prospect constantly looking at their watch. And stick to your timetable. Of course, if you are getting along famously and the prospect wants to carry on longer, so much the better.

2. Determine your conversational level as quickly as possible.

Regardless of the merits of the organization or event for which you are seeking money, it is you and you alone who are carrying the message when you are across the room from the potential donor. You may be talking to the person who actually makes the decision, or someone lower down who is paid to examine all requests and make a recommendation. In either case, the quicker you establish a personal rapport with that person, the better. Hopefully you will have done some homework in advance, and know that the person you are going to meet, or some member of his family, is a member of some organization or event in which you personally have an interest.

Is your prospect a member of your religious organization? Do they live in your neighbourhood? Have they recently received a promotion? Do you have friends in common … and so on? You probably won’t have the answers to all those questions when you sit down, so look around the office. One person I visited had her office walls covered with a particular artist’s paintings. Another person’s family name resembled my wife’s and we found a common ancestor. The faster you can create a personal interest bond, the better. But don’t take too long to do so, or your twenty minutes will soon be up!

3. Hand out written material when you have finished talking.

Don’t hand out your brochures or print material until you have finished talking, or you will risk carrying on a conversation with the top of your prospect’s head. Also, save your prospect from writing notes by mentioning at the beginning that you will be leaving printed material for them to examine after you have left. Have at least three copies of such material available, particularly if your brochure or presentation is in colour. If your prospect has to make copies of your material, they will in all probability be in black and white, and will lose some of their effectiveness.

Sit opposite your prospect so that you can look straight into their face. If you have someone with you, ensure that they are seated beside you so that they too can be seen eye-to-eye. This may seem trivial, but if your prospect has to keep turning their head to go from one of your people to the other, the conversation will soon lose focus.

4. Don’t schedule your appointments too close together.

Even though you plan on spending no more than twenty minutes with your prospect, you may find that you are spending half a day. Your prospect is in a meeting and keeps you waiting twenty minutes, or you are getting along well, and the meeting runs on for an hour because your prospect feels like talking.

Know in advance how long it is going to take you to go to your next meeting. There’s no point in just giving yourself half an hour to get to the next meeting when it’s going to take you fifteen minutes to actually reach your car from where you are and another fifteen minute to park your car and actually arrive at the next office on your list. Parking and going through the corridors and up the elevators in high rise buildings can absorb more time than actually traveling from one point to the next. After all, you don’t want to be looking at your watch because you are in a hurry to get to your next appointment.

And, finally, radiate passion for your cause.

Bruce Raymond has been active as a volunteer leader in the charitable sector, most recently serving as president and then chairman of the Variety Children’s Charity. This article is based on material from his forthcoming book, “Seven Golden How-To Rules for Volunteers, or How to get the most out of doing for nothing what you wouldn’t do for money”. For more information, call (416) 485-3406, or fax (416) 487-3820.