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Great, sometime around 7 or 7:30 pm I’ll give you a call and find out who you’ve had a chance to talk to. Again, I really appreciate the opportunity to share with you what’s on my heart and to hear all that God’s done through your life. Thanks so much. I look forward to getting in touch again and keeping you informed of all that God is doing through Reliant and my ministry at <location>

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Objectives: Getting Connected to Others

Section
  • Communicate to potential partners the vision for the need to get connected to others
  • Ask boldy for connections to new people who would be interested in hearing about the ministry

REMEMBER:

  • Asking for referrals is one of the most important aspects of MTD
  • It's also one of the hardest aspects of MTD
  • This is one of the main pieces that determine how quickly we finish our responsibilities in developing a Reliant ministry team


Info
titleRATIO OF THREE

Consider this example:

My support goal with Reliant is $5,000 per month.

If I average $50 per month per ministry partner, I will need to have 100 partners, so...

I will need to secure 300 appointments. (Average is 1 partner per 3 appointments.)

In order for me to secure these appointments, I need to connect with 900 people. (Average is 1 appointment per 3 connections.)

This means in order to bring 100 ministry partners onto the team, I’ll need at least 900 people to contact in my database.

And for me to talk with that many people, I will have to make about 2,700 connection attempts. (Average is 1 connection per 3 connection attempts.)

As you can see, asking for referrals will be imperative to getting fully funded!

Asking to be Connected to Others

Cast Vision

Help those you meet with understand the importance of being connected to others.

  1. Communicate the need

    Following the Financial Ask, you will have to re-envision the need for help. Talk about how many people you will need to talk to and how you don’t know that many people.

"I will likely need to meet with literally hundreds of people..."


  1. Let them know they can help

    Make sure to communicate that they can be a big help in solving this problem and meeting your needs here.

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titlePro Tip

Pulling out a piece of paper and showing you’re ready to write down names can be a good cue for people that this is important to you.

Suggest Categories

Invite those you meet with to take a few minutes and think through the people they know that you might be able to contact.

Start with the “Big Four” categories

  1. Family
  2. Church
  3. Work
  4. School

Within each category, you can get more specific

  • Give examples: cousin, small-group leader, office manager, classmate
  • Take each trail of thought to a conclusion, then return to the Big Four

After working through the Big Four categories, return to the list and ask for contact information

  1. Name
  2. Phone
  3. Email
Tip
titlePro Tip

Get more information on the person, including how they know them, their occupation, and church involvement. This will help you be able to connect more with their family and friends. 

If time allows, have them put the people they’ve mentioned in order of priority. "If you were me, who would you start with on this list and why?" 

Put Them in Your Shoes

A great question to get people thinking of names is, "If you were in my position, raising support for this ministry, who are the first three people you would call?" This may help those you meet with think about people who will be passionate about your specific type of ministry and will be more likely to become supporters.

Get them Involved

When possible, it would be good to involve them in contacting their recommended people. This can take on different approaches, depending on how involved you get them:

  • Very Involved: Rare. A partner may make the appointment for you and/or go with you to the appointment. 
  • Involved: Common. They text, call, or email ahead to let the contact know you will be calling.
  • Not Involved: They let you use their name when calling the contact.

When you get new contacts, follow up immediately while they are still fresh — ideally within 24 hours to a week

Tips for Getting Connected to Others

  • Remember that the ask for more contacts is just as important as the financial ask. So coming off of the financial ask, be positive and deliberate to maintain momentum.
  • Your body language, with paper and pen in hand, should communicate an expectation of spending some time on this now.
  • Avoid yes/no questions, like, “Do you know someone...?” Rather, use “Who are...?” or “What are...?”
  • Depending on who you are talking with, beware of the use of buzzwords like contacts, referrals, and leads.
  • Acknowledge that they probably haven’t been thinking about possible individuals all day.
  • In some situations, you should encourage them to look through their cell phone or Facebook contacts to think of others.
  • When using a directory or precompiled list, ask them to identify those who would be best to contact first.
  • Let them know that meeting with new people is something that you are comfortable with and excited about. Put their minds at ease that you will make the person they are connecting you with feel comfortable.


Tip
titlePro Tip

Check out the Referral Email Example page for ideas of texts and emails people you meet with can send to referrals on your behalf

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And really this is one of my favorite parts of the job right now, just meeting new people who are excited about Christ! Knowing the large number of people I need to contact, I generally ask people to think of 10-15 names of people who might be genuinely interested and encouraged to hear about what God is doing in <your ministry> and Reliant.
So just as <person who referred them> thought you might be interested in hearing more about what we are doing in ministry, I want to ask if you would take a few minutes with me to brainstorm people you know who may share a similar interest in what we’re doing. Who do you know that might be interested in what I’ve shared with you today?
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As I mentioned earlier, there is one other way you may be able to help right now. Believe it or not, it actually may help even more than a financial commitment.  For Reliant to be able to put together a strong ministry team, I need to tell our story to literally hundreds of people. I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to know a lot of people but not nearly as many as I need to. So in order for me to have any chance of completing the support raising process and get to the ministry I’ve been called to, I am ENTIRELY dependent on people like yourself and <the person who referred them> to help me achieve this by introducing me to people who share our common concern for reaching people for Christ.

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titleTip

 Pull out Pen and Paper and begin Numbering as you talk

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 Well, off the top of my head I can’t think of anybody.

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Oh of course Bill. I totally understand I kind of put you on the spot there and I know you haven’t been thinking about this all day. A lot of times people like to think of it in terms of different areas of involvement in their life. So at your church are you part of a small group?

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Yes we actually are.

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Great, are there some people in the small group that have a heart for reaching those that don’t know Christ? And of course, as you’re thinking, I’m not asking you to figure out whether they have the ability to give, but might they have any interest in hearing my story? Because, really, I love to meet with people and share the story of what God is doing whether they can give or not.

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Well, off the top of my head in our small group I can think of Bob Jones, Jack and Shirley Smith, and Stephanie Day.

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Great, let me make sure I get their names written down correctly: Bob Jones, Jack and Shirley Smith, and Stephanie Day. Thank you. What about at your work? Are you part of a Bible study at work or a group that meets together for prayer at work?

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No, we don’t have a Bible study at my office.

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Do you belong to any other clubs outside of your church like Christian Business Men’s Association or some other group like that?

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Yes, I am part of CBMA.  I believe Jim Long, the president of CBMA, would be a good person to contact.

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Great! I know Promise Keepers has been a prominent group here these last few years and one of the things they encourage is to keep in regular contact with others outside of the church. Is there anyone that you would know through Promise Keepers who may share a similar interest?

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Actually, yes; I just got back from the conference that was held in Indianapolis. Terry Green and Frank Murphy are two people from that group.

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Okay, great. Terry Green and Frank Murphy. Well again, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all your help and your desire to be part of Reliant’s ministry. Would you happen to have the contact numbers for these people?

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Actually, yes; just let me look them up in my cell phone.

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 Great and while you are looking those numbers if you see anyone else in your phone that you think I should contact let me know. I know a lot of times people use that as a way to name storm other people.

Bill give you the numbers...

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Thanks again Bill. That is great I am really excited to talk with these people. At the same time, Bill, if I were to call these people, they wouldn’t know who I am. You’re the one who has the relationship with them, and I want to honor that. So if it would make sense for you would you want to go ahead and get in touch with them and let them know I will be calling?

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 I don’t think that would be a problem.

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Great, whatever way makes the most sense for you. Some people have called before hand others have sent and e-mail or text even a facebook message. I wouldn’t think it would be fair to have you try and explain Reliant’s story. But maybe you could say something like, ‘I was calling to let you know about a friend of mine, <your name>. I’m excited about what he’s doing in ministry with Reliant Mission and his outreach to <location>. I thought you may be interested in hearing more about it. If <your name> gave you a call would you mind taking it?’ And really that’s all you’d have to say. Would that be okay?

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 Sure, as long as you write down what you just said, I’d be glad to do it.

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Well, great  I can actually just send you an e-mail with that wording.  That way if you just want to copy/paste into an e-mail to your friends all the work will be done for you. After all, they’re your friends, and we want to make sure that relationship is preserved.  Since today is Monday, do you think you’d be able to make contact them by this weekend?

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I can’t see why not. I’ll see several of them at our CBMC meeting Wednesday morning and we’re having a church picnic on Saturday.

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Well, what if I were to give you a call Sunday evening; would that be too soon to check back with you to see if you’ve had a chance to connect with them?

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That would be fine.

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 Is there one time that’s better than another?

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We’ll be home after dinner time.

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