You Know the Call, Right?
Just one of those days...
As staff you have to make a lot of fundraising calls. Every staff does. And every now and then you get one of those calls that kicks you right in the gut. You know the ones, right? The call where you hang up wondering IF you really are doing the right thing. The call where you hang up wondering IF you really are just panhandling.
But, at the end of the day you know you’ve been called to serve your mission and a part of that calling is fundraising. And besides, now you have one of those war stories to share with other staff!
Well, let us here at Staff Monkey encourage you! Just because you leave staff doesn’t mean you won’t still get to have those calls from time to time! We recently received an email from a staff who believed we might be engaged in a diabolical plot to rip off staff because there are a number of other Do-It-Yourself email marketing options out there that are cheaper than Staff Monkey. And he was particularly concerned because we use MailChimp (the very best of these) as our backend for our customers and yet keep this a closely guarded secret.
I would share the email, but he wasn’t nice people (although I’m sure he didn’t mean to come across as rude, right?).
We do want to take this opportunity to reaffirm to you, our much loved customers (and potentially much loved customers), that we will always look for better and greater ways to make you more awesome at what you’ve been called to do. And we are always evaluating and looking for ways to add value for what you pay for.
OK, I’m letting go now.
2 comments
Hey, it’s me, the “not nice people.” In reality, I was just concerned when I sent the email that you guys were not being upfront about the options out there.
I understand now that the difference between MailChimp and Staff Monkey is the the do-it-yourself versus the service. But it seemed underhanded to me at the time that no mention was even made of MailChimp on your site.
And, according to _your_ website, it is a pretty closely guarded secret that MailChimp even exists. You can’t expect me to search a blog on MailChimp’s site for info about your business, can you?
I’ll admit, I overreacted, and sent out a too-harsh email. But with the sheer number of people trying to rip off others in the name of Christianity, I get pretty sensitive.
I’d still be interested to see a comparison of services between you and MailChimp, with a cost-breakdown. Seems to me that it’d be good marketing to show a side-by-side of why you provide a step-above service when compared to MailChimp.
I am not trying to shut you down, just keep you honest. I am all about honest businesses.
Sorry for the knee-jerk (with or without the knee) email. Thanks for the kind response.
Hi Ben, thanks for the follow up and apology. Its much appreciate. Be blessed brother.
We exist to serve staff who would rather be on campus (or where ever there mission takes them) than in front of their computer formatting up a newsletter, emailing it off, printing it out, stuffing it and stamping it. When I was on staff I knew lots of staff that were happy to take a couple of office days to do just that (I was one of them!). But I also knew a lot of staff that wanted to stay on campus. We serve them.