How to phone bank
Phone banking works!
Making phone calls and texting voters, known as phone banking, is a critical element of any political campaign. Phone banking is one of the most inexpensive and resource-efficient tactics to contact voters and deliver a message. During these difficult times, with our limited ability to directly engage, phone banking is our primary tactic to reach our voters.
While not as persuasive as canvassing, phone banking allows you to reach voters that canvassers can’t due to time or geographic constraints. The speed and efficiency of phone banks make them ideal for any type of voter contact including voter registration, issue advocacy, volunteer recruitment, voter persuasion and GOTV.
If you can give us 2 hours a week over the course of a typical 24-week campaign, you can do amazing things
• During a two-hour phone shift, you can talk to 20 voters
• If you do this for 24 weeks = 480 voters X 1000 volunteers = 480,000 voter contacts
Targeted voters
Each campaign will create a target list of specific voters that they need you to find and speak directly to about their candidate or issue. With your help, they are creating a database of likeminded voters to call on election day. These lists are part of an overall program to identify, persuade, and ensure that the voters we call on election day are our supporters. The voters on the provided call list are compiled by a team of volunteers and data professionals over the course of the campaign. We may be confirming if they are supporters or non-supporters. By election day we want to be only calling our voters to get them to the polls.
Campaign survey
Information collecion will vary from campaign-to-campaign depending upon where they are in the process. Many of the questions are to confirm the accuracy of the voter lists. Most importantly, is the voter supporting our campaign or do they need more persuading?
This is important, over the last few years, the accuracy of the voter lists has decreased. It’s not unusual for a list to have an error rate of 25% or more. This is the result of the increase in mobile phones and the decreased use of landlines.
Calling technology
Over the last few election cycles, the campaigns have developed user friendly calling software that automatically dial the voter for you. You will be required to download a free app onto your smart phone. All the campaigns will provide you step by step training for these easy to use apps. In most cases, there is an option to receive paper voter lists to make your calls. You will also need a second device so you can join the campaign phone session with Zoom, Google Hangout, or similar video conferencing services
Before you start
• Get familiar with the script so you can make the words your own
• Stay on message and always keep the script handy
• Use whatever data is provided about the voter to make a connection
‒ Is the voter male or female? Young or an older adult? A frequent or infrequent voter?
• If you are using your own phone and want to block your number from being displayed temporarily for a specific call
‒ Dial *67, enter the number you wish to call - including the area code >Tap the “call” button >The words "Private," "Anonymous," or some other indicators will appear on the recipient's phone instead of your mobile number
Tips
• Smile as you talk
‒ Voters will sense a happy demeanor on the other end of the line
‒ Keep a mirror handy to check that you’re smiling while you talk
• Connect with the voter
‒ Always be courteous
‒ Say your full name and where you are from
‒ Be casual and relaxed
‒ Find ways to relate to the person you are calling
• Move quickly
‒ The more calls you complete each hour increases the number of quality contacts you can make
‒ Avoid talking to a single voter for more than 5 minutes
• Stand up and move around
‒ Standing up while you make calls keeps your energy and enthusiasm high
‒ Move around while you’re talking to keep your blood flowing
• Ask questions
‒ Do not dominate the conversation
‒ Asking voters open-ended questions is a great way to get them engaged in a dialogue
• Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know”
‒ Never guess the candidate’s position on anything.
‒ Always refer voters to the candidate’s website, where details of all the major issues can be found
• Ask for help
‒ Find out if the voter would like to volunteer for the campaign
‒ Ask if the voter would like to donate money
‒ If so, refer them to the campaign’s website
• Forget your last call
‒ Don’t worry if you get a hang-up or yelled at
‒ Brush it off and quickly move on to the next call
‒ Dwelling on negative experiences will make you less friendly to other voters