Newsletter: Company Giving Dropped 6% in 2020 🙄; Burger King Uses Cause Marketing to Take Shot at Competitor 🥊 ; Why Every Nonprofit Should Use Animal Marketing 🐶

One of the articles I had planned to share with you this week was from Hubspot called Everything You Need to Know About Using Tie Downs in Sales.

I hadn't heard of "tie downs" before. The Hubspot writer defined them this way:

“Using sales tie downs allows you to check your assumptions around each of these points. They also get your customer engaged and saying 'yes' before the time comes for you to go for the close. Building up slowly can make things feel much more natural to your customer.”

I thought, maybe tie downs aren’t such a bad idea! But then I thought, WAIT! I should reach out to the guru of cause sales, Dan Cohen of Cause Partners, and ask him what he thinks of tie downs.

I'm so glad I did. Here's what Dan said:

“While I love the idea of nonprofit professionals using best practices of sales in their partnership pursuits, I'm not a huge fan of using tie downs (i.e. Getting people used to saying "yes" before going for the big close) or a lot of the specific executions recommended by the writer. The risk is too high that you'll come across as "salesy", "pushy” or "insincere". It's an outdated tactic. I'd much prefer to see nonprofit professionals focusing on two basic things. First, talking less and listening more. Second, asking good, open-ended questions.”

Thanks for your perspective, Dan! If you want to hear more from Dan and his advice on partnership sales you should watch (or rewatch!) his appearance on the Cause Docs. Dan laid down the knowledge!

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. Charitable giving reached an all-time high in 2020 - but not from companies. "Companies gave about 6% less in 2020 than they did in 2019."

2. Newsletters are hot right now. So is giving back. Check out how this daily newsletter is running an action-triggered fundraiser to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. One surprise: there's no guaranteed minimum donation.

3. This hard seltzer company hosted a Kentucky Derby-like race for manatees with funds raised going to the Save the Manatee Club.

4. As prices rise, consumers are flocking to these stores. Are they on your prospect list?

5. Burger King takes a shot at Chick-fil-A with its LGBTQ donations during Pride.

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. Recently, I shared a popular article that argued that you should be targeting directors instead of the c-suite. Interestingly, this new report suggests that 86% of B2B content consumption is done by others outside the c-suite.

2. I don't care what your nonprofit does. You should use animals in your marketing. 🐶

3. How to send an effective email to a cold prospect in 8-steps.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Manager, Corporate Giving, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, NYC

2. Corporate Partnerships Manager, Arizona Sports Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ ($58k - $76k)

3. Partnerships & Donor Engagement Manager, Second Helpings, Indianapolis

4. Senior Manager, Corporate Philanthropy, Trust for the National Mall, Washington, DC ($67k - $85k)

Do you have a partnership position you are trying to fill? Hit reply and share your job listing with me! I'm happy to post it here for FREE.

🏳️‍🌈 PRIDE Food

1. Leon Kaye from Triple Pundit makes the case that a $1 donation from your purchase won’t help your LGBTQ neighbors as much as buying directly from their businesses will.

2. These 25 companies talk the talk on Pride but don't walk the walk.

3. When you type P-R-I-D-E across columns in Google Sheets it does this...

Have a question, comment or just want to say hi? Just leave a comment below or head over to Twitter.