Call centre gets pushy raising cash for Tories
OTTAWA – A training manual used by call-centre workers soliciting donations for the Conservative party outlines high-pressure tactics designed to overcome the objections of pensioners, widowers and the unemployed to raise money for the party.
The manual used by workers in the Ottawa office of Responsive Marketing Group (RMG) instructs callers on how to deal with low-income donors who say they can’t afford to give.
Callers are taught to “treat objections as questions” and “build urgency with the motivation so you can find an amount they are comfortable contributing.” The manual contains examples of objections to be overcome:
“I’m on a fixed budget/pension/ widower.”
“I just spent all my money on … bills, kids, pets, divorce, funeral, etc.”
The manual instructs callers to “mirror back” the objection, use “transitions,” then return to “buy-in questions,” such as: “Do you believe in maintaining a strong military and keeping our families safe?”
After a supporter agrees, the script calls for the caller to close the sale.
“What a lot of people who are on a tight budget/fixed income/pension/ widower (similar circumstance to prospect) have been able to help us out with is a smaller amount of $__, Do you think that would work better for you, Mr./ms.?”
RMG is the Conservatives’ main call-centre company and performed voter identification and fundraising for the party in the last election. It is at the heart of the Conservatives’ successful fundraising machine, which has for years outperformed all the other federal parties combined.
Fred Delorey, a spokesman for the Conservative party, said it did not approve the training manual.
“We hire call centres to make calls,” he said in an email. “We don’t train their employees.”
An unidentified spokesperson for the company defended its approach to fundraising. “When making fundraising calls we encounter people from all walks of life,” the spokesperson said in an email. “When a prospect shares with us that their circumstances will not allow them to donate at the amount we have asked for, we empathize with the prospect, explain what other people in similar situations have been able to help with, and ask if they can support with a lower donation amount.”
In an email response, copied to the company’s lawyer, RMG claimed that the manual is proprietary company property and alleged that Postmedia News and the Ottawa Citizen had obtained it illegally.