Keep Your Volunteers Happy!

Volunteers will join your campaign if they are made to feel welcome. Since most campaigns can't function without volunteers, this is a good thing to keep in mind.

When a volunteer shows up to help you, give the volunteer a specific task that will match their skills, the amount of time they have to give you and what their interests are. They will tell you if they are treated like responsibile adults and the way they will tell you is by coming back to help you again.

What my campaign always did was make up a sign-up sheet with a list of available tasks and had the volunteer fill out this interest sheet when they came in. This will give you an idea right off the bat what they might enjoy doing. Of course this list must be updated almost daily.

Volunteers also offer some fine benefits to job-hunters, students and retired people. They have use of an office, a business telephone number, professional experience and new contacts.

There are also some positive social benefits to volunteering such as fun and friendships and even romance. (Smile) It can also be a perfect summer activity to keep your energetic student busy in the summer and give them on the job training at the same time.

There are several lessons to be learned however in the handling of volunteers:

1. Never blow anyone off . . . that person just may be important to you some day even if they seem unconventional.

2. Try to remember their names . . . no one likes to feel taken for granted or unimportant.

3. Talk to them . . . yes, I mean you!, the candidate . . . these people are trying to help you get elected.

4. Usually the right people show up when you need them the most, so use their skills imaginatively and you may find that you have great results.

Some of the duties you can use volunteers for are:

1. Answering telephones

2. Getting out the vote

3. Door-to-Door literature drops

4. Fundraising

5. Recruiting new volunteers

6. Connecting - perhaps they live in secure apartment buildings that you haven't been able to get into

7. Getting petition signatures

8. Conducting polls or surveys

9. Writing speeches and correspondence

10. Graphic designing to help with your campaign literature.

and much, much more.

Remember, you can never have too many volunteers, because they all have friends and hopefully that will translate into votes for your campaign.

NEXT WEEK: Attack !

Attentions Readers: For those of you who are involved in campaigns, I wanted to let you know that I

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