Consider not using the word "Consider"

Hi my name is Deb Evans and I am a coach with Tailored Fundraising Solutions. I want to talk to you today about the word "Consider." For the past five years, I've been coaching hundreds of missionaries around writing an effective invitation to a partner and the word that I hear most often when they're drafting theirs, is “consider.”

Let me give you an example, "In order to bring the good news to college students, I need to raise four thousand dollars a month. If 40 people partnered with me at one hundred dollars a month I’d reach that goal. Would you consider being one of those people, so that together, we can build laborers on the campus for the lost world?"

You're actually not asking me to partner, but rather to consider partnership. So what am I doing when I say Yes? I'm considering it. Which means that you have to follow up with me. If you set up a meeting on the front end, saying that you're looking for financial partners, then people who accept that meeting are already considering partnering with you.

So let's try it again without the word "consider." "So in order to bring the good news to college students I need to raise four thousand dollars a month. If 40 people partnered with me at one hundred dollars a month and reach that goal would you be one of those people so that together we can build laborers on the campus for the lost world?"

So what do we see when we do it this way? Some people will naturally say, "I need more time to consider this." But most people are going to say "yes" which considerably decreases the amount of time that you need to spend following up. So today, I want to ask you to consider not using the word consider.