Interview, employ and incentivize: Building a successful team in Donor Recruitment

Lisa EllingtonManager, Donor Recruitment

Began operations in 1975 16-county region80 hospitalsCollected 46,602

Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center

2009 Goal of 320,000 25-county region170+ hospitals & facilitiesCollected 314,194 in 2008

Donor Recruitment

5,500 mobile drives per yearAverage unit goal of 15,000 per recruiterApproximately 125 accounts per territoryAverage drive size of 28 units

 

Donor Recruitment Director

Donor Recruitment Manager - Outside

Donor RecruitmentManager - Inside

Donor Recruitment Support Manager

14 Account Reps1 Hospital Recruiter

2 Supervisors 7 Support Staff

12 Account Reps1 Assistant

1 Mktg. Data Analyst

Administrative Assistant

 Interview, Employ and Incentivize

Use questions, candidate presentations and behavioral tools when interviewing. Manage employees to build accountability and exceptional performance.Create an incentive plan that promotes a stable blood supply while rewarding your employees.

 INTERVIEW: Use questions, candidate presentations and behavioral tools when interviewing.

Overcoming Challenges

Limited sales and marketing candidates Advertise using ‘out of the box’ methods. Use a well-written job description. Hire a recruitment firm.

Interview

Overcoming Challenges

Advertise using ‘out of the box’ methods Sales websites such as American Marketing

Association. Local newspapers. Networking through local Chamber of

Commerce.

Interview

Overcoming Challenges

Use a well-written job description … looking for outgoing professionals who are team

players and success-driven to join our Donor Recruitment department.

…responsible for cultivating and maintaining accounts of donor groups.

…this is a unique sales opportunity that requires refined communication and relationship building skills, event planning to ensure your blood drives are successful, and territory management to schedule blood drives that maximize donation opportunities.

Interview

Overcoming Challenges

Hire a recruitment firm. Offers a larger data base of qualified

candidates Assists in the screening process to save time

Interview

Overcoming Challenges

Identifying the best candidate Ask questions to reveal important facts. Listen to candidate’s questions. Request a second interview for candidate to

role play and handle objections.

Interview

Questions to Candidate

How were you measured in relation to goals and were you successful?

How do you handle conflict? Give an example. What do you expect from a manager? What is

the best way to manage you? Tell me about a time when you had to work as a

team to accomplish a common goal. What was the outcome?

Tell me about a situation where you were creative in solving a problem or meeting a goal.

Interview

Questions to Candidate

How do you establish a working relationship with new customers? Describe your sales process.

Give some examples of your public speaking experience. This is a field position with minimal supervision. Give

examples of how you would organize your day. What do you do to motivate yourself?

What strengths do you bring to this position? What skills would you like to develop in the future? Describe your understanding of this position.

Interview

Questions from Candidate

What are your expectations for this position? Explain the current representative’s success rate. Why is this position available? Explain your rate

of turnover. Is there a training program and how long is the

training period? Explain the opportunities for career growth.

Interview

Red Flags

Candidate’s ResponsesDid not have a specific goalHas not managed a geographic territoryDoes not prefer to be micromanagedDoes not have a good understanding of job

requirements/just wants the jobHas not researched the company

Interview

Red Flags

Candidate’s QuestionsDo I have to come into the office?Are cold calls mandatory?Are there any weekend requirements?What is the pay/bonus/vacation

time/holidays/etc.Is there a lot of paperwork/daily sales log?

Interview

Candidate’s second interviewCandidate reviews website prior to

interview.During role play, candidate gives

presentation to new donor group and requests to schedule blood drive.

Interviewers provide objections to identify candidate’s abilities.

Interview

Handling Objections

Objections for Candidate

I would have blood drives but I don’t have management support.

Blood drives waste too much time. I am afraid of needles and I know others are too –

I know many people wouldn’t donate blood. We would have a blood drive if we knew someone

that needed blood, we will wait until then. We will think about it and get back to you.

Interview

Behavioral Tools

The Predictive Index is a behavioral tool that can be helpful in identifying a candidate’s likeliness to fit your job description. Tools such as this can uncover things about your candidate that an interview may not.

Interview

Predictive Index

Interview

  EMPLOY: Manage employees to build accountability and exceptional performance.

Management Challenges

MoraleEmployee RetentionAccountabilityGoal Achievement

Employ

Building Accountability

Schedule blood drives a year in advance. Manage employee to be prepared for success rather than

reviewing at months end to reprimand employee on what they did not do.

Maintain booking expectations so they are ongoing and achievable (30 days = 115%; 60 days = 100%; 90 days = 90%).

Work with each employee on a regular basis to promote on-going training and morale building.

Provide reward and recognition each time it is earned as well as monthly, quarterly and annually.

Employ

Focus on the Activity

Manage employees based on performing the activities required to be successful.

Dedicate adequate time on the phone to keep the pipeline full.

Train donor groups to conduct a successful blood drive.

Plan based on the territory – not only the month.

Employ

Recognize and Reward

Provide opportunities to exceptional employees.

Offer Senior Account Representative position.

Appoint a team captain each week. Recognize each good deed and give public

recognition.

Employ

  INCENTIVIZE: Create an incentive plan that promotes a stable blood supply while rewarding your employees.

 Incentive Plan

Focus on activity that promotes successful blood drives.

Educating and motivating donor groupsNew and reactivated groupsExceeding unit goalDrive efficiency

Incentivize

 Incentive Plan

Keeping track for monthly incentive payment

Assign points to each activity.Monitor points on weekly basis.Motivate with extra points when needed.

Incentivize

 Inside Account Representative

Education and MotivationVolunteer requestSpeaker’s Bureau requestTraining committeeOnline scheduling presentationAutomation presentationGroup Program presentation

Incentivize

   Inside Account Representative

New and Reactivated GroupsNew groupsNew groups each level movement Existing groups inactive for one year

Incentivize

   Inside Account Representative

Exceeding Unit GoalAt unit goalEvery 25 units over goal

Incentivize

   Inside Account Representative

Drive Efficiency55% EfficiencyEach percentage point at or above 56%

Incentivize

 

 

Incentive Payment

1st level of points $600.00

2nd level of points $900.00

3rd level of points $1,100.00

Incentivize

 

Inside Account Representative

Incentive Plan

Type of Cancels # of Cancels IncentiveOp Detail 0 $300.00 30 - Day 2 $300.00

Incentivize

 

 

Outside Account Representative Incentive Plan

Account Representative

# of Planning Sessions

Total Incentive

Territory 45 $500.00 Corporate 25 $500.00

Incentivize

 

Outside Account Representative

# of Units

Over Goal100% 25 50 75 100 125 150

Total Incentive

$600.00 700.00$ 800.00$ 900.00$ 1,000.00$ 1,100.00$ 1,200.00$

Incentivize

 

MEASURESOF SUCCESS

Number of drives

Focusing on activities that promoted successful blood drives helped to increase the total number of drives by 15%, with 731 more drives in 2008.

Measures of Success

Education and Motivation

With efforts being placed on educating, training, and motivating donor groups; 1,005 more incentive points were earned in 2008, which was an increase of 47%.

Measures of Success

  New Donor Groups

The number of new groups hosting drives increased by 12% with 458 groups added in 2008, resulting in 50 more new groups than in 2007. 

Measures of Success

Measures of Success

New Account Level Movement Drives

As new groups hosted their first drive, they were also encouraged to schedule more drives throughout the year. In 2008, 378 drives were held, an increase of 84% over the prior year.

Measures of Success

Reactivated Account Drives

Drives from donor groups that had not hosted a drive in 18 months or more were increased by 16% with 318 drives.

Measures of Success

Drive Efficiency

Drives that were between 80% and 120% efficient increased by 4.4% from 52.4% in 2007 to 56.8% in 2008.

 

Measures of Success

Planning Sessions

Account Representatives performed an average of 480 planning sessions per month in 2008 for an increase of 111%.

.

Outcome of a Successful Incentive Plan

Increased moraleImproved retention rateChange in philosophy of accountabilityGoal achievement Stable blood supply

Measures of Success

2007– Recruiters exceeded

department goal 6 of 12 months

– Goal accuracy at 98.5%

– 171,419 Units collected

2008– Recruiters exceeded

department goal 10 of 12 months

– Goal accuracy at 103.5%

– 182,407 Units Collected

Measures of Success

2007 vs. 2008

Goal Accuracy – 5% increase 10,988 units – 6.4% increase

 Building a good team begins with the interview. Keeping a good team depends on how the team is managed and incentivized. Focusing on activities that promote successful blood drives results in stronger relationships with donor groups, increased mobile blood collections, and employees that feel appreciated.

Measures of Success

Question/Answer Session