I told you in an earlier post that I would tell readers about some institutions “about which I care deeply.”  One of those is Metrowest Jewish Day School, and tonight I spent time on the phones trying to raise scholarship money for students who want to attend.  As with most private religious schools, particularly those in startup mode like ours, the cost of tuition is substantially less than the cost to educate.  In addition, many families can not afford the cost of tuition.  But because we want to make this unique education open to all in our community, we do the fundraising.  So far this year, we are more than 80% of the way to meeting our goal of raising $700,000. 

As an inexperienced solicitor, I was thankful for the script that was provided for my pitch.  In short, this script, which was a good “pitch,” explained who we are and the fact that we are raising money for scholarships.  Short and sweet.  Next to me was another inexperienced solicitor and parent of a student at the school, who made more calls and raised more money than me tonight.  But I accomplished something that, over the long run, I hope will turn out to be just as valuable.  I sold the school.  Or more accurately, I began the process of selling the school.

Selling, as my partner with 25 years of selling experience keeps trying to pound into me, is a process.  Knowing that we still had more than $100,000 to raise and that we weren’t going to reach our goal through contributions of $36 or even $360, I began to filter the “leads” more carefully and began a process of selling.  Relative to the school, it is difficult to imagine someone agreeing to contribute $5,000, or $10,000, or even more, to the scholarship fund without first understanding more about the school.  So my process changed from “making a pitch for a small contribution” to making a request to visit the school  before the summer break, while the school is still in session.  This provided a sense of urgency, as there are fewer than three weeks left in the school year, but it also prevented a quick refusal, of which there were many tonight.  I was not simply asking someone to part with their money for an institution they didn’t understand.  I was asking to show them something, to help them become better informed, to bring them into a club of sorts: the club of people who had seen something truly special.  The next step may be to have them visit the site where ultimately our new school will be built, after we can no longer stay in the space we are leasing.  Next, I might invite them to become involved with their time as a contributor to a committee or I might have them meet with our head of finance to show them an insider’s view of the financial realities.  At some point in the future, I will ask for a contribution.  I suspect, having seen the students in action, having visited the future site, and having become involved in some meaningful way, they will want to contribute.  But even if they don’t, they will be ready to be a positive spokesperson for the school in the community.  That, ultimately, may be the most valuable resource of all.

So what does this have to do with entrepreneurs and inventors?  Just like me, running an annual campaign for a little-known startup school, the job of the entrepreneur and an inventor is to create the seed and sell others on the idea, so that the seed has the nourishment to grow into something living and sustainable.  It’s not the same as pitching a product in a two-minute elevator speech.   It needs to be a multi-step process.  I’m blessed to have been given patience.  But even I have trouble sometimes waiting to make the ask.  It’s a little bit like fishing, though.  If you don’t wait for the fish to commit, the fish will get away.

By the way, my hit rate on the pitch was 0%.  Others did better, tonight, but not me.  My hit rate on the requests to visit, however, was  50%.  Or .500 in batting terms.  Not a bad hit rate, even here in the land of the Red Sox.