Wiki source for ComprehensivePhoneGuide
=====Comprehensive Phone Guide and External Communications=====
>>{{{toc}}}>>
>>**Important Links**
MainLine
[[IndividualCandidateContacts Campaign/Candidate Communications]]
HotLine
PhoneList
[[PVSAbout Long Answer]]
HotlineResources>>
Important phone lines and associated emails:
1) [[Mainline]]: Business communications, members, media, and general inquiries (Office Manager and DevComm)
- 515-989-6363
- officemgr@votesmart.org, intern@votesmart.org, jobs@votesmart.org (Office Manager)
- membership@votesmart.org, media@votesmart.org (DevComm)
- Mail
1) [[IndividualCandidateContacts Candidate Line]]: For PCT administration and candidate communications (PCT admin)
- 515-989-6359
- politicalcourage@votesmart.org
1) [[HotLine]]: Research questions from the general public (Research)
- 1-888-868-3762
- comments@votesmart.org
- Uservoice
- research@votesmart.org
- Special Interest Group Inquiries: ratings@votesmart.org (Research)
1) Tech Support: webmaster@votesmart.org and Uservoice (IT)
Calls to these lines will ring differently than direct line calls.
====Scheduling====
Goal: For all phones to be covered from 8am-5pm.
There is a phone schedule sent weekly via email for each of the three phone lines. These schedules are either handled by a director or office manager. If one is scheduled and are not going to be in the office, it is their responsibility to make sure someone is covering the shift. If the replacement forgets, it is the primary shift holder's responsibility. The person responsible for the schedule should be notified when there are schedule changes.
Make sure phones are covered when those responsible are away from their desks, on break, or in a meeting. If the phone is ringing and no one is picking it up, pick up the phone.
**Lunch Duty**
- Take lunch the hour prior (11-12) or the hour after lunch (1-2)
- Must be in the office during 12pm-1pm
====Guidelines for External Communications====
It is the job of every Vote Smart intern or staff member answering the phone to provide the caller with a pleasant experience. No matter what tone of voice the caller uses, remain polite and professional because as a phone operator. By answering the phone, staff are speaking on behalf of Vote Smart.
**Non-partisanship**
- //Partisan// is defined as an adherent or supporter of a person, party or cause or as partial to a specific party, person or cause.
- //Bias// is defined as a particular tendency or inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question.
- A caller may make biased statements, BUT you cannot respond in any way to partisan remarks.
- Simply tell callers: "Vote Smart is a nonpartisan organization so I cannot comment on that, but if you have a specific question, I can help you answer that based on the facts we cover."
**Don't interpret any information.**
- Do not rephrase or reword anything from the database or from Vote Smart materials
- Do not agree with the caller's phrasing.
- Interpretation allows for bias. if the caller is confused, offer to reread something slowly but do not paraphrase.
- Always read things word for word.
- There are several manuals that define congressional terms and legislative procedures from which you can read if a caller needs further explanation.
**Be polite, respectful, considerate, and helpful.**
- Some callers are angry and frustrated but all are looking for help.
- Some have never heard of Vote Smart and don't know what we do or whether they can trust us.
- Rude or prank call: do not take it personally. Be tolerant, patient and professional.
- Angry caller: always give problem calls to a supervisor.
**Never respond to a caller with: "I don't know."**
- If you can't or it doesn't make sense to transfer or consult someone else
- //Example//: "That's not information I have right in front of me. I'm going to need to take a little time to answer that question. Do you have an email account to which I can send an answer? Or can you please call me back?"
- //Example//: "That's a question I'm going to need time to research. What I can do is take a special request and spend some time researching the information for you. Do you have an email account to which I can send this information?
**Don't use abbreviations (PVS/PCT/VSDM)**
====[[PhoneManagement Phone Operation]]====
The Office Manager (with the help of IT) is responsible for setting up phones and phone lines, updating the phone list, and troubleshooting problems. Please see the Office Manager if there are any difficulties or needs for an additional line (i.e. main line, candidate line, and hotline) to be added to a phone. They will be responsible for getting in contact with the IT department to solve these issues.
**Using the Phone System**
- One or several of our phone lines should be set to ring on a phone.
- Verify that you have a transfer button and you know where it is.
- Know how to use the "hold" button.
- To make outgoing calls:
- Internally: dial the 3-digit extension listed on the PhoneList and press "Send"
- Externally: dial the 10-digit number as usual
- To Transfer Calls Within the Office
- press the ''Transfer'' key on your phone
- dial the 3 digit extension of the person you wish to reach
- Press ''send''
- inform them what the call is about, wait for their "ok"
- hang up.
- If the person you are trying to transfer to isn't available, simply press the "Cancel" key and inform them that the primary person was not at his or her desk. Inform the caller that you will either a) take a message or b) transfer him or her to another person.
====Phone Answering Procedure====
1) Answering the Phone
- The phone rings //twice// and you answer it: "Thank you for calling Vote Smart. This is ""________."" How can I help you?"
- Listen to question
- Do not rush to transfer the call
- Do not jump to conclusions and answer question they do not ask
- Get their name & state they are calling (call them by that name)
- Keep calls brief (3-10 minutes). If the caller starts to ramble, ask if he or she has a specific question you can help with. If not, politely say:
- "Sir/ma'am, unless you have a specific question for me, I'm going to have to let you go so I can keep the lines open. Please feel free to call us back with a specific, factual question."
- "Sir/ma'am, that's not something that I can comment on because Vote Smart is a nonpartisan political research organization. If you don't have a specific factual question, I'm going to have to let you go so I can keep the lines open."
-"Sir/ma'am, that's going to take me some time to answer and I have to keep this line open. Do you have an e-mail address to which I can send this information?"
2) Screen or Route the call if needed
At this point, you will determine if a call needs to be transferred. If it's a question you can address, address the question. If it is a more involved question, get an email address to send the answer. To take a special request: make detailed notes of the caller's questions and get an email address to send a response.
- Sales Calls
- The best way to screen sales calls is to ask them who they are, what organization they represent, and to what they are calling in reference to.
- Please be very cautious when answering calls from businesses, as they are sometimes not legitimate and oftentimes don't have a previous relationship with our organization.
- If they are representing a company we do not do business with, take a message and pass it on to the Office Manager.
- If it's clearly a cold call or a scammer, you should ask them to remove us from their call list and feel free to threaten legal action if necessary to stop the harassment.
- [[IndividualCandidateContacts Candidates/Campaigns]]
- PCT Department (candidate attacks go to PCT Director)
- These contacts are recorded in Contact Logs
- Media:
- Communications Director, Adelaide, and finally the National Director
- Please try to get the person's name, state, whatever media organization they are with, and the subject of their call before transferring.
- If you must take a message, make sure to ask what their deadline is.
- API and "technical" questions
- Please try to get some information about what specifically they would like to talk about and then direct their calls/emails
- Questions about registration, their API key, our terms of service, payment, subscription, or any other administrative question about their account can go to DevComm or membership@
- Questions about or issues with our data, including questions about frequency of updates, go to whatever department's data they are asking about
-Technical questions, problems with the API service itself, or feature requests for the API should go to IT (webmaster@votesmart.org)
- Internships: Intern Coordinator
- Voter's Self-Defense Manuals: DevComm staff
- All other Members or People that Want to Donate: DevComm staff
- Foundations: DevComm
- People asking for Richard Kimball or Adelaide- If you are uncertain about whether or not a particular call should be so transferred, transfer it instead to a director.
- Members of the public asking questions about our content: Hotline Operators on duty
3) Taking a Message
- When the person or people who can answer the question are not available, do not give out personal phone numbers or e-mails. Take a message or provide the proper department's email address:
- General Email and Site Content: comments@votesmart.org
- Membership Inquiries: membership@votesmart.org
- Political Courage Test: politicalcourage@votesmart.org
- Internship Inquiries: intern@votesmart.org
- Employment Inquiries: jobs@votesmart.org
- Technical Questions and Problems: webmaster@votesmart.org
- Information needed for taking a message:
1) Name
2) Email address
3) Reason for calling
4) Phone number
5) Relationship to VS
6) Affiliated organization (if applicable)
- Calls for the President or National Director, if they are unreachable or not willing to take a call:
- Response: "[Insert name/title] is unavailable at this time, but I can take down your contact information and the reason for calling and can give this information to them when they return."
4) Ending the Phone Call (If you Haven't Transferred It)
Once you've dealt with their initial inquiry, ask them if there is anything else you may help them with. If the answer is 'no,' continue as follows: "We appreciate your call and hope you will share us with people you know. Have a nice day, goodbye."
====Email Coverage====
- One staff member should be in charge of each email account. They are welcome to reroute questions and requests to interns and other staff - within reason; otherwise email should be responded to within 3 business days or sooner
- ALWAYS include the [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/BoilerPlate Boiler Plate]]
- It is best to set a specific time every day for checking and responding to these emails - consistency will remind you to complete this task.
- Develop and use canned/template responses to streamline communications
- Keep your email organized and save records as necessary
- For more specific instructions on the comments@ email see: CommentsEmail
====Answers to Some Basic Questions====
__"What is Project Vote Smart?"__
When you answer a call, this is one of the first questions you may be asked.
Short Answer:
Vote Smart is a nonpartisan, non-profit, political research organization. We provide the nation's first Voter's Self-Defense System. This system allows ordinary citizens to access biographical information, issue positions, voting records, public statements, performance evaluations from special interest groups, campaign contributions for current elected officials and candidates seeking to replace them, and information on voter registration. We were established by national leaders from both sides of the aisle including Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Michael Dukakis and Barry Goldwater. Vote Smart has been supported by the Ford and Carnegie Foundations, and has received praise from the New York Times, CNN, and PBS.
If the caller would like more information about who we are and what we do, you can use the **[[PVSAbout Long Answer]]**.
__What information do we have?__
If the caller is looking for information we collect, it is available on our web page. Many people who call Hotline will have access to the Internet and you can help to guide callers to the helpful resources on our site. These are some of the features of our website that will help them:
~-Legislation, which monitors the status of major federal legislation
~-State Key Votes, which monitors the status of major state legislation
~-Voter registration forms for each state
~-Candidate filing deadlines
~-Local Election Offices and absentee ballot information
~-Ballot measure descriptions for each state, where applicable
~-Links to federal and state government agencies, political parties and issue organizations.
~-Outreach programs for News Media Partnerships and Vote Smart Classroom.
~-VS membership and internship opportunities
__If a caller wants to know about VoteEasy__
~-Winner of the best there is at the 2011 Webvisionary Awards
~-Available during major election years (ex: 2016, 2018, 2020...)
~-An interactive tool for voters to instantly see which presidential/congressional candidate they are most compatible with. To use VoteEasy now visit [[https://votesmart.org/voteeasy the VoteEasy page]].
~-Using innovative technology to simplify voters' pre-election research, this web-based tool allows voters to answer the same key issue questions Vote Smart asked the candidates to address on the Political Courage Test, and watch as the tool matches them with the candidate who best aligns with their views.
~-Questions span 11 major issues, including the budget, economy, health care, and immigration.
~-The Sacramento Bee has called VoteEasy "the eHarmony of political web sites," and according to GovTrack it is "the most compelling voter info resource ever seen."
__About Becoming a Member__: ($45 is the suggested donation amount, but we will take any amount of money (i.e. $5 etc.). Note that if someone is looking to make a donation, the call should be rerouted to the Development Department)
Because we are funded exclusively by small individual contributions, as a donor, you are considered a member of Vote Smart which includes benefits such as:
~-Receiving free copies of our annual publications such as the Voter's Self Defense Manual, which takes a candidates' public record and puts it in a pocket-sized, hand-held format.
~-As a member you will be the first to receive updates and new info on all of our programs and services.
If a caller has other questions, being familiar with these pages may help: HotlineResources and [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/Usingthewebsite Navigating Our Website]].
====Handling Basic Requests====
__If a caller wants the Voter's Self-Defense Manual:__
~-collect their name, mailing address, number of copies (see below)
~-number of copies - members (up to 25; more than 25, ask DevComm/Natl Director); non-members ("a few" - no more than 3; but ask membership first - may be able to accommodate for students/education purposes)
~-Give the information to Membership
~-If they ask "when will I receive this information?" - We send these manuals out in bulk, so it should be between 2-4 weeks. If they have a serious problem with this, put them on hold and ask DevComm exactly when the next mailing is - unlikely we can make exceptions.
//**If a caller wants to be taken off of the mailing list**//
1.ask why they would like to be taken off of the mailing list.
2.if the recipient has died, DevComm handles the issue
3.if the recipient is alive, ask if they have ever donated to Vote Smart
1.yes, alive and yes, donated - transfer to DevComm
2.yes, alive and no, donated - take their name down. Do nothing with it (Prospecting mailing recipient).
(Note: Often members will call in with a response to a mailing they received from us and the Dev/Comm department will be best equipped to handle those calls, and record them properly in the database. If membership requires the assistance of another department, say it turns out the member really want to figure out how they can donate time doing some IT for us, membership will handle that with the necessary departments. To the extent we can, we want to give the members a single point of contact. Also, any changes to membership, e.g. removing from the mailing list should also go to Dev/Comm, and if unavailable take a detailed message noting full name (watch spelling) and state.)
**Training**
In addition to reading this manual, please complete the following exercises to familiarize yourself with our website: [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/Usingthewebsite Navigating Our Website]]
>>{{{toc}}}>>
>>**Important Links**
MainLine
[[IndividualCandidateContacts Campaign/Candidate Communications]]
HotLine
PhoneList
[[PVSAbout Long Answer]]
HotlineResources>>
Important phone lines and associated emails:
1) [[Mainline]]: Business communications, members, media, and general inquiries (Office Manager and DevComm)
- 515-989-6363
- officemgr@votesmart.org, intern@votesmart.org, jobs@votesmart.org (Office Manager)
- membership@votesmart.org, media@votesmart.org (DevComm)
1) [[IndividualCandidateContacts Candidate Line]]: For PCT administration and candidate communications (PCT admin)
- 515-989-6359
- politicalcourage@votesmart.org
1) [[HotLine]]: Research questions from the general public (Research)
- 1-888-868-3762
- comments@votesmart.org
- Uservoice
- research@votesmart.org
- Special Interest Group Inquiries: ratings@votesmart.org (Research)
1) Tech Support: webmaster@votesmart.org and Uservoice (IT)
Calls to these lines will ring differently than direct line calls.
====Scheduling====
Goal: For all phones to be covered from 8am-5pm.
There is a phone schedule sent weekly via email for each of the three phone lines. These schedules are either handled by a director or office manager. If one is scheduled and are not going to be in the office, it is their responsibility to make sure someone is covering the shift. If the replacement forgets, it is the primary shift holder's responsibility. The person responsible for the schedule should be notified when there are schedule changes.
Make sure phones are covered when those responsible are away from their desks, on break, or in a meeting. If the phone is ringing and no one is picking it up, pick up the phone.
**Lunch Duty**
- Take lunch the hour prior (11-12) or the hour after lunch (1-2)
- Must be in the office during 12pm-1pm
====Guidelines for External Communications====
It is the job of every Vote Smart intern or staff member answering the phone to provide the caller with a pleasant experience. No matter what tone of voice the caller uses, remain polite and professional because as a phone operator. By answering the phone, staff are speaking on behalf of Vote Smart.
**Non-partisanship**
- //Partisan// is defined as an adherent or supporter of a person, party or cause or as partial to a specific party, person or cause.
- //Bias// is defined as a particular tendency or inclination, especially one that prevents unprejudiced consideration of a question.
- A caller may make biased statements, BUT you cannot respond in any way to partisan remarks.
- Simply tell callers: "Vote Smart is a nonpartisan organization so I cannot comment on that, but if you have a specific question, I can help you answer that based on the facts we cover."
**Don't interpret any information.**
- Do not rephrase or reword anything from the database or from Vote Smart materials
- Do not agree with the caller's phrasing.
- Interpretation allows for bias. if the caller is confused, offer to reread something slowly but do not paraphrase.
- Always read things word for word.
- There are several manuals that define congressional terms and legislative procedures from which you can read if a caller needs further explanation.
**Be polite, respectful, considerate, and helpful.**
- Some callers are angry and frustrated but all are looking for help.
- Some have never heard of Vote Smart and don't know what we do or whether they can trust us.
- Rude or prank call: do not take it personally. Be tolerant, patient and professional.
- Angry caller: always give problem calls to a supervisor.
**Never respond to a caller with: "I don't know."**
- If you can't or it doesn't make sense to transfer or consult someone else
- //Example//: "That's not information I have right in front of me. I'm going to need to take a little time to answer that question. Do you have an email account to which I can send an answer? Or can you please call me back?"
- //Example//: "That's a question I'm going to need time to research. What I can do is take a special request and spend some time researching the information for you. Do you have an email account to which I can send this information?
**Don't use abbreviations (PVS/PCT/VSDM)**
====[[PhoneManagement Phone Operation]]====
The Office Manager (with the help of IT) is responsible for setting up phones and phone lines, updating the phone list, and troubleshooting problems. Please see the Office Manager if there are any difficulties or needs for an additional line (i.e. main line, candidate line, and hotline) to be added to a phone. They will be responsible for getting in contact with the IT department to solve these issues.
**Using the Phone System**
- One or several of our phone lines should be set to ring on a phone.
- Verify that you have a transfer button and you know where it is.
- Know how to use the "hold" button.
- To make outgoing calls:
- Internally: dial the 3-digit extension listed on the PhoneList and press "Send"
- Externally: dial the 10-digit number as usual
- To Transfer Calls Within the Office
- press the ''Transfer'' key on your phone
- dial the 3 digit extension of the person you wish to reach
- Press ''send''
- inform them what the call is about, wait for their "ok"
- hang up.
- If the person you are trying to transfer to isn't available, simply press the "Cancel" key and inform them that the primary person was not at his or her desk. Inform the caller that you will either a) take a message or b) transfer him or her to another person.
====Phone Answering Procedure====
1) Answering the Phone
- The phone rings //twice// and you answer it: "Thank you for calling Vote Smart. This is ""________."" How can I help you?"
- Listen to question
- Do not rush to transfer the call
- Do not jump to conclusions and answer question they do not ask
- Get their name & state they are calling (call them by that name)
- Keep calls brief (3-10 minutes). If the caller starts to ramble, ask if he or she has a specific question you can help with. If not, politely say:
- "Sir/ma'am, unless you have a specific question for me, I'm going to have to let you go so I can keep the lines open. Please feel free to call us back with a specific, factual question."
- "Sir/ma'am, that's not something that I can comment on because Vote Smart is a nonpartisan political research organization. If you don't have a specific factual question, I'm going to have to let you go so I can keep the lines open."
-"Sir/ma'am, that's going to take me some time to answer and I have to keep this line open. Do you have an e-mail address to which I can send this information?"
2) Screen or Route the call if needed
At this point, you will determine if a call needs to be transferred. If it's a question you can address, address the question. If it is a more involved question, get an email address to send the answer. To take a special request: make detailed notes of the caller's questions and get an email address to send a response.
- Sales Calls
- The best way to screen sales calls is to ask them who they are, what organization they represent, and to what they are calling in reference to.
- Please be very cautious when answering calls from businesses, as they are sometimes not legitimate and oftentimes don't have a previous relationship with our organization.
- If they are representing a company we do not do business with, take a message and pass it on to the Office Manager.
- If it's clearly a cold call or a scammer, you should ask them to remove us from their call list and feel free to threaten legal action if necessary to stop the harassment.
- [[IndividualCandidateContacts Candidates/Campaigns]]
- PCT Department (candidate attacks go to PCT Director)
- These contacts are recorded in Contact Logs
- Media:
- Communications Director, Adelaide, and finally the National Director
- Please try to get the person's name, state, whatever media organization they are with, and the subject of their call before transferring.
- If you must take a message, make sure to ask what their deadline is.
- API and "technical" questions
- Please try to get some information about what specifically they would like to talk about and then direct their calls/emails
- Questions about registration, their API key, our terms of service, payment, subscription, or any other administrative question about their account can go to DevComm or membership@
- Questions about or issues with our data, including questions about frequency of updates, go to whatever department's data they are asking about
-Technical questions, problems with the API service itself, or feature requests for the API should go to IT (webmaster@votesmart.org)
- Internships: Intern Coordinator
- Voter's Self-Defense Manuals: DevComm staff
- All other Members or People that Want to Donate: DevComm staff
- Foundations: DevComm
- People asking for Richard Kimball or Adelaide- If you are uncertain about whether or not a particular call should be so transferred, transfer it instead to a director.
- Members of the public asking questions about our content: Hotline Operators on duty
3) Taking a Message
- When the person or people who can answer the question are not available, do not give out personal phone numbers or e-mails. Take a message or provide the proper department's email address:
- General Email and Site Content: comments@votesmart.org
- Membership Inquiries: membership@votesmart.org
- Political Courage Test: politicalcourage@votesmart.org
- Internship Inquiries: intern@votesmart.org
- Employment Inquiries: jobs@votesmart.org
- Technical Questions and Problems: webmaster@votesmart.org
- Information needed for taking a message:
1) Name
2) Email address
3) Reason for calling
4) Phone number
5) Relationship to VS
6) Affiliated organization (if applicable)
- Calls for the President or National Director, if they are unreachable or not willing to take a call:
- Response: "[Insert name/title] is unavailable at this time, but I can take down your contact information and the reason for calling and can give this information to them when they return."
4) Ending the Phone Call (If you Haven't Transferred It)
Once you've dealt with their initial inquiry, ask them if there is anything else you may help them with. If the answer is 'no,' continue as follows: "We appreciate your call and hope you will share us with people you know. Have a nice day, goodbye."
====Email Coverage====
- One staff member should be in charge of each email account. They are welcome to reroute questions and requests to interns and other staff - within reason; otherwise email should be responded to within 3 business days or sooner
- ALWAYS include the [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/BoilerPlate Boiler Plate]]
- It is best to set a specific time every day for checking and responding to these emails - consistency will remind you to complete this task.
- Develop and use canned/template responses to streamline communications
- Keep your email organized and save records as necessary
- For more specific instructions on the comments@ email see: CommentsEmail
====Answers to Some Basic Questions====
__"What is Project Vote Smart?"__
When you answer a call, this is one of the first questions you may be asked.
Short Answer:
Vote Smart is a nonpartisan, non-profit, political research organization. We provide the nation's first Voter's Self-Defense System. This system allows ordinary citizens to access biographical information, issue positions, voting records, public statements, performance evaluations from special interest groups, campaign contributions for current elected officials and candidates seeking to replace them, and information on voter registration. We were established by national leaders from both sides of the aisle including Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, Michael Dukakis and Barry Goldwater. Vote Smart has been supported by the Ford and Carnegie Foundations, and has received praise from the New York Times, CNN, and PBS.
If the caller would like more information about who we are and what we do, you can use the **[[PVSAbout Long Answer]]**.
__What information do we have?__
If the caller is looking for information we collect, it is available on our web page. Many people who call Hotline will have access to the Internet and you can help to guide callers to the helpful resources on our site. These are some of the features of our website that will help them:
~-Legislation, which monitors the status of major federal legislation
~-State Key Votes, which monitors the status of major state legislation
~-Voter registration forms for each state
~-Candidate filing deadlines
~-Local Election Offices and absentee ballot information
~-Ballot measure descriptions for each state, where applicable
~-Links to federal and state government agencies, political parties and issue organizations.
~-Outreach programs for News Media Partnerships and Vote Smart Classroom.
~-VS membership and internship opportunities
__If a caller wants to know about VoteEasy__
~-Winner of the best there is at the 2011 Webvisionary Awards
~-Available during major election years (ex: 2016, 2018, 2020...)
~-An interactive tool for voters to instantly see which presidential/congressional candidate they are most compatible with. To use VoteEasy now visit [[https://votesmart.org/voteeasy the VoteEasy page]].
~-Using innovative technology to simplify voters' pre-election research, this web-based tool allows voters to answer the same key issue questions Vote Smart asked the candidates to address on the Political Courage Test, and watch as the tool matches them with the candidate who best aligns with their views.
~-Questions span 11 major issues, including the budget, economy, health care, and immigration.
~-The Sacramento Bee has called VoteEasy "the eHarmony of political web sites," and according to GovTrack it is "the most compelling voter info resource ever seen."
__About Becoming a Member__: ($45 is the suggested donation amount, but we will take any amount of money (i.e. $5 etc.). Note that if someone is looking to make a donation, the call should be rerouted to the Development Department)
Because we are funded exclusively by small individual contributions, as a donor, you are considered a member of Vote Smart which includes benefits such as:
~-Receiving free copies of our annual publications such as the Voter's Self Defense Manual, which takes a candidates' public record and puts it in a pocket-sized, hand-held format.
~-As a member you will be the first to receive updates and new info on all of our programs and services.
If a caller has other questions, being familiar with these pages may help: HotlineResources and [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/Usingthewebsite Navigating Our Website]].
====Handling Basic Requests====
__If a caller wants the Voter's Self-Defense Manual:__
~-collect their name, mailing address, number of copies (see below)
~-number of copies - members (up to 25; more than 25, ask DevComm/Natl Director); non-members ("a few" - no more than 3; but ask membership first - may be able to accommodate for students/education purposes)
~-Give the information to Membership
~-If they ask "when will I receive this information?" - We send these manuals out in bulk, so it should be between 2-4 weeks. If they have a serious problem with this, put them on hold and ask DevComm exactly when the next mailing is - unlikely we can make exceptions.
//**If a caller wants to be taken off of the mailing list**//
1.ask why they would like to be taken off of the mailing list.
2.if the recipient has died, DevComm handles the issue
3.if the recipient is alive, ask if they have ever donated to Vote Smart
1.yes, alive and yes, donated - transfer to DevComm
2.yes, alive and no, donated - take their name down. Do nothing with it (Prospecting mailing recipient).
(Note: Often members will call in with a response to a mailing they received from us and the Dev/Comm department will be best equipped to handle those calls, and record them properly in the database. If membership requires the assistance of another department, say it turns out the member really want to figure out how they can donate time doing some IT for us, membership will handle that with the necessary departments. To the extent we can, we want to give the members a single point of contact. Also, any changes to membership, e.g. removing from the mailing list should also go to Dev/Comm, and if unavailable take a detailed message noting full name (watch spelling) and state.)
**Training**
In addition to reading this manual, please complete the following exercises to familiarize yourself with our website: [[http://wiki.votesmart.org/Usingthewebsite Navigating Our Website]]
