Tactic 101s | Phonebanking:
Here’s an overview of Phonebanking, their purpose and how to plan your own. Feel free to drop your thoughts and experiences with phonebanking in the comments.
Purpose
Phonebanks can be used to:
- Collectively contact legislators about an issue
- Build support for a political candidate
- Build support for an issue
- Invite people to an event
AT LEAST TWO WEEKS OUT
- Find a location or create a Zoom link + pick a date and time
- Confirm a location, date, and time
- When you call a venue, here’s the ask:
- Can we have a phonebank at your location? We are expecting [x] people from [insert time].
- If you have a volunteer who is helping to set up/recruit, confirm the above with them and ask them to give you a list of folks they are inviting
- When you call a venue, here’s the ask:
- People answer the phone most often during dinner time on weekdays, and on Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings
- Decide on goal attendance
- Promote on email/social media/make calls to potential participants
- Create phonebanking training specific for this event
- Training may be helpful to introduce volunteers to the specific program you’re using to phonebank and practice the script with other volunteers
AT LEAST ONE WEEK OUT
- Solidify a script
- Confirm the venue (if in-person)
- Send reminder emails to registered participants, continue to recruit others
- Decide on your general call list
- Confirm training, tech, and support roles for the phonebank
AT LEAST 2 DAYS OUT
- Confirmation calls to registered participants
DAY BEFORE
- Confirmation calls to registered participants who didn’t answer in the first round of calls
DAY OF (Before Phonebank)
- Call or text confirmations to registered participants
- Refresh call list and test phonebank
DAY OF (After Phonebank)
- Send a thank you email to all participants- include next steps for participants
- Share successes on social/traditional media
