How to react well when something goes wrong on a campaign
Recently the (disappointingly hologram-free) Joe Biden campaign for US President messed up its data a bit. As a result one of the campaigns volunteers unknowingly rang the campaign’s deputy campaign manager asking if he would sign up to learn how to do telephone canvassing.
They both could have been angry about that. The volunteer could have been angry at their time being wasted on calling the wrong person. The deputy campaign manager could have been affronted that some idiot thought they of all people needed training.
But this is how they (Josh, volunteer and Rufus, deputy campaign manager) reacted instead:
Saying thank you isn’t only for when things go right. It’s also for when things go wrong – and a much better route to having people willing to fix what went wrong too.
Some telephone canvassing mistakes are, though, more challenging for finding the right people to apologise to.
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Very good to highlight this example, something I’d not otherwise have seen. I am in awe of your contacts network Mark !! Thank you.
Yes. Good to thank people for their efforts at all times cos if you’tell them off’ they could just not support us again. I know that sounds like common sense but that was not dished out in equal measures to us all, so always praise.
I remember doing recruiting calls for Lorely’s re-election attempt in 2015 and coming across one of her paid organisers who was sitting downstairs at the time…
When I was a PPC in 1992 I was canvassed by Labour urging me to vote tactically to keep the Tories out.
Pretty well the same thing happened to me recently in the LIBDEM campaign to offer support to people under lockdown.