The Deputation Process: Making Phone Calls

 

The Deputation Process: Making Phone Calls

In order to get meetings, you are going to have to make phone calls. There is no magical formula for getting meetings, but the easiest way is to get on the phone and start making calls. There are ways to get your name out, but if you don’t make phone calls you will not fill your schedule! Your goal with booking meetings is to be in a minimum of three churches a week. At certain times of the year, you could be in different churches every night but you should be aiming to have 3 meetings in different and new churches every week.  So here are some questions about making phone calls:

  1. When should I start making phone calls? There is no magic time to start, but I would say no earlier than 8am. Just make sure you are mindful of timezones so you don’t end up calling someone on Western time at 5 in the morning! Just make sure you have a schedule set when you want to start calling and when you want to end.
  2. When should I stop making phone calls? Again, there is no magic stopping time, but you should show common courtesy to people. I would not call past 8pm. But again with time zones coming into play you could call later into the evening and will sometimes catch bi-vocational pastors at their church or pastors at home.
  3. How long should I call? I would spend at least eight hours a day making phones calls. Take it seriously and spend time on the phone. But actually, spend the eight hours calling. Don’t waste time and really only be calling for 3 hours where you were online for 2 or 3 and then took breaks and such and only called a few hours. No, make sure when you are calling you are focused and making phone calls. Treat it like you were working a secular job and were on the time clock. You only get a limited number of breaks and time to not be working. Do the same when making phone calls!
  4. Which numbers should I call? When you get a call list or compile one, you will receive church, home, and cell phone numbers. I would tell you to call all the numbers you have for a specific church or pastor. Cell phones numbers are the easiest way to reach a pastor but typically are harder to come by. Home numbers are great to call earlier in the day and later in the evening. You should try to get in touch with every church by any means that you have!
  5. Should I leave a voice message? In my opinion, I would tell you not to leave a message. Many times you will listen to over 30 seconds of a message to leave a 30 second or more message. Many times you will leave messages and never receive a phone call back. I would tell you that leaving messages tends to be a waste of time. The time it takes you to listen and then leave a message you could have called several more churches. The key to making phone calls is not to waste your time so you can call as many churches as possible. The more calls you make, the more pastors you talk to, the more meetings you will end up with!
  6. Nobody has answered the phone yet, what should I do? KEEP CALLING! You are going to have a lot of places you call where there will be no answer, busy signal or a bad number. Don’t get discouraged keep calling.

These are some answers to some basic questions about calling. Next time we will look even more into the calling process with some responses and things you need to do based on the response you get on the phone. I hope these articles have been helpful and will be helpful to those getting ready to start deputation or on deputation. We would love to hear from you and your thoughts on our articles. Please leave a message below and let us know your thoughts and maybe advice you would also give!