Student Callers…Telemarketers or

Linguistic Anthropologists?Monique Watson

ANTH468ISpecial Topics in Anthropology: Language as

Practice

What is Tell-a-Terp?

O A call center staffed by students that contact alumni, parents, and friends of the University of Maryland and asks them for monetary support to one or more of the university’s scholarship, organization, departmental, or alumni funds.

Who’s the Boss?O RuffaloCody is a company hired by

the University of Maryland that supervises Tell-a-Terp and provides an integrated approach in on-campus and offsite program services for annual giving, capital campaigns, parent giving, and membership utilizing telephone outreach, data enrichment, and donor pipeline development (Wey Lora, RuffaloCody)

Interactions Between Callers and Supervisors

1) The supervisors introduce any new caller to the script and the policies and procedures of the call center.

2) Gives new caller scenarios in which they have to come up with responses/rebuttals modeling what they would do over the phone

3) Shows caller how to code what the ending result of the conversation was

4) Teaches caller how to make assumptive and then persuasive asks and not give the prospect a choice for guiding the conversation

TELL-A-TERP SCRIPT

Hello, may I please speak with (PROSPECT NAME)?

Goodevening, my name is Monique, I am a student calling from Tell-A-Terp Call Center at the University of Maryland College Park, How are you doing tonight?

{That’s wonderful to hear! We are trying our best to stay connected with our alumni and keep everyone in the Maryland family involved with the school. May I borrow a few minutes of your time?}

Okay so, what factors made you choose the University of Maryland? How has your major affected your future? What good things have you taken away from the University? Were you apart of any clubs or sports teams while you attended Maryland? I know I personally like to hang out in quiet nooks and crannies in the buildings on South Campus to do homework between classes, did you have a favorite place to hang out and find any “me” time on campus? Do you have any memories or stories from the last time you visited campus?

I can definitely update you on some new and exciting accomplishments happening here at Maryland. We are currently ranked 21st in the country amongst public universities. We have over 71 programs ranked in the top 25 and we are continuing to work harder to push UMD into the national spotlight.

Before I continue with the update do you still reside at (UPDATE DEMOGRAPHICS)

Personal Script

FIRST ASK: In order to keep alumni like you connected to the school , I am calling to give you an opportunity to show your Terp Pride in a way that benefits you while keeping the university as a competitive power horse amongst others. Gifts from fellow Terps enhance academic resources, help maintain student athlete scholarships, and tutoring programs. With a gift of $150 you could support the school and benefit yourself by purchasing a $55 Alumni Association Membership, and a $55 Terrapin Club Membership, and a $40 gift to support ANY part of campus you would like. Can we count on your support tonight?

SECOND ASK: I completely understand that gift is a bigger commitment than you are capable of right now but the amount is only an indication of our need. 75% of our funds used to come from the state of Maryland and now only 30% of our funds come from the state. All other expenses are from outside sources like the alumni. Could we count or support with a smaller gift of $95 which includes a $55 membership to the Alumni Association OR the Terrapin Club and a $40 to a support an organization of your choice?

THIRD ASK: That is also understandable but at Tell A Terp we try our best to make it easy and efficient to give back to the school by allowing you to make annual, monthly, and quarterly payments. Installed payments, for example : you could give $10 a month would benefit your income and our need. Would a gift in the form of installments be more convenient for you?

FOURTH ASK: Our goal really is to have our alumni participate in the University. Could we count on your participation with a smaller gift of $10 on a credit card tonight?

I fully understand your hesitation about supplying your credit card information BUT we have very high administrative costs and our goal is to gift the university instead of take away funds. UMD is also trying to become more sustainable by going green. My supervisor is also the one in charge of processing your information to make sure privacy requirements are met.

Thank you so much for your commitment to give

OR

Thank you so much for allowing me to update you about the university. If you do want to gift after this phone call you can at any time at www.giving.umd.edu. Do you have any questions regarding the University or gift giving? Ok, well thank you for your time. I hope you have a fantastic night!

O Different parts of the call center are used to better understand the prospect and build a

rapport that develops a strong enough connection for the prospect to give money

to the university.

Background

knowledge

Campus Call

Information

The Diamondb

ack

Binders

Supervisors

Script

Any additional informati

on the prospect provides

Languaculture of Tell-a-Terp

O Linguistic Anthropologist, Wittgenstein thought of “language as a toolkit” (Wetherell 2004; Wittgenstein 1953; para.11)

O Language is not one unified system but is a set of different parts that have different roles. (Wetherell 2004)

O Tell-a-Terp is a “language toolkit” itself

O Each piece in the language toolkit for Tell-a-Terp is important when developing

a conversation with a prospect.

FOR EXAMPLE…The start of a conversation will differ

according to the prospects age, gender, graduation year, alumni association

membership, and other factors which are identified on the Campus Call screen

How much do callers initially know about each prospect?

Below is the Campus Call Screen which is pictured for each phone call callers make

System Time: 00:34 Talk Time: 00:00

Ms. Monique WatsonProject: FY14 Spring Parent Calling

Segment: Freshman Parents Calling Pool: FRESHMAN PAR

ActionsSpecified PledgeCompleteIncompleteCallbacksCaller StatesProject StatsScripts

Ms. Monique Watson Spouse Children User Fields

Save Undo

Prospect Employer Info

1234 Kings Crossing BlvdCollege Park MD 20742Name: Arthur Watson Employer: Department

of Defense

Id: 005679891011 Job Title: Teacher

Gender: M Match: No

Phone: 4101234567 Phone:

Email: superman136@gmail.com Email: TheRock.gov

+ Date Talked With Talk Time Result Employee Comments04/07/2014 S 00:28 Not Avail Monique Watson cooking dinner

Language Game Structure due to Age Difference/ Graduation Year Difference

O For parents and alum who have graduated before 2000 callers use formal phrases such as “Have a good evening” or “It is a gorgeous day out this afternoon” versus “It’s nice out today!” which would be used for young alumni.

O It is a professional environment and cursing is not tolerated however callers curve their language as if they’re speaking with grandparents versus middle aged aunts and uncles or even cousins.

Language Game Structure Continued…

O The use of crafted phrases and choice words proves that callers play a language game in order to get pledges.

O AIM = GET MONEY FOR THE UNIVERSITY

O RULES = SCRIPT AND POLICIES ESTABLISHED BY THE SUPERVISORS, RUFFALOCODY, AND THE UNIVERSITY

Back to the Point!

OCallers have specific rebuttals/responses used to direct the conversation if a caller says “No, Maybe, or

Yes” to committing to a pledge over the phone.

Rebuttal Examples:O If Prospect (had a baby; bought a house; retired; paying loans/tuition; giving to other

alma mater; personal disasters; unemployed) Caller says: “I’m sorry to hear that/I can appreciate that/Congratulations! I have spoken with others in similar situations who would like to show their support but feel they can’t because of (repeat prospect’s refusal reason). What many have agreed to do is make a gift of just $___, because your participation is what’s most important. Is $__ something you could do (today/tonight) as well?

O If Prospect (wants to talk to their spouse; send pledge card; not committed to

amount) Caller says: Great! I’m so glad to hear you plan to participate. It’s helpful to have a minimum amount on the gift form, because it allows us the university to configure your gift into the budget. If we know how much funding we can expect, the University can determine how many scholarships can be awarded. For others we have put them down for a gift of $__, with the option to give more later if they wish. Can I put you down for $___ (today/tonight)?

O If Prospect (says not now/maybe later) Caller Says: I’m glad to hear you’d like to make a gift at a later date. If you’d like, I can delay the due date of your gift until ___ or you can make your gift in installments. Would any of these options work for you? (Discuss deferred payment or installment options and encourage fulfillment before the end of the fiscal year.

O This next example is crucial to the performance and success of the call center. Credit Cards are instant fulfillment for the University and are factored directly into the budget.

OInitially callers ASSUME that a prospect wants to give on a credit card. If prospect (agrees to a pledge)

Callers Say: “Great! Will this pledge be on a Visa, MasterCard, American

Express, or Discover?” OR Callers Say: “We’re actually processing all of our gifts via credit or debit card tonight, we accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, or like I said, even your debit card. Which do you prefer?

O If Prospect (does not want to give over the phone via credit card)

Callers Say: “Well I can appreciate that but we process our gifts via credit or debit card because you will help us save on postage and

processing on a credit card will benefit our students right away” OR Callers Say: “We process thousands of gifts each year this way its most convenient, cost efficient, and safe. We use Cyber Source which erases your credit card info immediately after your gift is processed. Would you reconsider using a credit or debit card to make your pledge?”

Language as ActionO The tools that callers are given are

used to reach a specific goal which is to get prospects to commit to a pledge dollar amount.

O John Langshaw Austin: A philosopher who followed Wittgenstein would describe the callers practices as “Language as Action” (Berdini 2014) (Guy 2013)

Speech Act TheoryO Austin’s “Speech Act Theory” looks at language as a

means of accomplishing goals. (Austin 1975)O Speech Acts have PURPOSE and if it is successful then it

is felicitous. O Callers want all of their calls to be felicitous ending in a

prospect giving back to the university.O Felicitous interactions with prospects are only made

possible from how good a caller can manipulate the language game and convince a prospect to gift.

O The rebuttals to the common objections and assumptive and persuasive asks are the key language as action components of the language game of Tell-a-Terp

What callers think about their interaction with Prospects:O I facilitated three forums amongst callers to

gain more insight on the callers feelings about their language game practices and how they thought the prospects felt about it.

O I collected the data from 25 callers approx. 30% of the staff and averaged the scores that each caller gave to get one average for the call center.

O The first forum is titled “On a scale of 1-5 how often do you think a prospect is… angry, upset, confused, concerned, sad, or happy?”

O The second forum is titled “On a scale of 1-5 how well do you think you’ve gotten at carrying on conversations with strangers outside of and even in Tell-aTerp?”

O The third forum is titled “On a scale of 1-5 how much have you enjoyed calling for 3 hours a shift? Provide a small comment stating why or why not?”

FORUM 1 RESULTSOn a scale from 1-5

O Upset : 2.3O Angry: 2O Confused: 3.5O Concerned: 1.8O Sad: 1.3O Happy: 4.1

FORUM 2 RESULTSOn a scale from 1-5

O Callers rated their improvement of the ability and comfort ability to

speak and hold conversations with strangers in and outside of Tell-a-Terp

at an average of

4.5

FORUM 3 RESULTS + COMMENTS

On a scale from 1-5

O Callers rated how much they enjoyed calling for 3 hours at an average of

3.5Comments: “It can be annoying.” (Anna, Sophomore) “It can get redundant saying the same things and getting the same responses but since I’m new I assume I should practice being more creative with the way I approach prospects.” (Joe, Freshman)

“Calling is fun but can me tiring when you talk to unhappy people or have a night with few contacts.” (Maurice, Freshman)

“I love working with my friends despite some of the rude people over the phone. Simply meeting new student callers is always nice.” (Carly, Junior)

“I met my roommates at Tell-a-Terp my freshman year here! These 3 hours can create lasting friendships! I’m proof!” (Dana, Senior)

FORUM CONCLUSIONS

O In Forum 1 it is important to recognize that the highest average for what callers felt like prospects felt the most was “Happy”. Students take pride in informing prospects about university initiatives and keeping prospects happy is another goal that callers use language to reach.

O In Forum 2 nearly all of the callers feel like they are better communicators from practicing Tell-a-Terp’s language game. Contacting strangers, pulling personal information out of them, plus trying to get money from them is a learned skill and can effectively be applied to the world outside of the call center.

O In Forum 3 it is important to recognize that at least half of the staff doesn’t mind calling for 3 hours and can draw positivity out of it and develop relationships outside of receiving a paycheck.

Interactions Between Callers and other Callers

O It is a learned SKILL to have a conversation with one to three people and then jump into a phone

conversation with a prospectO In normal conversations, cutting someone off to

start a new conversation would be perceived as rude and can create rich points throughout an

interaction. New callers who are unfamiliar with the language discourse used in the Tell-a-Terp

context have to adapt to these changes in order to effectively communicate with other callers

Caller to Caller InteractionsO Caller to Caller Interactions create a looping back

truncated speech where there is always a captive audience

O Common topics ranging from the most mentioned to least mentioned include but are not

limited to food, questions about calling (mostly new callers to veteran callers), Beyoncé, and miscellaneous University issues or successes.

Sorority girls chat about

running a ½ marathon

Group of African

American females chat

about Art Attack and the

After Party

Males chat about athletics and brag about being featured

in the Diamondback and DC Sports

rated

CTC Interactions Continued…

O I spoke with callers to get a feel for how they felt about being cut off mid conversation and if it was strange to keep looping back to a conversation that was mentioned an hour before.

O My findings are as follows in the next slide. Nick, talks about his CTC experience.

Nick: “ I was able to buffer the conversation with new questions with a new caller I met at work in between each contact I had… it was actually a great conversation because I learned so much about her since I had time to come up with new questions to ask her.”“Buffer” A term Tell-a-Terp uses to describe how

callers would change topics of a conversation without making it seem choppy or

scripted.

“I learned so much about her” A phrase callers use on the phone to make prospects feel

as if callers are highly involved in the conversation (active listening) and have a

personal connection

Tell-a-Terp: a Speech Community within its Language Game

O Callers incorporate the tools they use to talk on the phone with normal conversation amongst other students (For example: Nick BUFFERED his conversation with a new caller to keep her interest just like he would on the phone with a prospect as callers play a tug-of-war to keep prospects on the phone)

O Through this practice student callers are better at holding down multiple conversations and coming back to unfinished conversations or story-tellings

References1) Austin, John

1975 How To Do Things With Words. Cambridge: Harvard University press

2) Berdini, Frederica, and Claudia Cianchi John Langshaw Austin (1911-1960). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/austin, accessed May 13, 2014

3) Guy, Longworth 2013 The Standard Encyclopedia of Philosophy. John Langshaw Austin. Edward N. Zalta

4) Wetherell, Margaret, Simeon Yates, and Stephanie Taylor 2004 On Campus Phonathon Management. http://www.ruffalocody.com/about-us/ accessed May 15, 2014