Door-to-Door is Incredibly Inefficient

In the aftermath of the 2010 Republican red wave that swept Congress, the establishment adopted a new strategy, drawing inspiration from the Tea Party's precinct training and canvassing techniques. The Tea Party, having analyzed Barack Obama's success in the 2008 elections, concluded that voter turnout had been significantly boosted by door-to-door activities. Subsequently, the Republican Party has integrated this approach into virtually all its campaigning training, requiring candidates to knock a predetermined number of doors as part of their campaign plans.

However, historical data indicates that door-knocking is an inefficient method of campaigning unless there is an extensive pool of volunteers. Campaign staff and candidates usually have personal interactions with a mere 10 individuals per 100 doors knocked. As such, research findings reveal that what wins elections is not door-knocking, but personal contacts and discussions with voters.

Instead of door-to-door canvassing, it would be more practical for candidates to appear in busy establishments and engage in handshakes and discussions with the public. Such a strategy enables the candidate to have up to ten times the number of contacts and discussions than door-to-door activities. Even if half of the contacts are not potential voters, this approach still results in five times the number of people reached compared to door-knocking.

Our online video courses provide insights into when and when not to engage in door-to-door campaigning and offer strategies on how to efficiently and effectively generate more personal contacts.

Dialing for Dollars is Incredibly Inefficient

Calling random people that you don't know and begging for money for your campaign is not a good way to raise money. It is also demeaning and humiliating for many candidates. Yet, many professional consulting firms still recommend this for new candidates. If you are an unknown, depending on your list, you may make 200-300 calls before getting a minimal donation. These 200-300 calls can take you all day as a candidate. Your time is more valuable than wasting it on dialing-for-dollars and you could be on the road at events dramatically raising the excitement and passion for your campaign. The more passion and excitement the more money you can raise.

Fundraising is all about farming. You have to plant seeds and come back and harvest them later. You need to promote the policy solutions that make you different from your opponent. If you are effective and efficient in your communication and it is well received - you can come back after potential donors have had time to think, and harvest donations.

There are other activities that you can use to set yourself up for success. We can help you craft effective messages that will help to energize your fundraising activities. We go through all these activities in our online courses. Dialing-for-dollars typically only works if you are a popular incumbent and you are calling people that have donated to your campaign in the past.

The Difference between a Good Consultant and a Thief

Good political consultants and mentors are out there - but they are hard to find. Many consultants will want to lock you into a contract that is not incentivized with performance milestones. They want you to take all the risks and that is a pretty sweet deal if they can get it. You also have political consultants that take up all the air in the room and really only tangentially pay attention to your campaign. These type of consultants hope that you can go viral and they can profit off of your efforts.

A good political consultant will ask you to develop a Vision of what you hope to accomplish. Then to develop Goals and Priorities for your campaign and then to develop a Platform of specific policy solutions. These are all exercises that they should give you examples of and give you free guidance within reason. Once these are done your consultant should review with you and they may suggest changes. The political consultant will be able to determine if they can help you with your campaign after you develop these exercises.

Completing these exercises is key to developing a professional campaign with professional messaging. We can help you with the development of your Vision, Goals, Priorities, and your Platform. Our online classes will help you to decide where to spend your money and they best way to get the most value for your dollar.

There are many consultants that may talk to you for an hour and draw up a contract. They normally obligate you to paying $1,000 to $5,000 and may do some advertising for you for a month and then you will be hard pressed to talk to them on the phone. Learn how to not be taken advantage of.