The Inside Guts of The Rolodex
I’ve just wrapped up the launch of the third round of The Rolodex (I cannot wait to introduce the new cohort to the world!) and I since everyone loves a good inside look - I thought I would give some insights into how this program is going.
First, some background:
What is The Rolodex?
The Rolodex is my version of my “little black book” of highly trained and vetted nonprofit coaches and consultants. This is not a directory - it’s more like match-making. Every lead I pass off is very, very warm.
Why did I create The Rolodex?
In January 2021 I was feeling very burnt out of the 1:1 done-for-you fundraising services I was providing to clients. I knew something was off when I looked up to realize I was working with all of my dream clients - incredible leaders with powerful missions. And…I still didn’t want to do the work.
As I was racking my brain about what to do since 70% of my revenue came from my one-to-one services - I noticed that I was getting a lot of referral questions. People would ask me, “Jess, do you know a _________?” or “Jess, do you know someone who can help me __________ but who is also ____________?”
We all have our superpowers and mine just happens to be connecting people up. Thus, the Rolodex was born.
The Product
In thinking through how I could make The Rolodex a product, early on I pushed aside the idea of just doing referral partnerships where I would get a cut of every contract won.
Why?
Two reasons:
Whether nonprofit coaches or consultants want to admit it or not - they need to do a better job of getting visible. It is really, really difficult to build a sustainable business when you have 93 people on your email list. That coupled with the fact that the sales timeline for working with a nonprofit can be lonnnnggg (it is not uncommon for it to take 6-12 months) - getting visible is paramount so that you always have new inquires coming in. The “getting visible” part of being a Rolodex member is very hard to measure, but is so valuable for every single participant.
I’ve worked painstakingly hard to build my audience of 3,000+ nonprofit organizations. They are engaged, warm and very much “know, like and trust me.” I’m already following a consistent content cadence and am very comfortable marketing and selling. I’m finding that *even* when I make very warm referrals - something gets lost in the discovery call and the contract isn’t always secured. I’m still thinking this through and if you are someone that struggles with closing sales - I’d be curious on your take. In a nutshell, I didn’t want the pressure of me passing off very warm leads to hang in the balance of another person’s ability to close a sale.
How it’s going
I’d give the Rolodex a solid B+. In its last session - I made 36 referrals to Rolodex members. In the session before that - I made about 32.
I also know that Rolodex members earned business just from being in The Rolodex, but didn’t actually necessitate an introduction. I love that so much, but unfortunately, it’s another hard thing to measure. I also know that once a Rolodex member secures a contract, that client becomes their client for the long haul - for many projects beyond their Rolodex membership (I also love this).
Rolodex members have told me things like:
“This contract will be a game changer for my business” or
“I’ve 28x my investment in The Rolodex.” or
“I earned $3,600 worth of contracts in the last 6 months. That more than covered my membership in the Rolodex.” (yep, that’s more than 500% of the initial investment 🤯).
Roughly 40% of those referrals were projects I *could* have taken on myself, but remember - I don’t want them. Therefore, The Rolodex is filling a gap for both me in my business and the busy nonprofits that come to me wanting help, but who don’t have the time or energy to do the work of vetting someone great.
The Rolodex Moving Forward
The truth is: I don’t know and I haven’t committed to running The Rolodex past December 2022 yet.
On the one hand - it’s clearly working. Nonprofit coaches and consultants are getting very warm referrals and nonprofit organizations are getting introduced to vetted service providers and only doing a fraction of the work. I too, am earning a modest financial take home (I think in the year it’s been running, it accounts for about 12% of my revenue).
On the other hand, it’s a lot of launching. Adding two more significant launches to my calendar isn’t working. #mamaistired
It also doesn’t seem like The Rolodex is filling a complete need I’m seeing from nonprofit coaches and consultants who want to start or grow their business which includes the following, but isn’t limited to:
Creating sticky content
Getting visible
Becoming a thought leader
Selling without the icks
Nailing down sustainable pricing
Moneyyyyyy mindset
Growing an email list to build a sustainable business
Storytelling
Systems and operations that will truly help you scale
Hiring
If you are wondering what it’s like to be in my head - this is only a tiny fraction of what is swirling around 😜. I’m chew, chew, chewing away at all of this to figure out the best next move - maybe The Rolodex in its current form and maybe not. I make zero promises.
As the Natasha Bedingfield song goes, “The rest is still unwritten,” and trust me - you’ll be the first to learn what I come up with.