ACT: Contact your local representatives:

10 Easy Ways to Support Implementation (PDF)

10 COUNTY LEGISLATORS:

Top Ten Tips for Calling Your Decision-Maker

Making a phone call to your decision-maker is quick, easy, and can be done at a moment’s notice, making it an attractive method for contact. For these same reasons, it is critical that the phone call be effective. You don’t need to be an expert on the issue to be persuasive; you just need to give your personal perspective. Follow these steps for an effective call to your decision-maker:

1. Plan: Before you make the call, plan what you are going to say. Your phone call will be very brief, so keep your message simple and to-the-point. Take a moment to think about it –you might even want to make some notes – and you’ll find that your call goes more smoothly than if you were to call "off the cuff." Know your request (for example, vote for a specific bill) in as few words as possible.
2. Message: After identifying (and possibly writing down) your request, think about a key point or personal story that supports your position.
3. Call: Make the call.
4. Staff or Message: At times, you may not be able to reach your decision-maker. Be prepared to talk to one of the decision-maker’s staff or to leave a message instead. Make sure you get the staff person’s full name, and treat them with the same respect that you would with an elected official.
5. Constituent: Begin by stating that you are a constituent. Decision-makers are most responsive to the people who can keep them in office—their constituents. If you voted for the decision-maker, mention that as well.
6. Persuade: Get to the point. Following your plan, state the reason for the call. Ask for your decision-makers support on the issue, and try to persuade them using the points you developed.
7. Thank: If the decision-maker agrees to support your issue, thank them. Regardless of their position, thank the decision-maker for their time. Let them know that you will be tracking the issue.
8. Recruit: Recruit a like-minded friend, family member, or colleague to make a call as well. Particularly with phone calls, quantity is critical. Decision-makers pay attention to issues that they believe their constituents care about.
9. Report Back: When you are part of a grassroots organizing effort, your participation is helpful only if the people mobilizing the effort, such as your coalition staff, know about it. Let them know that you made the call, and report anything of import that the decision maker said.
10. Call Back: Call more than once. Quantity is as important, if not more important, than quality in grassroots advocacy, because a high number of calls indicates to a decision-maker that many people in their district care about an issue. As you monitor the issue, call back to ask for specific support or action as appropriate to the process.

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