Breast cancer is the most common cancer among Kiwi women. With nine women diagnosed everyday, and one in nine women diagnosed at some time in their life, almost everyone knows someone affected by breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Foundation NZ is New Zealand’s foremost breast cancer education and awareness organisation. As a not-for-profit organisation, fundraising is critical to the Foundation’s ability to positively impact women’s health.

Absolutely, positively Pink

“October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” says Nicky Sinclair-Perkins, Campaigns Manager for Breast Cancer Foundation NZ. “We run a lot of different events and campaigns, with the help of loads of fantastic supporters. Our Pink for a Day campaign is designed to encourage organisations to hold a fundraiser to raise money for breast cancer education, research and support.”

Looking for different opportunities, and keen to speak to more organisations and people about breast health and awareness, the Foundation decided to use telemarketing as a new strategy to encourage more businesses to participate.

Picking the perfect Pink partner

To find the right telemarketing partner, Nicky sought personal recommendations. “The fundraising sector in New Zealand is quite small, so I simply asked around. I quickly learnt that Hot Leads has an excellent reputation and their clients are very happy with them.”

“We still had to be thorough, so we talked to several companies before we signed on with Hot Leads. But right from my first meeting with Lisa from Hot Leads, I was confident she understood what we were trying to achieve. We have a limited budget, and we’re careful about how we spend the money – so it’s important to know that our brand is in safe hands.”

In the pink!

To increase the campaign’s reach beyond the Foundation’s existing contacts, Hot Leads consultants made 2030 calls and generated 158 committed responses.

“The results were great,” says Nicky. “We had over 150 organisations taking part, which meant we were able to speak to thousands more people about being breast aware. We also raised more money and we had more organisations signed up than in previous years. Hot Leads signed up 25% of the organisations that registered for Pink for a Day and helped us raise over $150,000. It was a successful campaign and we are very happy with the outcome.”

Passionate and personal

The Foundation opted for a light-handed, personal approach to their prospective business supporters, says Nicky. “We wanted them to feel like Pink for a Day wasn’t a difficult or time-consuming commitment, and ultimately it’s about more people knowing what to look for and where they can get help if they need it. The lovely Hot Leads team absolutely got that across. People found it easy to sign up, which is exactly how we wanted it to be.”

As well as making the calls, says Nicky, the Hot Leads team sent follow-up emails on our behalf to everyone they spoke to. “This is great because it makes people feel like they are part of our team, and it makes a huge difference to how they respond.

“The Hot Leads team were really passionate about our cause as well, which makes a massive difference.”

Along with securing participants for 2018, Hot Leads captured the names of those who were keen to be involved in the future, so the Foundation has a ready-to-go pipeline for 2019!