Coaching The Field Partners on How to Make Their Entrepreneurs Irresistible

[Guest]

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[Jill]

      I've been thinking that together, we might be able to come up with a number of suggestions that Kiva could give the Field Partners (MFIs?) for taking (more) "Winning Pictures" and for writing more "Irresistible Copy (Descriptions).  Everybody, eventually, seems to get funded, but some entrepreneurs languish on the website for days or sometimes weeks, often, probably for reasons totally unrelated to their worth or need.  We, the lenders, are possibly in the best position to inform the Field Partners what "sells" (really, what grabs or touches us) and what doesn't.... so much.
   For instance:

                                                 PICTURES
                           
                When it's possible......

1--  INCLUDE KIDS AND/OR ANIMALS WHENEVER POSSIBLE
      (Loving family units -- groupings of extended families are almost always a hit).

2--When the Work is related to Arts/Crafts, INCLUDE IN THE PICTURE
     SAMPLES OF THE ARTWORK OR HANDICRAFTS created by the Entrepreneur.

3--Get the Cambodians (and any others) Out of The MFI's "office" and
      PHOTOGRAPH ENTREPRENEURS WHERE THEY WORK, OR, at
      least, WHERE THEY LIVE (inside their homes, if feasible).
   
     Lenders like "Local Color."  We like to get a glimpse of what life looks like, "feels
    like" in another country, in the local homes or work places.    (As a former public
    school teacher, I can also say that Pictures (and possibly, descriptions) with More
    Local Color will help teachers more easily tie Kiva in with their class lessons in
    Geography and World Culture.

    If it isn't always possible to photograph the entrepreneurs at work or sometimes, not quite as satisfying,  in their homes, at least photograph them      Outside, so we, still, can see a  bit of who the entrepreneurs are and where they're from.

4--   SMILES
     This isn't always realistic either because the people aren't feeling a lot to smile
   about or because it's culturally or (individually) "constitutionally" not something
   some people do, comfortably, when they're being photographed, but where those prohibitions aren't in effect, it might help if people were encouraged to smile for their pictures as most people are softened (humanized?) when they smile.
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                          DESCRIPTIONS

1-- INDIVIDUALIZE, INDIVIDUALIZE, INDIVIDUALIZE
     Some of the MFIs are better at this than others, but we all know we're less
     inclined to click on that Lend Button for someone if we've just read an almost
     identical description of the preceding three or four (or more) entrepreneurs.

2--THE FIRST TWO OR THREE LINES OF THE DESCRIPTION ARE
     THE MOST CRITICAL
     Especially when there are lots and lots of choices, some potential lenders won't 
     take the time to click on the "More (information about a particular
     entrepreneur)" Button and will casually pass on a number of probably very
     worthy and interesting entrepreneurs (simply because of the few perhaps
      uninspired or  undifferentiating lines that they read on the page that has many
     many other choices.
3-- IF THE LOAN SOUGHT IS FOR SOMETHING OTHER THAN WORK,
      TELL US HOW THE INDIVIDUAL IS EXPECTING TO REPAY THE
      LOAN
      What kind of work will they or their family members be doing that will
      generate the payback funds?
4-- THE MORE HUMAN INTEREST DETAILS, THE BETTER   
     Most of us who have grown up in a land of sappy sentimental movies, of good
    newspaper, magazine (or book) feature copy and/or of Madison Avenue can easily
    recognize the kind of details that tug at our heartstrings and make us feel a
    connection.  The more details that are given that will help us to relate to/empathize-sympathize
    with an individual entrepreneur, the more inclined we're going to be to want to help that particular
    one.

   (Sorry about how wordy I know my entries are, Kiva Friends.  I used to be a lawyer and I got paid by the word!). 
      (That was a joke -- Actually, in my lawyer incarnation,
      I was a Public Defender, and then later I volunteer-advocated for an organization that sought to help
      the Physically and Mentally Disabled and we didn't get paid beans).

                   Best to all of you,
                  Jill

[Wood Fairy Glenda]

Great post, Jill (and I read every wordy word without noticing the length ).  I'd especially like to reiterate (more words) your statement about the importance of "feeling a connection."  This connection between lender and borrower can be facilitated with photos as well as with words, but for me it is the single most important determinant of my choice.

[Henry]

Ditto!   
And whenever there is a second loan to an individual- get a new picture please.  to include that person with what the loan helped accomplish if possible.

Excellent post and Ideas Jill. 

I guess i'm just as wordy, i just do it in little blocks all over the place!

[AccountAbility]

I just resurrected another thread ("who do you lend to") because it had a lot of good content about these very things.  It was good to get a field officer's perspective about how many minutes they can spend on a borrower. 

So I guess we need to strike a balance between what we would ideally like to see and what is do-able with small loans of the kind we are dealing with.  Otherwise we are going to see larger and longer loans on Kiva-- and that runs contrary to another preference that gets expressed here-- liking smaller and shorter loans.

I think some level of standardization is necessary to meet the middle ground. 

[Jill]

        First, thanks for the encouraging words, you guys.  (And before I forget, W.F. Glenda, have a rich rich special time in Uganda.... I think that that's where you're going later this summer).
     
       Next, this.... to elaborate on an earlier point, about:
   
THE FIRST TWO OR THREE LINES OF THE DESCRIPTION ARE THE MOST CRITICAL
        (See, my post introducing the topic).

      I'm essentially talking about what I think is known as "The Lead" or the leading sentence in journalism, maybe in writing in general.  It's like THE HOOK.  English teachers, English students and maybe both avid and reluctant readers will recognize the concept.  Does the first line of a story propel us to want to keep reading or not?
      The way the Kiva pages are set up, those first couple of lines of description may be "make it or break it", determining whether we'll feel inclined to click for more information, go to the entrepreneur's individual page, and based on what we see there, maybe lend to that person.
   
       I am not suggesting that Field Partners, necessarily, will have either the time or, sometimes, the aptitude for writing captivating prose, but.....
     to the extent that, in some of their descriptions of their entrepreneurs, the Field Partners may be able to include some particularly engaging, unique or curiosity-provoking details, I'm merely suggesting that someone encourage them to put those special details, FIRST, as a "come-on", to encourage, motivate, tantalize, titillate us to take the next step of clicking on the "More" button to go to the individual's page.

       For instance, following are a few examples of lines that snagged me right away (though I'll tell you that these were not in the first couple of lines of description, so I never would have seen them had I not had the luxury of time to click on their "More" buttons).   
      I'm suggesting that if these lines (and any other similarly fun, engaging or unusual details) had been on the "front page," instead of hidden on the entrepreneur's individual pages, I would have bet my bippy that these entrepreneurs would have had potential lenders running over each other in the rush to become one of their lenders, or, at least, there would have been many many many more people clicking on the "More" buttons, having had their curiosity or their humanity picqued, thereby (thereby, said the lawyer!) enhancing the possibility they might choose to lend to this particular person.

"In her village, she is known as the mermaid....."
http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=9164
(The wonderful juxtaposition of that line with the picture that went along with it would have gotten this ocean-and-culture worshipper even without all the other beautiful details provided in Perenice's particular blurb).


"Music is and will be the love of my life..." (says this singing tamale maker).
[url]]http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=9164
(The wonderful juxtaposition of that line with the picture that went along with it would have gotten this ocean-and-culture worshipper even without all the other beautiful details provided in Perenice's particular blurb).


"Music is and will be the love of my life..." (says this singing tamale maker).
http://http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=1556


"Luisa's hope is to work her way out of poverty and out of her house - a space equivalent to the size of a minivan for a family of six."
http://http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=4714

        Jill

[AccountAbility]

While I agree with your journalism concept, right now its hard to think that "selling" the loans initially is much of an issue-- right now there are only about 70 loans awaiting funding.  We need to figure out ways for more loans to come through the pipeline.

[RichardF]

Has any "In Need" listing ever not funded?  "Selling" listings seems to be completely moot to me.  (I started lending at Prosper.)

As AccountAbility, notes again and again,    the "writing" problem seems to be more about the follow-up (journals) Kiva promises lenders.  I also agree the "market" issue is on the supply side. 

[Kay]

I think "selling" loans certainly is an issue--maybe not for all loans, but for some--since some loans "hang around" for a couple of weeks or more before they are fully-funded--as Jill pointed out in her post that initiated this thread! 

[Diane R]

I agree with so much of what's been said here, but also recognize that the local partners don't have the resources to do much more of a sales pitch to attract lenders. I think at this point a great photo would be most effective, with least effort. (Did you see those amazing photos of the Masai women today? Even though they were just standing in a field, their clothing and jewelry and bearing made their loans eye-catching, and after reading the personal stories in their descriptions I decided to participate in several loans to them.) Send in more of those good used digital cameras, folks!

Additional suggestions:

Photo composition: As has been mentioned before on another thread, the eye does get tired of seeing the male shopkeepers from Azerbaijian standing in front of their shelves of groceries. They all look the same after a while. Also, when every single loan is for $1200, it starts to look kind of all the same...

Housing loans: As has been mentioned before on another thread, when there is a loan for house repairs, the best thing the MFIs could do is include text detailing how and why the borrower can be expected to repay the loan. Without that information these loans are less attractive.

Loan posting: If possible, space out the "competitors" over a few days. When 5 loans show up at once from the same MFI for shoe sales, or 5 loans showing women holding a catalog advertisement for the cosmetics they sell, or half a dozen "group of three sharing this loan" listings show up all for women doing embroidery, it's a little numbing, and whichever loan ended up first on the Popularity chart (and first into the front page spot) gets funded while the others languish for a while. If these similar loans could be spaced out over a few days rather than all showing up at the same time, they might be more careful attention.

--Diane.

[Jill]

 Accountability and Richard F  (and anybody else who feels the same way they do),

     Thanks for your input.  Really.
     I do understand where you're coming from and I agree that the issues you raised
are legitimate concerns.  I think all of us would like to see more entrepreneurs,
more countries represented, more Field Partners, more choices, more people being
given the opportunity of perhaps being given a leg up.
     Still, it occurs to me that we have no way of tracking how many potential
lenders visit Kiva's website, perhaps for the first and sometimes, only time and choose
not to lend.   (It's an unknown quantity how many first-timers have been/will be able to
resist getting hooked, were or will be immune to becoming "Believers", merely
because at the time they visited the website, the two-three line descriptions
they glanced at, the pictures they viewed lacked the "Pzazz" (I forget how to spell
Puhzazz!) that might have kept them at least intrigued enough to want to return.
     I say that as someone who checks out the choices, sometimes, several times
a day and who, at times, has found it a lot easier to keep my fingers off the "Lend"
button than at other times  (given both the descriptions and the pictures at a given time).
Sometimes, the pictures are so beautiful or the stories so compelling that it
truly almost hurts when I have to superGorilla glue the duct tape over my piggy bank.
    Also, sometime, hopefully, there will be many many more choices -- loans being
sought -- and it seems to me that the more the Field Partners can make their entrepreneurs attractive,
the more all of us who love Kiva and who want more fairness in the world will gain.
   It's just my opinion and it's a great thing about this forum that we all get to express
those opinions and hopefully, everyone will realize we're all doing it in the spirit of being
after the same goal.
    Bye.
    Jill