Creating a Foundation
Community → Contact → Customer → Cheerleader
LESSON 2: The Three Stages, Up Close
In Lesson 1, we made the case for why you need a plan at all. Now let’s get into the actual stages — what’s really happening at each one, and what you can start doing this week to move people along.
Think of the 3 C’s as a hallway with three doors. Someone doesn’t wander from “never heard of you” to “telling all their friends about you” by accident. They walk through one door at a time — and each door needs a different kind of push to get people through it. Let’s take them one at a time.
Section 1: Community → Contact
The Goal: Turn strangers into people who actually know you exist.
Right now, there’s a whole community of people out there who could become your customers, clients, or donors — they just don’t know you yet. Maybe they’ve driven past your storefront a hundred times. Maybe they follow three of your competitors but not you. Maybe they care deeply about your nonprofit’s mission and have simply never heard your name.
That’s your “community” — a pool of potential relationships. Getting someone from that pool to become a “contact” doesn’t mean they’ve bought anything or committed to anything. It just means they’ve raised a hand: followed your page, walked into your event, signed up for your list, given you a way to reach them again. That’s the whole job of this stage — nothing more, nothing less. Don’t try to sell in this stage. Try to get noticed, and get permission to talk again.
5 Ways to Push Community → Contact Forward
Pick your two or three spots and show up on purpose — You don’t need to be everywhere — you need to be consistent somewhere. Figure out where your ideal customer or donor actually spends their attention, and commit to showing up there regularly instead of thinly spreading yourself across every platform.
Give before you ask — A free guide, a helpful tip, a sample, a short workshop — something useful with no strings attached. People notice generosity, and it earns you the right to ask for their attention next.
Make the ask ridiculously easy — “Follow us,” “Join our list,” “Grab the free checklist” — the lower the commitment, the more people will say yes. Save the big ask for later stages.
Put a next step on everything you put out — Every post, every flyer, every conversation should end with somewhere to go next. If people have to guess how to follow up with you, most of them simply won’t.
Ask your current contacts to introduce you to their community — Your existing audience already has access to strangers you don’t. A simple “share this with someone who’d find it useful” turns your community into a referral engine before anyone’s even bought anything.
Gut Check
If a stranger found you today, would they know what to do next — or would they have to go looking for it?
Section 2: Contact → Customer
The Goal: Turn people who know you into people who’ve taken action.
This is the stage everybody gets impatient about — understandably, since it’s where the revenue or the donation actually shows up. But here’s the trap: contacts don’t become customers just because you asked once. They become customers because you built enough trust, made the decision easy enough, and stayed present long enough that saying yes felt obvious.
A “contact” already knows who you are. They just haven’t decided you’re worth acting on yet. Your job in this stage is to close that gap — answer the doubts they haven’t said out loud, and make the next step so simple there’s no reason to put it off.
5 Ways to Push Contact → Customer Forward
Follow up fast — and follow up like a human — Speed matters more than most people realize. A quick, personal reply beats a perfectly polished one that arrives three days later. If someone raises their hand, treat the clock as already running.
Build a sequence, not a single pitch — Nobody says yes to the first thing they hear. Plan out three or four touches — an email series, a couple of check-in calls, a short retargeting campaign — that each add a little more reason to act.
Let other people do the convincing — Testimonials, reviews, case studies, before-and-afters — people trust other people more than they trust you talking about yourself. Put proof in front of every contact who's on the fence.
Remove every unnecessary click, question, or form field — Every extra step between “interested” and “done” is a chance for someone to change their mind or get distracted. Walk your own checkout, booking form, or donation page like a stranger would and cut whatever isn’t essential.
Name the objection before they have to — “Not sure if this is worth it?” “Wondering how it compares to X?” Get ahead of the hesitation you know is coming — in an FAQ, a follow-up email, or straight from your mouth — instead of hoping it doesn’t come up.
Gut Check
If someone wanted to say yes to you right now, how many steps would it take them to actually do it?
Section 3: Customer → Cheerleader
The Goal: Turn people who’ve said yes into people who bring others with them.
Most organizations treat the sale — or the donation — as the finish line. It's not. It's the start of the most valuable relationship you'll ever build, because a happy customer or donor is the only kind of marketing people actually trust.
A cheerleader doesn’t just come back — they bring people with them. They leave the review, make the introduction, wear the T-shirt, tell their neighbor. None of that happens automatically just because someone had a good experience. It happens because you kept showing up after the transaction, and because, at some point, you actually asked.
5 Ways to Push Customer → Cheerleader Forward
Say thank you like you mean it — A genuine, specific thank-you — not an automated receipt — is the first brick in loyalty. Mention what they bought, what they gave, or what they showed up for, not just that a transaction happened.
Ask directly for the referral or the review — This is the step almost everyone skips, and it's the one with the biggest payoff. Most happy customers and donors are glad to help — they just need you to ask, and to tell them exactly how.
Make sharing embarrassingly easy — A referral link, a pre-written review prompt, a shareable social graphic — hand people the tool, don’t make them build it themselves. The easier you make it, the more often it happens.
Recognize your regulars out loud — A shoutout, an insider update, an early-access invite, a small loyalty perk — people who feel seen stick around, and they talk about organizations that make them feel that way.
Keep giving value after the sale closes — Don’t go quiet the moment the transaction is done. A helpful check-in, a relevant tip, an update on the impact of their donation — staying useful after the ask is what turns a one-time yes into an ongoing relationship.
Gut Check
Think of your last five happy customers or donors. Did any of them hear you actually ask for a referral, a review, or a share?
Bringing It Together
Notice that each stage asks for something different. Community to Contact is about visibility and a low-risk invitation. Contact to Customer is about trust and removing friction. Customer to Cheerleader is about appreciation and a direct ask. Trying to run all three with the same generic “marketing” message is exactly what keeps people stuck at whatever door they're standing in front of.
Before the next lesson, look at your last month of communication and sort it into the three doors: what was aimed at strangers, what was aimed at people on the fence, and what was aimed at people who already said yes. Chances are, one door has been getting a lot more attention than the other two — and that's usually the fastest place to find your next win.