Rotary Outreach Sequence · Former Rotarians · D5170 Membership Team

Built: 2026-09-24 from Tim's plan of the same day and the Rotary research
Who runs it: the VA, on behalf of the D5170 membership team
The one job: book a 20 minute recorded conversation with Chau Phan, and invite the person to the next Rotary Means Business (RMB) evening.
Status: DRAFT. Nothing sends while any [AWAITING FROM CHAU: ...] tag is still in the text.

Tim, 2026-09-24: "email, follow up email, phone call, text message, last call email. It's the structure."

§ 0. RULES THE VA FOLLOWS ON EVERY TOUCH

1. This is about Rotary and RMB only. Never mention Chau's business, her company, or any service she sells, except the one honest line in § 3.3 when someone asks whether you are selling something. If someone asks what Chau does for work, the answer is: "She's happy to tell you herself when you talk."
2. One person at a time. Every email goes to one named person, individually. No BCC, no group sends, no newsletter tool blasts. Rotary Code of Policies 11.010 forbids circularizing Rotarians, and one to one contact for a Rotary purpose is the permitted channel.
3. Be honest about who you are. You are helping the D5170 membership team and calling for Chau. You are not a Rotarian and not Rotary staff, so never say you are. If someone asks directly who you work for, tell the truth: you are on Chau's own team.
4. Never imply we have seen their member record or know why they left. No "we noticed you left because...". Let them tell it.
5. Any reply stops the sequence. A yes goes to booking (§ 7). A "not now" gets a thank you and a date to check back only if they offer one. A "no" or "take me off" ends it for good: mark DO NOT CONTACT.
6. Keep it human. No form language, no research language. This reads like a person who misses them and wants their honest take.

Merge fields: {first_name} and {club} (the club they belonged to).

§ 1. EMAIL 1 · DAY 1

Subject: A question about your time at {club}
Alternate subject for testing: Quick question from the D5170 membership team

Hi {first_name},

I'm reaching out from the District 5170 membership team. You were part of {club}, and we'd genuinely like to hear how it went for you, the good and the not so good.

Chau Phan, our district membership chair, would love to hear your honest take. No pitch to rejoin. Just your view.

Also, an invitation: our next Rotary Means Business evening is [AWAITING FROM CHAU: next RMB mixer date, format and place]. It's a relaxed room of local business owners, and you'd be our guest.

Would you be open to a quick chat with Chau about it?

[AWAITING FROM CHAU: sender name]
D5170 Membership Team
[AWAITING FROM CHAU: sender email address]

If Chau herself is the sender, change the second paragraph to: "I'm the district membership chair now, and I'd love to hear your honest take."

Why Email 1 asks for interest, not time. Email 1 asks only whether they are open to talking. It names no day, no time and no length. Gong Labs, 304,174 cold emails: an interest ask succeeded 36% of the time against 15% for a specific time ask (https://www.gong.io/blog/this-surprising-cold-email-cta-will-help-you-book-a-lot-more-meetings). Once they reply, the VA answers with two specific times (§ 7.1).

§ 2. EMAIL 2 (FOLLOW UP) · DAY 3

Send as a reply in the same thread as Email 1, so the first note sits underneath it.

Subject: Re: A question about your time at {club}

Hi {first_name},

Just floating this back up in case it got buried.

Chau is talking with a handful of people who used to be part of Rotary around the district. Honest answers help us more than anything we could guess at. Plenty of people tell us work simply got too busy, and that's a completely fair answer too.

The RMB invitation for [AWAITING FROM CHAU: next RMB mixer date, format and place] stands either way.

Would you be open to a quick chat with Chau?

[AWAITING FROM CHAU: sender name]
D5170 Membership Team

§ 3. VA PHONE CALL · DAY 5, SECOND ATTEMPT DAY 8

Call window: 8:30 to 10:00 am or 4:00 to 5:30 pm, the person's local time (Pacific for D5170). RMB itself meets after 5 pm "to accommodate working professionals", so business owners are easiest to reach at the edges of the work day. For a VA in the Philippines, that is late night or early morning Manila time.

Call attempts: two. Attempt 1 on Day 5. Attempt 2 on Day 8, in the other call window (if Day 5 was the morning, Day 8 is the afternoon). One dial is not enough: 93% of converted leads were reached by the 6th call attempt (Velocify, https://appexchange.salesforce.com/partners/servlet/servlet.FileDownload?file=00P3000000P3dgaEAB). The lapsed member phone script says: "Call again on a different day at a different time of day." (https://developmentforconservation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Phone-Script-for-Lapsed-Members-and-Donors.pdf). Two attempts, not six, because these are former members, not inbound leads who asked to be called. Attempts stop the moment the person answers, replies or opts out.

3.1 Live script

VA: Hi, is this {first_name}?

Hi {first_name}, this is [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA name]. I'm helping the District 5170 Rotary membership team, and I'm calling for Chau Phan, our district membership chair. Is it OK if I take one minute to tell you why I'm calling?

(If no: "No problem at all. When's a better time for me to call back?" Write it down and end the call.)

(If yes:) Thank you. You were part of {club}, and Chau is talking with people who used to be in Rotary to hear how it really went for them, the good and the not so good. It's about 20 minutes with her, phone or Zoom. There's no pitch to rejoin. She just wants your honest take.

She also asked me to invite you to our next Rotary Means Business evening, [AWAITING FROM CHAU: next RMB mixer date, format and place]. You'd be very welcome as our guest.

Would you be open to a short call with Chau?

(If yes: go to § 7, Booking.)

(At the end, every time:) Thanks so much, {first_name}. And thank you for your time in Rotary.

Why the script asks permission first. Rotary International's guidance for talking with members who leave makes step 1 asking whether the person is willing, before any questions, and asks for "someone who is a good listener" (RI Membership Assessment Tools, "Understanding Why Members Leave": https://www.dacdb.com/Rotary/Accounts/6910/assets/Membership%20Assessment%20Tools.pdf). So the VA asks permission to explain before explaining, and asks whether they are open to the call before booking it. The VA does not ask "do you have time right now," because the lapsed member phone script warns: "They will say no." (https://developmentforconservation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Phone-Script-for-Lapsed-Members-and-Donors.pdf).

3.2 Voicemail (about 20 seconds)

Hi {first_name}, this is [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA name]. I'm helping the District 5170 Rotary membership team, and I'm calling for Chau Phan, our membership chair. You were part of {club}, and Chau would love 20 minutes to hear how Rotary went for you, the good and the not so good. No pitch to rejoin. You can reach me at [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA callback number]. I'll send you a quick text too. Thanks, {first_name}.

3.3 Short answers to what people will say

⛔ The "are you selling something" answer is a promise Chau keeps on her call. She raises her own business herself, once, in 1_Rotary_Call_Script.md step 9 (version 2), tied to the small tasks the person named, and always with the out: "That's not the intention for this meeting, so feel free to say no."

3.4 Second call attempt · Day 8

1. Make it only if nobody has answered, replied or opted out since the Day 5 call. A callback time they gave on Day 5 replaces this attempt.
2. Call in the other call window from Day 5.
3. If they answer, use the live script in § 3.1 word for word, permission question first.
4. If no answer, hang up without a second voicemail. The Day 5 voicemail and the Day 6 text already told them who is calling. Log CALL2 and NO_ANSWER.
5. No text after this attempt. The one text in this sequence is the Day 6 text.

§ 4. TEXT MESSAGE · DAY 6

Send only if the Day 5 call did not connect. Skip it if they answered.

⛔ The text never goes before the phone. It is sent only after the Day 5 call attempt has been made and the § 3.2 voicemail left. If the Day 5 call slips, the text slips with it, always to the business day after the call. Never move it earlier and never send it first to warm them up. Texts sent before phone contact cut the chance of ever reaching the person by 39%, while texts sent after phone contact lifted conversion 112.6% (Leads360/Velocify, 3.5 million lead records, 2012 sales lead data: https://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2013/10210/texting-prospects-at-the-right-time-boosts-conversion). The voicemail already says "I'll send you a quick text too," so the text arrives as a promise kept.

Hi {first_name}, it's [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA name], helping Chau Phan with the D5170 Rotary membership team. Chau would love 20 min to hear how Rotary went for you at {club}, the good and the not so good. No pitch. Would a call next week work? Reply STOP to opt out.

Length: 253 characters with a typical name and club filled in (tested with first name "Maria", VA name "Priya" and club "Rotary Club of San Jose"). Under 300.

§ 5. LAST CALL EMAIL · DAY 10

Send as a new email, not a reply, so it reads as its own warm note.

Subject: Thank you, {first_name}

Hi {first_name},

This is my last note, I promise.

If now isn't the right time, that's completely fine. Thank you for the years you gave {club}. They counted for a lot.

If you'd ever like to tell Chau how it went, the good and the not so good, just reply to this email, whether that's today or six months from now.

And you're always welcome at Rotary Means Business. The next one is [AWAITING FROM CHAU: next RMB mixer date, format and place].

Warmly,
[AWAITING FROM CHAU: sender name]
D5170 Membership Team

§ 6. TIMING TABLE

Call attempts in total: 2 (Day 5 and Day 8). Any answer, reply or opt out cancels the attempts still ahead.

What I assumed, and why.

1. 10 business days end to end, Tim's default. The Rotary research has no cadence data for outreach to former members, so nothing in it argues for a different length.
2. Day 1 to Day 3 spacing mirrors the 2 day follow up Ela already runs, so the VA team is not learning a new rhythm.
3. The text goes the day after the voicemail, not the same day, so the five touches Tim laid out land on five separate days. The Day 8 call is a second attempt at the phone call touch, not a new touch, so the structure stays at five.
4. The mixer date sets the start date. Start the sequence at least 15 business days before the RMB evening, so that the last email still lands with time to attend, and Chau's calls can happen before the mixer rather than after it.
5. Recipients are in Pacific time (District 5170, California).
6. Day 8 for call attempt 2 follows Velocify's combined phone and email plan, which places touches on Days 1, 4, 5 and 8 (https://appexchange.salesforce.com/partners/servlet/servlet.FileDownload?file=00P3000000P3dgaEAB), and leaves a business day between the last dial and the last call email.

§ 7. BOOKING MECHANICS

7.1 What the VA says to lock a time

Offer two specific times, never a bare calendar link. Nobody has ever booked through the link on Chau's other outreach; people reply with their availability and Ela books by hand. Specific times come only after the person has said yes to talking: once someone is engaged, a specific time ask succeeded 37% of the time against 25% for an interest ask (Gong Labs, https://www.gong.io/blog/this-surprising-cold-email-cta-will-help-you-book-a-lot-more-meetings).

"Great. Chau has [AWAITING FROM CHAU: two open time slots each week for these calls]. Would [slot A] or [slot B] be better?"

(When they pick:) "Perfect. Phone or Zoom?" (Confirm the number or email for the link, and their time zone.)

"One more thing. Chau usually records these calls so she can listen properly instead of scribbling notes. Is that all right with you? If you'd rather not, that's completely fine, she'll just take notes."

"You'll get a confirmation from me in the next hour, and a quick reminder the day before. Thanks, {first_name}."

Confirmation, sent within one hour:

Subject: Your call with Chau, [day and time]

Hi {first_name}, you're all set to talk with Chau Phan on [day] at [time] Pacific, by [phone at number / Zoom at link]. It's about 20 minutes. If anything changes, just reply here. Thanks again, [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA name]

Reminder text, the day before:

Hi {first_name}, a quick reminder that you're talking with Chau Phan tomorrow at [time]. Looking forward to it. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA name]

⛔ Recording consent is asked twice. The VA asks when booking. Chau asks again, out loud, at the start of the recording, before any questions: "Is it still OK if I record this?" California requires every party to consent, and a yes at booking is not the yes on the tape.

7.2 What the VA writes in the tracking sheet after every touch

One row per person. Update the row after every touch, the same day.

Outcome codes:
SENT · BOUNCED · REPLIED_YES · REPLIED_LATER · REPLIED_NO · NO_ANSWER_VM · NO_ANSWER (Day 8 attempt, no voicemail) · CONNECTED_BOOKED · CONNECTED_DECLINED · CALLBACK_REQUESTED · WRONG_NUMBER · OPT_OUT · RMB_ONLY (wants the invitation, not the call) · SEQUENCE_DONE

Weekly totals for Chau, every Friday: people started · emails sent · dials · answers (a call of 2 minutes or longer) · calls with Chau requested · calls with Chau booked · RMB yes. These are the same four call numbers already on the KPI sheet Tim asked for on 2026-09-17, so both sheets count the same way.

§ 8. BEFORE THE FIRST SEND

• Every [AWAITING FROM CHAU: ...] tag replaced.
• Chau has confirmed where the names come from and that she has standing to contact each person as membership chair for a Rotary purpose. Her line of 2026-09-17 holds: no DapDB export for her business. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: source of the contact list, and who is allowed to hold it]
• Chau has confirmed a former member may attend RMB as her guest. RMB attendance is "primarily reserved for active Rotary club members," who may bring one guest. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: confirm former members can attend the RMB evening as guests]
• The sending address exists and Chau has approved the words above.
• Chau has two weekly time slots held for these calls and her recording set up.

§ 9. ALL OPEN TAGS

1. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: sender name]
2. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: sender email address]
3. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: next RMB mixer date, format and place]
4. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA name]
5. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: VA callback number]
6. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: two open time slots each week for these calls]
7. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: source of the contact list, and who is allowed to hold it]
8. [AWAITING FROM CHAU: confirm former members can attend the RMB evening as guests]

File created 2026-09-24. Sources: Tim's plan in his words, 2026-09-24, and the Rotary research.