In addition to putting up yard signs and manning phone banks, volunteers go door to door to hand out literature, travel with the candidate, keep the candidate on schedule, answer emails, post pictures from the campaign trail on social media, recruit their friends to help, mail invitations to fundraisers.

They answer correspondence, organize meet and greets for the candidate, staff rallies and fundraisers, pass out literature at picnics and parades, mail personalized postcards to their friends and voters, keep track of who attended events, keep the headquarters clean, stocked with food and soft drinks, answer the phone and take voters to the polls on election day.

All of those tasks must be done by someone in a campaign.

The first and most important rule of recruiting volunteers is to ask.

The candidate should ask for volunteers in every speech. The campaign staff should be asked to recruit their friends and relatives. Every social media post should mention that volunteers are needed. Every email sent by the campaign should ask for help. You should have a place on your website where people can volunteer—one that gives them a choice on what they would most like to do.

Next week I will talk about how to turn your volunteers, phone callers and door knockers into a well oiled machine…as efficient as FedEx and UPS…using some of the same technology those companies employ.

I’ll also talk about one of the worst mistakes candidates make with their volunteers—so that you don’t make the same mistakes other candidates do.

Want to see it? Click the subscribe button on my YouTube channel. You’ll then get all of my videos the minute they go live.

Have questions? Hit the comment button. Or email me at Jay@JayTownsend.com. My phone number is 845-458-1210.

My Political Road Map Course is now live. To learn more and to register, visit: http://knowledgelinktv.com/jaytownsend/