How to recruit climate voters on the doorstep

Preparing for your door-knocking session

• Read the canvassing script here and practice on your family and friends.
• Read up on the talking points here for inspiration on creative ways to guide your conversations.
• Download the Climate Vote App here (Android / iPhone), create an account and familiarise yourself with its features.
• Charge your phone, add your canvass organiser’s phone number, and pack water and snacks.

Effective conversations

We’ve produced a script for effective door-to-door conversations. This will help you connect with people and ask the right questions, but don’t let it get in the way of you being yourself. People connect with other people, not with scripts.

Here’s the general pattern that some of our most effective conversations have followed, if you get stuck or confused about the direction of the conversation just ask yourself where in this pattern are you:

• • Connecting (opening up the conversation and building rapport)
  • Pitching and asking (explaining the plan and asking if they will be a climate voter)
  • Gathering details (this is a crucial step, using the app to gather information about what they have shared, more about that in a moment)

Connecting

• The aims of the first step, ‘connecting’, are to establish trust, get the person talking (a good conversation will be 80% them speaking and 20% you) and to find out what issues they care about.
• To do this we introduce ourselves, ask the opening question “is climate change something you think about at all?” and then follow the ‘response cycle’, see the full training for more on this technique.

Pitching

• After you’ve asked them if they think the government is doing enough and listened to and acknowledged their answer, it’s time for the pitch.
• You can say something like “Today we’re sharing our bold plan to get all political parties to strengthen their climate policies ahead of the next election”
• We want to make it clear to the voter that they aren’t alone in caring about climate, and that if more of us showed politicians climate change is an issue we’ll vote on, they’ll have to take it seriously.

Asking

• The next step is asking for them to join the campaign: “will you commit to being a climate voter?” and “will you put a poster in your window?” If they say yes, we’re going to explain that we need their information so we can come back to them when the election comes with a ranking of the political parties’ manifestos.

Collecting Details

• This is the absolutely crucial stage where we get their contact details
• If we don’t get their contact details, we can’t follow up with them and we can’t count them as Climate Voters when we start to put pressure on MPs
• In this step we:
  • Thank them for being a climate voter
  • Get their contact details and volunteer interest
• Make sure to stick to the script language when collecting Email, Text (SMS) & Telephone consent
  • This helps people know what they are opting into, and keeps us GDPR compliant!

Using the App

• The best way to record this information is to put it directly into the Climate Vote app.
• The app is extremely easy to use. This guide will walk you through the whole process.

Representing Greenpeace

When we’re on the door we’re representing the movement, so it’s important that we agree to some shared ways of working. These are the principles that underpin the whole campaign:

• We are committed to fighting the climate and biodiversity crisis and building a better, more peaceful world.
• We believe in people power.
• Our relationships are our power.
• We make space for joy and celebration.
• We are humble and always learning.
• We are inclusive and welcoming.
• We recognise interconnected crises.
• We are part of a global movement.

Top tips

Out of these principles come some practical tips and rules for when you’re on the door:

• Dive right into the conversation without waiting for their permission to talk
• Non-Judgmental Tone – make it clear we’re not there to judge them
• Be quick between the doors!
• Assume friendliness from ALL voters; they’ll follow our lead, so be confident and set tone
• Don’t forget to offer blu-tack to the voter to put up the poster while you’re still there!

Rules

We also agree to follow these rules:

• Never enter into a voter’s home, even if they invite you!
• Don’t canvass U18s or vulnerable folks
  • If someone looks under 25, you can ask – are you old enough to vote?
  • If someone is unable to stand/get to the door easily, you can drop a ‘sorry we missed you’ leaflet which has all the information they need to know about the campaign
• Avoid ‘no cold calling’ houses
• “2 nos gotta go” – if someone declines you twice, end the conversation
• You are representing Greenpeace
  • It’s fine to not know
  • We are non-partisan
  • Think: Would you want your conversation on the front page of the Daily Mail?

Staying safe

And finally some important points on staying safe:

• End any conversations that make you feel uncomfortable – you can say ‘Thanks for your time, that’s all I need’
• If you receive any kind of abuse/inappropriate comments while door knocking, report it to your door knocking team organiser in WhatsApp immediately
• Emergency contact for the day: Your Canvass Organiser
• Stick with your team leader and your buddy

Need help?

Speak to your canvass organiser or local group leader, or email getactive.uk@greenpeace.org.