Get to Know Claire Waiksnoris

With spring, comes daffodils, warmer weather and Claire Waiksnoris knocking on your door.

Claire is TrueSense Marketing’s Business Development Executive and she’s charged with bringing new Salvation Army clients onboard to TrueSense.

Many of you already know her but for those of you who don’t, read more to learn about her role and why you should accept her invitation when she asks to meet with you! 

Claire, tell us about your role at TrueSense Marketing.

In a nutshell, I’m in charge of bringing on new Salvation Army business.  I travel throughout the country meeting with Divisions and Area Commands and their Development staff.  I learn about their programs; their strengths, challenges; and how their current direct marketing program is performing for them. 

This is different than a “sales” role because it’s not about quotas, it’s about building relationships.  I’m tasked with getting to know people, learning about their needs, any areas that require special attention, and letting them know what it would be like to work with TrueSense.

If they’re interested in seeing what a partnership with TrueSense looks like, I (and lot of super smart analytical people!) will analyze their donor file history, make projections and recommendations based on how much they want to grow, and share about our successful programs.

If the timing isn’t right to change their fundraising agency partner, I’ll at least have made a new friend and I’ll make a note to check in with them down the road. I know that circumstances can change and if this year isn’t right, then next year very well could be! You could call me a persistent optimist. 

Why should Officers or Development staff take you up on your offer to meet?

Two reasons. I’ll choose a good restaurant and I’ll treat!

Just kidding.  It never hurts to have a conversation so I encourage people to just share coffee or a meal with me. Let’s get to know each other. I’m not looking for anything more than that. Of course, I’ll follow up and see if they’re interested in taking things to the next step but like I said before, if the timing isn’t right, that’s okay.  Hopefully I’ll have learned enough about you during our time together that I can check in down the road with useful materials; white papers, information about webinars, or other helpful collateral…

I often get phone calls out of the blue from people I met with years before.  The timing wasn’t right back then, but things changed and suddenly they want us to be their new partner. I love when that happens.

How did you become involved with the TSA account?

I married into The Army. When I began dating my husband, Steve Waiksnoris, the first time he invited me to church he prefaced the invitation with a sentence I’ll never forget… “It’s kind of different, people wear uniforms there…” That was 17 years ago.

Steve, Claire and their son Arnost (Arno for short).

As is common within The Salvation Army, his family is multi-generationally involved.  Both sets of grandparents were officers, many aunts, uncles and cousins are as well.  And if they’re not officers?  They work at THQ or conduct the New York Staff Band.

About ten years ago, Shawn Reed, Senior Vice President at TrueSense, began calling on Steve at Metropolitan Division Headquarters, as he was the Director of Direct Marketing at that time.  He kindly invited me along to dinner each time he was in town.  Over the next few years, we got to know one another over fun dinner conversations and every now and then he’d suggest I come work at TrueSense.  I wasn’t looking to trade cold weather for cold weather, so I would politely decline, even though I thought it would be a great fit.

Fast forward to 2013, we had relocated to Tennessee, so our Chicago dinners had come to an end, but Shawn emailed out of the blue.  He wanted to bring me on his team to develop business throughout the Southern Territory.  He saw that my personal history of knowing The Army, my previous work experience and my relocation to the South, parlayed well into a newly developed position he was looking to fill.

Since then, I’ve grown from just working in the Southern Territory, to connecting with Divisions throughout the country. It’s the perfect job for me. 

Why do you think TrueSense Marketing is the best partner for The Salvation Army?

That’s easy. It’s our people.  Every department, from Creative to Analytics to Client Service, is comprised of professionals who are amazing at their jobs.  They’re experts. Truly. 

The brains behind the creative packages, acquisition list strategy, digital reach, etc…are people who have a heart for The Salvation Army and they want to use their gifts to see a great organization succeed.

That’s how we helped one division this past holiday achieve an increase of over 173% from the previous year’s acquisition and reactivate another division’s lapsed donors by 61%.

What do you want future clients to know about working with TrueSense Marketing?

Top two things are:

• That we unequivocally have your best interest at the heart of everything we do.  We want you to succeed.  We want you to gain more donors, grow your programs and continue serving your community.
• There’s A LOT of time and meetings that go into planning the strategies that we implement for our clients.  We test, analyze and retest.  All to enable your ability to “Do the Most Good” year in and year out.  And if we don’t succeed, we’re all super bummed about it.  It’s not just a job for us, it’s personal.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

That’s a tough one! There are so many things about my job that I love.  I can’t pick just one, so I’ll name a few.  I love getting to travel all over the country and see the work that The Army is doing.  I love meeting officers and staff who devote their lives to others.  I love hearing the stories of lives changed because of the help and hope they received from The Army.  I love knowing that the work I do, plays a part in continuing the services for those in need. And I really love my team members here at TrueSense. They aren’t just coworkers; they’re family. In fact, recently, a coworker suggested we all go on vacation together with our families!

Interested to learn more about our 50+ year partnership with The Salvation Army and how we can help your Divison or Area Command? Talk to Claire.