Instead of seating your opponent, give your empty chair to a person you’re trying to reach:

• A potential volunteer
• A one-time donor you want to convert to regular giving
• An employee who needs to follow safety procedures
• A 50+ American who should have a colonoscopy

If you’re Clint Eastwood at the Republican National Convention, for instance, you might choose an undecided voter (if such a thing still exists).

Only one person will fit in that chair. You can’t work with the entire class of potential volunteers or 50+ Americans. You have to choose just one.

That one person has particular individual characteristics. List them: Female, 62, African-American, divorced, criminal lawyer, lives in Park Slope and commutes to Manhattan, vegetarian, has two cats, loves to cook, enjoys zumba and Sudoku.

Sorry if that sounds like a personal ad. My point is that you must get specific. Envision the person sitting in your empty chair. Give her a name. My example lawyer is Sandra. I’ve gotten to know her well enough already to say that if you try to call her “Sandy,” she will correct you.

OK, have you got Sandra – or rather, a representative your own target audience – fixed in your mind?

Good.

Now sit in her chair. Be Sandra. Inhabit her inner life. What does she care about? What is she afraid of? What knocks her socks off?

Hint: Donations and colonoscopies don’t make the list.

If you’re not afraid of #Eastwooding, become yourself again and talk to the empty chair. Except that the chair isn’t really empty – Invisible Sandra is sitting there. And you shouldn’t talk so much as listen. If you can recruit a willing coworker with an active imagination, the two of you can be a partner act.

Ask Sandra about her passions and her fears. Really listen to the answers.

Now try to connect your organization’s need to one of those loves or fears. For example, if Sandra is afraid of becoming isolated after she retires, your pitch is that volunteering with your organization will get her out of the house and introduce her to interesting people.

When you can match your needs to Sandra’s, you’re ready to draft your communication.

Once you’ve done so, bring Sandra back. Read her your draft, and see how she reacts. Change anything that offends or bores her. Try to knock her socks off.

You can do this exercise more than once if you need to reach widely disparate audiences. However, don’t do it more than twice for a single communication or more than five times even for a full communications strategy. You’ll do far better with a compelling message that reaches a few than with a bland message that, because it is designed for the masses, reaches no one.

I warn you, staying true to what Sandra needs, rather than focusing on what you need from Sandra, is devilishly difficult. If you need someone to help you stay honest, let me help.