X-Message-Number: 4420
Date: 19 May 95 13:52:02 EDT
From: "Kent, Saul" <>
Subject: Recruitment

	Bob Ettinger says that, although cryonicists are different
psychologically, they do not appear to be different in any visible and
useful way.
	I agree that there doesn't appear to be anything special about
the backgrounds of cryonicists. However, since cryonicists appear to be
different *psychologically*, it might be possible to pick out likely
prospects through psychological testing, *if* we could develop such a
test, *if* we could get people to take it, and *if* we had access to the
results. Obviously, a lot of ifs.
	As far as my comment about there being a good many interested
people out there, my purpose in making it was to suggest that I think
it's a mistake to spend time trying to persuade people who are clearly
*not* interested in cryonics, and that, perhaps, we should spend rela-
tively little time on people who are only *slightly* interested in the
idea. I think there are quite a few people out there who are strongly
interested in cryonics, but who have not, for one reason or another,
signed up yet. These are the people who we should spend most of our time
with. I think this time should be focused on the specific reasons they
have not signed up yet, which are, in most cases, I believe,
identifiable. 	
	As for follow-up on interested people, I believe this follow-up
should be rapid and frequent (at least several times), that each attempt
at follow-up should be different in approach, that one purpose of each
attempted follow-up should be to try to identify those strongly
interested in cryonics, and that, after such attempts are made, cryonics
organizations should pass on their leads to other cryonics organizations
who might have better luck with them.
	It is important to respond to leads promptly because you want to
try to influence people as close in time as possible to the height of
their interest. It also is important to do follow-up mailings within a
year of the time the prospect contacts you because people (especially in
the U.S.) move around a great deal, often do *not* leave forwarding
addresses, and if they *do* leave a forwarding address, the post office
usually only forwards mail for a year.
	I agree with Bob that the average cost of successful recruitment
in cryonics is very high, but the upside is that the dropout rate in
cryonics is very low. Signing up for cryonics is a major decision that
people often put off for years, but once they make up their mind, they
are usually in there for the duration.
	The reason I have been focusing so much on improving cryonics
methods through research as a means of improving the credibility of the
idea is that it is the only way I can envision the kind of super growth
in cryonics that will improve our chances of survival in a major way.
	Remember, the benefits of research are several-fold: it will
improve our chances of survival by improving the means by which we are
preserved and by improving the credibility of cryonics which will, in
turn, lead to larger, wealthier, more stable cryonics organizations,
greater acceptance of the idea in society, and greater funding for the
achievement of full-fledged suspended animation and the development of
methods to control the aging process.

---Saul Kent


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4420