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What can local activists do to contact inquiries?

Local regions may want to make contact with inquiries in a variety of ways. In general, the quicker the response the better. Some inquiry records include phone numbers or e-mail addresses in addition to an address for paper mail, which you may want to use to make a quick reply even if you are planning to do something else later.

Some things that some local regions do:

Send a packet containing local information or a special invitation to the next local meetings.
Include the person for some amount of time in regular mailings of the local newsletter or meeting notice.
Invite the person to subscribe to a local Libertarian e-mail list.
Call or e-mail to let the person know who to contact locally if they have questions about the LP.
Pass the information on to a local activist who has agreed to make personal contact with people in his/her city or neighborhood.
Add the person to a local list of prospects for future contact about membership, campaigns, or other activities.

The kinds of contact listed above are things that are most effectively done at a local level and which complement the mailing done by the national office. Some points to keep in mind:

If you decide to send a packet by paper mail, be sure to give it a local orientation by including information about local activities and information about local Libertarian contacts.
Whether you have generated the inquiry locally or received it from a national or other source, you will generally have the name and address before the person has received the national packet, so don't assume that the person is already familiar with the material it contains. Always include in your local first contact some introductory material about the LP (or if responding by e-mail or phone, let the person know that it is available and be prepared to answer questions).

17 June 1999 by jwd3@dehnbase.org