Creating a solid prospecting process will help you avoid mistakes that can cost you new clients.
“Good prospects are precious,” says George Hartman, CEO of Market Logics Inc. in Toronto. “And they’re not that easily obtained. So, you wouldn’t want to make a mistake that would jeopardize the opportunity.”
Here are five common prospecting mistakes to avoid:
1. Not defining your ideal client
Create an ideal client profile to help you target the best prospects for your business.
“Without a clearly defined idea of who you’re looking for,” Hartman says, “you are taking a very broad, ‘shotgun’ approach, which is often less effective.”
Instead, Hartman says, you should think carefully about characteristics such as the employment of your ideal clients. Other points to consider include the client’s age group and socio-economic background.
For example, your ideal client profile might be: doctors between the ages of 40 and 55 with assets over $500,000.
2. Using the wrong marketing approach
A common prospecting mistake is using marketing activities that don’t fit the type of client you are looking for.
The activities you choose must be appropriate for your target market, Hartman says. For example, high net-worth clients do not usually respond well to broad-based marketing initiatives such as advertising or seminars. For this group, you should focus on networking, in an effort to receive a personal introduction to a prospective client.
3. Working without a process
In order to prospect successfully, you should have a pipeline-management process. Such a process helps keep you in contact consistently with prospects.
The management process is a continuum of specific activities designed to lead a prospect from being suspicious of your business to being an advocate, Hartman says.
For example, the first step might be to get an introduction, he says, followed by sending the prospect an interesting article or corporate brochure. Then, you might arrange to meet face to face for a “big picture” conversation about what the client is looking for and your capabilities. The final step might be a fact-finding discussion and formal presentation on how you can help the prospect with his or her goals.
4. Trying to make a sale
While getting to know a prospect, it’s best to save the sales talk for later.
“If you launch in too quickly with ‘Here’s my solution,’ when you haven’t really established what the problem is,” Hartman, says “then you’ll turn people away from you.”
Instead, you need to first find out whether the prospect is the right fit for your business and whether you can help them, he says. Then you can start explaining the service you provide and your process.
5. Not having enough prospects
Make sure you have plenty of prospects in your pipeline.
The average advisor is generally in contact with 15 to 40 prospects at any one time, Hartman says. Yet top producers tend to have between 100 and 200 people — who fit their client profile — in their pipeline.