The Master Prospect List is one of the biggest ideas in our sales process. It’s a system of:
- Rating and ranking,
- Your best and most Qualified Prospects,
- In descending order of importance.
PRIORITIZATION is the centerpiece of our prospect system: the MPL is not a random group of names nor an alphabetical list!
The MPL ranks ALL of your prospects, not just ‘individuals’.
Rarely, do we see an organization with a TRUE Master Prospect List. This can be a tough concept for some to implement so we’ve made it simple:
- MASTER = ONE LIST. Not ‘one list for the gala’ and ‘one list for annual fund’ and ‘one list for corporate partnerships.’ And, certainly not fifteen reports from Razor’s Edge.
- Most Important Prospects. If you receive half your funding from the government then the government is ALWAYS your most important prospect.
- RANKED. Not Alphabetical. Not by giving history. Not by Relationship Manager. RANKED BY IMPORTANCE.
- Re: Individuals, Corporations, Foundations – a gift received yesterday does not remove the ranking of the relationship.
- Smaller organizations should focus on their top 33 prospects. Larger organizations (e.g. Colleges) should maintain the same focus but take the ranking out to 100+ prospects.
In addition, The Master Prospect List:
- Streamlines prospecting meetings and reporting and allows you to focus your time and energy.
- Determines what to ask for by matching your prospect list to your funding plan.
- Saves a lot of time in meetings, thinking, planning, strategy, etc. because the list IS the framework for all these things.
