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BIG IDEA: The Master Prospect List (MPL)

Daily Nuggets | | Nick Fellers

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.