A Master Prospect List is a list of your most important prospects rated and ranked in descending order of importance (DOI).
This is a very important part of our sales system. Rarely, do we see an organization with a TRUE Master Prospect List when we start working with it.
This is a tough concept for most organizations to embrace but it’s a simple concept:
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- MASTER = ONE LIST. Not ‘one list for the gala’ and ‘one list for annual fund’. 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.
- Re: Individuals, Corporations, Foundations… a gift received yesterday does not remove the ranking of 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.
- RATED. We have a rating system that incorporates capacity, relationship (to cause/case), timing, gift history, philanthropy… but the concept is to actually RATE the prospects. Note: If you’re doing this for the first time don’t worry about being perfect. You will probably change a rating after asking anyway.
- RANKED. Not Alphabetical. Not by giving history. Not by Relationship Manager. RANKED BY IMPORTANCE.
The Master Prospect List:
- Streamlines prospecting meetings and reporting… you work your way down the list.
- 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.
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