How to Increase Your Prospecting Performance

Yesterday, I arrived in New York for Morgan Stanley's week-long Performance Session 2 (PS 2) training. In order to qualify for PS 2, Financial Advisors must be in the top first, second or third tier in terms of production during their first six months. I knew I would qualify for the training because I'm ranked in the first tier (top 20%) of my training class. One of my friends at Morgan Stanley completed her PS 2 training last month, and she shared with me the agenda from the program. While I wish there was more emphasis given to product knowledge and capital markets, I plan to view this week's training as a valuable learning opportunity, and I hope to come away from the experience with some new ideas about the business and myself. 

I know that a great deal of the training this week will be spent on prospecting. I believe prospecting is important even if you're not in sales. As with everything else, a successful prospecting campaign requires developing a strategy or plan of attack. Whether you're prospecting for new clients, a new job, or even a future spouse, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. What kind of person (or company) do you prefer to interact with?
2. What do you bring to the table? What is your competitive advantage or key differentiator? In other words, why should a person (or company) want to interact or do business with you? What makes you so special and unique? 
3. Evaluate people or companies you have had successful interactions with in the past. What were some of the key qualities of this person or company? It's also important to analyze your past failures when it comes to prospecting. How can you change or tweak your approach in order to achieve a more successful outcome?  
4. How many prospects do you need to have in your pipeline in order to achieve a successful outcome? If you don't have enough prospects in your pipeline, your odds of success are very low. Conversely, if you have too many prospects in your pipeline, you will have a hard time following up with each one of them in a meaningful way. However, it's far better to have too many prospects in your pipeline than too few.
5. Are there people you know who could introduce you to the type of person or company you want to meet? Spread the word among everyone you know. Use social media to your advantage. For example, LinkedIn is a great way to build your network of professional connections. 
6. What is your plan of action? What will you do first, second, third, etc. in order to execute your prospecting plan? Be as specific as possible by including "dates to be completed by" in your plan.
7. Ask a friend to help you role play an initial meeting with a potential prospect. 
8. Consult with an expert who has been successful at reaching the type of prospects you're targeting. 
9. Create a list of questions to ask your prospect in order to find out if there's a good fit between the two of you. Not all prospects are a good fit for who you are and what you're looking for.
10. Figure out a way to successfully overcome objections. You might meet the perfect prospect, but chances are, you will need to convince that person why s/he should develop a relationship with you. Prepare yourself to receive some resistance and learn how to overcome it. 

After I complete my PS 2 training, I'll share with you any new ideas I pick up on prospecting in a future blog posting. Stay tuned!