When someone asks me why my agency is successful, there are a lot of reasons I can give. We exercise sound business practices. We have an excellent sales approach and staff. We pay careful attention to each client, even the small ones. We treat customers the way we would want to be treated if we were the buyer. But, the one factor that stands out above the rest is that we have always had an abundance of prospects.
Assuming sound business practices are in place, the prospecting will separate the marginally successful from the more successful. This being the case, what do we do that makes us such good prospectors? While we work both hard and smart at prospecting, it was working hard that really brought us to where we are. It was the disciplined effort we put into our prospecting that led us to learn what we needed to know in order to create greater efficiency.
Our sales-per-contact ratio from prospecting in the early days was not nearly as high as it is today. But by hanging in there, we gave ourselves the opportunity to improve our system over time.
Staying focused on prospecting
Our agency has always had one individual (namely, me) whose main responsibility was to prospect. I carried out this task by putting together an initial list of prospects based on a combination of geographic location and industry type. I then set up a schedule where I engaged in systematic outreach (mainly calls at the time) to the prospects on my list. I did not deviate from this schedule and made a habit of exceeding my goals. For example, if I scheduled 100 calls, I would often make 120. I got in the habit of doing more than was expected -- especially when things weren't going my way.
Instead of making 100 calls with no results and stopping, I would think, "After 100, I've got to be close to finding someone who is interested." And so I'd make a few more calls instead of quitting out of frustration.
Through these efforts, I began to gather information about the prospects on my list. I learned who my prospects were buying from, when they were buying, and how they were buying. I created a database to collect and sort the information I was collecting from prospects. I was always respectful of prospects' requests for additional information through the mail or any other medium. Also, I made it easy for uninterested prospects by promptly letting them go when they expressed any lack of interest.
Making use of data
Throughout time, the system began to evolve as my database grew. I learned how to identify and separate useful information I collected about my prospects. I learned how to keep track of the types of responses I was getting by creating a system of numeric codes that represented various responses. Working with the database taught me things about my prospecting that I never dreamed I could know. I learned my response ratios for various forms of outreach. I learned who and when to call. Also, I learned who was and who was not a long-term prospect.
Most importantly, querying my database helped me identify my better prospects. Once I had this list of quality targets, I was able to unlock its value by using it as a foundation for a mailing list. I saw that when I sent mail to such a personally researched and prequalified list, I got better response rates than when I sent mail to a more generic, less qualified list. By combining the numbers of prospects I received via direct contact with those I received from mail, I was able to consistently find an abundance of new prospects for our agency.
Reaping the benefits
My prospecting system looks quite a bit different today than when I started prospecting 20 years ago. Though it is still based on disciplined outreach and hard work, it now has a finely tuned structure. Many of our prospects who were once "cold" now know us very well from prior contact and by reputation. Thousands of prospects to whom we were never referred now know who we are and appreciate us as an established and respected provider of insurance services in our area.
Because of this, every year we continue to add many names from our long-term prospect list to our client roster. It all started with a simple plan that was brought to life through systematic and disciplined hard work. We were persistent and stuck with it over time, and we are now reaping the benefits.
Ted Stevenot is author of the book "Prospect Factory" and the workbook "The One-Pager Manual." For more information, visit www.prospectfactory.com.
