forimpact.org » On Prospects

Help People Get What They Want!!!

Tom Suddes — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 20:21:26 +0000

Zig Ziglar is a God-like figure in Personal Development and Sales Training. He summarizes his entire philosophy, point of view and message as follows.

“To get what you want, help enough other people get what they want first.”

He’s all about ATTITUDE. So are we.

You need to believe that to “get what you want” (Make more IMPACT, have more INCOME to Fund Your Vision, etc.) you have to “help enough other people get what they want”:

It’s sometimes hard to put yourself in the INVESTOR’S proverbial shoes, but I believe they want:

• An Opportunity to Make A Difference

• A Chance to Move from Success to Significance (in Drucker’s words)

• A Meaningful Way to HELP You Achieve Your Impact

To get what you WANT… help other people get what they WANT!

The Credit Class and The Asset Class

Nick Fellers — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 14:20:26 +0000

As American’s we are suckers for debt. Credit cards, houses, student loans. We’ve known the financial meltdown was coming for a while – just didn’t know when, the rate at which it would hit or how particular dominoes would fall.

One thing that’s clear – the landscape for debt will change. We’re going through an adjustment now. I think it’s good. I just hope that what we’re seeing now is the band-aid being pulled from the skin quickly and not very slowly – with prolonged pain.

There are those that will be hardest by this adjustment: "the credit class" and those that will experience changes more than pain: “the asset class”.

Note: Similar to the Rich Dad / Poor Dad principle around assets vs liabilities.

When you think about the credit class and the asset class it’s actually pretty easy to imagine who would fall into each. Younger generations are distanced from the great depression, have only known ‘free credit’ and use the credit to facilitate a lifestyle – great house, great car, great education. Older generations have the house, remember the depression (or stories about it from parents), are more cautious and conservative, have been successful, etc.

The asset class is not always old and the credit class is not always young. The point here is two-fold. (1)Think about WHO falls into the asset class and (2) Not EVERYONE falls into the credit class. Now is a great time to be visiting with the asset class. This could be those that are moving from Success to Significance. The asset class will be impacted by the financial crisis – but not paralyzed. In fact, having been with many, many individuals, business owners and families from the asset class they see this as a time of opportunity – to buy cheap assets! They aren’t consumed by paralyzing fear. They haven’t ended their giving (quite the opposite) and NOBODY is out visiting with them (right now).

Said differently: Yes, don’t be surprised to see some of the annual fund/events money dry up. The $20/month is more than likely coming from the credit class – not the asset class. Now is the time to go and visit with the asset class.
Now is the time to CHANGE.

Focus on Ideal Prospects

Tom Suddes — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 10:59:32 +0000

These times (actually all times) require absolute FOCUS on our IDEAL PROSPECTS.

Today’s IDEAL PROSPECT is not heavily invested in Fannie Mae, Lehman Bros. or Washington Mutual Savings & Loan!

Find And Visit With Your Best Prospects

Tom Suddes — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:56:13 +0000

Here is an example of the kind of ideas we’re discussing during this week’s teleseminar series: Campaign Week 2008.

THE SIMPLE IDEA:

Create an IDEAL PROFILE of the ‘perfect’ qualified prospect/perspective investor for your Cause, Case, Organization, Vision, and Campaign…

MATCH your stakeholders, constituency, suspects/prospect pool to the IDEAL PROFILE to determine the 3 best fits (matches)…

GO VISIT with these 3 prospects immediately, tomorrow, within 3 hours after you’ve created the MATCH.

THE VALUE:

It doesn’t make any difference where you are in a Campaign. Planning. Just starting. In the middle. Stagnant. At the end.

CREATING and MATCHING and VISITING with your 3 most IDEAL PROSPECTS will have an IMPACT beyond anything you can imagine.
This is about the best 3 matches/fits. It’s not visiting with 3,000 or 300 or even 30 prospects.
You can AUTHENTICALLY look these current or potential ‘CHAMPIONS’ in the eye and say any or all of the following:
- “When we created an IDEAL PROFILE of people that we felt would be a PERFECT FIT vis a vis our Purpose, our Priorities and our Plan… you were at the top of the list.”
- “In all of our work and preparation for this effort (Funding Initiative), it became so obvious, at least to us, that you were one of a ‘HANDFUL OF PEOPLE’ who could literally TRANSFORM this organization.”
- “If we can’t PRESENT THIS OPPORTUNITY and get someone like you ENGAGED… [who is perfectly ALIGNED with our Mission , Vision, Purpose, Priorities and Plan] then I don’t know who else we should be meeting with.”

ACTION: If you trust us enough to believe that this can literally transform your entire organization, then you should, again:

Create your IDEAL PROFILE .

If you need help, there’s much more on the “How-To ” in our Online Learning Center), you can download the three pages about the IDEAL PROFILE for free.

MATCH this Profile to come up with 3 perfect ‘FITS’.

Quick Tip: Sharing the Ideal Profile with your Board and key volunteer leaders and asking them “Who fits?” is 1,319,000 more productive than asking your Board for a ‘LIST OF NAMES’. As Nick always says, “How’s that working for you?”

Schedule the VISIT immediately. PRESENT THE OPPORTUNITY . Be AUTHENTIC.

Master Prospect List – QPI Rating System

Nick Fellers — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:11:21 +0000

Download the excel file.

Internet Explorer users, right-click and ‘Save Target As’ to download to your desktop.

Directions:We have used this tool to run hundreds of campaigns and major gifts initiatives. It’s simple and powerful. Rate your top prospects to create a master prospect list in descending order of importance. Then focus all your time (literally) on your top ten prospects — you will be amazed by the results.

Each prospect receives a rating in each category 1-5 (5 being the highest). You need to determine the rating system for each category that makes the most sense for your organization. If you are a two-person organization with a low budget a major gift may be $20,000. If you’re the American Cancer Society you may be looking more at $1M.

	Capacity	This is the prospect’s capacity to make a major gift.You must decide what constitutes a major gift for your organization .Generally, it is a gift level that is worthy of one-on-one time with a prospect where you develop a specific return-on-investment for the gift.This is not an indication of what you think the prospect will invest in your organization – it is an indication of what you think the prospect COULD give.
	Relationship	This is an indication of this prospect’s relationship to your organization OR CAUSE.If this prospect is on your board it should be a five (5).If, for example, you are the American Cancer Society, and this prospect is a cancer survivor, the rating should be a five (5) even with no gift history .Develop a rating system to account for each number 1-5 that makes the most sense for your organization.
	Timing	Generally timing is always a five (5) unless you have specific knowledge otherwise.For example, we just received a major gift commitment last week … move down to a three (3).
	Gift History	What is this prospect’s giving history to your organization?You might determine that a five (5) on the rating scale indicates lifetime giving of $100,000+ or ten consecutive years in your Leadership Society.
	Philanthropic History	This is a measure of the prospect’s general willingness to give.Has he or she supported other organizations?Is it a foundation (5)? … or does this prospect have short arms and deep pockets (1)?
	QPI	Qualified Prospect Index:The sum weighted total of ratings in each of the five categories.You need to visit with anyone 90 and higher today!
	Relationship Manager	This is the person within your organization that manages the relationship — does not have to be the point of contact but must responsible for thinking about this prospect every day.
	Natural Partner	This is a person, internal or external to your organization that has the closest relationship to the prospect.

Get More Aggressive

Tom Suddes — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 15:30:12 +0000

Here’s a big lesson/coaching tip from recent experiences: GET MORE AGGRESSIVE!

ALWAYS ASSUME THE BEST …
- Timing is perfect.
- They just inherited a large fortune.
- Their business is booming.
*They love your CAUSE and CASE!!!
DON’T MAKE THE DECISION FOR YOUR PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR … especially before you even get there!!!
- “They’re burnt out.”
- “They’ve got 3 kids in college.”
- “They’re still paying on a pledge.”
- “I’m not sure they can do $10,000 or $100,000, etc.”
*It’s not important whether YOU are sure. It’s not your money. Give them a chance to say ‘YES’!
Get (a few of) them to fall off their chair … in shock at the magnitude of YOUR PRESENTATION.If you have not caused someone lately to be SHOCKED at the SIZE of your OPPORTUNITY … you’re not THINKING BIG ENOUGH.