The No. 1 Prospecting Mistake

Fact:  Many advisors who have relied on referrals alone for years know they have to prospect again.

Some will actually do something.  Others, sadly, will lie in a quiet pool of warm water hoping a food particle floats by.  If that’s your plan, this article is not for you.

This article is for those who are willing to re-energize prospecting.

As you shake yourself back to life, you must be ever alert for and not commit:

Basic Mistake Number 1

Get a bad idea and stick to it.

The way never to commit this mistake is to constantly test and evaluate your prospecting campaigns.  To help you, I have posted “Testing Campaigns” on my “Financial Advisor Prospecting Resource Page.”

While I have seen this one committed by rookies and veterans alike, it’s more common among rookies and is probably the most common reason they wash out.

Let’s consider the worst script anyone can use:

“Hi, my name is Anita Cathider.  I’m calling to introduce myself and let you know some of the services we have available.”

You would think that after cold calling a few days with this dog of a script, Anita would give it up and try something else.  But no, someone had told her, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”  So she tries harder. 

Failure deepens.  She cold calls more.  She begins to question her abilities.  Her attitude dims.  After a few months of pounding out 150 calls a day, she has a handful of prospects.  Her manager occasionally comes around to see how she’s doing.  Then comes around less often.  She starts checking job openings on Monster^®.

What’s the real problem?

She got a (very) bad idea and stuck to it. 

Successful prospecting is built on failure, lots of it.