Rafael Sanchez is about to begin his career as a financial investment representative with Strong Point Financial Services, a national company specializing in investment opportunities for individuals. Strong Point provides its customers with the ability to trade and own individual stocks and bonds. It also helps them manage Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) accounts. Strong Point emphasizes a conservative investment philosophy of “buy and hold” and seeks clients who have the same philosophy. It differs from investment firms that encourage account holders to execute stock or bond trades often, thus creating commissions for the investment representative. The target market for Strong Point includes small business owners, empty nesters (people whose children have grown up and left home), two-income households with no children, and retired people. Strong Point’s investment reps have had much success targeting this group of customers, and Rafael is eager to get started. Rafael has just finished a seven-week training program for Strong Point’s new investment representatives. He learned about the products and services Strong Point provides, who is included in the company’s target market, how to identify potential customers, and how to represent and sell financial services. Now that Rafael is back in his company-assigned territory of southeast San Diego, he has been assigned a company mentor to help him through his first two years of employment with the company. Rafael’s mentor, John Green, has been with the company for 11 years and has been extremely successful. In their first meeting, Rafael and John discussed how Rafael could begin to develop a list of prospects that would generate some clients for his new investment practice.
JOHN: Rafael, what do you plan to do to begin generating clients for your business?
RAFAEL: Well, at training, they said there is no substitute for knocking on doors and introducing myself to people. I’ll start doing that tomorrow. I already have a couple of neighborhoods picked out—places where a lot of retired people live.
JOHN: That sounds like a good idea, and it looks as though you’ve picked the right neighborhoods. How many prospects do you plan to see in a day?
RAFAEL: I want to make at least 20 contacts, which as you know means getting their name, address, and phone number so I can follow up with them later. If I can get other information, such as whether they are already invested in the stock market or what their investment philosophy is, that will be great. But right now, I’ll settle for an OK to contact them later with information about a potential investment in which they may be interested. If I reach my goal of 20 contacts per day, by the end of four weeks I’ll have 400 names and addresses in my database. It’ll require a lot of work and shoe leather, but I got into this business to be successful and that’s what I plan to be.
JOHN: That sounds great. What else do you have planned?
RAFAEL: Well, I’ve contacted the local chamber of commerce. They keep a listing of all businesses owned by individuals and a separate list of businesses employing fewer than 50 people. I figure this will be a good source of information to begin targeting small business owners. They’re sending me the lists and I should have them by the end of the week. Another thing I’m considering is having a booth at the local home show—you know, the one where home builders and building products suppliers display their home plans and products. I hear they get a big attendance at the show and I should be able to make some contacts there. What do you think?
JOHN: Those both sound like great ideas, especially the chamber of commerce lists. I’m not sure what your success will be at the home show, but it’s worth a shot. In a couple of months, you should consider putting on a seminar on one of the topics the company has provided, such as the difference between stock and bond investing. The last person I mentored, Maria Santiago, found that many of her current clients were people who had attended one of her seminars.
RAFAEL: Thanks for the tip. I’ll keep the seminar idea in mind and start thinking about an appropriate topic. As you can tell, I’m eager to get started.
JOHN: That’s great. I’ll touch base with you later in the week to see how things are going. Good luck.

Questions

1. Which methods of prospecting discussed in the chapter has Rafael decided to use? Are they the most appropriate for his situation?
2. As Rafael continues to develop his client base, what other sources of prospects do you recommend he try? Why do you think these methods may be successful for him?
3. Assume you are Rafael’s mentor, John Green. What recommendations would you make to help Rafael get the most out of his prospecting efforts?