The New Army of Persuaders: Prospect Research Professionals

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The New Army of Persuaders: Prospect Research Professionals

In the 1980s and into the 1990s, prospect research was a hunter-gatherer task. We went to libraries and gathered, and maybe summarized, lots of information about our prospects. Peer review – when social peers such as campaign committee members, reviewed prospect lists — was the best way to identify and prioritize campaign major gift prospects.

Flash forward and information technology has catapulted us into an almost unrecognizable space. We now have data modeling scores at our fingertips together with external wealth data matched directly to our prospect names – thousands upon thousands of names – within hours. Machine learning models are telling development officers when to reach out to donors and writing the first email draft!

Conversation among fundraising research professionals now inevitably includes a discussion of analytics and machine learning. Should I learn Python or R or SPSS? Will I be made irrelevant if I don’t know how to build a predictive model?

But before you or your staff sign up for data science or programming classes on Coursera, consider for a moment where the gaps in this growth are occurring and if there might be a better fit in a “gap” role.

Prospect Research Generalists Have (Validated) Value

Harvard Business Review published an article by Scott Berinato in early 2019 titled “Data Science and the Art of Persuasion.” In the article Berinato states that for-profit companies have been disappointed with the results of their investment in data scientist talent. Why isn’t the investment yielding better business results?

Berinato argues that this is because processing the data to extract insights only takes you halfway to realizing gains. The final leg of the race is communicating what these insights mean for the business. This holds true for nonprofit organizations, too.

Who might be on staff that understands much about the information technology and is good at communicating how development can take action on the insights to raise more money?

Why your friendly prospect researcher, of course!

The prospect research generalist is frequently the person who enjoys bridging between the IT department responsible for database maintenance and the development team responsible for using the database to fundraise, or creating profile masterpieces that tell the story of how a prospect’s complex financial wealth and giving translates into a gift cultivation strategy for your organization.

If this sounds like you or your staff member, you might be or have a diamond in the rough!

Mind the Gap | Training your way to deliver

As you look ahead at the future of your development department, who on staff will be able to understand the data insights and be able to communicate and persuade top leadership? What kinds of skills will that person need?

In a recent Master Class at the Prospect Research Institute, we considered how to present wealth screening results to skeptical leadership. One new researcher shared how the screening ratings were in their database, but not being used because they weren’t helpful.

We walked through a presentation that blended the wealth rating with an affinity rating to produce five distinct prospect segments. The presentation used words and graphics related to the possible uses of each segment and provided some summary data to demonstrate the “lost” dollar potential. We then discussed how this could apply to development officer portfolio assignments.

For this new researcher, this was the missing piece! It is also the piece most unlikely to be provided by the vendor supplying these valuable data insights.

Wish you could be a member of the Prospect Research Institute, learning best practices and practicing your persuasion skills? You can! Become a member today!

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Translating the data insights into action often follows best practices in the field and this is readily taught. However, presenting insights for leadership decision-making requires some additional skills:

Skillfully apply known psychological principles of persuasion and negotiation. Using persuasive techniques is not equal to being manipulative or misleading. It does mean accepting human psychology and creating an environment your audience will relate to. Seek out sales and marketing training to increase your skill level.

Present with confidence. Unfortunately, confidence is not something that can be trained, but it can be deliberately cultivated. Learn and practice presenting, writing, and storytelling. You will become comfortable with being uncomfortable, which is at least half of the battle!

Tell stories from data. This is probably the most important “bridging” skill. This combines an understanding of the data insights with the skill of translating that into a relatable story. It means doing things like using words and pictures – not just graphs and charts – to explain potential impact, such as creating multiple scenarios.

Managing Change

Prospect research is often a role that provides recommendations without the authority to demand implementation. We have to navigate and negotiate across multiple areas in our organization, such as IT, development operations, fundraising, leadership, and others.

Researchers have taken various pathways of career development, including development operations, data science, frontline major gifts, and executive leadership. The insatiable curiosity that drops us into the field sometimes leads us in and around or even completely out of the field. Kate Racculia became a successful mystery novelist!

So, even though the field of prospect research and fundraising is changing rapidly as technology transforms our personal and professional lives, you can manage that change by evaluating your strengths – the skills and talents you enjoy and are good at – against the trends in the field to plan for your continuing education.

And you might just become the prospect research persuader of the future!

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