David Hargadon is a go-to expert on our team, especially where wealth screenings are concerned. This week I asked David to share some of his best tips and tricks for getting the most out of your wealth screening investment. Thanks, David! ~Helen
Wealth screenings can be daunting undertakings, and I can definitely say that I’ve done my fair share of them. Over the past several years, I’ve conducted dozens of wealth screenings, screening hundreds of thousands of prospects, so hopefully some of these tips and tricks I’ve learned can help make your next wealth screening a success for your organization.
Measure Twice, Cut Once
Many of the potential hiccups that arise through wealth screening processes can be avoided by making sure your data is clean prior to sending files off for processing. Before a wealth screening is one of the best times to clean up addresses, employment information, spouse information and more. Consider doing a data append to make sure your data is as current as possible. Having this information up to date and current can help reduce false positives in your results, making the verification process run much more smoothly.
Picking the Best Product
You should also examine the best products for the type of screening you will conduct. With numerous options and varying price points, making sure you are using the wealth screening platform that fits best with your needs is very important. Some questions you should ask yourself while determining the best product to use are:
- Do we have time to manually verify all screening results?
- What is our budget for this wealth screening?
- Do we need a product that directly integrates with our CRM?
- How does the product quantify inclination?
- Do we want RFM analysis included in the results?
Answering these questions before choosing a product can help make sure you purchase the right platform for your organization.
Define Your Screening Parameters Well
Doing a good job defining the group you will be wealth screening is another point that can save you time and money down the road. The more focused your wealth screening group, the easier it will be to validate and the more cost-effective your screening will be.
Consider both the constituents you want to wealth screen as well as those you don’t. Excluding constituents who have current ratings, active major gift officer relationships, or that have limited giving history can make your wealth screening more focused and more budget-friendly. Also, make sure you exclude prospects with international addresses if your wealth screening product doesn’t offer data for them!
Utilize Custom Attributes
Most wealth screening platforms allow you to input custom attributes in addition to the default screening template. These attributes can be used to segment your wealth screening file or to prospect for specific purposes within your chosen platform.
Some attributes worth considering for use and contingent on the type of organization you work with: Academic major, region, solicitor assignment, patient service lines, or whatever makes the most sense for your organization!
Build Repeatable Processes
If the wealth screening you’re conducting will be an ongoing or regular process like a new parent screening at an independent school, grateful patients at a hospital, or reunion screenings at a college, make sure you’re building out processes that are easily repeatable in the future.
Building out queries, exports, and reports that don’t require you to reinvent the wheel every time you need to conduct a wealth screening can be a huge time saver down the road! And don’t forget to document your processes to make it easy for another person to pick up and/or help out.
Use your Wealth Screening Platform Efficiently
Most wealth screening platforms offer inclination scoring in addition to capacity information. Using these tools, you can expedite the validation process by targeting those prospects that return both high inclination and capacity ratings.
Conversely, prospects with high inclination but low capacity, or any combination of the above, can be targeted for different purposes like direct mail or annual fund solicitation.
Wealth screening can sometimes be overwhelming, but hopefully, some of these tips will help you effectively navigate your next one!