Well, that’s just a big ‘ole fat lie, isn’t it? Any prospect researcher out there who has blown your socks off with a list of great new prospects they got from mining the database has training to thank for it. Ditto someone who proactively provides information from alerts they’ve created from Lexis Nexis or a search engine.

These sorts of skills don’t grow organically out of a new researcher’s brain, I don’t care how smart they are. Investing in prospect research training makes staff more efficient, and it also makes fiscal sense.

For example: everyone on my staff (myself included) is required to attend at least two continuing education seminars or conferences a year as part of their annual performance evaluation. If we’re not keeping up on the latest resources and techniques we’re not doing our best for our clients, and that will sooner or later impact my company’s bottom line for a whole variety of reasons, not least of which is team-member satisfaction. When I get a great employee, I want to keep them.

It’s good business, whether you’re a for-profit or a nonprofit.

Can’t afford it with the budget you’ve got? There are lots of free or low-cost continuing education options out there, too, through professional associations like APRA and through vendors.

Take a look at upcoming events for the next few months both virtual and in real life:

September 18: APRA/WealthEngine web seminar: “The New Face of Prospect Research” (Free to APRA members)

October 10-12: APRA-Canada conference: “Leading Discovery” at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown in Toronto

October 19: NEDRA day-long seminar: “Research Basics Bootcamp” at Northeastern University

November 9: APRA-Upstate NY Fall Conference: “Predictive Modeling from the Ground Up” at the University of Rochester

Not to mention lots and lots of free or low-cost replay seminars from APRA and most of the vendors out there.

Have I left any off? Want to promote your prospect research event? Comment and let us know!