Many advisors are familiar with the research that for most businesses it takes multiple contacts to win a new customer - for 85% of new customers, it requires between 5 and 12 contacts to get prospects to make their first purchase.

Some might quibble that this data relates to more transactional purchases and underestimates the role of referrals - both excellent points. Research shows that referrals continue to be far and away the dominant method for advisors to attract new clients.

Even when you get a referral, there's often work to do. In some cases, prospects have decided to cut the cord with their existing advisor and a referral can bring a new client on board relatively quickly.

In other instances where referrals are initiated by the advisor or the advisor's client rather than the prospect, even prospects who are referred are taking longer to make up their mind - sometimes signing up months or years after the initial contact with an advisor. And that's where you need ongoing communication strategies in place.

More and more, client development is a process, not an event. One of the keys to prospecting success going forward will be building a pipeline of prospects - with activity in place to get prospects into the pipeline, move them through the pipeline and get them out of the pipeline. Advisors with ambitious client development goals will need to have five key prospecting strategies in place to make that happen.

1. Have a catalyst to get a prospect into the pipeline

Even when a good client refers you to someone they know or wants to make an introduction, often they need a pretext to help trigger the first contact.

The first hurdle is getting the first meeting or having the first quality phone conversation with a prospect; until that happens, they're a suspect, not a prospect. To maximize the odds of making that happen, it helps to offer something of tangible value - a good example is the invitation to listen in on a conference call, which is something prospects are unlikely to have been offered before and is also a relatively low commitment on their part.

Another instance of value is research tailored to their needs, let's say on their biggest holding or on their industry, the company they work for or a key competitor. Clear value that entails a higher commitment on the prospect's part are invitations to attend a luncheon workshop or meeting to provide a second opinion on their portfolio. At one time, general research or a client newsletter represented value - while better than nothing, these are increasingly seen as generic and of limited value.

2. Keep in touch at the right frequency

To stay top of mind with prospects and move them through the pipeline, you need to stay in touch at the appropriate frequency - too often and you become a pest, not often enough and you reduce your chances of winning the prospect over. A good rule of thumb is to do something to reinforce your awareness every 30 to 60 days.

3. Ensure that every contact delivers value

Contact for the sake of contact won't help your cause - calling and saying "Just checking to see if you're ready to buy yet" will seldom be helpful. Sending what's seen as generic information is only marginally better - prospects are so inundated with communication, it's more and more challenging to stand out. The key to effective contact is to be seen as representing meaningful value that's tailored to a prospect's needs.

For instance, if you tell a prospect that you send clients clips of interviews with money managers and ask permission to periodically send them a particularly interesting interview that they can view at their leisure, the same BNN clip will have a different impact than if you simply send it cold; better still if you can find out the particular kind of information they're interested in and have the clip you send reflect that. The same principle of tailoring the information you send applies to other ways to stay in touch - articles, newsletters and invitations to conference calls or client workshops.

4. Don't be afraid to ask for the order

Regular contact with information that's perceived to be of value can move prospects through the pipeline and warm them up - but converting them to clients almost always requires a face to face meeting. Once you've built your familiarity and credibility, there's no substitute for calling a prospect up, asking if they have any questions on your most recent communication and confirming that they want to keep receiving the information you're sending them - and then suggesting that you meet face to face to discuss their circumstances in more detail.

5. Slow and steady wins the race

Even if a prospect declines the invitation to meet, you may have lost that battle but you haven't lost the war - you can still keep them on the distribution list for the information you send. Increasingly, the key to successful prospecting will be to have a process in place that allows you to be patient in maintaining contact and presence with prospects - so that when they are ready to make a change, you're at the top of the list of potential candidates to talk to.

Building and managing a high quality prospect pipeline takes organization, discipline and patience - it represents a big investment of time and energy. The good news - advisors willing to make that investment will see it pay dividends in new clients brought on board.