Client Attraction Action

80/20 Marketing Vision For Financial Professionals

September 19th, 2007

Here’s another article by Bob Hanson, Jr.
A Principal in the Client-Attraction Marketing System For Financial Advisors

A client who had been in business only a few years recognized that medical doctors were their “A” clients. We worked with them on a few specific strategies to get in front of small practices. Within a short period of time they added 4 Doctors in the same month - their best month ever.

This never would have happened without 80/20 Vision.

Let me explain. You have probably heard of the 80/20 Principle.

It describes a recurring pattern in society, wealth accumulation, and business where all actions do not create equal results. The minority (around 20%) of inputs, causes, or initiatives produce the majority (about 80%) of results.

Our experience and work has demonstrated that financial professionals are no exception to the pattern.

Eighty percent of your fees or commissions, for example, could come from 20% of your clients. Yet you may be spending 80% (or the majority) of your client time with the 80% (the majority) of clients who produce only a small part of your income.

Almost every one of your peers acknowledges the 80/20 principle, and many build their investment recommendations around working only with managers who perform at the top 20% in their catagory. But when I ask about the specific marketing strategies or actions they are taking today based on this principle, few can show me anything tangible.

Which means you can gain competitive advantage over your peers. The 80/20 Marketing Vision offers a big opportunity for you - for more prospects, better clients, and more income.

If you would like to start right away, here are three places to begin:

Three Steps to 80/20 Marketing Vision

1. Identify Your “A” Clients

A related 80/20 principle is that the top 20% of Americans (according to one measure) own more than 80% of our country’s wealth. So you might target a segment of this group in your area. In addition, it is usually much easier and more profitable to acquire one $500k client, for instance, than it is to acquire and manage 5 $100k clients.

2. Develop a Marketing Plan to Multiply Your “A” Clients

I can’t tell you how many financial professionals are all about adding the greatest number of clients, even if most contribute little to their overall income, waste a lot of set-up and management time, and never give them referrals.

Instead, consider a marketing plan to specifically attract, retain, and multiply your “A” clients.

This may not be as hard as you think. For example, a financial advisor who has been in business for 10+ years may have 100 clients and only 10 to 20 “A” clients.

So when we put in a plan to get one “A” client a month, this financial advisor can double income a lot quicker and easier than if they had to acquire another 100 clients most of whom contribute little or no profit.

3. Use What We Call 80/20 Marketing Strategies

In short, these are the ones which produce the most “A” clients and probably don’t require any more time or money than the losers.

So giving a course at a community college to people with little money, putting up a weak website with no traffic, or working with CPAs or Estate Attorneys who are not active referrers (and may not even understand your definition of your “A” client) could qualify as activities that need to be fixed or discontinued in favor of the few that can produce a stream of new “A” clients.

If you would like to see more strategies like this for your marketing plan, you can get free access to our special report “7 Client-Attraction Secrets of Highly Successful Financial Advisors” at http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com

Entry Filed under: Financial Lead Generation, Financial Advisor Marketing Plan