It’s treacherous out there. And scary headlines don’t help. Are we heading for a repeat of 1929? Are we in an earth-shaking bear market?
Your clients may be calling with troubling questions - questions that are at odds: One may ask, Why aren’t we buying now? Another challenges, Shouldn’t we be selling? Still, others argue for or against staying the course.
Times like these are not for the faint of heart. The solution we talk about today may provide safe passage for your financial advisory practice.
We could call it Practice Insulation.
It may be something you’ll want to think about as you plan your marketing to make a difference in2008. Here’s why: It protects your practice from turbulent financial waters and makes competition irrelevant, to boot.
To make this remedy real we begin with an example from a client (We’ll call him Matt):
When he came to us, Matt had started a new financial services business - new in the sense of a being only a year old and new because he blasted away from other businesses in his field to open up “untapped marketing space.”
Matt’s background is this: As Vice President of a national firm, he designed and copyrighted a system that took the company from $80 million in 2001 to more than $250 million in 2003. Two years later he left the company to start his own firm and took several top producers with him.
Matt’s Practice Insulation Has Three Differentiators:
1. One Stop Shopping
He collected a team to cover everything his clients need from medical planning and income stream needs to IRA needs, death probate documents, and Ethical Wills, to 401k rollovers and asset protection, and more. Simply, his firm coordinates legal (by an attorney) and non-legal
needs — financial services along with custom estate planning “in a unique package.”
2. One Fee For Life
What’s more his firm also offers knowledge and resources for a lifetime at a one-time reasonable cost. This includes free reviews once every 12-18 months along with free planning anytime. When a spouse dies, the remaining spouse has help and a plan and so do the children when the second spouse dies.
3. Endless Questions
And there’s another added service: The firm gets paid by lifetime service contracts and through transactions. But planning is free to everyone. Anyone with a particular question gets an answer quickly even those without a lifetime contract.
A couple comes to a seminar and, subsequently, meets with a financial advisor. They get answers and may bring in their children and grandchildren for the same help and assurance. Various generations of the family, then, become clients.
With Uncontested Marketing Space
Competition Vanishes
Matt’s uncontested marketing space comes from:
- Coordinated services that traditionally are separate,
- Attracted prospects into the sales funnel by providing free (and continuing to offer for free) consultations that others charge for to answer important questions, and
- Broadcast his differentiation through consistent marketing.
Three Key Questions Can Point To
Your Uncontested Marketing Space:
1. How completely can you solve the broad range of deep, troubling concerns your prospects and clients have?
2. What services can you add that will help to cement prospects and clients to your practice?
3. What can you provide free or as part of your package that others charge for?
Is “uncontested marketing space” in your marketing plan for 2008? You can differentiate through services that are geared to your target market. Then, let your differentiation shine through clear, focused marketing communications.
Yours for great marketing in ‘08!
Free access to our “7 Client-Attraction Secrets of Highly Successful Financial Advisors” is at http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
January 23rd, 2008
You, too, can see a practice that’s “Great in ‘08″ - whether you are a raw, 28-year-old advisor or an old hand. Here we give you 5 keys.
Today’s article came from this question:
“I’m just starting out in the financial industry and was pondering what some good marketing strategies are generating appointments, leads and new clients. As a young 28-year-old man with very little experience, but a strong education in finance and economics (BS Finance & Economics from University of Nevada, Reno), what should I do?”
You’re on the right track to go after sound “marketing strategies.”
The late Peter Drucker (management guru) agreed: “Marketing is not a function. It is the whole business seen from the customer’s point of view.” That means to see your practice from your prospects’ and clients’ angle and to translate everything into their language.
You’ve spent 4 years and thousands of dollars on college. Next up is broadening your education (It never ends, anyway) to marketing and grabbing as many ideas, strategies, and principles as you can from those who’ve gone before you.
That’s what we do. Even though we got our marketing start in 1990 with the legendary Jay Abraham, we continue to invest as much as $13,000 year after year on marketing.
How about a marketing strategy that gives you the power to grow your business? The humble marketing plan, too often underestimated, gives you that clout.
First up, we offer a resource that’s free on our website:
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/sample-marketing-plan.html
Simply, take to heart the strategies you encounter in the Sample Marketing Plan. Straightaway that broadens your marketing education. In this article we’ve boiled it down to five keys.
Before we hand you the keys, though, let’s talk about what’s not here. No, we aren’t “selling” specific tools.
Your tools will arrive from, and continue to turn up, from keys 1 through 5.
5 Keys To A Great ‘08
1 - Settle on The Who.
No, it’s not the English rock band. The Who is your Ideal Prospects. Ruthlessly eliminate all others. That means not taking that harsh road of trying to be all things to all people. That path leads to a mediocre practice at best.
2 - Get Rid Of Slapdash Guesswork
You, too, can give your Ideal Prospects what they truly want.
What’s that? For instance, if your prospects are companies with a 401k plan, address their high-voltage concerns. But what are they? Worry about complying with ERISA laws, poor plan participation, not knowing how to create an investment plan, no one to stay on top of investment opportunities, or something else?
You’ll know by asking. Talk to as many of your prospects (and for established financial advisors, your clients) as you can. Listen. They’re smart. They’ll never lead you astray.
3 - Find Out Where They Flock.
Many financial advisors miss this step, and their marketing is tougher than it needs to be. It’s harder to go after your prospects one by one. Is there a group they belong to? A place where they live? A pursuit they are mad about? Golf? Jazz? Rodeos? A publication most of them read? Remember, that could be your community newspaper or an association newsletter.
4 - Discover That Marriage Made In Heaven
What are your strengths, where is your passion?
Marry them to what your Ideal Prospects want (Key 2). Then, hone your message, and you can leave the pack behind.
5 - There’s Never A “Final Answer”
You’re not on a game show. A “final answer” is a marketing mirage. Seminars may have been your final answer. Or cold calling. But they may no longer be working. That says a marketer’s job is never done: Continue to track and evaluate the results of your marketing plan, adjust your plan, and move ahead.
Yours for greater production in ‘08!
Free access to our “7 Client-Attraction Secrets of Highly Successful Financial Advisors” is at http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com
January 1st, 2008
