Financial Client Attraction: Lost And Found
When financial advisors engage in financial planning with clients, they center their work on the unique individual or family in front of them. They concentrate on their hearts, minds, and spirits.
Yet, too often, this focus on the human being is LOST in the advisor’s marketing.
What’s Lost Is Found!
Here are three practical ways to put the human (your audience) into your marketing:
1 - Put Heart into Your Bio
Take the typical advisor bio, for example. It’s rigid, remote, and reserved. The human connection never emerges from the prison of being professional. That prison (You could think of it as putting yourself into solitary confinement) takes the form of name, experience, and credentials. Nothing escapes that reveals your humanity — your heart and spirit — nothing about the life that’s in you.
So what can you do that you are not doing now?
There are hundreds of ideas in Peter Guber’s new book, “Tell to Win: Connect, Persuade, and Triumph with the Hidden Power of Story.”
Not any story will do. Define and “connect the heart of your story to what-is-in-it-for-them” (your target audience). That’s how you’ll get a story that will ignite the passion of your audience and move them to action.
Here’s one that will reveal what you can do with your bio.
Peter Guber taught a class at UCLA on film production management. At the end was a student presentation highlighting their professional qualifications, artistic goals, and personal motivation before studio executives (who could hire them or advance their careers).
Earlier in the semester Guber had overheard a student, who like the others had set her mind on a career in film making.
She was talking about her motivation: her father couldn’t read. A farmer, visually illiterate, he “recognized a Stop sign by its shape.” His hands would shake as he held a restaurant menu. The student was passionate about wanting to tell her father’s story and help others like him.
When her turn came for her student presentation, she delivered her resume filled with the schools she had attended, her degrees, her grade-point average, and video clips from her student films, and then she sat down.
Guber was “heartsick.” It wasn’t the story she needed to tell to make others want to hire her. “It was,” he wrote, “as if she forgot that people in business are humans, too.”
He concluded that relationships are the foundation stones of every career. He went on, “No empathy, no relationship. Do resumes and bullet points ignite empathy? No! Does telling to win? You bet!”
2 - Beware of Bullet Points
Speaking of bullet points, what about your pitchbook and Powerpoint presentations? Are they distant and aloof bullet points? Or do they spring to life and ignite empathy with stories?
3 - Craft Case Histories
Another place you can “Tell to Win” is with case histories or scenarios. And this can be done within the bounds of compliance.
You are, of course, the hero or heroine of the story. Your clients faced a challenge. Next, they took action (working with you) to meet their challenge, and then experienced a resolution or transformation.
Here’s an example for a business owner. With quick brushstrokes you could present a little about a company’s history and its current situation, next add the daunting hurdles crossed with your help, and then reveal the outcome (perhaps an exit strategy such as a sale that successfully set up the business owner for the rest of their life).
The ultimate connection is not an ordinary face-to-face encounter that presents facts. Nor is it the internet or Facebook or LinkedIn.
Ultimately, the heart in your message moves your audience to action.
And here’s a new resource for you. Tired of giving referrals to CPAs and getting nothing back? Try a CPA partnership instead to use these services to help generate new clients.
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/cpas.html
—
August 4th, 2011
Would you like to add at least one additional qualified client each and every month?
It can be as simple as making sure one new marketing tactic is working for you month after month. And if you set up your marketing system correctly, these campaigns will virtually be on auto-pilot.
Rather than touching on only one tactic here, we introduce 3 ways to grow your practice. Please follow the links to get the details on how to profit from each one.
1. Growth Can Be As Inevitable As Taxes
Tired of giving referrals to CPAs and getting nothing back?
Try a CPA partnership instead to use these services to help generate new clients.
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/cpas.html
(You’ll get a white paper here.)
2. Seminars Too Expensive And Not Working?
Consider the power of online meetings and seminars (along with email marketing) to convert more clients and gain more assets.
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/unleashwebinars.html
(You’ll get a Free Webinar and Summary Checklist here.)
3. Marketing Through White Papers
Want a calling card that breaks through the clutter and helps get appointments with new prospects?
Try Marketing with White Papers.
http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/whitepapers.html
(Free Webinar and Summary Checklist here, too)
Yours for at least one more quality client per month!
Bob Hanson
Partner, Client Attraction System for Financial Advisors
July 31st, 2011
Have you ever been frustrated as you pursued hard-to-pin down prospects and elusive Centers of Influence? There is a better way to leave the pack behind and stand out as the go-to expert.
To attract the qualified prospects you are looking for, the answer can be your Marketing White Paper (Free Report).
Here you get 7 winning advantages you, too, can gain from this hot marketing strategy (one that follows current compliance and B/D guidelines).
1 - Generate More Qualified Prospects –
If you are doing any marketing today, you know getting “Permission” from prospects is the key first step to engaging prospects in the sales process. A White Paper can quickly turn your sales introduction from a “pest” to a “welcome guest” for more qualified prospects, new clients, and assets under management.
2 - Educate Prospects, “KO” The Competition –
One benefit of an educational White Paper is that it sets you apart from other advisors. Done right it can:
- Establish your expertise on solving a problem,
- Introduce your point-of-view on investment strategies and/or financial solutions, and
- Showcase your process for solving a key financial problem fast.
You will be seen as an expert in your selected topics such as Retirement Planning, Retirement Income, Wealth Management, 401(k) Rollover, etc.
3 - Gain More Appointments Without Costly Seminars –
Surveys estimate that marketing seminars only reach about 20% of your possible target audience. Reach your entire potential target market with an educational White Paper and draw them into your sales process.
4 - Attract More Clients through Referrals and Influencers –
Having trouble driving referrals from clients and Influencers? Do they see you as just like every other advisor in your area? No longer! Just hand them the White Paper with your name on it.
5 - Access Online and Social Media Marketing Channels –
Simply, you need a powerful marketing offer to get attention and leads from online and social media channels. Offering your own White Paper will help drive and convert traffic, leads, and prospects for you.
6 - Tap into “Money in Motion” –
It’s easier to get in “front of a sale about to happen” than to have to convince prospects or clients to budge now. A White Paper on the right topic will help you identify prospects with money in motion and prompt them to come your way.
7 - Boost the Power of Your Marketing Tools –
A White Paper can become your marketing champion to differentiate your practice and help you collect leads both online or offline.
You can call on a White Paper to attract qualified prospects, for example, from a website, a print ad, or a webinar.
And for more about Webinars we invite you to attend our complimentary Webinar “How Financial Firms and Advisors Can Unleash the Power of Winning Financial Webinars.” Click here to find out more and to sign up:
http://www.yourconferencecenter.com/r.aspx?p=1&a=UpfrEIrLrmrWVk&C3H=QLM
Bob Hanson
Partner, Client Attraction System for Financial Advisors
Ph: 617-901-6886
July 13th, 2011
by Bob Hanson
This summer the field is wide open to make new connections and ramp-up your marketing unless . . .
You are as busy as you want to be with ideal clients or ahead of your goals for the year. Then, enjoy a break this summer.
For everyone else, here are 5 easy ways to beat the “summer marketing blues:”
1. Reactivate COIs and Old Prospects.
Even if you gain only a couple extra clients or referrals, isn’t that worth harvesting formerly fallow fields?
2. Test a New Direct Contact Strategy such as a post card, email, or letter to drive meetings.
While others will be on vacation, you will have virtually no competition for your prospect’s attention. The numbers actually tilt in your favor.
3. Consider Updating Your Core Story for Your Capabilities Deck, White Paper, or Website/Brochure.
Most contacts and many clients probably don’t fully understand what you do, and the power of telling your story well usually leads to more referrals and a greater flow of prospects.
4. Update Your New Prospect Marketing Plan so that you hit the ground running post-Labor Day.
Understand who your desired prospects are and exactly what they want. Then, go after them with finely targeted marketing.
5. Try New Media such as social media marketing or a webinar.
An investment of just a few hours time in new media turned into over $5 million in new assets for one of our clients within 3 months.
And here’s how you can get off to a fast start with a webinar.
We invite you to attend our complimentary Webinar “How Financial Firms and Advisors Can Unleash the Power of Winning Financial Webinars.” Click here to find out more and to sign up:
http://www.yourconferencecenter.com/r.aspx?p=1&a=UpfrEIrLrmrWVk&C3H=QLM
Bob Hanson
Partner, Client Attraction System for Financial Advisors
Ph: 617-901-6886
July 12th, 2011
This article is by Bob Hanson
Too many marketing campaigns are ready to fail before they launch.
Why?
I used to teach a course called, “How to Make Your Advertising Up to 500% More Effective.”
Attendees would often bring to the course an existing ad, or an ad they were thinking of running, and we would complete an exercise that was always a favorite.
Let’s say you are about to launch a campaign for a mailing or an event. Here’s how you can benefit from this powerful exercise.
Try to “future-pace” as if the marketing campaign had already run and did not meet your expectations.
Ask why it disappointed you. Then, review your campaign to be sure you are not about to make those same costly mistakes.
What Makes A Campaign Successful?
Looking at the key components of a marketing campaign - the ones that help you generate a response - can enable you to figure out why it might not have worked. (And in the process enable you to save the campaign you are about to run.)
1. First, the List or Media Used
The more you can hit responsive lists and avoid compiled ones, the more likely you are to get a high ROI from your marketing and move closer to your ideal practice.
Generally, if you ‘buy’ a list of names, it is compiled, and not very likely to be responsive to your offer, no matter how compelling. (Remember, marketing campaigns are like art, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Here you need the right beholder.)
Also, read through the list of who is getting your campaign. Does it represent the kind of prospects who have the potential to be ideal clients? If not, the campaign will likely miss the mark.
2. The Headline
This is your ad for an ad. In an email it would be the subject line.
Is it both compelling and compliant? Do I have the primary benefit clearly spelled out?
3. The Offer
What do you want the prospect to do? Request a report, register for an event, request a meeting? Make it clear exactly what you want them to do. People are busy. Don’t make them guess what to do next because they won’t bother.
4. The Benefits
You must present the advantages or ‘reasons why’ of your offer. A simple example for an event is completing the statement, “You will discover . . . .”
5. The Urgency
When you are asking for a response to your campaign, do so with urgency. It’s no time to be wishy-washy.
Is there a respond-by date? Are there a limited number of places? Are you at risk of selling out and want them to avoid the waiting list?
These are quality ingredients that go into an effective marketing recipe.
So what are 6 more “Marketing Habits of Top Producers?” You will find them here.
“Marketing Insights of Top Producers” — On Demand
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/531935242
May 28th, 2011
A top theme from the recent marketing conference I attended was Repurposing. That means Revitalizing, Renewing, and Reusing work you have already sweated over to produce.
So let’s look at Repurposing as an Easy Marketing Tactic for Financial Advisors. You generate new uses for material already done . . . without creative agony and with the investment of little time.
= = = = =
Introducing A New Webinar, Wednesday, April 6, 2011
How have top advisors created the practice they dreamed of?
See Bob Hanson’s new webinar - “Marketing Insights of Top Producers”
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/531935242
= = = = =
Repurposing for Easy Marketing
From clients here are examples of recycling material, material that stands up to the test of time.
>>> Exhibit A: A client thoroughly enjoys making 6 minute videos and then uploading them onto his website. Suppose he put two or three together around a theme and presented them as a webinar to his list.
The advantages: It’s a new medium for reaching clients.
What’s more, it gives him a chance to expose prospects and clients to the deeply researched and proven process behind his quick sound bites.
>>> Exhibit B: A client has a library of his reports and articles (each with a one-size-fits-all message) going back to 1992.
In working with us today he intends to concentrate on two prime audiences for his current marketing. He can add what he knows about his top audiences and speak directly to them through his relevant past writings by changing only about 10 percent of his words.
Presto! Almost overnight he has created a library of marketing communications for specific audiences.
>>> Exhibit C: A client called on a concentrated 10-slide Pitch Book as a starting point for one-to-one meetings with prospects.
By expanding on a few points and leaving out those of less impact we created for him a brochure that addresses the needs and concerns of one of his top three desired audiences.
He can swiftly go through the same process for brochures for his two other prime audiences and have a targeted leave-behind document for each audience.
For More Marketing Strategies, Tactics, and Insights
We invite you to see Bob Hanson’s new webinar - “Marketing Insights of Top Producers”
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/531935242
April 5th, 2011
Marketing for Financial Advisors,
Whether You Are Building Your Financial Advisory
Practice Today Or Starting A New Practice . . .
Planning is paramount.
For an established advisor, be honest about the clients you really enjoy working with. Also, if you are eyeing a new direction, take the “enjoyment factor” into consideration, too.
As a new financial advisor, you will need to commit yourself to exploring your Ideal Target Audiences. (Look into 3 to 5 target audiences.)
Find audiences you have a kinship with, for example on personal interests, business experience, age, or hobbies.
Committing to your target audiences demands more than a light touch for each choice. It calls for deep exploration.
Recently, I wrote an article for a successful advisor with 17 years of experience. He is prospecting for new clients in a field he has specialized in for many years.
Because he was reaching out to people who did not know him, building his positioning with the prospects was vital. The steps we looked at included:
Four Steps To Prospecting Power
1 - Unique Experience
2 - Credentials
3 - Expert Skills
4 - Your Process For Investing
You can think of them as four steps to assembling your differentiation and enhancing trust.
>> Step #1 - Describe how your past and current unique experience contributes to your practice today.
There’s a story there that only you can tell.
>> Step #2 - Give a rousing fanfare for your credentials.
If you don’t have a CFP(R), for example, or other significant designations, bolster your standing by describing what you do have.
A client, who happens to have 25 years of experience along with a Ph.D. in another field, uses his 7 FINRA licenses to “demonstrate his lifelong commitment to the pursuit of excellence as a financial advisor.” Build your credibility with everything you’ve got.
>> Step #3 - Reveal how you put your expert skills and strengths to work for your clients.
A new advisor, a retired airline pilot, draws on his rigorous training and the demands of being a commercial pilot like this:
“Being a pilot for 32 years has taught me how to solve a problem without allowing emotions to intrude, to develop and follow checklists, and to count on systems that are structured and repeatable. I bring these to my practice along with the sense of being accountable and the need for continual training and education.”
>> Step #4 - Call On Your Process For Investing
If I were looking for an advisor, I’d want to be doubly sure that they have a system in place for working with clients (It isn’t selling the same solution to everyone).
Also, I’d want to be reassured that they have a well-developed process for managing my money. List its steps, and if you can give it a name, all the better.
Positioning Power
Think of your differentiation as more than a 7-word tagline. You might develop a document such as “What Makes Us Effective?” or “How Are We Different?” Draw on these 4 points above and add several more to create your compelling case.
We invite you to a Live Webinar for Financial Advisors with Conference Plus and the Virtual Presenter Roger Courville along with Bob Hanson.
“How Financial Advisors Can Promote and Deliver Engaging Webinars”
It’s for financial advisors new to webinars or those seeking to improve their results.
http://www.MarketingPlanFinancialAdvisor.com/webinar.html
October 4th, 2010
This article is by Bob Hanson
Sometimes we take marketing for granted.
We think we know what prospects NEED and therefore what they WANT. After all, marketing that works appeals to emotions, hopes, dreams, and fears.
Most people buy based on emotion and justify with facts. Hence powerful emotions such as fear and greed drive market movements.
Consider…
A new retiree may fear running out of money, so needs a lifetime income stream.
An affluent accumulator may desire to support his or her lifestyle with retirement savings and so needs financial planning.
A wealthy business owner may want to protect his money from risks and predators, so he needs asset protection and estate and insurance planning.
A big mistake virtually every financial advisor makes in their marketing communications is talking only about Needs. As a result, they wonder why they attract few leads from their website or get low response rates to mailers or seminar invitations.
So what’s a simple way out of this trap? Throw all assumptions out the window!
Imagine you are Marketing to Sasquatch, a creature with wants and needs — but one no (sane) financial advisor has ever met. You can’t just assume this prospect will know the value of, say, a 401(k) Rollover or a diversified investment portfolio.
It forces you to ask questions such as . . .
What does my prospect, in this case, Sasquatch, fear most about this financial situation?
What are the financial frustrations he or she would like to leave behind?
What is stopping my prospects from taking action now?
What questions will they ask to solve this problem?
How will they feel once they have solved this financial issue?
For answers:
- Ask your prospects and people who are close to them,
- Listen thoughtfully,
- Read publications they respect,
- Attend meetings filled with your prospects, and
- Follow blogs and influencers your prospects admire..
That’s how you’ll be able to tap into the dreams, frustrations, and emotions of your prospects with your communications (while keeping compliance in mind).
We invite you to a New, Live Webinar for Financial Advisors
More Assets, Clients in the New CNBC 24/7, Web 2.0 Economy
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/793377739
September 28th, 2010
This article is by Bob Hanson
We have talked in a previous article about email for financial advisors and why most will see diminishing effectiveness unless they embrace what we call Email 2.0.
Email 2.0 for financial advisors is the next step in the evolution of how you can benefit from email marketing to build a community, convert more prospect to clients, and get more referrals.
Let’s imagine it is the end of the year and you are taking advantage of the potential of Email 2.0.
It means you have an (automated) way of building an opt-in email list of prospects (and clients). You are generating new prospects and clients through your website.
Your email database is integrated with your CRM and you can easily run reports on who is a client and who is a prospect.
You can run marketing campaigns such as “prospect meeting campaigns” which get anywhere between 2% and 10% response.
You are driving attendance at events and stimulating referrals from clients. Clients are up-to-date on your latest perspective on the economy and markets.
Sound far-fetched. It is not. Many of our clients and advisors we meet have made this transition — one that has transformed their marketing and the way they communicate with clients.
= = = = =
New, Live Webinar - The 30-Minute Financial
Advisor Marketing Plan
Register now and get your top questions answered!
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/750359331
= = = = =
Want to discuss Email 2.0 or other ways of growing your practice this year so that you reach your yearly income goals in 2011?
Send an email to request a no-obligation consultation to bhanson@marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com or call 1-617-901-6886.
August 12th, 2010
This article is by Bob Hanson
“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
- Sir Winston Churchill
Opportunity is everywhere. Especially for financial advisors and their marketing.
Many advisors will only focus on the downside of news, and not the opportunity for them to grow their practice. Here are 10 examples.
Which ones are right for you?
> Markets are volatile.
*** Opportunity - Communicate how your investment strategy is right for today’s volatile markets.
> Scared of a double dip recession?
*** Opportunity - Financial advisor gets PR and clients by offering protection strategies in a downturn.
> Bear Market?
*** Opportunity - Many clients will be unhappy with performance and communications with current advisor, looking to switch.
> Merger means many local employees at big company will be moving on…
*** Opportunity - 401(k) rollovers galore.
> “Do not call” list ends cold calling…
*** Opportunity - Get permission from prospects to market to them (opt-in email for example), and you’ll have virtually no competition for their attention.
> Only have a small advisor marketing budget?
*** Opportunity - Use low-cost, no-cost marketing strategies to fuel growth.
> Too many clients to service them all correctly…
*** Opportunity - Weed out the bottom 20% who aren’t profitable anyway and give the others extraordinary service.
> Dinner Seminars no longer working…
*** Opportunity - Move to another event strategy, such as webinars or educational workshops with complementary professionals.
> Print magazines and newspapers ad revenue down.
*** Opportunity - Propose a win-win joint event or ads based on lead guarantees for you, the advisor.
> Disruptions and information overload form the new Web 2.0, CNBC Economy
*** Opportunity - take advantage of Web 2.0 to attract prospects
Join us next Wednesday (May 26) …
New, Live 30 Minute Webinar on Financial Advisor Marketing in 2010
How to Gain More Prospects, Assets in the New Web 2.0, CNBC Economy
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/889450131
Includes 15 minutes of your questions live, max 100 registrants.
While it is all too common that we in business are able to discover opportunity in other people’s businesses, we all have a tendency to get stuck in the daily details of our own practices.
Seeing and taking advantage of just a few of the opportunities from news - good and bad - will help you gain clients and income.
So where’s your best marketing opportunity?
May 22nd, 2010
Next Posts
Previous Posts
