Client Attraction Action

The Magic Of Focus For Financial Advisors

March 29th, 2008

“Focus is magical.”
Richard Koch in “16x: Real Simple
Innovation for 16 Times Better Results”

A financial advisor client, we’ll call him Glenn, told this story. Recently, he attended a workshop where Ed Slott spoke. No ordinary CPA who prepares taxes! Slott is the go-to guy in an important specialty. He was named as “The Best” source for IRA advice by The Wall Street Journal and called “America’s IRA Expert” by Mutual Funds Magazine.

Glenn was more fascinated, though, by how Slott placed himself in this “Category of One” than in his advice about IRAs. We have a word for it: Focus. Slott chose a specialty where he could shine, and he concentrated on marketing that specialty with all his might.

Missing Focus

As we talk with financial advisors, we find many suffer from lack of focus that can take many forms.

From One Extreme . . .

There’s the financial advisor who immerses himself in every one of the details of his business — all being equal. The pesky client with a few thousand dollars in stocks gets the same care as his “A” clients. Marketing doesn’t fit into the picture because no one is clamoring for his marketing attention.

Year after year he takes care of the “urgent” details, and the important ones never get done. He relies on the momentum of the marketplace to stay in business. Prospects arrive by chance not from deliberate, focused action.

To The Other Extreme

There is the committed financial advisor who reacts to an avalanche of marketing opportunities. Lack of focus shows up when he is unable to select his prime options and just let the others go. The choices he sees in front of him include participating in a radio show, networking in groups made up of his target market, creating his own monthly newsletter, writing a brochure, organizing talks for his clients and their friends, expanding his website, and more. This is an exercise in being overwhelmed — the opposite of focus.

Planning On Marketing Focus

A plan brings marketing into the daily routine of someone too “busy” to market. And a plan helps to select marketing tools with the highest priority for the hyper-committed marketer so that he doesn’t waste his time.

In the words of a client . . .

Before A Marketing Plan:

“Developing my marketing was a big task, and sometimes it seemed overwhelming. All these ideas were swimming around, and I didn’t know whether they were good and worth pursuing or a waste of time. I just reacted to ideas without having any clear direction.

Afterwards:

“The marketing ideas that weren’t worthwhile just fell away. Now I have a focused system, and my production is up a bunch!”

Marketing Focus is about both: Taking up the very few marketing actions (We always recommend more than one) that will make the most difference and letting go of those with less power.

Our Sample Marketing Plan focuses on what goes in and what stays out of a marketing plan. You’ll find it at:

http://www.marketingplanfinancialadvisor.com/sample-marketing-plan.html

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