Whites Of Their Eyes

There is so much information out there on branding and target marketing… but what actually works?

Of the following list, which strategies do you think would be the most successful?

• Dominant local firm
• Niche marketing firm
• Technical specialty firm
• Local presence of brand
• Firm run by a famous person
• Firm that has the most available services for clients
• Low cost provider
• Unique selling method

It ends up that being the Dominant Local firm is the way to go, by far.  So what are you doing to dominate?  How are you marketing?  How many movers and shakers are clients of yours?  How many attorneys and CPAs go to you for advice? 

Your marketing plan has to take all of those things into account.  Does yours?  If you need help dominating your market place, give us a call.  It’s what our advisors do within 18 months.

Source: www.investmentnews.com

I have a handful of advisors that swear by the following method to create referrals like clock-work every month.

It’s a client birthday or retirement party.  They just choose one client a month and throw them a little luncheon.  The purpose of the monthly luncheon is to host a get together to honor a favorite client and a small group of their friends.

The reason it works is that on average you’ll get in front of 10 people that “look” just like your favorite client each month.  That’s 120 over the year.  The advisors doing these luncheons end up doing business with 15 to 20 of these friends.  That’s not a bad way to grow your practice! These guys tell me they bring in from $1.5 million to $2.5 million in new money a year using these low-key, fun events. Not a huge amount, but considering the low cost and effort… absolutely worth doing!

If you would like a free copy of a step-by-step manual on how to easily do these little luncheons please CLICK HERE and let me know where to email you a copy to, courtesy of 5Q Group.

When advisors find out I make over a million dollars a year as an advisor in Rochester, MN… they jump to the conclusion I work with doctors because the Mayo Clinic is here. 

Nope… not a single doc in my practice.

The clients who make up my practice that made me $1 million a year might surprise you.

• 48% Engineers
• 32% Nurses
• 10% Teachers
• 10% others

Yep, Engineers.  What all these people have in common is they are NOT Affluent!  They have investable assets of between $100,000 and $500,000.  And selling to them is how I make a $1 million a year!

And yet, who are advisors chasing?  The high net worth.  All I can say is THANK YOU!  I love working with these “normal” people!  They are easy to get in front of… they are grateful for the help I give them… and they make me a ton of money.  PLEASE oh please, keep chasing the High Net Worth client.

But if you are sick of beating your head against that wall.  Give me a call and I’ll spend 30 minutes walking you through the 21 point checklist system that I and the guys I work with have used to make handsome incomes with people that are actually a joy to work with… yes, with the 21 point checklist system EVEN engineers are a joy to work with.

How would you like to get in front of the best 9 referrals you’ve ever received in the next month and a half?  It’s cheap… it’s easy… and it’s a no-brainer.  Your clients love you right?  But they don’t refer as much as they should, do they?

Here’s how to get them to refer 9 great clients in no time. 

I put together a little system I call the “Special Forces” system for my advisors and it’s worked like a charm to bring in referrals.  The “Special Forces” system simply applies the psychological principle of:

This is the principle that makes us give more money to a charity when we sit on its board than we would typically give.  It’s the principle that makes us rabid football fans for our team of choice.

This principle is easy to turn to our advantage when it comes to getting our clients to refer.  I have laid out step-by-step… little script by little script… exactly how to get your clients to give you an average of 9 referrals.

If you would like a free copy of my “Special Forces” system, please CLICK HERE and let me know where to email this out to.

According to a survey of US investors last month over 2/3’s of them do not realize their bonds (and more importantly bond funds) will be negatively affected by increasing interest rates. This is a HUGE opportunity for you!

Did you know that in June, July and August investors pulled on average over $61.7 BILLION out of bond funds each month!  And this is just a drop in the bucket!  Now here’s the kicker… only $400 million of that went into the stock market!

That Means Over $61 Billion Went Into Money Markets in the Last 8 Months!

1. What have you done to capture that money? 

2. What have you done to capture all the money still in bond funds… held by the 2/3rds of people unaware of the danger in their bond funds?

Advisors using the 5Q system are mopping up!  What a great time to be in this business! 

A picture paints a thousand words…  we’ve all heard that before.  Well it’s true.  People can grasp a picture much more quickly and emotionally than a word.  Think of your reaction to the printed word…  sun – as compared to an actual picture of a sun.  No comparison, right?

So how do we get people to understand that getting a higher rate of return will not make them rich any time soon but losing a big chunk can make them poor over night?  Consider using this picture.

Here’s what gets you business:

• Knowing things other advisors don’t know
• Providing solutions other advisors don’t provide
• Coming up with ideas that other advisors could never come up with
• Being the only advisor that can put the client in a better position

So what are you doing to accomplish those things?  Here’s a quiz right out of the Journal of Financial Service Professionals, on ROTH IRA Distributions.  How many of these True/False questions can you answer correctly? (Answers below article)

1. A distribution of earnings from a Roth IRA can be taxable to the participant after age 59 ½.
   
2. A distribution of earnings from a Roth IRA paid to a spouse due to the death of the participant, which the spouse then claimed as his/her own Roth IRA, qualifies as an exception and therefore is not subject to taxes or the 10% penalty.
   
3. When a contribution to a Roth IRA is distributed back to the participant, it can never be subject to taxes or the 10% penalty.
   
4. In January 2006, Jane, age 51, made a $5,000 contribution to her Roth IRA for the calendar year 2006.  When also made a $5,000 conversion to the same account in 2007, 2008, and 2009.  These were all the deposits she made to her Roth IRA.  In March of 2012, Jane’s account was worth $23,000, and Jane received a distribution of $20,000 from her Roth IRA to purchase a new car.  $10,000 of the distribution would be subject to the 10% penalty but the entire $20,000 would not be subject to income taxes.
   
5. Each contribution to a Roth IRA must remain segregated from an accounting standpoint due t the five-year waiting period.

So what can you do to use your knowledge of Roth IRA distributions?  Use it in your elevator speech.  Use it in the referral spiel you give your clients to talk about you with.  Use it in your newsletters.  Use it in your marketing.  Set yourself apart from your competition.

Answers:
1) True   2) True   3)  True  4)  True  5)  False

Source: Journal of Financial Service Professionals, January 2012, “Roth IRA Distributions: HOF Accounting and the Three Layer Gravy, by Jordan P. Gates, MSFS, CFP, ChFC, CFS

Looking to close more clients with assets of $500,000 to $7 million?  If so, you must read this paper that shows you why traditional marketing does not work on this demographic…  but more importantly shows you what does! 

The best part about the solution is that it is relatively inexpensive giving you an astronomical ROI by bringing on large clients at a low-acquisition cost.

If you’d like to receive your free copy of “How to Market to Middle Class Millionaires” just If you’d like to receive the letter I used, just CLICK HERE and we will get it sent right over to you.

The Holy Grail of referrals is the CPA referral.  I used this letter to bring in 5 or 6 CPA referrals a year.  Now you might think 5 or 6 new clients isn’t much but guess what kind of clients CPAs refer… pretty good size ones.  The average case size was well over $250,000… my average compensation was over $10,000 per case so it added more than $50,000 income to my bottom line each year…

Not a bad return on investment, eh?  So what did I do?

I simply sent a letter I designed to my new client’s CPAs within 2 days of them becoming my clients… and another letter to the CPAs once a year in December.  That’s it.  This letter worked so well because many of the clients I brought on shared accountants.  So when these accountants got 4 or 5 letters from me for each of the clients… what did they wonder?

Hey, how come this is the only advisor that does this?  And presto, my name pops into their heads the next time they see a situation that needs a financial advisor.  I might get only 1 referral from one accountant… 0 from 6 more… 2 from another…  1 from another… but they all added up to a great income stream with virtually no work or cost.

If you’d like to receive the letter I used, just CLICK HERE.

What should you do when the cover on Time Magazine says, “Buy Now!  The Market is Going Up!”

Run for the exits, right?

Here is a recent headline:

• USA Today –  Business section headline, “With Stocks This Hot, Why Worry?”

Here’s a great, simple explanation of this for your clients.