Whites Of Their Eyes

There’s lots of marketers, articles and websites pitching Social Media marketing for advisors.  Sorry, but the numbers suggest it just doesn’t work for the financial industry. 

Don’t believe me?  Then believe your colleagues.  The amount of advisors using Social Media like LinkedIn and Facebook for business and marketing has actually fallen by over 50% since 2009 according to a survey done by the consulting company, Aite Group. 

And of the advisors active in Social Media, a mere 19% said they could even attribute one new client to their Social Media efforts.  The conclusion from the study?  There are many, many ways you could spend your time more effectively to build your business than Social Media.

• Never use the phrases “high-net worth”, affluent or wealthy in front of them.  They do not identify themselves with those words and it makes you sound like a salesperson.
  

• Understand that they have a strong aversion to salespeople, so let them bring up your business first.  Never be the first to talk about your business, always talk about theirs first.
  

• They worry about health care costs.  It is their number one worry.  They are used to the best in health care and they know what it costs.
  

• They prefer to mix business with pleasure.  They want to know their advisors on a personal level and the greater the trust the more likely they’ll be utilizing your services.
  

• They will most likely accept a 2nd opinion… from a person they trust (see previous)
  

• They seek out opinions from people they trust.  Be prepared with an opinion… but wait for them to ask.
  

• They hate traditional sales methods.  Leave the brochures at home.  They are all about relationships.
  

• Even if they have multiple advisors (and most do) they still have a primary advisor they rely on most often.. They don’t like to be rushed.  Let them make the decision to work with you on their own time.  If you push… you’ll never get them.
  

• Hidden fees will kill not only that deal but your credibility with everyone that runs in that circle.  Disclose, disclose, disclose!

The only proven way to land “whales” on a regular basis is to do some type of networking.  And the best way to network is through your passion.  What interests you? 

Sports?  Whatever sport you love… don’t participate… DOMINATE.  If it’s golf, get to know every important golf contact in your area.  Pros, store owners, club managers… everybody.  Take them to lunch let them know you are interested in growing the sport.  Think about sponsoring a tournament… or maybe just a regular putting clinic or driving clinic.  Become the one name associated with golfing!

You can do the same thing with youth hockey, football or lacrosse—whatever, become the name associated with that sport in your area.  (This will begin opening lots of door for you if you combine it with the suggestion I make at the end of this article).

Charity? It’s the same thing as with sports. If you have a charity that you are passionate about… become the face, the driving force of that charity.  And again, tie it to the suggestion at the end.

Hobby?  Same thing.  Wine, gardening, horses, motorcycles—whatever, become the face of that thing in your area.  Dominate it!

By becoming the face of your passion, you will be exposed to tons of people.  Now, here is where the rubber meets the road as far as turning your passion into success for your business.  You are going to be asked one of these two questions continually. 

• What do you do for a living?
• How’s business

How you answer this question can make you hundreds of thousands of dollars or generate nothing.  How would you answer it?  If you would like my suggestion of how to answer it click here and I‘ll email it directly to you. 

In this easy 3-page system I walk through how to connect with lots of business at your place of worship.  You’ll use the same technique with the passion you’ve chose to dominate!

Most advisors assume that running out of money is the number one concern of retirees… and they spend all of their time addressing it. 

It actually ranks 4th.    Here’s what the 2009 Senior Census discovered about retirees concerns. 

Top 10 Concerns in Order of Importance
1. Losing our health
2. Inability to care for ourselves
3. Losing our mental faculties
4. Running out of money
5. Inability to get good health care
6. Not being able to drive
7. Becoming a burden to the family
8. Ending up in a nursing home
9. Inability to work or volunteer
10. Being left alone and lonely

How many of their concerns revolved around health?  What are you doing to address your client’s health concerns?  If you want a leg up on your competition… consider becoming an expert in Medicare or at least collaborating with an expert in your town.

Which would you rather see in your local paper?  A piece written by you or a piece written by somebody else… quoting you?  I’d much rather be quoted.  It’s a 3rd party endorsement and it’s easier! 

Here’s some easy ways to drum up some FREE Publicity in the coming months (if you would like a Free Press Release Template, click here)

1. Get to know the “What’s Happening” section of your newspaper—Send in all of your mile stones to the editor of that section.  Your company’s anniversary (talk about how things have changed). Any education or qualifications achieved (give an explanation on why it was important).
2. Has regulation or taxation changed?—Write a letter to the editor describing the changes and the importance of proactively taking action to leverage them in the common family’s favor.  This can often lead to a follow-up call from a reporter wanting to interview you.
3. Send out regular press releases—Our industry is a mystery to most reporters.  If you are getting a lot of the same questions from clients or are running into a lot of the same problems… put your findings into a press release and get it to your local reporters.
4. Follow your local TV and newspaper reporters blogs and twitter accounts—The best way to form relationships with reporters is to have a conversation with them… and the best way to have a conversation is to follow and comment via their social network venues.  You will be the only financial advisor doing this and it will pay real dividends.

Sometimes getting rich is just being at the right place at the right time (hint: and now is one of those times!). This 10-minute video shows you how an advisor went from struggling to making almost a million a year overnight… by being at the right place at the right time and asking clients just one question.

It’s too late for you to ask the question he asked… BUT a just released product genre will allow you to duplicate his success to a “T”. Watch this video to the end to get the 1 Question you can ask to create your own success story. This is really a once in 15-year opportunity. Don’t miss it!

You can view the video http://www.5qgroup.com/tools/1Question.html

If you want your clients to take your advice, make sure they understand the risk they are taking by ignoring your advice.  And I mean all the risk.  Here’s a handy little table that has worked for me in the past:

Inertia is a huge problem for us as advisors.  We show people wonderful solutions to their problems and it seems like they just can’t pull the trigger to take action.  They agree that our solutions are great.  They agree that they should move forward… but they just want to wait. 

One technique that works extremely well for me is the “cash-in-hand” technique.  I use a 21-point checklist to have the clients discover their dissatisfaction with their current situation.  As part of that checklist they discover how much in unnecessary fees and unnecessary taxes they are paying. 

Those numbers range from as low as $600 a year to as high has $24,000 a year… but the average was right around $3,200 a year.  When I show people this on paper they say, “Wow, that’s a lot.”

And then do nothing.  I needed to make a stronger impact, so here’s what I did…

I have a cigar box with $3,000 in hundreds and fifties in my desk.  After I got through all of the unnecessary fees and taxes I ask them, “Can I show you how much money that is?”

They always look at me in a puzzled way and then agree.

I take out my box of money and I pull out the wad of cash.  I then count out the money slowly into a stack right in front of them. 

“100, 200, 300….” Until I count out the amount they are spending unnecessarily. 

Every time I do this their eyes get huge… even people worth 3 or 4 million dollars! 

Then I say, “It’s like someone walking up to your door on January 1st every year and handing you this stack of money.” 

(If the amount is higher than my $3,000 cash, I simply use a shorter time span…6 months or even a quarter).

I then pick up the stack and hand it to them and I let them continue to hold it as I say, “Now did you have to work to get this money?  Did you have to jump through any hoops to get this money?  Do you have to pay taxes on this money?  Nope, you just had to be smart enough to get what’s rightfully yours to keep.”

They usually joke about whether the money in their hand is theirs and I say, “Yes it is, if you follow through on the things we’ve talked about today… but it’s not going to come from me, it’s going to come from the IRS and your investment company when you quit over paying.  So that money is mine… your money comes from the people that have been taking it from you for years, without telling you.”

This little technique has made me hundreds of thousands of dollars.  It takes the abstract and makes it concrete.  It takes what’s on paper and makes it real.  Try it out and see for yourself the effect it has on people.  Heck, you’re not earning any interest on the money in the bank anyways.  Why not use it to make a point that gets them moving.

Nobody, and yet way too many advisors do just that.  You know what’s worse than not getting a Holiday card?  Getting a card with a pre-printed message and a signature!

NEVER… NEVER… NEVER send out a pre-printed card with just a signature (or God forbid… a pre-printed signature as well)!  When I receive these from vendors, bankers and such, it really just makes me angry. 

Why?

Duh!  How much time, effort or thought went into this card?  None.

Who prepared the card… his staff.

What does this guy think about me?  Nothing.  I don’t rate a fraction of a second in this guy’s mind.  That’s how I feel.

The person that sent me the card would have been better off not sending me anything… at least then, out of sight… out of mind.  I don’t give him a second thought.

But when they remind me that I’m just some faceless number to them, now I get irritated.

So, should you not send cards?  No!  You absolutely should send cards.  Just make sure they are handwritten (if you don’t want to take the time to handwrite them, then turn your own handwriting into a font).  Here’s a service that will do that for you. (http://www.quantumenterprises.co.uk/fonts/) Even my mother can’t tell the difference between this font and my handwriting! 

The Holidays are coming.  Please don’t miss this opportunity to bond with your clients and prospects!

Has anybody ever asked you, “How’s business?”

How did you reply?  Did you get a sale?  Here’s what to do next time this happens to get a new client on the spot.

Did you say, “Things are great!  How about you?”

Has that ever gotten you a stitch of business?

Instead, next time someone asks you, “How’s business?”

Reply with a mini-case study.  Tell them how you just solved a problem for somebody just like them.  For example:

“It’s great!  Earlier this week I worked with a couple that just retired and was able to get the tax they pay on their investment income down to 1.5% tax rate.  You ought to have seen their face when I walked through how to cut their tax by 90%… it was priceless!  They are some happy campers.  It’s just a shame that there are so many people walking around that don’t know how to use Internal Revenue Code 72 to chop their taxes by 90%.  Luckily, every time I do it for someone, they give me a referral.  Like these people I was telling you about, they immediately referred me to a friend that had just retired from the same company and I’m seeing him next week to do the same thing!”

What do you think the next thing out of your friend’s mouth will be?

“Would that work for me?”

Ta da!  You now have your invitation in to tell your friend about how you can help them.