Whites Of Their Eyes

Successful marketing can be looked at as creating an avalanche.  How do you do that?  You go to the top of the mountain… find the biggest boulder you can find… then grunt and groan… push and sweat…  and move that boulder inch by inch to the edge.  Then push that boulder over the edge and watch as it starts slowly… and then gains both momentum and volume… until eventually the whole side of the mountain begins to move and it’s unstoppable.

What this means is that if you want to create an avalanche with your marketing, you need to understand that the setup or the process of getting that big boulder to the edge is difficult.  Setting up marketing that runs by itself and gets more successful as time goes on… requires a lot of effort and time upfront, but once it’s running, you simply sit back and rake in the new clients and money.

So what are some ways to create avalanches?

• Create a relationship with the head of HR in a local large company
• Create a relationship with the editor of your local newspaper or producer of your local radio or tv station.
• Become friends with a popular local blogger
• Creating a relationship or a network group with
  • Accountants, P&C agents, Medicare insurance agents, and attorneys
• Get 3 or 4 of your city’s movers and shakers as clients… wonder how? Read How to Get a Meeting with Anyone by Stu Heinecke

These are top-down strategies vs. the bottom-up strategies most advisors use.  Yes, you are swinging for the fences with these people, so you are going to strike out a lot. But, when you finally connect your marketing, it’s going to become an avalanche that continues to grow with very little effort on your part.

Your skill at how you use email can be the difference between having an average year… versus a stellar year.  How much thought do you put into each email you send to clients and referral sources?  How much research have you done on what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to email?

Email costs you nothing to send… but it can be one of your most valuable marketing resources.  Get the scoop on creating effective and powerful emails to:

• Market
• Follow-up
• Revive ghosted accounts
• And more

Watch this coaching video I did (starting at minute 14:11) to find out how to create emails that actually work to get your clients and prospects to take action.

What if you could duplicate your best clients by the dozen? We all know referrals are the best way to bring on new clients. But we’ve all tried to bring in referrals, and they trickle in at best. So, what if you could bring in 30 new referrals like clockwork, each and every year? What would your business look like 3 years from now?

This step-by-step client advisory system I created does just that.

It creates 7 or 8 referrals per quarter. This is the absolute best way to grow your practice, if you are willing to put in the work. What do I mean by “work”? Well, you have to:

• Choose the clients you want to duplicate.
• Learn the meeting script that gets them to buy in.
• Fulfill the logistics of conducting the meeting.

This system costs nothing to do other than coffee, juice, and donuts. Yet, I find that many advisors are still unwilling to put in the little bit of work necessary to grow their business this way. What do you tell someone who complains about our country’s politics, but refuses to vote? Well, if you are complaining about how difficult it is to find new clients or referrals and you won’t put in the time and effort to make this system work for you… well….

Why is this so deadly? Because people have too much to think about! Their jobs, families, finances, football team, hobbies, kid’s schedules, etc. The list goes on and on. So, what do we do when we have too much to think about? We push everything else that comes up, off the table. And there goes your potential sale.

So, don’t let them think—instead, do the thinking for them! The best way to do this is to use a combination of motivational interviewing and the Socratic Sales Method.

First, let’s explore what each of these disciplines are:

Motivational Interviewing—there is a long, drawn-out explanation of what motivational interviewing is… But in layman’s terms, it’s asking open-ended questions to get the client to tell you or sell you on an idea instead of what most salespeople do, which is to sell them on the idea.

Socratic Sales Method: creating a productive dialog by asking a series of easily answered questions that little by little build ironclad logic for a conclusion.

You combine these two disciplines to have the client explain to you, in their own words, not only why your recommendation is a good one but also why delaying the decision is a bad one. Once again, it is THEIR responsibility to inform you, not the other way around.

Combining these techniques can be learned quickly if you make it a priority. If you’d like more information on how to utilize these types of techniques to close tire kickers, plate lickers, and decision non-makers, please take a closer look at the coaching I provide at 5Q Group. There is no cost to join, and it gives you access to scripts, software, and other tools that make closing difficult cases, much easier.

We’ve all been there… A prospect arrives in our office without their spouse. They claim they are the decision-maker, and what they say goes. So, we believe them. We spend hours helping them improve their financial situation. Yay!  We have a new client because they love us!

Nope.  They may love us, but they say they have to run it by their spouse. Wait a minute!?!? I thought they said that they were the decision-maker! Nope.  They just enjoyed milking us for all of our information, and the spouse that never showed up puts the kibosh on moving the assets.

Sound familiar?  If it does, take a look at this 45-minute master class on how to get a one-legger to TELL YOU why they need to bring their spouse into the process before you can start working. The script for getting someone who arrives without their spouse to insist on bringing them next time begins around six minutes into the video in this link. https://vimeo.com/789759142

At the beginning of every year, we have high expectations for our prospects in growing our business.  If you’d like to change it from expectations to reality, you must know your numbers.  What is your ROI in all that you do?

More importantly, what is your ROI on your marketing dollars?  If you do not know what IS… and what is or is NOT working… it is difficult to run a profitable practice. 

Here are some numbers you should be tracking:

• Responses to offers
• Leads added to your warm list
• Prospects-in-progress (long-term leads)
• Stages of all the deals you have in your pipeline
• The number of deals you closed last year
• The income you generated per deal last year
• Your income goal for this year
• How many deals you need to close this year to hit that goal
• How much marketing you need to do based on your results from last year’s marketing to get you in front of that many deals

Track your numbers and you will both save money… and boost your income.

Most advisors do reviews with your clients, which is a good thing for your clients!  But too few advisors use the annual review to leverage new business and income.  In the previous post, I illustrated one tool successful advisors can use to leverage their annual reviews for new business… but say you aren’t interested in that full program and just want the “nuts-and-bolts” version.  I’ve got you covered!

Here’s a great checklist to use with your clients to uncover needs that will both help you provide value to your clients and possible leverage to find new business.  Yours courtesy of 5Q Group.