Whites Of Their Eyes

The “2 cent stamp card” was a huge success.  We have had user after user tell us that their phones have been ringing off the hook and that one, two and up to 5 clients or prospects have called them with money to invest!  Which brings up the point, “What is the best type of mailing to send to prospects and clients?”

The main reason letters or solicitations from most financial professionals fail is that they are written too professionally.  I have talked to so many advisors that are afraid to look unprofessional.  They don’t want to send out a card with a joke or a riddle because they believe their clients will think less of them.

These financial professionals believe that they should be professional in their communication, and they are right to a point.  You should absolutely be professional when:

• You are speaking about your client’s money and investments

or

• You are handling a client’s or prospect’s question or concern

But you should be contacting your clients in some shape, form or manner at least 21 times a year to maintain their loyalty (April ’06, OnWallStreet, “Illusions of Loyalty”).

What should you contact them about then? You certainly shouldn’t be contacting clients 21 times a year about money.  If you do, your clients will think that the only thing you care about is their money…and that is an extremely dangerous thing for them to think.

If you want to get their attention and you want them to think positively of you, make your clients smile.  Make your clients feel good about themselves.  Make your clients want to be around you.

Think.  Who do you like to be around?  Some guy who’s really smart and is always talking about his favorite subject?  Or someone that can put a smile on your face?  Who do you want to introduce your friends to, a gal who is an expert and can’t wait to show everyone that they are an expert or someone that is quick with an interesting story or has the ability to make people feel good about themselves?

This goes for both working with your clients and prospecting for leads.  Clients and prospects will remember a salesperson that puts them in a better mood.  It is a scientific fact that humans release chemicals when they are feeling good that make them like the people surrounding them that moment even more than they usually would.  This is the kind of chemistry you want to use in your favor!

Many successful advisors I know find that the most successful part of their newsletter is their quiz!  They get more phone calls from that portion of their newsletter than all others combined.  The Client and Prospect newsletter about the little old lady writing a tongue in cheek letter to the bank was by far the most popular with our user’s clients.

Clients, prospects, people in general all love to share entertaining stories, facts, jokes, whatever.  If you can give them one to pass around, you now have more people that want to be around you and who know who you are.

Please don’t take yourself so seriously! A little levity will pay huge dividends!

As marketing becomes more difficult, you need to get more creative.  Quit throwing money at the problem and start thinking outside the box.  Prospects are throwing junk mail away, they are not attending seminars, they Tivo their TV so they don’t have to watch the commercials.  They just plain don’t want to be sold.

Now don’t get me wrong, Prospects LOVE to buy, they just don’t want to be sold.  So how do they decide to buy?  Well, personal relationship is the number one reason.  It could be a referral or they might work with a friend, etc.

How else do they make their buying decisions?  By what they see in the Media…papers, television, magazines.  If it is in the media, then it must be true.  If the advisor is in the media then he or she must be great.  So how do you get yourself in the Media?

Same way you get into a prospects life.  Create a relationship.  The best tool for that is the handwritten note.  Here is the 6 step process to getting into the Media:

1.  Determine where it would be most profitable for you to be seen or heard – First, think about what your best prospects read.  Where do they get their information?  What do they trust?  Second, think about the big credibility builders like the WSJ or New York Times.  Put together a list of publications that would be worthwhile to get your name into.  (And don’t forget the newsletter of local companies or groups in your area!)

2.  To write or to be the expert – You can choose to either write an article and submit it or to position yourself as an expert to be quoted.  Generally, being quoted holds more water with most people.  Anyone can write an article but reporters obviously would only go to experts for quotes (not true, but that is what the general public believes).  To become an expert determine who writes about consumer issues and financial matters.  Send them some information that might be useful to them to either create a story or give them an idea on a story worth reporting.  Jot a note introducing yourself and send it to them in the mail.

3.   Consistency and regularity – Make sure that you continue to do this like clockwork.  This will build trust and credibility for you.  And remember, this should not be self-promoting info. It should be something worthwhile for them to write about or pursue.

4.   Make sure you are easy to find – When you begin to be quoted you had better be sure that you are easy to find.  The reporter is not going to put your contact information into the article.  People will be forced to seek you out elsewhere.  Make sure that you are easy to find in the phone book and that you have some branding activities going on elsewhere as well.

5.   Make sure that you are ALWAYS available – When a reporter calls, get back to them NOW, not later.  If you are reliable as a quick and easy resource, they will come back again and again. And once they use you, send them a note thanking them for their professionalism and assure them that you are willing to help again in the future.

6.   Don’t be stupid and lazy – This type of marketing is the most valuable of all marketing and costs nothing but a bit of elbow grease.  I have seen people spend over $100,000 in marketing in a year with marginal results and yet they are unwilling to spend a few minutes each week nurturing these relationships.   Please put this to work for you right now before you forget!

Like handwritten notes, they are cheap and VERY EFFECTIVE!

I am often asked for the names of books I read or would recommend.  One that is always near my desktop is Dr. Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice.  It is a quick read but will give you years of education on how to ethically influence people.

There are 6 basic principles of ethical influence; Reciprocation, Scarcity, Authority, Consistency, Liking and Consensus.  The success of any marketing or sales system can be accurately predicted based on how closely it adheres to these principles.

First, the 6 Principles of Influence

1.  Reciprocation – You, then me, then you, then me
2.  Scarcity – The rule of the rare or time limitations
3.  Authority – Showing Knowing
4.  Consistency – Start small and build
5.  Liking – Making friends and influencing people
6.  Consensus – If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for me

You will be able to capitalize on all 6 of these principles if you utilize this handwritten note system as I have set it up for you.

Reciprocation — you then me, then you, then me… Be the first to give.  Question for you—do you know anybody who determines their Christmas card list based on the cards they have received?

Scarcity — the rule of the rare.  If your message is crafted properly, you can leverage this into a landslide of appointments to fill next week’s calendar.

Authority — Establish position through industry knowledge and professionalism. This system allows you to share facts and tidbits about your knowledge.  The information is topical, interesting, and more importantly, shareable.  And what do I mean by shareable?  People like to share interesting, funny, or unusual information.

Consistency — Start small and build.   Trust comes from consistency.  Your monthly fun fact postcards, holiday greeting cards, and articles containing personalized handwritten notes are all about consistency.

Liking — Making friends to influence people.  Think about it. In todays fast pace, overscheduled, soccer mom world, we are lucky to get a generic Christmas letter from our close friends.  To imagine somebody taking the time to find a postcard, find a pen, sit down, write it and think about nothing but you when they write it, find an envelope, stuff it, put a stamp on it and mail it. In today’s world that rarely happens… sad but true.   It doesn’t happen anymore.  What did you think when you got our handwritten card?

Consensus — people proof, people power. By utilizing the correct messages, you will get people to share your messages with friends and relatives.  They will begin to form a consensus on the type of caring advisor you are.  Power in numbers!

The biggest marketing problem most professionals have is…Getting stuck.  Stuck in the muck.  Stuck in the muck that sucks them down into sameness.  They cannot take the step to do something different then either they have been doing or someone they know has been doing.

When they see a new marketing idea they think…

“I’m just not sure if it will work for ME.”

They want to know…

“Is there someone I can talk to that has used this idea to see if it works?”

Or

“How exactly are professionals like me using this idea to increase their bottom line?”

“My business is different, how would it work for me?”

I hosted a national conference for 150 of the top financial advisors in the country last week in St. Louis.  One incident really pounded this problem home to me.

I had just rolled out a new and unique marketing system (1-2-3 lead generation) that had been used very successfully by 5 different advisors across the country.  These 5 advisors that had utilized the system successfully looked nothing alike.  They were young, old and in between.  They were in cities, suburbs and rural areas.  They had experience levels from 3 years to 29 years.

And yet they had all utilized the system to create huge revenues.

They had spent on average about $500 on the system and had huge success with it.  They had average over $15,000 in commission using it.  Not bad huh?  $500 investment converts to $15,000 in commission. What is that a 3,000% return on investment?

So here’s the funny thing.  As soon as I presented it, the questions started flying.  These top advisors wanted to start changing it immediately.  They started to come up with reasons as to why this marketing system wouldn’t work.

And then our keynote speaker stood up and marched up to the podium and grabbed the handheld mike and shouted,

“WHAT IN GOD’S NAME IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?  MIKE JUST GAVE YOU A SYSTEM THAT HAS HAD 100% EFFECTIVENESS WITH 5 OF YOUR PEERS AND YOU HAVEN’T EVEN LEFT THE ROOM YET AND YOU WANT TO CHANGE IT!………

GUYS! TAKE THE SYSTEM.  GO HOME AND IMPLEMENT IT AS INSTRUCTED.  AND REAP THE REWARDS…

OR SPEND THE NEXT 6 MONTHS REVAMPING IT TO YOUR TASTES AND CREATE SOMETHING THAT IS GOING TO SUCK!”

With that he put the mike back and walked back to the back of the room where he had been observing.

There was complete silence for about 15 seconds and then the whole room burst out laughing.  They had been caught practicing the biggest pitfall a professional has…taking something that is proven successful and Trying to change it before they Try it!

People, instead of convincing yourself why marketing technique will or will not work.  Try it.  Let the results speak for themselves.  You will never believe it will work for you, no matter how many testimonials, until you see it work in your practice.

If a marketing technique does not cost an arm and a leg, just try it and quit trying to figure out why it won’t work.  Marketing experts get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do that and they are still wrong more often than right!

As Nike says,

Just do it!

I get the question over and over.  “What is the most important thing to do to build a successful practice?”  I’ve been saying the same thing over and over, great marketing.  But most people go, “Oh.”

They want a more exciting answer.  So I went out to the proverbial studies to see if they backed me up, and here is what I found.

Most advisors became advisors due to their love of finances, not due to their love of marketing.  Unfortunately, as in many things in life, there is a catch-22.  You won’t be an advisor for long if you don’t know how to market.  The road to a successful financial planning practice is littered with very bright financial plannners that never figured out how to market.

What do I mean by “how to market?”  There have been several studies by Financial Advisor Magazine, Tiburon of Strategic Advisors, CEG Worldwide, Moss Adams and many others in the last few years looking at successful advisor practices and what makes them successful.

It ends up (big surprise) that marketing spending and growth of assets under management go hand in hand, regardless of the size of the practice.  Small firms that spent 30% of their revenues on marketing grew their assets at a whopping 50% on average.  Was there a difference for large firms managing $100 to $500 million?  Nope, same thing.  More marketing means more money.

It appears more and more advisors get this as a recent S&P Corp. study found that advisors spent more in 2006 than in 2005 on marketing.

OK, marketing is good we get it, right?  So where is the best place to spend your marketing dollar?  On branding?  On radio? On seminars?  Nope, it ends up all studies point at just one thing.  And the good news is it’s the cheapest kind of marketing!

Contact.  What?  Contact!  What like a phone call, email, newsletter or handwritten note?

Yep, and often!  It turns out that the really successful advisors contact their clients or their prospects between 24.1 and 28 times a year (depending on which study you look at.)

They also found that while any type of contact is good, there is a type of contact that works better than all the rest.  Many advisors I talk to guess it is email.  When I ask why they tell me because it is fast, easy, cheap and convenient.

Hmmmm. That stuff all sounds good doesn’t it?……for the advisor.  Advisors love fast, easy cheap and convenient contact because they can email their whole client and prospect data base in 1 second.  That is the very reason that while email is an excellent way to communicate information to your clients, it is the weakest link in either building loyalty in your current client data base or wooing new clients.

Your clients and prospects know that it takes you very little time and effort to email them.  Yes they appreciate your prompt delivery of information to them but they view your effort as minimal.

So what is the best ways to contact them?  Phone call, personal meeting or handwritten note.

Hmmm. What do all of these have in common?  They require time and effort.  Interesting, the things that require time and effort are the very things that are linked to the most successful practices.  They are willing to do the things other advisors are not willing to do.

Want to be successful in any type of business?  Do the things your competitors refuse to do.

Guys and gals, I just got off the phone with someone that insisted I communicate through some sort of instant messaging on the computer.  How idiotic!  What would have taken less than a minute to communicate on the phone took over 5 minutes on this silly instant messaging thing.  I was complaining about it when my “techie” told me it was so this person could talk to me and 3 other people at the same time.  HOW HORRIBLY INCONSIDERATE TO WASTE 5 minutes of my time, and the time of the other 3 people, just to convenience themselves!

Common courtesy seems to have been misplaced in today’s fast paced world.  The good news is that for those that practice courtesy, it is easy for them to stand apart from the pack. If they are trying to close a big deal, get access through a gate keeper or for that matter win the love of a sweetheart, a handwritten note is often the ticket.  A handwritten note is given a special place in people’s “mail sort piles.”  It is given a place of honor. It is recognized as often the only piece of mail that is desirable to read. For those that practice the art of the handwritten note, the rewards are both emotional and monetary.