It is time to admit that prospecting has changed. If you don't start innovating, don't expect to survive in this overcrowded market of financial providers. The prospect has reshuffled the deck, changed the playing cards, and altered the rules. Traditional marketing approaches are obsolete. Today's prospects are not the old prospects of yesterday. They are harder to access, and creating a flame of excitement is impossible if you aren't willing to be remarkably visible, different, and relevant.
During the advertising era (1940 to 1990), the power of television, magazine ads, cold calling, and even direct mail worked. No longer. Only 8% of viewers watch commercials on TV. Mail is discarded with a mere glance. Do-Not-Call killed the anticipation of a welcoming reception over the phone. We insulate ourselves from all sorts of advertising, considering it unwelcome and interruptive to our daily lives. Attracting today's new clients requires connecting with "experiential touch points" -- the new skill required to gain attention in an overcrowded sea of competition.
What do I mean by experiential touch points? Today's marketplace requires that the financial adviser pre-connect with prospects multiple times, building an emotional link, before expecting to get a "yes" to their appointment request. That means using strategic methods that accentuate the adviser's likeability, relevance to the prospect's values, and distinctiveness, as compared to the competition. This is not about attending the Chamber of Commerce luncheon once a month in the hope of meeting a new prospect and requesting an appointment the next day. It is about influencing a significant number of prospects in relevant ways -- prospects who need to have what they conclude is meaningful pre-awareness established before they're willing to agree to an appointment.
So what can an adviser do? Here is an example that illustrates how to heighten local market awareness through creating remarkable likeability and compelling differentiation.
Select at least two trade shows per year to attend -- preferably in an organization that you belong to -- such as The Chamber of Commerce Business Expo or The Home Show, featuring builders and suppliers from the Homebuilders Association (a group that you can inexpensively join as an affiliate member). Purchase a ticket -- not a booth. Take a digital camera and approach the people at each booth. If they don't know you, unabashedly hand them a business card and say:
"My name is ______. I don't know if we have ever met but I believe you and I are both members of the Chamber of Commerce. Is that correct?
"I am a financial professional specializing in working with small-business owners here in (city), helping them with ideas that can reduce taxes and increase after-tax wealth. That's my specialty. But I am not here to introduce my services or to ask for an appointment. That might be the highlight of your day -- a financial guy not asking for an appointment! (Wait for them to smile or chuckle.)
"No, I am only here to take a picture so we can send you a trade show album that has photos of the fronts of all the booths here at the show. That way you can evaluate whether to adopt some of the ideas to help increase your booth's attraction. My business clients who are here always like this photo album and feel it has been really helpful over the years. Some of the ideas have helped increase their business. This year, I am sending the photo album to everyone who is participating in the show. Can I get your picture here in the booth and then I'll send the photo album to you next week?"
Once you get an affirmative to your request, which you always will, ask for their business card and e-mail address, explaining you will be sending the album to them electronically. Get the e-mail addresses of everyone in the booth. If the owner is not present, be sure to ask for his or her e-mail address. You will get it. No later than seven days after the event, send the e-photo album. (See an example at www.e-relationship.com.) You just outclassed the competition and opened the door for an easy appointment.
Why are these events so effective? You heighten your professional business image and position yourself as the business owner's friend and ally by helping him or her increase profits. Friend and ally? Yes. All things being equal, we choose to do business with friends because we have an emotional link. What's your strategy to emotionally connect and position yourself with today's prospect?
Giving value without asking for an appointment yields a tremendous amount of appreciation and creates a deep sense of obligation. You are quickly deemed to be a friend, because you've established common ground with the business owner. Think of other places where an e-photo album could build appreciation and open doors to new prospects -- church picnic, vintage car show, civic club social, silent auction, charity wine tasting, Chamber member get-togethers, golf tournaments, etc.
Gather your new trade show prospects and place all their names into your database, allowing it to send e-mail financial newsletters automatically eight to 12 times per year, along with Thanksgiving, Independence Day, and holiday cards. You can even announce special events for the organization -- encouraging members to participate and attend. E-mail is an easy, effective, and inexpensive way to connect with prospects.
Prospect attraction is no longer about name recognition. Neither is it about imitating what the competition is doing and suggesting that you do it better. If you're going to create preferential attraction in today's market, you must build emotional connection to the heart, not a general impression to the mind.
Start your strategy by thinking about where you would like to be highly recognized and professionally dominant five years from now. From there, build a strategy to make your prospects feel special. Your success will soar.
For many advisers, determining to become highly visible and building remarkable differentiation is emotionally difficult. We were all raised to "fit in." But becoming another typical me-too financial adviser is a sure path to mediocrity or failure. As Seth Godin, author of Purple Cow, says, "In a crowded marketplace, fitting-in is failing. In a busy marketplace, not standing out is the same as being invisible."
The choice is rather simple: Find a way to become highly likeable in your market. Build a unique presence. Get noticed -- over and over and over. Extend yourself to your prospect audience in special ways. It is the only way to create high-level prospect attraction, gain appointments, and build your business.
Robert Krumroy is president and CEO of Identity Branding, Inc. and author of three books, including his 2006 release, Please...Make ME a little bit FAMOUS! He began his career in the insurance business in 1973 and moved into agency management in 1976. He built one of the 100 largest financial services agencies in the U.S. and earned the Master-Agency Award, given to the top 100 agency managers in the nation.
