Author: Matt Bellis
Protected: Financial Advisors: Marketing is Not a Four Letter Word
Protected: You Have A Marketing Story That May Suck…
REFERRALS OR PERSONAL INTRODUCTIONS? THERE’S A BIG DIFFERENCE
A ‘referral’ is like a lead. It’s a name. It is typically bare, impersonal, and unqualified. Referrals rarely convert to clients – even more rarely, quality clients. Not just because of the lack of relationship with the referred but also because a cold situation feels like selling.
In contrast, a warm personal introduction from a best client is an endorsement wherein your client is explicitly standing behind the value, authenticity and character of the person being introduced… you. It’s an entirely different dynamic. A personal introduction grants you ease and entry. It is based on the established trusting relationship that not only already exists between you and your client but also your client and your client’s friend.
A personal introduction is at its inception a relationship – comfortable and easy – because you are endorsed and trusted.
Referrals don’t even come close to these introductions.
Client Centric Business Consulting Simple and effective
NIX THE REFERRALS
It’s always been said that the best way to grow your financial advisory business is through client referrals. However, we all know that getting client referrals is no easy task.
Our research among Financial Advisors shows that activity – getting referrals on an ongoing basis – is, for the great majority, the number one business challenge. The fact is that most of us – unless we are truly gifted in this area – don’t have the ability to gracefully go from the sale to the referral. We’re afraid, we don’t want to be pushy, we don’t want to put off the client. And we’re just too worried about closing the business. Does this sound familiar?
So what’s the solution to this conundrum? It’s learning how to get warm, qualified introductions – the anthesis of referrals. A warm, qualified introduction is when one of your best clients – the kind of client you would love to duplicate – introduces you to one of their qualified close friends, family members or business associates. Someone like them. What makes the introduction truly warm is that it’s done with permission and inclusion.
Here’s the major difference:
Referrals come from a traditional sales based approach where the primary goal is transactional, to make the sale. You provide financial advice to close a sale, to make money and hopefully, to get a referral. But if you don’t get a referral, that sale won’t help increase your activity or future sales.
Warm, qualified introductions are the result of practicing a service based approach where the primary goal is… warm, qualified introductions. These introductions keep your pipeline consistently filled with qualified potential clients, successfully addressing the number one Financial Advisor challenge… new, qualified activity. When you have more activity more implementation follows. As such, having a full pipeline creates tremendous opportunity to grow your income, revenue and business valuation.
Social Capital And The Most Important Story You Will Ever Tell…
As a Financial Advisor, you may not be aware of the most important asset you have available to you. It’s Social Capital.
The way to understand Social Capital is by thinking about your relationships with your best quality clients. They trust you with their financial assets. But do they trust you enough to bring you into their circle by warmly introducing you to the quality people they know, people who are just like them?
That’s Social Capital. It leverages your relationships with your best quality clients into warm, personally introduced and endorsed appointments with their quality friends and colleagues.
Social Capital introductions bear no resemblance to standard referrals. These are high quality introductions from your best quality clients, your best Centers Of Influence.
So, how do you acquire Social Capital?
It’s driven by having a compelling Remarkable Marketing Story (see post – The Bad News. Your Marketing Story May Suck!) that subtly addresses your clients’ Worldview of Financial Advisors and the Financial Industry – that they are Darth Vader’s working for the Evil Empire. (see Darth Vader post)
A compelling Remarkable Marketing Story is what moves your best quality clients to share your story with their quality circle of friends and colleagues. It opens the door to consistent high quality personal introductions and high quality appointments on an ongoing basis.
Protected: THE GAME CHANGER – CONSISTENT WARM, PERSONAL INTRODUCTIONS TO YOUR BEST CLIENTS’ QUALITY FRIENDS AND COLLEAGUES
ASKING YOUR BEST CLIENTS FOR PERMISSION TO DISCUSS PERSONAL INTRODUCTIONS IS VERY COMFORTABLE
Almost all of your best clients will give you permission.
These clients have made you their Financial Advisor – they have taken a leap of faith with you. At the same time you feel privileged and grateful because over time you have earned their trust. You protect and nurture it.
When you have your clients’ trust they will give you permission to talk about warm personal introductions, their most important asset. Different from referrals, open permission removes the discomfort and fear of asking – it’s the key to a personal introduction and endorsement. It’s the reward for earning their trust.
Client Centric Business Consulting Innovative, Simple, Cost Effective
“The 5 Minute Call” – Create Client Introducers Now
The 5 Minute Call is a simple phone call to the clients you’d like to duplicate, your quality best clients. On this call, most of these clients will agree to meet with you to discuss introducing you to their qualified friends and colleagues… to become Client Introducers.
This “call” has a huge impact on business growth because the way you currently conduct business – freely giving your knowledge and your time – is framed in a new and effect way.
You are conducting your business as you always have – you are simply framing it differently. It builds a construct for growth where clients will want to reciprocate and advocate for you.
Freely giving makes your clients feel good about themselves and about you. As marketing guru, Seth Godin says, “What people want is the extra, emotional bonus they get when they associate with something or someone who makes them feel good. And when people feel good, they are open because they realize you’re a giver, not a taker.”
The world responds to givers. Because of the way you frame your giving your clients and prospects experience something different about you… something that sets your service and you apart from the rest.
The 5 Minute Call is an essential tool in transforming your best qualified clients into Client Introducers.
If You Want More Quality Appointments, Develop A Remarkable Marketing Story
If you are an Advisor you undoubtedly have a group of best clients. Clients who are friendly, appreciative and cooperative. And they generate great revenue.
Wouldn’t business be easier, more profitable and more fun if these clients regularly and personally introduced you to their qualified friends and colleagues?
Advisors come to us wondering why these best clients will sometimes give a referral name but are not making quality personal introductions. When we ask how many first appointments they’ve had with quality friends of their best clients over the last year or two, the answer generally is “very few”.
The very first thing we look at is their story. Because for starters, if their story isn’t “remarkable”, it really isn’t worth talking about.
A remarkable story is about who you are, not what you do. It’s not about your facts and figures. That’s just the same old talk and it doesn’t stick.
We’ve spoken with countless Financial Advisors whose stories are basically all the same; how their firm is different, where they went to school, the degrees they’ve earned, how great their numbers are, their charitable work, their families. There is nothing about their story that clients feel in their gut.
When you have the right Remarkable Marketing Story, your clients will respond to you far differently. We have found that as soon as an Advisor moves away from their old (read: tedious) marketing story to an effective client centric story – one that has meaning to the listener – everything begins to shift. Their qualified activity goes way up, their confidence goes up, and their revenue upticks.
Developing an effective Remarkable Marketing Story is a deliberate process that shows you understand your market and how to address their predominant worldview… a well documented general distrust of the entire industry, including advisors. (See Darth Vader Post) That’s why puffery works against you.
If your story is not authentic (and you don’t live it every day), your clients and prospects will not be fooled. But when it’s done well, it’s what will make your clients dedicated advocates who want to tell everyone about you. Because they see you as remarkable.
So, ask yourself this question. Do you have a lot of quality warm prospect meetings and first appointments warmly introduced to you by your best clients? If not, take a good, hard look at your story.
Client Centric Business Consulting Great Marketing Stories