Continue reading ““THE DARTH VADER COMPLEX” – PEOPLE DON’T TRUST YOU”
Category: Marketing
THE SIMPLE WARM INTRODUCTION APPROACH is Word of Mouth Marketing
The Simple Warm Introduction Approach is Client Centric Business Consulting’s simple and effective approach that transforms best clients into productive centers of influence. It has always been the obvious path to quickly, efficiently, and sustainably grow your business… but it has never been a reality, until now.
It can be learned and integrated into your practice within 30 days or less, and produces measurable, positive results immediately.
It comfortably builds on an Advisor’s “best client” relationships and quickly provides warm, personally endorsed introductions to and appointments with the quality friends and colleagues of their best clients.
Because the Warm Introduction approach seamlessly integrates with your financial practice, you market as you work without interrupting your daily business activities.
What Happens When You Adopt The Simple Warm Introduction Approach?
What can you expect from this excellent new, permission based, quality client acquisition strategy for Financial Advisors?
- Your new high-quality warm introductions and new first appointments will increase significantly.
- You will create quality client advocates who are productive centers of influence.
- Your productivity and revenue will substantially increase on an ongoing basis.
- You will be differentiated from the competition.
- You will not interrupt your daily routine.
- You will do more of the work you love with the people you love to work with: quality clients and their quality friends and colleagues.
- You will have less stress and more success!
Matthew G Bellis
Simple, Permission Based Quality Client Acquisition
Matthewbellis1@cloud.com
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.
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.
The Bad News – Your Marketing Story May Suck!
Wondering why your quality best clients are not personally introducing you to their quality best friends and colleagues? Wondering why you have so few brand new, warm quality first appointments?
It’s probably because your “Marketing Story” is not worth talking about.
It’s not remarkable!
However, we’ve talked with countless Financial Advisors and for the most part, their marketing stories are basically the same. Their focus is on how their firm is different, where they went to school, the degrees they’ve earned, how great their numbers are, their charitable work, family, et al.
Quality best clients and prospects don’t see this kind of story as remarkable.
As soon as you move away from your old marketing story to a new more Remarkable Marketing Story, everything changes… because your story is perceived as remarkable. Not only will your clients respond to you, they will also talk about you to their friends and colleagues. You have become more remarkable and quality activity goes way up… consistently.
Developing an effective, more Remarkable Marketing Story is a simple and effective process that shows you understand your market and their predominant Worldview… distrust of Advisors and the Industry (See Darth Vader Post). Any form of puffery or selling will literally and figuratively slam the door.
Think about it. If you don’t have a schedule that’s consistently filled with quality prospect meetings and first appointments that are warm and personally introduced to you by your best quality clients, your story probably sucks.
A Great Marketing Story – It’s About Them, Not You
Most people don’t fully trust the Financial Industry or Financial Advisors. (See our “People Don’t Trust You” post) This is their Worldview, a bias that focuses on bad experiences, bad news. It makes it extremely difficult for Financial Advisors to get quality prospects and clients to listen and open up. And yet, most Financial Advisors have received little training to recognize and effectively address this bias.
Successfully addressing this Worldview begins when you craft a Remarkable Marketing Story. A Remarkable Marketing Story is very different from a garden variety Marketing Story. It is told in a way that focuses on and addresses what’s important to your prospects and your clients – not you. It effectively addresses biases and puts you in sync with your quality best clients and quality prospects.
It’s not about your numbers, facts and figures. And it’s not telling them what you think they want to hear. That will just shut them down, they won’t listen.
When it’s right you are a standout. When it isn’t, you’re invisible.